I was just wondering about the impact of religion in the school. I’ve heard about the required religious studies classes (not a concern), but was just wondering about the impact of religion on daily life.
ultimately, it’s not necessarily something that has to be a big part of your life at SCU. campus ministry serves several different religions. 50% of students are catholic (not even a majority). jesuit ideologies do permeate the core curriculum (holistic education, social justice, service), but in my opinion, the ‘educate-the-whole-person’ mission of SCU is a mission that plenty of non-catholic folks can (and do) ‘get on board’ with.
if you’re particularly uncomfortable with the idea of attending a religiously-affiliated university, however, you might find yourself feeling a little out-of-place. SCU is indeed proud of its jesuit, catholic identity. there is a mission on campus. the SCU of the past was a bit more ‘intense’ about its catholicism, and so older alumni sometimes have different priorities than current students. a lot of the residential learning communities have a focus on faith & spirituality.
at the end of the day, SCU is a college in the bay area. its environment and culture are definitely influenced by its religious affiliation, so it’s not going to feel like a hyper-progressive college like SFSU, Mills, Reed, or Cal. but…this is the bay area. compared to some other jesuit and/or catholic colleges across the nation, SCU is a very open-minded, inclusive place.
@Broncoor thanks for the info.
BTW, just nitpicking, but if 50% of students are Catholic, they essentially are the majority when you consider that all the dozens of other religions make up the other 50%
50% make them a plurality, not a majority.
i was looking at it from a perspective of ‘catholic’ vs ‘non-catholic.’
but you’re right - the most represented religion among the student body is indeed catholicism.
Ah, plurality, majority, close enough.
Eh, as an agnostic student who is in a faith-focused RLC, i wouldn’t say religion is not pushed on anybody at all. I sometimes forget that this is a catholic school, although the giant cross in the middle of campus sometimes serves as a reminder. But seriously, our catholic heritage does not makes us feel different from any other college. We’re not a hyper-progressive school like Reed or Berkeley, but SCU is definitely not conservative or strict either.