New book focuses on phony Catholic colleges and organizations

 We hear a lot today about fake Catholic colleges and we know how destructive they can be the spiritual well-being of our Catholic youth. The most recent examples that come to mind are the Notre Dame Scandal, Cabrini College honoring the pro-abortion Catholic Cokie Roberts this past February, and the Georgetown University Scandal.

But why is this happening?

Dr. Anne Hendershott explores this phenomenon in her recently released new book, Status Envy: the Politics of Higher Education. In it, she explains that Catholic higher education is distancing itself from Catholic teaching in order to keep up with its secular counterparts.

Via CNA:

Hendershott spoke to the Catholic Transcript, newspaper for the Archdiocese of Hartford,  about how her experiences as a 15-year faculty member at the University of San Diego helped her to write her latest book on Catholic higher education.

In a description on the cover of her book explains that since Catholic universities are not generally regarded as “top-notch,” they strive to define their success and status based on secular standards.  Because of this, faculty and administration work to “distance universities from Catholic ideas and curriculum,” she said.  Hendershott explains that some schools “have distanced themselves so far from their Catholic origins that the church no longer recognizes them as Catholic institutions.” 

Some Catholic colleges and universities “have these beautiful statues and they take their prospective students and their moms and dads and say, ‘This is our statue of Mary,’ and, 'This is our grotto,’” Hendershott explained in her interview.  “They don’t say, ‘This is where we have the transgender fashion show.’ They have this façade of pious people. But what goes on inside … it’s fake. I worked at one for 15 years. I know how fake it is."

She also revealed that during her time at the university, she was one of the few pro-life faculty members. 

"I kept saying, ‘What are we doing with internships at Planned Parenthood?’ You’re not popular when you say things like that because all of the pro-choice feminists on campus will hate you. And they did," she noted.

Click here to read the entire article.

Joseph A. Varacalli, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Catholic Studies at Nassau Community College and member of the Catholic League’s Advisory Board shares his book review here, which is entitled Treason of the Intellectuals.  (I love that title!)