BC Should Be Catholic

It’s that time of the year when student-led tours of Boston College are carousing through campus, with high school students taking in all the information they can manage, so that they can make an informed decision about where to apply to college. 

A common spiel you might hear when walking by these groups is: “Okay, so, Boston College is a Catholic school—but it’s not really a big deal. Like, you don’t need to be Catholic to attend. I’ve been at Boston College for two years, and I can tell you that you can hardly notice it’s a Catholic school.”

This seemingly universal disclaimer Catholic schools are so fond of could be seen as merely a lengthy legalese expression indicating that the University does not discriminate in admissions based on religion. However, I think we all know the true reason behind it: that the ‘Catholic’ part of ‘Catholic school’ is incompatible with the educational excellence expected from a modern university.

I found an article Benjamin Burke wrote for The Heights in 2022 particularly insightful regarding this view. The article, titled, Only as Catholic as You Make It, was written about the institutional tension between Boston College’s Catholic identity and the changing times: “While BC is a Catholic, Jesuit university, it is also a nationally ranked, flagship educational institution… at the crossroads of old and new ways of thinking” (Burke 2020). 

There is a very common view that Catholic schools ought to apologize for or minimize the impact their Catholic founding has on day-to-day operations, as if being Catholic is something contrary to a good education. If anyone knows anything about the history and origins of the Western higher education system, this view is obviously false. The university system as we know it traces its roots to early-middle Christendom and was heavily influenced and led by Catholic Clerics.

Despite the obvious truth that Catholicism is by no means anti-education, this is the prevalent subconscious view, causing Catholic universities to shun their ‘Catholic’ label.

The Young Catholic Woman published an article titled, Catholic Universities: A Threat to the Catholic Faith? In the article, a Boston College graduate named Emma Foley reflects on her experience at Boston College. She recalled that, “[For political motives,] Catholic absolutes and non-negotiables were being watered down” (Foley). She continued, lamenting how this was, “[both] extremely confusing for the faithful on the fence and for outsiders wishing to understand Catholicism.” (Foley)

Emma goes on to describe multiple events that made her feel marginalized for holding fast to Catholic dogma – even in a Catholic theology class! Emma writes,

“During my senior year, however, I refused to sit silently while a professor… promoted the use of oral contraceptives within the context of marriage… The class roster included a deacon, a religious sister, and several lay men and women. When the majority of the room agreed with a reconstruction of the Church’s procreative paradigm, I knew I had to speak up.

‘I am going to play my fertile-woman card here. I actually like what the Church has to say regarding the purpose of sex in marriage. It makes sense. If the Church were to allow the pill—a Group 1 carcinogen, by the way, which would be a horrible look for the Church once people begin paying attention to that—she would have to redefine one of the four pillars of marriage: that the marriage is fruitful…that the couple is open to bearing and raising children in the faith.’

I received what I expected—looks as if I were an extra-terrestrial. After class, however, another student came up to me in the hallway. ‘Emma,’ he said, ‘thank you for what you said [back] there. Raising those points. Just…thank you.’”

Emma’s story is just one of many stories of how pernicious a ‘Catholic’ education that isn’t ‘Catholic’ in truth can be. The Boston College’s board of trustees, in their search for Boston College’s next president, ought to look for someone who does not have such a false view of things.