<p>Looking at Catholic colleges -- I would appreciate some perspective on the relative merits of going to a Jesuit school vs going to a Catholic college run by another order.</p>
<p>i was educated by jesuits in new orleans for five years. (grades 8-12) i grew very close to a few jesuit preists who taught me latin, greek, and theology. i can say with utmost honesty and total confidence that i have never met anyone, ANYONE, as intellectual, cultured, well-read, linguistic, and well-rounded as the priests who taught me. becoming a jesuit priest requires years of formation. one jesuit of whom i am particularly fond entered the order eleven years before he was actually ordained a priest. during those eleven years of formation he received a double major in philosophy/ classics, a master's degree in theology, and a master's degree in hebrew. he studied and/or lived in rome, jerusalem, and the phillipines. fluent in six languages and published in several philosophy/ theology journals, he is the most intelligent person i know, as well as the best teacher and spiritual director i have ever had. i entered jesuit high school as a catholic, but perhaps a 'cafeteria catholic.' when i graduated, not only did i have a solid grasp on Catholic doctrine, the classics, and philosophy; but also had developed a spiritual life throuh the direction of the jesuits on several mission trips, pilgrimages, and retreats.</p>
<p>attending a jesuit college or university will in no way force catholocism or even christianity on you if you do not want it. in fact, the jesuits are often (sadly) criticized by diocesan priests and other religious for being 'too liberal' and non-orthodox in their educational approach. however, if it is in fact a deeper Faith you seek (in conjunction with the BEST classical liberal arts education anywhere), i suggest you look into any of the society of jesus' many colleges and universities around the country. good luck.</p>
<p>Well said, pirt8528! This coming from a mom of a protestant family whose husband went to Fordham and daughter went to Univ. of Scranton and hoping son may follow in their footsteps.</p>
<p>The Jesuits are great educators who challenge you to think and a find consistent reasoned answers to what you believe in life. </p>
<p>While it simultaneously pains him and gives him great joy, one of my Jesuit professors says he takes it as a great compliment when I tell my friends I am now an Episcopalian because I was educated by Jesuits.</p>
<p>Jesuit colleges tend to be more liberal and have strong relations with selective grad schools. Two of the oldest Jesuit schools are Georgetown and Holy Cross. Notre Dame is the best non-Jesuit Catholic school. In the annual US News survey both Holy Cross and ND have very high alumni giving rates around 50% while Gtown trails significantly in its giving rate.</p>
<p>pirt8528, you wouldn't happen to have gone to Jesuit High School in NO, would you have? I know they teach 8-12...My high school (also Jesuit) took in some of them after Katrina for a semester (and some for the whole year).</p>
<p>Jesuit tradition has always been strong in education, the ones I experienced always had a way of asking the right questions--though yeah, my parish priests tend to criticize them.</p>
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Gtown trails significantly in its giving rate
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<p>Why is that?</p>
<p>yes, somebodynew, i attended jesuit high school in new orleans. other jesuit schools around the country were kind enough to take us in immediately after the storm and in most cases gives us free tuition, books, supplies, even romm/ board. are you from georgetown prep? i knew a few guys who went up there and loved it.</p>
<p>If you are looking for an experience like pirt described, you should probably look into smaller Jesuit (or other Catholic) colleges. Larger Jesuit schools most likely won't give you the same sort of community atmosphere and schools like Georgetown seem to have drifted too far away from the faith. If you want a larger school still firmly grounded in the Catholic faith, I'd suggest Notre Dame (I'm going there next year and I have been quite impressed so far by the religious and community service opportunities available on campus). But, that aside, I think the biggest difference between Jesuit and other Catholic institutions is that Jesuit schools tend to be more liberal than those run by other orders.</p>
<p>I'd love to see a priest speak Hebrew :P</p>
<p>I've seen weirder(walking in on my school's Herbrew class, with a noun saying some Hebrew really fast. Don't know what it was, I guess some Old Testament Hebrew or something.</p>
<p>what makes a priest who knows hebrew a weird thing? any catholic bible scholar worth a salt will know hebrew, as well as koine greek, the dialect of ancient greek in which most of the new testament was written.</p>
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yes, somebodynew, i attended jesuit high school in new orleans. other jesuit schools around the country were kind enough to take us in immediately after the storm and in most cases gives us free tuition, books, supplies, even romm/ board. are you from georgetown prep? i knew a few guys who went up there and loved it.
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<p>Yeah, I graduated from Prep. I was pretty cool with the seniors who were up here: Adam Tosh, Sean Rhoads, Trey Michaelis, Dan Mui, and the Cvitanovic twins...even ran cross country with some of them (Adam and George)....but mostly we played Mario tennis...Rhoads saved our butts in English class all semester.</p>
<p>Jesuit college to think about: Santa Clara University--small, academically well-rated, and absolutely gorgeous. I would have attended if I had gotten more money there.</p>
<p>Is it accurate to say that Jesuits tend to be more liberal than the other Catholic orders (academically speaking)? If that's the case, why do several Jesuit colleges' core include multiple religion course requirements? A west coast friend complained about such requirements at U of San Diego, a very good college, and at Seattle University, two Jesuit places. Whereas at a "nuns order" school like Assumption College in Massachusetts, the number of such required classes appear to be minimal.</p>
<p>Plenty of Catholic priests know Hebrew. Look at the theology department of any good Catholic U. Priests, rabbis, protestant ministers who are scholars exploring & teaching about the Hebrew scriptures, Dead Sea Scrolls, etc. </p>
<p>I would agree with shellzie that Jesuit schools tend to be much more liberal than other Catholic schools. Notre Dame, by far the finest Catholic school in the country, has a new president. Here's Fr. Jenkins: "On our faculty, we have Jewish people, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, a variety of people. This is clearly a Catholic place -- we're explicit about that -- but we want all to feel a sense of respect for their beliefs here." Some Jesuit colleges are not "explicit" about their Catholic tradition. That's the difference, IMHO.</p>
<p>I think StickerShock put it very well. You may find certain Jesuit colleges that are very focused on religion, but often they have strayed a bit from pure Catholicism. You can only get so liberal before you are in danger of defying Church doctrine.</p>
<p>re: theology requirements at Jesuit schools. All the Jesuit colleges will offer some form of classical liberal arts education. therefore there will be a core curriculum that will include some # of courses required in theology, philosophy (though some schools will combine these two areas), Language and Literature (which will both be English lit classes and foreign language study, mathematics, sciences and social sciences. Students is all majors will need to complete this core.
Most Catholic colleges will also offer some foundation in the liberal arts for their students, but the core may not be as intense. In some Jesuit colleges the core can take up 1-1/2 to 2 yrs worth of study.
RE: Jesuit colleges "straying from Catholicism"...I think Georgetown gets the biggest rap for that, but I'd say that most Jesuit schools do adhere to Catholic tradition, specifically in the teaching of theology. You'd have to investigate each to determine real differences.
NOTE: Uof San Diego is Catholic , but not Jesuit affliated.</p>