Church belongs in academia: archbishop

By Jeff Graham

When Pope Benedict XVI first announced that Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, would be the coadjutor bishop for the Archdiocese of Vancouver, the administration at St. Mark's and Corpus Christi College was overjoyed that someone of his academic stature would be coming to Vancouver.

Jeff Graham / The B.C. Catholic Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, shakes hands with former Corpus Christi president Gerry Sylvester, as his son David, the current president, looks on.

Archbishop Miller, the former Secretary for the Congregation for Catholic Education, and the recipient of five honorary doctorates, was at the UBC Golf Course Nov. 17 to speak on Catholic education for the annual fund-raiser of the two Catholic colleges on the UBC campus.

"The reason we invited our coadjutor archbishop, J. Michael Miller, to speak today is that he understands Catholic education, probably better than anyone in Canada, if not the world," said Dr. David Sylvester, President of St. Mark's and Corpus Christi.

"He's been president of universities, he's been a professor, and so at all levels he understands the challenge and the promise about what Catholic higher education can be, what it currently is, and what it should be. We're very happy to have him here to share that expertise."

In his address, Archbishop Miller explained that a Catholic educational institution is to be a beacon of hope on university campuses, where relativism and materialism seem to reign.

"I would like to provide some of the reasons why this community needs the presence of both colleges if it is to be a thriving civic community, especially if it is to be a life-light for the Church in the archdiocese," he said.

"A Catholic educational institute should be unabashedly, yet joyfully, Catholic. It never needs to be defensive, apologetic, or embarrassed. We have a tremendous good to offer."

Archbishop Miller explained that the good Catholic institutions offer is the combination of faith and intellectual pursuits.

"I would like to first dispel the notion that the Church does not belong in the world of academia, or the university. Higher education in the west began in the medieval university, which combined Catholicity and fidelity to the Church with rigorous intellectual pursuit. No university, secular or otherwise, in the west would be in our midst had it not been for their sponsorship by the Catholic Church, and their development in an environment of faith."

According to Archbishop Miller, a well functioning Catholic institution always lives in communion with the Church, has very clear convictions about truth, and insists there is a harmony between faith and reason. He said they also foster the ideal that knowledge can be integrated, and foster Christian humanism.

"A Catholic college enters into a stream of tradition that goes back to the origin of the university, and enters into a network of 1300 universities around the world," he said. "Catholicism is a way of life; it touches the heart, and especially in the university, it touches the mind, and it does it in a way that is rich and comprehensive, adventurous, and thrilling."

Catholic institutions touch the heart and the mind by appealing to truth, he said. "Catholics have very clear convictions about truth, and according to the Holy Father, one of the major challenges of the Church of the 21st century is represented by the massive presence of relativism in society and in the halls of higher education."

"Two days before his election as Pope, Benedict XVI spoke of the dictatorship of relativism that is running amok in the modern world. Catholic colleges have a different take: Catholic intellectual tradition is founded on a firm conviction that truth can be apprehended by the human mind, particularly when it is illumined by faith and grace."

"Corpus Christi and St. Mark's see that there is a harmony between what we can know by the light of faith and what we know by reason," he continued. "Faith seeks understanding, and understanding seeks faith. Both the need to understand and the need to believe are deeply rooted in man's heart. It is for this reason that the Church herself is the point of departure for the creation of universities, to proclaim the harmony of truth and reason."

"At St. Mark's and Corpus Christi one can both think critically and believe devoutly, and see that there is no contradiction in that ultimate harmony. This is what sets us truly free."

Archbishop Miller lamented that academics tend towards fragmentation, and not toward developing the whole person.

"The way to get ahead in academia is to become an expert in a very very narrow field of knowledge," he said. "There is no attempt to draw things together as a whole. Knowledge is fragment and siloed; we know more and more about less and less. A Catholic institution, especially Corpus Christi, carries forward the western tradition of love for the humanities and liberal arts, and works for and believes that it is possible to foster a synthesis of knowledge."

"One of the questions that nags at the human heart is does it all fit together? Certainly Christians do not think we can make sense of the whole if we do not draw upon the contributions of faith."

Archbishop Miller explained that many colleges view themselves as places to form people for careers, and that many have taken to calling students clients rather than pupils. However, rather than looking at students as clients or as human capital, Corpus Christi looks at the whole person.

"Corpus Christi is about the person; it's about the subject. It places the person at the centre. It's not about forming human capital; that would turn people into a sort of human products. It's about the formation of whole persons."

Archbishop Miller concluded, "It's got all the ingredients to become a great Catholic institution of higher learning in our midst, one that will serve the Church, but by also serving the Church, will serve society and build it up."