Obviously it’s a Catholic school, but are masses ever required? If you’re not religious will the required religious classes be awkward or alienating in any way? What kind of presence does the campus ministry have? Are there other activities that are not religiously affiliated? I saw they have a lot of pro-life groups on campus, are there also pro-choice groups on campus?
I doubt there is any Catholic college or university in the U.S. where Mass is REQUIRED, with the possible exception of a seminary. Okay someone is sure to look it up and prove me wrong, but while there may be Masses you’re encouraged to go to I doubt any of them would be mandatory. CUA, being the official Catholic University of the Church in the U.S., is more conservative than many Catholic colleges/universities. It’s doubtful they would allow a pro-choice group.
On the other hand, something like that might be more welcome across the city at Georgetown, which is famously LGTB-friendly, but you’d have to check to be sure.
I haven’t read that it’s required. I’ve only seen Christian schools that require students to attend mass, actually.
I’ve read campus ministry is always ready to answer anyone’s questions about faith or religion.
Is there lots of pro-life groups? When I applied, and chose activities I would be interested in, I only saw one. I didn’t see any pro-choice groups on campus.
It is not required. We are not Catholic & my son is very happy there. He enjoys the religion classes, learned a lot & has offered his views without getting flack for it. There are tons of non-religious activities.
Hi jran, I’m a senior at CUA. Masses are not required. You only have to go to the basilica at the very beginning and very end of your undergraduate career, when you meet as a class. Required theology classes are mostly of your own choice. Your freshman year you will have to take an introductory course that all freshmen take, but you get to choose three other theology courses. I took two courses about violence and suffering in the Bible and I took another one about women in the Bible, but there are classes on different religions, too! I only chose not to take these because I was already pretty familiar with world religions. I learned a great deal from the theology classes I chose.
Campus Ministry sponsors a lot of events. These events are not required and you don’t need to be praying or something to go to them. They have an event at the end of the year to celebrate the end of classes which pretty much everyone goes to. They also have service events which anyone can volunteer for. They have a space in one of the buildings just like every other large club. Every dorm has a resident minister whom residents can confide in; they often host theological events in the dorms, like talks or something, but they aren’t boring and often involve free food, which is pretty valuable to a college student. No one is pressured to be involved with Campus Ministry. I am not a very religious person and I don’t really have a problem with any of it.
CUA will likely never be able to officially recognize a pro-choice group, but we do have an LGBT group that has gained a lot of recognition in the past year. Supporting that doesn’t always equate to a certain belief on pro-life/pro-choice issues, but it is something progressive. We have plenty of clubs and activities to participate in that are not religiously affiliated.