What would John Henry Newman say to today’s Catholic universities? In A reflection Founded in his academic and pastoral experience, and in Newman’s thought –next to be declared a doctor of the Church-, Cardinal Fernando Chomali seeks to answer this question, inviting to think about the mission of Catholic universities, the integration of faith and reason, and the commitment to the truth in the integral formation of the students.
The Archbishop of Santiago based his reflection on his years as the great chancellor of Catholic universities and on the fact that Cardinal Newman “has dedicated a considerable part of his life to think about the university, to reflect on her, her vocation and the articulation of the knowledge that meet there.”
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Newman’s next statement as a doctor of the Church, he said, “brings renewed lights to elucidate some answers for the times we live.”
In this context, he asked: “Can this holy doctor of the Church, a notable figure in the English context of the nineteenth century, guide us in the face of the challenges faced by Catholic universities? recognition that rationality is scientific, ethical and aesthetics at the same time? ”
Tensions and university mission
Cardinal Chomali stressed that “Catholic universities in Chile are a great contribution to the academic, social and cultural life of the country”, with great presence and assessment, and that “make a great effort to be faithful to their Catholic identity in service to society, forming new professionals, investigating and making known the results of their work.”
However, willing to offer “a critical reflection against university work today”, He quoted Mons. Gallagher: “A truly Catholic university is a place where the search for truth is in harmony with the certainty of faith.”
In contrast to this, he warned that current times, with “countless anthropologies and ethics, immersed in a clear process of extraordinarily accelerated cultural changes,” require greater attention from universities, which must “rescue what collaborates to society being more human and fair.”
When referring to “contemporary tensions in the mission of Catholic universities”, he listed the need for financing, interest in rankings and the collection of students, which can leave in the background “the necessary and urgent reflection more leisurely and rested on their work.”
“Entering the maelstrom of the competition without proper reflection impoverishes what the Apostolic Constitution From the heart of the church It defines as the most of its own: being ‘an academic community, which, in a rigorous and critical way, contributes to the protection and development of human dignity and cultural inheritance, ”he said, inviting himself to wonder whether Catholic universities“ are applying the rigorous and critical look in the search for truth, or have fallen into the logic of utilitarianism and marketing strategies ”.
“Are the Catholic universities really consecrated to the truth and their incessant search?” He questioned, calling to strengthen the mission. And taking up the words of Pope Francis at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, said: “The university, in this sense, has the challenge of generating new dynamics within its own cloister, which overcome all fragmentation of knowledge and stimulate a true university universitas.”
“Times claim to assume the challenge urgently, given the absence of convincing answers in the face of increasingly pressing questions about the meaning of life, life in society, how to overcome poverty, marginalization and growing polarization of society,” he said.
Newman’s validity
Chomali invited to explore Newman’s thought, “and to demonstrate that their reflections have a necessary light to renew the mission of our Catholic universities.”
By placing his work in the liberal rationalism of the nineteenth century, he said that Newman wanted to “demonstrate the rationality of Christian faith, trying to overcome both reductionist scientism and merely emotional drift of faith.”
He also stressed that “today more than ever, in the midst of syncretist airs, the imperative need to show the reasonableness of faith and its relationship with other humanities, sciences and arts arises.”
He also valued his notion of truth not in an intellectualist sense, but “as the consistency of reality in his ability to express the creator.” In that context, “for Newman – a passionate about the truth – the university should be the natural field in which the various sciences, philosophy and religion intimately converge.”
Finally, the Cardinal invited to continue deepening his legacy, taking into account that all disciplines can be illuminated by theology, to become “a reflection of the beauty and goodness of God, and hopefully a meeting path with the Creator.”
According to Newman, ”the purple, – the university had to seek“ a unified knowledge of academic disciplines ”, not to reduce to“ a mere professional preparation or an intellectual preparation governed by the criteria of utility ”, but aspire to“ know for knowledge itself ”.
Finally, they asked: “Are not the same challenges about the integrity and sense of reality as a reflection of the creator? Are we in a historical moment in which Newman’s thought could find acceptance?”
“Let’s expand our eyes, knowing that the whole is more than the parties, as Pope Francis used to tell us, and let’s think great as Pope León constantly reminds us,” he advised.
That Newman’s wisdom inspires us to be true Catholic universities in the service of Christ and society! ”He concluded.
Julieta Villar
I am a journalist, a graduate in Communication from the National University of La Matanza in Argentina. I have work experience in non -governmental organizations. Since 2016 I dedicate myself to Catholic journalism, first in the Argentine Catholic Information Agency (AICA) and, since 2022, as a correspondent for ACI Press for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Bolivia.