Jorge Costadoat SJ *
"The Catholic" creates problems for the university. When confuses the mission of a university with the demands of the Christian religion is the very catholicity universities that ends discredited. But "Catholic" can effectively contribute to the search for truth, purpose and meaning of universities. You can, when in "Catholic" properly articulate the faith and reason.
When you depend on the Catholicity of a university affiliation or religious devotion of his students and, above all, their teachers, the university gets sick. Name three diseases. Two typical: simulation and exclusion. In the immediate future the religious invocation of "Catholic" can generate exclusion. This comment academics in universities who fear being looked bad, or actually are, because they believe in God, not Christians, they have another religion or are not up to the doctrine of the institution. For example, some people fear they will not get the title if separated and, worse, if they marry again. In the "Catholic" is also true that academics look his Catholicism to ingratiate himself with the establishment. This simulation is painful, but also thins the relationships between people, creates suspicion, generates odiosidades.
In my opinion these diseases affect the catholicity of the Catholic universities because they pollute their mission. A university can not be Catholic if does not encourage the free exercise of reason, without which it is impossible to achieve justice and social peace, the ultimate objective of university life in society.
Major church documents on the subject emphasize that the mission of every university is the pursuit of truth. Catholic universities in this respect, should not rely on any privileged title. Doing so would undermine his own theological certainty: the Church believes that the Father of Jesus Christ is the Creator of human reason, reason that all people have regardless of their creed. Hence, Catholic universities should understand that according to the Christian faith, his pursuit of truth is no better or worse than others, but is marked by underlining the need for dialogue and love of humanity itself, which is achieved with an appreciation of cultural diversity and support the methods without wronging anybody science for itself. Christian universities, therefore, should be room for that freedom of thought which is made possible by a clear distinction between the levels of faith and reason, paradoxically, clears the way for a convergence between them. In these universities, Catholics should not expect to find the truth without non-Catholics. Would be committing a "sin" against Creator of each other.
Where there is lack of freedom, we study, think, dialogue and taught with difficulty. For this reason, respect for the conscience and scientific inquiry, particularly through institutions capable of correcting any abuses, is a condition to find that truth is only such when, therefore, release the potential of each and urges a commitment to all, especially those who have no one to investigate them.
mention, therefore, third disease. The worst of all. In our environment the alliance between academia and private enterprise should be open to a true understanding of the humanly larger, more humanizing than that which only serves to fuel capitalism. When, however, this alliance is sealed with the help of a pious Catholic, narrow social injustice becomes unstoppable. Then special interests prevail over the pursuit of common good, and the option for the poor that should distinguish the "Catholic" gives way to the formation of the privileged as ever.
A university is truly Catholic when it favors the Christian faith freedom of thought and commitment to include the excluded or stigmatized because of their creed or their life.
* Jesuit theologian. Professor, Catholic University of Chile and the University A. Hurtado.
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