The recent mass walkout by staff and students at a Graduation Ceremony at the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne campus, during a speech by Joe de Bruyn who had been granted an honorary doctorate, raises the question of the nature and role of a Catholic university in today’s intellectual and social climate.

 

The walkout was occasioned by the speaker referring to his own effort to defend Catholic teaching on abortion, IVF and same-sex marriage. The walkout revealed that the culture of this supposedly Catholic university has abandoned its identity. It is no longer aligned with traditional Catholic teaching on these matters. It revealed that the culture of the university is in fact now aligned with the secular zeitgeist. Thus, the question must be asked: how can the university continue to claim that it is a Catholic university?

The role and mission of a Catholic university is clearly outlined in the 1990 papal document Ex Corde Ecclesiae.  This document articulates the mission and identity of Catholic tertiary institutions. It reminds Catholic institutions that they are part of the Catholic Church and so are to respect the norms established by local bishops. The document requires all teachers of theology to have a mandate from ecclesiastical authority. In other words, the Church expects its teaching to be in union with the traditions of the faith. It sets out the ‘ecclesiastical characteristics’ required of a Catholic university.

Any large public university, like the Australian Catholic University, is going to be subject to many pressures from the contemporary culture. Many staff and students are not Catholic and among those who are the influence of cultural forces is going to be very strong.

However, every institution strives to have a particular vision which inspires its aspirations and internal culture.

A Catholic university by definition seeks to have a sound foundation in the Catholic faith. Where can ACU go from here?

One person who addressed this question of the purpose of a Catholic university was John Henry Newman, later Cardinal and now canonised, who was asked by the bishops of Ireland to found a Catholic university. In 1854 Newman was invited to not only become the first rector of the newly-established Catholic University of Ireland, but also to envision the creation and development of Catholic higher education in this new institution. Newman brought his significant intellectual gifts to this task. He had clear convictions about what was needed in providing a tertiary education for Irish Catholics which would both equip them for employment but also provide a sound formation in character.

His well-known book The Idea of a University (1875) was in fact a gathering of various lectures and occasional writings which addressed the question of the identity and mission of a university. Newman had three primary themes concerning university life: the nature of knowledge; the role of religious belief in higher education; and a defence of liberal education for university students. Newman was at once committed to a revival and strengthening of Catholic life and at the same time an advocate of scientific inquiry. He promoted the interaction between faith and reason.

Earlier in 1852 in a visit to Dublin he gave a series of five lectures to the Catholics of Dublin, later he produced ten occasional writings as Rector. These form the essential content of a book which was compiled in 1873.

At the heart of Newman’s view of the role of a university was the pursuit of truth.

He was convinced that debate was vital to the lifeblood of a university. He did not favour doctrinaire thought that dutifully passed knowledge down from generation to generation. His concern was the open and serious pursuit of truth.

He repudiated the utilitarianism of Locke and Mill who argued that a primary objective of educational institutions should be the development of skills in service of broader economic goals. He believed that the purpose of education needed to be conceived more broadly than student success in specialisation within a given discipline. He wanted the university curriculum to encourage study in multiple fields so that students and scholars alike could identify connections and engage with the great philosophical questions, with social issues, and with scientific problems.

In a lecture entitled, “Knowledge Its Own End,” Newman expressed the following belief: “It is a great point then to enlarge the range of studies which a University professes, even for the sake of the students; and, though they cannot pursue every subject which is open to them, they will be the gainers by living among those and under those who represent the whole circle. This I conceive to be the advantage of a seat of universal learning … An assemblage of learned men, zealous for their own sciences, and rivals of each other, are brought, by familiar intercourse and for the sake of intellectual peace, to adjust together the claims and relations of their respective subjects of investigation. They learn to respect, to consult, to aid each other.”

In short, Newman makes a twofold argument concerning the nature of education for students. He passionately defends a liberal education that prizes the development of individual intellect over the sole achievement of academic results and development of marketable skill development. He believed in the potential of the university to bring together diverse perspectives and areas of expertise in service of the advancement of truth.

This is a genuine Catholic view of education. It ultimately concerns the formation of the mind, including in openness to alternative views, and always directed towards the pursuit of truth. Newman, of course, was confident that the Catholic faith could withstand inquiry and challenge, and a university was the proper place for the student to seek the meaning and purpose of human life and see possibilities for contributing to the advancement of human society. Such fashioning of mind and character would ensure a healthy capacity to desire a genuine discovery of what is true, good and beautiful.

The events at the 2024 Graduation Ceremony at ACU Melbourne have revealed the very opposite of this. It revealed a narrowing of the mind, a closing of the mind to alternative views. The expression of ‘cancel culture’ showed that the university was failing to inspire an openness to debate and a genuine pursuit of the truth.

The university leadership could well consider the vision of John Henry Newman and set itself to be a leader in the open and robust pursuit of truth.