The Value of a Catholic Education
Eileen Cubanski
As founder and executive director of NAP-
CIS, a national association of private schools
committed to faithful Catholic education, and
an educator for 42 years, I have long appreci-
ated the special value of Catholic education.
It is exciting to witness the revival of serious
Catholic colleges, those institutions profiled
in The Newman Guide.
For many people, education—and most
especially Catholic education—does not and
should not end upon graduation from high
school. The value of a Catholic education is
most profoundly realized in post-secondary
education, an essential stage in the formation
of a mature Catholic mind.
Catholic education forms the human per-
son in right order with God; what is at stake is
the very meaning of the human person. Dur-
ing the years of vital discernment, a young
adult needs to involve the whole person, body
and soul, marrying faith and reason in the
pursuit of truth and in the governance of his
education and future.
A Catholic liberal arts education, during
this crucial time in the formation of the per-
son, is essential to understanding the unity
of all truths. This is the special contribution
of the Catholic intellectual tradition, which
even for non-Catholic students ought to be an
essential component of the study of Western
culture—yet too often is entirely ignored at
non-Catholic colleges.
In addition to providing an essential foun-
dation in the Catholic liberal arts, a faithful
Catholic college helps the student under-
The Newman Guide
stand that knowledge learned in the pursuit
of a specialized academic discipline does not
conflict with faith. Instead that knowledge is
enhanced and clarified by Catholic theology,
and the student’s faith is deepened and en-
riched. According to the Vatican II declaration
on Catholic education, “a true education aims
at the formation of the human person in the
pursuit of his ultimate end and of the good of
the societies of which, as man, he is member,
and in whose obligations, as an adult, he will
share” (Gravissimum Educationis).
Treasure to Be Protected
Because of this, I am rightfully proud of my
own 16-year Catholic education, which cul-
minated in 1965 with my graduation from a
Catholic college in the Northeast. Unfortu-
nately, not everyone shares the Church’s ap-
preciation of Catholic education—including,
it seems, the current leadership of my alma
mater. The contrast between what I experi-
enced and what passes today as a Catholic
college is striking.
When I attended college, theology was a
required study in every semester. Every class
began with prayer. Mass and the Sacraments
were available daily; the noon Mass, in fact,
was always standing room only. Yearly re-
treats were required, sending the message
loud and clear that prayer and contemplation
were essential for proper Catholic formation
and for maintaining a personal relationship
with God. The entire campus life was a re-
minder of the school’s Catholic mission, from
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The Value of a Catholic Education
the statuary and artwork displayed in every
building, to the code of dress and behavior
that held us all to the highest standards of
virtue and morality.
It was in my final-semester theology class,
senior year, that I heard a statement which
alarmed me and foreshadowed the changes
to come. It was from the respected college’s
chaplain and most-feared theology professor,
who told us that, as Catholics, we had a re-
sponsibility to develop our own consciences
independent of the Church’s moral teaching.
The implication was clear. One’s con-
science must be formed through learning
and contemplation of Catholic teaching, and
a Catholic education can be invaluable to this
process. But my professor’s statement was a
declaration of independence from Catholic
teaching, rather than a call to fidelity. I was
terribly naïve to the consequences of this nov-
el idea (at least so it was to me), considering
the cultural context of the 1960s.
Little did I know, or possibly suspect, that
the door to dissent was open, and the next
few decades would witness the slippery slope
of declining Catholic identity. At my alma
mater, the course is complete. The college is
now “Catholic” in name only. Notorious dis-
senters, such as Father Richard McBrien and
Sister Joan Chittister, are invited guest speak-
ers. Cultural programs include the yearly pre-
sentation of The Vagina Monologues. The list of
commencement speakers is a “who’s who” of
advocates for abortion and women’s ordina-
tion.
Just as the wonderful nuns who founded
the college decades ago eventually shed their
habits, the college shed its Catholic identity
and, with that, gave up its treasure. Although
it consistently makes the U.S. News & World
Report list of recommended colleges, it is also
frequently cited by the Cardinal Newman So-
ciety for a lack of Catholic identity.
42
Victory of the Spirit
Is Catholic education everywhere in such a
sad state? Absolutely not! Catholic education
is thriving on all grade levels—elementary,
secondary and post-secondary—but families
have to choose schools and colleges careful-
ly.
In The Idea of a University, the Venerable
John Henry Cardinal Newman wrote that a
college or university is “a place that teaches
universal knowledge. ...Since knowledge is
limited only by truth, if the Catholic faith is
true, a university cannot exist externally to
the Catholic place, for it cannot teach universal
knowledge, if it does not teach Catholic theol-
ogy. Hence a direct and active jurisdiction of
the Church over it and in it is necessary, lest it
should become the rival of the Church.”
The crisis of Catholic colleges has been fol-
lowed with great interest and concern in the
last 40 years. There are Catholic colleges that
declare and demonstrate their institution as
founded on the principles as expressed in Ex
corde Ecclesiae, the Apostolic Constitution on
Catholic higher education, but identifying
them can be difficult. This Guide will help.
Parents must be just as vigilant in their
process of review and selection of a Catholic
college as they are in making choices about
elementary and secondary education. Parents
and their college-bound children must spend
a lot of time in prayer, research and observa-
tion, and they should ask a lot of questions
before making any decisions about a particu-
lar school.
Can a Catholic student get a good educa-
tion at a non-Catholic college? Sure, as far as
it goes. But a Catholic college looks beyond
learning a profession and preparing to be
a good worker of the 21st century. It offers a
more complete education, the free pursuit of
truth. That is because a faithful Catholic col-
The Newman Guide

lege or university teaches from the source of
truth, which is Jesus Christ, and, therefore,
possesses the fullness of truth.
A Catholic college protects and nurtures a
student’s faith. It rejects the disordered secu-
lar “theology” that posits man as the supreme
being and deprograms a person’s faith from
any part of daily life. Instead of compartmen-
talizing life and identifying himself by what
he does and not who he is—so that he is a doc-
tor, lawyer, teacher or parent who happens to
be Catholic—a Catholic college prepares the
student to be a Catholic doctor, a Catholic
lawyer, a Catholic teacher or a Catholic par-
ent.
Fortunately the increasing variety of faith-
ful Catholic colleges offers many options
to students. It is one important sign of the
“Springtime of Hope” in the Church of which
Pope John Paul II spoke. Catholic education
in all its venues—homes, elementary and sec-
ondary schools, colleges and universities—
leads the renewed vitality in the Church and
is the hope to restore all things to Christ in
the Church and society.
This could not be more important. The
source of salvation is Jesus Christ, teaching us
how to know, love and serve God through the
Catholic Church. Catholic schools and colleg-
es are the formal expression of the Church’s
teaching mission.
The Newman Guide
Eileen Cubanski
Young people rely on Catholic education
to teach not only the skills and knowledge
that are necessary for responsible citizenship,
but also the truths of the Catholic faith. By
forming the hearts, minds and wills of stu-
dents, Catholic education helps them discern
their secular and religious vocations in life,
witness to their faith in the world and pursue
their ultimate end in Heaven.
Catholic education is essential to the
growth of the Church and is thriving with
the Holy Spirit’s loving intervention. It is
by Catholic education that He protects and
preserves the Church. The Holy Spirit is in
control within the Church to bring faithful
Catholic education to every soul, from early
childhood to aspiring adults ready to become
the future leaders of the Church and society.
For educators like me and those you will
find at the colleges in The Newman Guide, all
our successes and failures are cast in the shad-
ow of the Cross. From the heart of the Church
to the heart of our schools, we celebrate the
activity of the Holy Spirit and our part as His
instruments in Catholic education. We look to
the Cross to show us most powerfully the ver-
tical dimension to the tasks, challenges and
opportunities that lie ahead for Catholic edu-
cation. We can do no less than to help carry
that Cross and share in the celebration of its
ultimate victory—the salvation of souls.
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