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About the Author
Father C. John McCloskey III, a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei, is a research fellow of the Faith and Reason Institute. After graduating from Columbia University, he worked  professionally on Wall Street before earning a doctorate of sacred theology at the University of Navarre. He was Director of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, D.C., from1998-2003, and an assistant chaplain at Princeton University from 1985-1990. An ad- junct professor of the Catholic Distance University, Fr. McCloskey has written many articles (archived at www.frmccloskey.com ) and worked extensively in the media. He has hosted numerous EWTN series, including ones on Newman and Catholic authors. Well known for  guiding many people into the Catholic Church, he is co-author of 
Good News, Bad News:Evangelization, Conversion, and the Crisis of Faith
(San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007).
Executive Summary
  John Henry Newman’s “idea of a university” is an ideal thatwould be difficult to realize in the present American culture.Nevertheless, Newman’s influence can be seen in various papalstatements and documents issued by Pope John Paul II and PopeBenedict XVI, as well in the increasing number of new Catholiccolleges.Both Popes have emphasized that the greatest challenge toCatholic education, and the greatest contribution the universitycan make to the culture, is to restore to that culture the convic-tion that human beings can grasp the truth of things and con-sequently know their duties to God, themselves and others. AsNewman insisted, philosophy and theology are essential for uni-versity education.A strong sense of Catholic identity comes from within theChurch and should permeate all aspects of campus life and con-tribute to the integral formation of the whole human person. IfNewman were alive today, he would join the recent Popes in en-couraging Catholic campuses to do more to evangelize, and notsimply engage, the culture. An energetic, faith-driven campusministry is necessary to create a Catholic culture on campus andform modern apostles capable of exercising what Newman re-ferred to as “personal influence” on those around them.
Center Leadership
 Joseph A. Esposito
Director
Evangeline C. Jones
Deputy Director
2008 Newman Fellows
Peter Kwasniewski, Ph.D.
Wyoming Catholic College
Brennan Pursell, Ph.D.
DeSales University
Center Advisory Board
William H. Dempsey, Esq.
President, Project Sycamore
 John P. Hittinger, Ph.D.
Professor of PhilosophyCenter for Thomistic StudiesUniversity of St. Thomas (Houston)
Rev. Leonard A. Kennedy C.S.B., Ph.D.
Former President, Assumption College,Univ. of Windsor; and St. Thomas MoreCollege, Univ. of Saskatchewan
Rev. Joseph Koterski, S.J., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Philosophy,Fordham University
Msgr. Stuart W. Swetland, S.T.D.
Vice President for Catholic Identityand Mission, Mount St. Mary’s University
Hon. Kenneth D. Whitehead
Former Assistant Secretary for PostsecondaryEducation, U.S. Department of Education
Cardinal Newman SocietyExecutive Staf 
Patrick J. Reilly
President and CEO
Thomas W. Mead
Executive Vice President
9415 West StreetManassas, Virginia 20110703-367-0333
www.CatholicHigherEd.org
Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture
by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.
December 2008
 A Policy Series Guided by the Principles of Ex Corde Ecclesiae
STUDIES IN CATHOLIC
 HIGHER EDUCATION
 
Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture 
by Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.December 2008Copyright © 2008 The Cardinal Newman Society. All Rights Reserved.
Permission to reprint is hereby granted provided no modications are made to the text and it is identied as a
product of The Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education, The Cardinal Newman Society or both.
Note: the views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Center for the Study
of Catholic Higher Education or The Cardinal Newman Society.This paper is available online at The Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education’s website,www.CatholicHigherEd.org
 About The Center
The Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education is the research division of The Cardinal Newman Society.Its mission is to promote the ongoing renewal of Catholic higher education by researching and analyzing criticalissues facing Catholic colleges and universities, and sharing best practices. The Center’s work is guided by theprinciples of 
Ex corde Ecclesiae 
and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
 
Newman’s University in Today’s American Cultureby Rev. C. John McCloskey III, S.T.D.
Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture
My topic is “Newman’s University in Today’s American Culture,” but I should start by say-ing that “Newman’s University” does not exist. John Henry Newman’s idea of a university isclearly an ideal. Newman himself had a certain platonic tint to his philosophic thought, and his“ideal” would be difficult to live up to in any present-day culture. Moreover, the model of vir-tually all American universities is a continental one, drawn from the German experience ratherthan the British, with a heavy emphasis on graduate studies and professional schools ratherthan on the liberal arts.Nevertheless, we could say happily that there are increasing numbers of liberal arts collegesgradually returning to their foundations, where Newman, if he were alive, would recognizehis influence. Some of these may with time develop into universities that will approximate theNewmanian idea and ideal. The very fact that there is a Cardinal Newman Society and that theChurch has spoken in
Ex corde Ecclesiæ
is great reason for hope.In addition, more recently and perhaps as important for the practical American experience,Pope Benedict XVI has made clear that his pontificate will continue to encourage and insist thatCatholic education will be truly Catholic in all its aspects—including campus environment, thechoice of faculty members, its theological teaching and in its very nature as an agent of evan-gelization. In April 2008 at The Catholic University of America, Pope Benedict told over 400Catholic educators:
Clearly, then, Catholic identity is not dependent upon statistics. Neither can it be equated simplywith orthodoxy of course content.
It demands and inspires much more: namely that each and every aspectof your learning communities reverberates within the ecclesial life of faith.
Only in faith can truth becomeincarnate and reason truly human, capable of directing the will along the path of freedom (cf.
SpeSalvi
 , 23). In this way our institutions make a vital contribution to the mission of the Church and truly
serve society. They become places in which God’s active presence in human aairs is recognized and
in which every young person discovers the joy of entering into Christ’s “being for others” (cf. ibid.,28).…
Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News. First and foremost everyCatholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals his trans- forming love and truth
(cf.
Spe Salvi
 , 4). In this way those who meet him are drawn by the very powerof the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good, and true; a life of Christianwitness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord’s disciples, the Church. [em-phasis added]
For its very foundation, Newman would demand that the university recognize the exis-tence of objective truth and insist that we, with our will and intellect, are bound to submit to it.Without this affirmation and belief that our Faith has a truth-claim that is universal in its scope,there simply cannot be any mission. Pope John Paul II reminded the American bishops of thispoint in
Veritatis Splendor
:
The greatest challenge to Catholic education in the United States today, and the great contributionthat authentically Catholic education can make to American culture is to restore to that culture theconviction that human beings can grasp the truth of things, and in grasping that truth can know theirduties to God, to themselves, and their neighbors. . . . The contemporary world urgently needs theservice of educational institutions that uphold and teach that truth is “that fundamental value with-out which freedom, justice, and human dignity are extinguished” (
VS
 , no. 4) [emphasis added].
2
 Pope Benedict XVI,
 Address to Catholic Educators
at The Catholic University of America (April 7, 2008).2 Pope John Paul II,
 Ad Limina Address to American Bishops
 , VI (May 30, 998), no.3.
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