<p>The schools that are more active in their Catholic identities are listed in the Neuman Society list. Some ar Ave Maria in FL, Vermont Abbey in NC, Thomas Aquinas, Southern Catholic, John Paul the Great in CA, St Thomas, U of Dallas, Our Lady of CC, St Thomas More in TX, Mt St Mary in MD, Catholic in Wash DC, Franciscan in OH.</p>
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Just looked up the Newman list; it is far from exhaustive. Especially in the “International” section. However, it may add more names to someone’s list of Catholic colleges/universities, so it’s worth a look.</p>
<p>Absolutely not exhaustive, but gives you a good start. These are the schools that are considered by this group to be sticking to their Catholic identities. I was a bit surprised to see Catholic and UDallas on the list as know kids who have gone to both schools and they did not mention anything of the school being too Catholic or religious. U Dallas is a Jesuit school which particularly surprises me. A lot of kids from my son’s Jesuit high school go to Catholic. </p>
<p>I know that at certain Catholic universities the diversity runs through the entire spectrum from support, administration employees to professors as well as students. At others, you’ll find that there is a distinct Catholic preponderance in this. The Neuman group acts as a watch dog on Catholic colleges in terms of whether they are staying true to doctrine. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the flavor of the school is Catholic or not, and that is often a personal attribution.</p>
<p>My youngest goes to a Catholic school that is 65% Catholic in terms of students this year. We are Catholic so I don’t give the religious references a thought unless they are truly in my face. But when I was giving a tour to a non Catholic family this year, I did notice a lot of very Catholic things in the school that could bother someone who does not just let that go. Yet those families who are not Catholic and have their kids here don’t seem to worry a moment about it–the ones I know, and I know most all of them are adamant about that even those who are very observant of their own religions. One religious group very much missing in the mix are fundamental Christians. We have Muslims, Buddhists, Shinto, Jewish folk along with all sorts of Protestant branches, but those Christian are not in the fundamentalist or evangelical churches. </p>
<p>It’s always wise to visit a school if something like this could be an issue. My son took a school off his list due to the strong Greek scene. Though all literature insisted it was not a pervasive thing in the school, several days there made my son feel it was. Same with any issue. You gotta check it out.</p>
<p>I’m not really sure what they mean by “Catholic identity.” I recently visited Notre Dame, and it seemed quite Catholic (85% of students are, by the way). Maybe they mean “overwhelmingly conservative”?</p>
<p>H & I went to Marquette, graduating in the business school. Back then the requirements included 3 semesters of Theology & 3 of Philosophy, one of which had to be Business Ethics, another Intro to Philosophy. (the other Philosophy class I took was social justice or something forgetable - did it in a 5 week intense summer session). I was a bit uncertain about what I would find in the Theology classes, as I am fairly a-religious, however with the right instructor the popular Intro to Old and Intro to New Testament classes were more historical literature classes than religion. I got more Biblical history out of those 2 semesters than 12 years of Catholic elementary & high school! The other class I took was Protestant thought & theology, which was an overview class of the development of the mainline Protestant religions, again more of a history class. </p>
<p>My impression is the Jesuit universities provide more choices and don’t preach Religion to you - the classes are Theology. Bottom line, you will have to take some theology classes at any Catholic college, but it pays to ask around for interesting classes and professors.</p>
<p>DD went to a Jesuit college with a three course theology requirement. HOWEVER there were over 100 courses from which to choose. She loved these courses. The Jesuits who taught them are very knowledgeable and well spoken. DD said it was a pleasure being in their classes…and for her it was a nice break from the hard sciences and math required of an engineering major.</p>
<p>nj2011 – I have two Ds at Marquette!
Any questions about Marquette or DePaul or Loyola in Chicago or Saint Louis University, I can probably field.</p>
<p>To clear up a couple minor mistakes here…U of Dallas isn’t Jesuit, and I believe the one in North Carolina is Belmont Abbey, not Vermont Abbey.</p>
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<p>It means that there are no courses offered which oppose the core teachings of the Church, and that there are abudant opportunities on campus to share in Catholic life (activism, prayer, projects, liturgies, etc.)</p>
<p>At Catholic colleges with 'looser" identities, there are often more provocative course contents or profs, that kind of thing. (Even in the Theology/Religious Studies dept’s.)</p>
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What do you mean, classes that oppose core teachings? You can teach a class about Buddhist theology without saying “Buddhism is correct and Catholicism is incorrect.” Could you give an example of a course that you’re talking about at a Catholic university?</p>
<p>There were Theology & Philosophy classes to avoid at Marquette if you didn’t want a religion class or Catholic values class. My H remembers walking into one freshman year and heading over to the office to change classes. I enjoyed my Theology classes, they were very interesting and a break from my heavy course load of accounting & finance.</p>
<p>U. Dallas is sponsored by the diocese of Dallas.</p>
<p>BillyMc, there are courses that are on Catholic doctrine and are supposed to be taught strictly as such as opposed to courses on other religions. There is a great controversy right now over a text commonly used that was written by a Fordham professor (a nun, I think, can’t remember her name) that has been criticised by the Newman Society and some other groups as being incorrect in doctrine. The courses do address core teaching.</p>
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When visiting Fordham, I picked up a copy of their newspaper and read the first bit of that story. I’ll have to go back and finish it now, then look up some third party sources.</p>
<p>Okay, here’s some more things I’m interested to find in a college:
I’d love to study abroad.
I’d like nice dorms…Rory Gilmore’s was amazing! Any actual colleges come close?
Location really doesn’t matter, I live in the northeast, but have no problems with southern weather.
I wouldn’t mind core religion requirements I actually find it very interesting to learn about religion and would like to learn about the religion of other cultures as it evolved to/from catholocism.
I don’t have issues with anyone who isn’t catholic but would like to be able to go to church without having to leave campus or go very far off campus.
I want to major in anthropology, I’m intrigued by all four branches so a school with all four would be preferred.
I am currently planning on going to graduate school.
Reputation isn’t important, I don’t mind a bit of an obsecure school but a big name school wouldn’t put me off either.
Anything else that would be helpful?</p>
<p>University of Dallas is predominately Cistercian. Although you will find Dominican, Jesuit and Franciscan brothers on the faculty and staff, when my husband & I attended ('81 graduates) the Cistercians vastly outnumbered the other orders. And it seemed VERY Catholic to the two of us Methodists. We both believe we got great educations there, but it was clearly more religious than I anticipated. The professors were good to excellent and very accessible with small to very small classes. The focus of the Core Curriculum was Western European Enlightenment from a Catholic viewpoint. It is noted for its semester abroad program in Rome (outstanding experience) in which most students participate. Excellent acceptance rate to medical school and law schools for graduates. And very generous with merit based scholarships (full tuition for me, half for my husband). It is frequently confused with The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) which is public. We would recommend UD to students looking for a high quality liberal arts education with traditional core curriculum and a conservative Catholic viewpoint.</p>
<p>What about schools like Marist and Siena? Both had their roots in Catholicism but I know Marist is not affiliated with the church any longer. Don’t know about Siena.</p>
<p>Siena is Catholic of the Franciscan tradition with Friars still residing on campus and working as both administrators and faculty. We liked Siena a lot.</p>
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81% of Loyola University Maryland students study abroad. 64% of College of St. Benedict students, too.</p>
<p>Loyola University of Maryland was once listed in Princeton Review as “dorms like palaces.” Seems like you should check it out.</p>