INFUSING CATHOLIC IDENTITY at St. Catherine's: Alumnae/i Association

INFUSING CATHOLIC IDENTITY at St. Catherine's

Sister Amata Miller, IHM,
Excites Alumnae about Reinvigorating
Catholic Beliefs and Values
in College Life and Teachings

Though a soft spoken, plain speaking academic, Sister Amata Miller becomes quite animated when she explains how the College of St. Catherine is pioneering a new way to make the Catholic faith even more a part of the core experience, without forcing beliefs on nonCatholic members of the community. At the 2007 Reunion and at the Annual Meeting, she passed on this enthusiasm to alumnae.

True to her roots, she began by providing a little historical perspective and context, always citing major Church documents to back up her statements. (For an extended interview with Sr. Amata on this topic, see

the

Spring 2007 issue of SCAN.)

How Did We Come to Need This?
Hasn't CSC Always Been A Catholic College?

Many important American colleges and universities began as faith-directed schools, such as Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth, William and Mary, run by specific religions or Christian denominations. Over time, they became more and more secular learning organizations that included theological departments.

The College of St. Catherine did not ever make this change. Though the college has always welcomed people of other faiths, it maintained its character and mission. It has always seen its Catholic identity as a gift to offer its students in terms of values, intellectual striving and vision, and faith perspectives.

However, during the early history of all Catholic schools, colleges, and universities, the teaching staffs were composed of clergy and religious. These people's lives were infused with prayer, religious structures of time and materials, faith, history, and tradition. They were trained in these elements and lived them, so that their perspectives of Catholic identity rose from the inside out as well as from their academic expertise.

As the Church changed, more and more subjects came to be taught by qualified lay people. They brought expertise, academic achievements, and fresh perspectives that were needed. In the process, however, the sense of the sacramentality of all of life's subjects became lost. Subjects were taught as more separate secular entities, with less integration of faith perspectives.

This change in Catholic education from teaching predominantly by religious to teaching predominantly by lay people in the overall Church was mirrored by similar changes at the College.

9 Core Catholic Perspectives towards Faith and Reason (established in Catholic encyclicals, Scripture, and tradition)

Continuity of Faith and Reason...both are tools to know God that exist on a continuum. They have been called the two wings upon which we rise to the contemplation of Truth.
Emphasis that God Is Good, and Thus, through Creation, So Are We...humans are capable of evil, selfish acts, but we are made to be good and are considered thus by our Creator who proclaimed all Creation Good.
Both/And View of Beliefs... We believe in both Scripture and Tradition, God and Man in Christ, Charity and Justice, Father and Mother in God, Death and Resurrection, etc.
Sacramental View of Life...God is present within the formalized sacraments as well as in all of life, which is why there is an emphasis on art and music to heighten senses toward the sacred in life -- stained glass, incense, candles, water, symbols, etc.
Profound Respect for History and Past Role Models...honoring saints and ancestors in the faith, traditions, and history, looking back also to spot mistakes revealed by hindsight of history to avoid repeating them.
The Church Is a Body of Sinners while together being the Body of Christ...all sinners are welcome. We are not a perfect people, but a people on a journey to Christ, and to be more like Him to serve and heal the world, revealing Him to others through this. We reject the sins, not the sinners.
Catholic Community ... We are called to worship together; baptism is a communal call. Catholic means universal.
Catholic Hospitality... The Church emphasizes knowing each other by name, welcoming and looking out for all. There are no divisions by wealth or status. We are all one and equal in Christ.
Social Responsibility, Justice, Ethics, and Living the Beatitudes... The Church emphasizes the importance of living as Christ.
We Are a People of Hope -- We believe that we are called to make a difference, and there is light after darkness. We possess frustration and concern over what is not right and we seek the courage and Holy Spirit to help change things.

God Is Mystery Beyond All Knowing ...
and Thus God and Life Will Continually Surprise Us

Changes in Form Did Not Mean Changes in Core Teachings

Older alumnae will remember the many rituals, traditions, and values given to them by the beloved CSJs (Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet) at St. Catherine's. Some fear that with their loss, that the College's Catholic identity was also being lost.

Presently, there is an academic movement in secular subjects back toward more interdisciplinary teaching between and within subject areas. The College of St. Catherine has been a leader in such academic cooperation and collaboration, based on the Catholic tradition of integrated thought and excellence.

Even more pertinent, Catholic values, traditions, and faith perspectives have been, to a greater and a lesser degree, also maintained throughout academic subjects and the college campus community. Alumnae from all years have noted not only the Catholic heritage, but the "aura" of spirituality in the CSC community, the emphasis on lived values and social justice, the smallness of size and individual attention, the caring and nurturing environment, and the promotion of international learning, critical thinking, and the arts.

However, as the staff and the student body of the college have become more diverse, an effort has been needed to make the assumed values and teachings more overt -- to reinvigorate that Catholic identity while still respecting the perspectives of all members of the community. President Andrea Lee did not just want to make a new Catholic Identity Department, she wanted to instill the essence of Catholicism into every aspect of life and curriculum.

For Further Reading

Some key resources that Sr. Amata Miller referred to in her speech included:

Contending with Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century by Phillip Gleason (Oxford University Press, 1995)

In Search of an American Catholicism: A History of Religion and Culture in Tension by Jay P. Dolan (Oxford University Press, 2002)

The Catholic Imagination by Andrew Greeley (University of California Press, 2000)

The Intellectual Appeal of Catholicism and the Idea of a Catholic University by Mark W. Roche (University of Notre Dame, 2003)

Understanding Catholicism by Monika K. Hellwig (Paulist Press, 2002)

What Makes Us Catholic: Eight Gifts for Life by Thomas H. Groome (HarperCollins, 2002)

Why I Am Catholic by Garry Wills (Houghton Mifflin, 2002)

A more complete and far-ranging bibliographical list of resources was provided to reunion participants. It included titles such as Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church by Angela Bonavoglia (Harper Collins, 2005) and Sexuality and the U.S. Catholic Church: Crisis and Renewal by Lisa Sowle Chaill, John Garvey and T. Frank Kennedy S.J. (eds). For a copy of this more comprehensive list of resources, please contact the Alumnae Association at: alumnae@stkate.edu .

Pioneering Paths to Infuse Catholic Identity While Respecting Others' Beliefs

Some faculty and students were concerned about this project, wondering if Catholic faith and dogma would suddenly be forced onto people. Sr. Andrea Lee and Sr. Amata have been careful to have all initiatives educate without coercion, elucidate not indoctrinate. These efforts are promoting dialog, listening, and deeper discussions of faith for all -- understanding the great spiritual resources alive and accessible in every religion.

"There has been good attendance, and those who have attended have been pleased," noted Sister Amata with a smile." She has judged this satisfaction by the feedback received stating that the sessions have exceeded expectations in positive ways, contributing to participants' understanding, respect, and appreciation of the college's Catholic Identity. One attendee wrote an unprompted note: "Thank you! I learned so much from your presentation. Now when I teach Global Search for Justice, I feel so much more prepared!"

The purpose of the Myser Initiative events is to illuminate and reinforce for faculty, staff, students, and alumnae the deep rich gifts for life and faith that come from our Catholic tradition and beliefs. Within these efforts, all participants develop a common language with which to understand and share their own beliefs.

The activities on campus have included:

Faculty Planning Workshops for Integrating Catholic Social Teachings
New Hire Faculty Orientations
Faculty Workshops on Teaching and Learning Days
Brown Bag Discussions
Guest Lecturers

From these events, faculty explore how to elucidate Catholic perspectives on their academic subjects in ways that will leading to greater understanding, respect, and appreciation, as well as to respectful dialog about other perspectives. They also learn how to more effectively integrate Catholic social teachings and intellectual traditions into the teaching of the core courses: The Reflective Woman in freshman year and Global Search for Justicein the senior year.

Through the activities sponsored by the Myser Initiative, staff learn that even beyond the basic tenents and dogmas of Catholicism, there is a deep, rich, intellectual and faith tradition that provides immense spiritual resources for daily life. With their greater knowledge, they are able to pass this on to their students.

Leaven for Academic Subjects
Growing out of this initiative and other efforts, academic department chairs have been gradually examining their curriculum in the light of Catholic Social Teachings to highlight synergism and areas of dialog. A groundbreaker in this area has Mary Ann Brenden in Social Work. She has worked on:

Developing a curriculum that emphasizes the 10 core principles held in common between the National Social Work Code of Ethics and Catholic Social Justice Teachings
Hosting a National Conference for Catholic college and university Social Work Programs to share the Catholic Social Justice Social Work Curriculum
Standing as an ongoing resource and model to Social Work Programs around the nation

Efforts to create similar Catholic Social Justice Curriculum in Nursing, O.T., and P.T. are underway.

Amata Miller, IHM*

Sister Amata believes economics should be used as a tool for social justice, equity, and fairness. After working as a professor of economics for many years, she served as Financial Vice President for the (Imaculate Heart of Mary) IHM congregations for 12 years. She was Education Coordinator and Economic Analyst for NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby in Washington, D.C. She served as Chief Financial Officer of Marygrove College and as Professor of Economics at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, before coming to St. Catherine's, where she is Director of the Myser Initative on Catholic Identity and Professor of Economics.

She has been awarded honorary doctorates from Marygrove College, St. Mary of the Woods College, and Holy Cross Collge. She also received the Archibishop Roach Award in Social Justice from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis' Commission on Women in 2003.

She has written and lectured extensively on economic justice issues, Catholic social teaching and socially responsible investing throughout the United States and abroad. She has served on the boards of many organizations. She is currently Board Chair of Global Health Initiatives in Denver and is a Trustee of St. Edward's University in Austin and of the SSIHM Charitable Trust in Monroe, Michigan. Sister Amata earned a doctorate in economics from the University of California at Berkeley where she won a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. She earned a master's degree in economics at St. Louis University.

*This biographical sketch was taken from the Spring 2007 issue of SCAN.

MYSER INITIATIVE
CATHOLIC IDENTITY LECTURE --
"The Banquet of the Creed:
Nourishing Faith with the Living Tradition."
April 10, 2008

Our speaker was Fordham University theologian, scholar, and lecturer Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ. Johnson intends "to lay out what contemporary theology is uncovering as hidden power and inspiration in an ancient formula". She drew from her new book entitled Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers.

How Has This Catholic Identity Promotion Been Facilitated?

This incredible and innovative initiative, with its sharing with Catholic universities nationally and internationally, has been made possible through the generous gift of Patricia O'Connor Myser '56 and her husband John (Buzz) Myser. The College of St. Catherine set up the Myser Initiative for Catholic Identity to reverse any losses of Catholic heritage and find additional ways to infuse Catholic approaches to moral and communal challenges into curriculum questions. Pat notes that her reasons for providing the funds for this initiative is to reinforce the College's mission: "...that we are Catholic, we are women, and we are liberal arts."

Sister Amata Miller, IHM, a professor in economics and a former CFO of a college and of her religious order, was selected to direct this project because of her amazing history as a leader in bringing Catholic social teaching into the study and application of economics. Sister Andrea Lee did not want a theologian for this work, but someone from another field to role model the integration of thought needed. Sister Amata served as the education coordinator and Economic Analyst for NETWORK: A National Catholic Social Justic Lobby in Washington, D. C.

Some Statements by Pope John Paul II
on the Nature of Religious Identity and Dialog

Faith in Christ does not impel us to intolerance. On the contrary, it obliges us to engage others in a respectful dialog. Love of Christ does not distract us from interest in others, but rather invites us to responsibility for them, to the exclusion of no one and indeed, if anything, with a special concern for the weakest and the suffering. . . .

For different cultures are but different ways of facing the question of the meaning of personal existence. And it is precisely here we find one source of the respect due to every culture and every nation: every culture is an effort to ponder the mystery of the world and in particular, of the human person: it is a way of giving expression to the transcendent dimension of human life. The heart of every culture is its approach to the greatest of all mysteries: the mystery of God.

Our respect for the culture of others is therefore rooted in our respect for each community’s attempt to answer the question of human life. And here we can see how important it is to safeguard the fundamental right to freedom of religion and freedom of conscience, as the cornerstones of the structure of human rights and the foundation of every truly free society. No one is permitted to suppress those rights by using force to impose an answer to the mystery of the human person.

To cut oneself off from the reality of difference — or, worse, to attempt to stamp out that difference — is to cut oneself off from the possibility of listening to the depths of the mystery of human life. . . . every culture has something to teach us about one or other dimension of that complex truth.

Thus the “difference” that some find so threatening can, through respectful dialog, become the source of a deeper understanding of the mystery of human existence.

Pope John Paul II, emphasis is pope's own, Address to General Assembly of the U.N. in Honor of Its 50th Anniversary, New York, October 5, 1995

10 Principles of Social Work for Catholic Social Justice

Human Dignity
Community and the Common Good
Rights and Responsibilites
Priority for Poor and Vulnerable
Participation
Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
Solidarity
Stewardship
Governance/Prinicple of Subsidiarity
Promotion of Peace

These principles are all based in major Catholic encyclicals, teachings, and Scripture. They also highlight the convergence of prinicples between the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Work and Catholic Social Teachings.

Social Work Professor Mary Ann Brenden, M.S.W., working with Sister Amata Miller, is leading a groundbreaking effort to integrate Catholic Social Justice principles and the Biblical Beatitudes into the curriculum and application of social work. She is working with the joint Social Work programs of the College of St. Catherine and University of St. Thomas, and spreading the word to other Catholic-sponsored social work programs. They want to set new standards in the profession by making explicit and practically applicable Catholic social justice principles in order to serve individuals by providing for their immediate needs of food, shelter, and health care. They also want to advocate for the systematic changes that will allow individuals to more easily provide these needs for themselves with dignity.

Brenden has been teaching at St. Catherine's for most of the past quarter century, and she was selected in 2007 by reunion alumnae for a very different Myser gift, the Myser Award for Teaching Excellence and named Faculty Member of the Year for 2005-2006.

Brenden earned a bachelor's degree in Social Work from Cornell University and an M.S. W. from the University of Minnesota. For more on Mary Ann Brenden and this innovative program, see the Spring 2007 issue of SCAN.

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Inter-religious relations are best developed in a context of openness to other believers, a willingness to listen, and the desire to respect and understand others in their differences. For all this, love of others is indispensable. This should result in collaboration, harmony, and mutual enrichment.

Pope John Paul II,Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclessia in Asia, quoting Synod Fathers, 1999

God is not at the beck and call of one individual or one people, and no human venture can claim to monopolize him.
The children of Abraham know
that God cannot be commandeered by anyone:
God is to be received.

Pope John Paul II in speech to Diplomatic Corps, January 10, 2002

In the years of preparation for the Great Jubilee, the Church has sought to build,
… a relationship of openness and dialog with the followers of other religions. This dialog must continue … this dialog will be especially important in establishing a sure basis for peace and warding off the dread specter of those wars of religion that have so often bloodied human history. . .

Dialog, however, cannot be based on religious indifferentism, and we Christians are in duty bound, while engaging in dialog, to bear clear witness to the hope that is within us (cf. 1 Pt 3:15). We should not fear that it will be considered an offense to the identity of others, what is rather the joyful proclamation of a gift meant for all, and to be offered to all with the greatest respect for the freedom of each one: the gift of the revelation of the God who is Love, the God who “so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (Jn 3:16). … this cannot be the subject of a dialog understood as negotiation, as if we considered it a matter of mere opinion:
rather, it is a grace that fills us with joy, a message we have a duty to proclaim.

Pope John Paul II, emphasis is pope’s own,
Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte, January 6, 2001