Lecture to Explore Mission and Identity in Catholic Higher Education

What does it mean to be a Catholic university? Dr. Darlene Fozard Weaver, director of the Center for the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and associate professor of theology, will discuss The Invention of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition: Mission and Identity in Catholic Higher Education on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 4 p.m. in the Power Center Ballroom.

Weaver will share her understanding of what the Catholic Intellectual Tradition includes, focusing on some of the challenges confronting Catholic higher education today and illustrating the impact these challenges can have on the future identity of Duquesne University.

According to Weaver, many Catholic colleges and universities have been trying to design and market themselves according to their Catholic identities. In those attempts, “the language of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition appears frequently, but never in terms that are easily understood,” Weaver said. “Even lifelong Catholics have a difficult time articulating in intellectual terms the differences that Catholic ideas can make on our understanding of the world.”

However, the real challenges arise when emphasizing the distinctiveness of a Catholic education while “nurturing a welcoming community so that people who don’t profess the Catholic faith feel at home. You also have to negotiate what it means to be faithful to Catholic tradition while, at the same time, cultivating freedom for academic inquiry and innovation,” stated Weaver.

The lecture will be followed by responses from Dr. Kathleen Glenister Roberts, associate professor in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies; Dr. James C. Swindal, dean of the McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; and The Rev. Elochukwu Uzukwu, C.S.Sp., The Rev. Pierre Schouver C.S.Sp. Endowed Chair in Mission.

This is the third in a series of lectures on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition sponsored by the Office of Mission and Identity. The lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.