The support donors in the National Catholic Community Foundation community provide for Catholic education is noteworthy. Among them there is a prevailing understanding that Catholic education transcends apprenticeship in the basic skills of life by inviting students to explore various paths to Truth. This steady support by our donors brings to mind our Lord’s words in St. John’s Gospel: “the truth will set you free”. Other than their soteriological significance – namely how they relate to our salvation from the bondage of sin – these words of Jesus prompt reflection on the symbiotic relationship in our time on this earth among education, truth and freedom.
Three educational endeavors helped by our donors in recent years demonstrate in different ways the efficacy of this triadic relationship. Interestingly, all three are anchored in university settings.
The first is the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (www.crvp.org) which was established several decades ago and is housed at the Catholic University of America. Its mission is “to identify areas related to values and social life which are in need of research to bring together the professional competencies in philosophy and related human sciences needed for this research, and to publish the resulting studies.” RVP does this by engaging philosophers of all religions from around the world in discussions about the challenging changes in contemporary culture. The study of truth is pursued through the lens of cultural change.
The second is the Collegium Institute (www.collegiuminstitute .org) whose website states: “Founded in 2013 by faculty, alumni, students, & friends of the University of Pennsylvania, the Collegium Institute is an independent, academic community with a catholic vision: that is, it draws the contemporary learning of America’s first secular university into conversation with the Catholic intellectual tradition and cultivates reflection on the catholic, or universal, questions that animate every human life. Truth is explored through the lens of philosophy.
The third is the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, Ukraine (www.ucu.edu.ua/en). For the better part of the last century Ukraine and the Church were suppressed by the Soviet Union. At the close of the cold war, the country regained its independence and the Catholic Church no longer had to exist underground. In the 1990s the University was established as an “academic community following the Eastern Christina tradition and educating leaders who serve with professional excellence in Ukraine and internationally – for the glory of God, the common good, and the dignity of the human race”. A beacon of hope for Easter Europe and the whole world, UCU “shapes and promotes discussion about new narratives for Ukraine and the world”. Dedicated to the restoration of a free Ukraine society, UCU fosters the revelation of truth through the lens of politics.
As these three examples show, education informed by the Catholic faith is mutual exploration of Truth and leads – if not to the realization of liberty – at least to the recognition of it. In this respect, these three endeavors are timely. More and more one hears about how young people around the world are disillusioned by the purposelessness of their lives. Unanchored in faith, they seek meaningful direction to liberate them from stultifying nihilism and to guide them to the fulfillment of their potential. The leadership in these three universities supported by our donors provide the paths to the truth that will ‘set them free’.
May this Eastertide bring us many blessings as the Kingdom continues its advance.
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