Why Not A Catholic University For India?

[Sanny de Quepem]

Why Not A Catholic University For
India?

Posted by: "Rupert J. Vaz" KonkaniC...@gmail.com
rupertjvaz

Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:28 pm (PST)

Why Not A Catholic University For India?

By Averthanus L. D'Souza

PANJIM, GOA, OCT. 25, 2007, 08.30 Hrs (CBCI
News):

Education, and in particular, higher education, is seen as an opportunity to
provide a specifically ethical dimension to the culture of any country.
Education is (or ought to be) a humanizing process, and has always been pursued
vigorously both by ancient civilizations as well as by mediaeval and modern
civilizations. Confucius provided the framework of education which gave Chinese
civilization its unique flavour. Similarly, Plato and Aristotle established the
Academy and the Lyceum in ancient Greece, which became the basis not
only for Greek civilization, but for what has come to be known as 'western
civilization. ' The Catholic Church provided education during the Middle Ages –
to the clergy in the Monastic Schools, and to the laity, in the Cathedral
schools. Some of the most famous Schools of Mediaeval Europe were at Toledo, Bologna, Paris, Oxford.

The Jesuits were pioneers in the field of education, and made it one of their
priorities in the counter-Reformation period. In India, they run some of the most
prestigious colleges which are in the vanguard of higher education. St.
Xavier's College in Kolkatta, St. Xavier's in Bombay,
Loyola College
in Madras, St. Joseph's
College in Trichy, Christ College in Bangalore, St. Joseph's College for women in Visakhapatnam,
the Andhra Loyola
College in Vijayawada, etc. These institutions of higher
learning have served as models for other private societies to emulate.

In an interesting article which appeared in the October 2007 issue of the
Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, Fr. George Nedungatt, s.j. floats
the idea of a Catholic University in India. Although it might sound too
ambitious at first, the proposal makes eminent sense. The Constitution of India
not only does not prohibit the setting up of 'minority institutions' , but
actually encourages them. In fact, we have Universities which have specifically
religious nomenclatures: The Banaras Hindu University, which was established in
1916, and which has 121 academic Departments and 3 institutes; the Aligarh
Muslim University, established in 1920 which has 11 Faculties, under which
there are 92 Departments/ Institutes/ Centres as well as 4 Hospitals and 6
colleges; the Jamia Millia Islamia, which functioned as a deemed university
since 1962 and was established as a Central University in 1988 by an Act of
Parliament. In this context, it is certainly not too idealistic to discuss the
possibility of establishing a Catholic
University in India. Already,
there are Departments of Christian Studies in some State Universities like the
Universities of Madras, of Mysore and of Pondicherry, which confer
degrees up to the Doctorate level. Other Universities like Calicut,
Kottayam (the Mahatma Gandhi University),
Madurai and
Mangalore, have a Chair of Christian studies or its equivalent.

India has 262 Catholic Colleges
or Institutes of Higher Education, which is more than the 232 IHEs in the United States of America.
It seems incongruous that India
does not have a single Catholic University, whereas the U.S.A. has 89 Catholic
Universities.

Some of the Catholic Colleges in the U.S.A. are called colleges, but are
in fact universities.

One possible criticism that can be anticipated is that it will trigger off
opposition from religious fundamentalists to talk about a Catholic University
in a predominantly Hindu society. However, this is not an insurmountable
difficulty. Fr. Nedungatt points out in his article that even in Indonesia,
which has a Muslim population of over 87%, there are 10 Catholic Universities,
whose prefix is "Universitas Katolik." Japan,
where the Catholic population is a small minority, has 2 Catholic Universities
and 2 Catholic colleges.

The article in the October 2007 issue of the Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological
Reflection by Fr. Nedungatt deserves a much wider attention than it will get
from the limited readership of the Vidyajyoti Journal, which is an exclusive
journal of theological reflection. It is strongly recommended that the
Commission for Education and Culture of the Catholic Bishops Conference of
India take the initiative to publicize the article more widely and to initiate
a nation-wide discussion on the ideas which have been presented very cogently
and persuasively. A national "Consultation" might, perhaps, be a
useful instrument to bring together educationists and other interested persons
to discuss the idea and move it forward.

In May 2007 the C.B.C.I. issued an "All India Catholic Education Policy –
2007" While it is a welcome statement of intentions of the Catholic
Bishops of India, it suffers from poor presentation of ideas. It is also lacking
in comprehensiveness. If the CBCI Commission for Education and Culture takes up
this suggestion for a thorough discussion of the possibility of setting up a Catholic University
in India,
it will fill one very important and obvious gap in the Education Policy.

Averthanus L. D'Souza

D-13, La Marvel Colony

Dona Paula, Goa 403 004

Tel: (0832) 2453628

Courtesy: www.cbcisite. com

http://aa.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?.rand=ctv2nc9gqfltd

Sanny de Quepem <sami...@yahoo.com>

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