Fr. David O’Connell, president of The Catholic University of America, had just completed the opening address on the second day of a university-sponsored conference on “The Catholic Church in America: 2006.” The 52-year-old Vincentian, speaking in September, addressed the question of what makes a Catholic university authentically Catholic, a familiar theme in his nine-year tenure heading the “bishops’ university.”“Say what you will about David,” observed one faculty member whose bemused tone indicated significant disagreement with the content of O’Connell’s talk, “but he speaks his mind clearly.” O’Connell has been doing just that since he was plucked by Catholic University’s board from a deanship at St. John’s University in New York to head the institution from which he earned his doctorate in canon law.
“Our Catholic universities and colleges — especially faculties that have influence over hiring decisions have blindly accepted the criticism … that Catholic universities and their Catholic faculties are somehow second class,” O’Connell said in his September address. “They seek as peers those non-Catholics who are regarded, not always honestly or accurately, as the best in their fields, rather than seeking out people who are not only the best in their fields but also the best in their faith. … For them ‘Catholic’ is merely an adjective that is limiting and negative, rather than descriptive and vibrant.”
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