Can True Catholic Colleges Still Exist?
by Francesco C.Cesareo In mid-July, 46 new college and university presidents spent a week at Harvard University’s New Presidents Seminar. Despite the diversity of institutions represented, we explored many common challenges — financial constraints, legal issues, fundraising, curriculum reform and the like. While walking through Harvard Yard reflecting on these challenges, I was struck by the Harvard seal, which had once included the motto Pro Christo et Ecclesia. The removal of these words from the seal almost a century ago was symptomatic of Harvard’s efforts to shed its religious heritage. As I contemplated these words, “For Christ and for Church,” it became quite clear that one of the most significant and important challenges facing any president of a Catholic college or university is maintaining and enhancing the religious identity and mission of the institution in the midst of the pluralism that exists on every Catholic campus in the United States. Catholic colleges and universiti
