Features of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

A Sacramental Worldview

"These things, these things were here and but the beholder
Wanting..."
- Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Hurrahing in Harvest"

This worldview proposes that there is a deeper meaning to the experiences of everyday life, even those that are seemingly mundane. The more that we can know about every aspect of reality the closer we draw to truth and its source for Christians, God. Through the physical sciences we can explore the material structures of reality, through the social sciences we attempt to understand human beings better and their relationships with others, and through the humanities we explore more deeply what it means to be human within a broader cosmos. Thus, a “Catholic University … is a place ... where scholars scrutinize reality with the methods proper to each academic discipline, and so contribute to the treasury of human knowledge” (Pope Saint John Paul II, Ex Corde Ecclesiae #15).

In order to scrutinize reality, Fr. Michael Himes argues that it is our task to train our students to become beholders and to model this practice for them because the “Catholic conviction is that if we see what is there to be seen, we will discover grace, the love that undergirds all that exists” ("Finding God in All Things," 15). Accordingly, Saint Joseph’s College, as an expression of its mission, commits itself to fostering “a strong academic community dedicated to the pursuit of truth through serious study.”

For further reading:

Faith and Reason

"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth." - Pope Saint John Paul II, Fides et Ratio

In the Catholic worldview faith and reason are complementary to one another. It is impossible for truth of faith to contradict the truth of reason. What Saint Augustine (354-430 A.D.) calls the initium fidei (“initiation of faith”) motivates our desire to know more about all aspects of our world and beyond because everything comes from God. Additionally, the more we employ reason to understand God’s creation, the more our understanding of faith is clarified and sharpened.

This relationship results in an emphasis on the integration of knowledge from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. As Saint John Henry Newman writes in The Idea of a University, “I have said that all branches of knowledge are connected together, because the subject-matter of knowledge is intimately united in itself, as being the acts and the work of the Creator” (Discourse V.1).

Saint Joseph’s College identifies itself as a “liberal arts college that nurtures intellectual, spiritual, and social growth in students of all ages and all faiths” where “we seek to combine faith with reason in the pursuit of academic excellence.”

For further reading:

"Integrating Learning in a Catholic University"

Social Nature of the Human Person

"The human person is essentially a social being because God, who created humanity, willed it so." - Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

From a Catholic perspective, we can only experience the fullness of our humanity when we are in relationship with others. So it is also for the intellectual life of a college. According to Stephen Trainor, “The principal advantage of a university as a place of learning is that it brings together in community representatives of the various disciplines, who must learn to work together socially and intellectually in order to adjust the limits of their subjects and cooperate in the pursuit of Truth” ("A Delicate Balance: The Catholic College in America" 18). One of the core values of Saint Joseph’s College is community through which “we demonstrate our spirit of connectedness with one another through our expressions of hospitality, courtesy, inclusive relationships, shared values, and collaboration.”

Silence and Contemplation

"Do you want to do intellectual work? Begin by creating within you a zone of silence, a habit of recollection, a will to renunciation and detachment which puts you entirely at the disposal of the work; acquire a state of soul unburdened by desire and self-will which is the state of grace of the intellectual worker. Without that you will do nothing, at least nothing worthwhile." - A. G. Sertillanges, The Intellectual Life

In the Christian tradition contemplation is “a special dimension of inner discipline and experience, a certain integrity and fullness of personal development, which are not compatible with a purely external, alienated, busy-busy existence” (Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, 157). While it is associated with the religious life, it is also intrinsic to academics which is, fundamentally, an ascetic undertaking.

Catholic philosopher Fr. Bernard Lonergan outlined an intellectually contemplative practice which he called his “cognitional enterprise.” It is comprised of an empirical level on which we experience the world, an intellectual level on which we inquire and seek to understand our experience, a rational level on which we gather evidence to test our conclusions about our experience, and a responsible level on which we determine a course of action based on our deliberations. Each level mutually informs the others.

Service to the Common Good

"If then the intellect is so excellent a portion of us, and its cultivation so excellent, it is not only beautiful, perfect, admirable, and noble in itself, but in a true and high sense it must be useful to the possessor and to all around him; not useful in any low, mechanical, mercantile sense, but as diffusing good, or as a blessing, or a gift, or power, or a treasure, first to the owner, then through him to the world." - Saint John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University

Catholic teaching emphasizes the common good as both a means that encourages human flourishing and an end to which we should strive through our daily actions. In this regard, the acquisition of knowledge is not a value-free undertaking; there is a goal to knowledge beyond gaining skills or a job. When properly directed, it contributes to the common good. This goal is informed by the integration of knowledge which brings a variety of perspectives into critical dialogue with one another about concepts, ideas, and contemporary concerns. Catholic social teaching provides guiding principles in this regard, and community-based learning practices provide ways for our students to see, judge, and act with regard to pressing social concerns.

For further reading:

In summary

As you undertake your work at Saint Joseph's, consider the following questions as opportunities for reflection on how you can support our Catholic identity, even if you are not Catholic.

In what ways can you encourage our students to become beholders? How can you help them “see what is there to be seen” so as to understand the world and their place in it better and more deeply?
How do we foster a learning community that, in addition to learning skills and methods, probes questions of purpose and ultimacy and extends hospitality to other perspectives so as to "prepare our learners to live meaningful lives" in a manner that seeks "to combine faith with reason in the pursuit of academic excellence”?
How can we encourage our students to embrace learning as a process undertaken in collaboration with others? What can we learn from past Saint Joseph’s faculty and staff members who have left a legacy here? How can our work express the core value of community in ways that express "hospitality, courtesy, inclusive relationships, shared values, and collaboration"?
How can we invite our students to recognize the contemplative nature of the academic life as one of investigation, understanding, critical reflection, and responsibility?
How can we help our students see how knowledge can serve the common good? How can we structure their learning experiences to enable them to see, judge, and act with regard to social and structural injustices?

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