Behavior at a significant number of Catholic colleges may be loosening up, according to a survey printed in the March issue of Catholic World Report, a monthly magazine.
The survey reports that an increasing number of Catholic students, whether in Catholic colleges or nonsectarian ones, are beginning college with very conservative views but finishing up with more liberal ones.
In addition, the survey found that both freshmen and seniors at Catholic colleges have a more conventional outlook on abortion, premarital sex and same-sex marriage than those at nonsectarian schools. However, over the span of their college years, the proportion adopting more liberal attitudes is similar to the national average.
Jackie Volovsek is a student leader through St. Paul’s Catholic Center at UW. She was not surprised by the statistics that the survey presented.
“I think that the idea that Catholic students are less inclined to follow church teachings after completing their time in college is disappointing, but not surprising,” Volovsek said. “I would assume that it is true for Madison as well.”
As freshmen, 37.9 percent of students attending Catholic colleges and around 49.5 percent of Catholic students at nonsectarian schools said abortion should be legal. By the time these students were seniors, 51.7 percent at the Catholic colleges and 65.5 percent at nonsectarian colleges believed abortion should be legal.
The statistics were similar regarding pre-marital sex. There was a drastic increase in the percentage of students over the four years who found sex before marriage acceptable, regardless of which institution they attended.
Patrick J. Reilly, the report’s author and president of the Cardinal Newman Society, a group dedicated to reinforcing the religious identity of Catholic colleges, expects Catholic colleges to have a stronger effect in bringing students closer to the Catholic teachings, or at least not steer them away.
Robert Kloska, the director of campus ministry at Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, Indiana, believes that Catholic colleges are at least partly to blame.
“I do think Catholic colleges have failed to promote Catholic values. If we do not even impact the views of our students, what good are we to the culture at large?” Kloska said. “From a Catholic perspective, if Catholic values are not significantly strengthened by attendance at a Catholic institution, then what good is that institution?”
The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities’ primary purpose, according to its website, is “to promote Catholic higher education by supporting the member institutions, especially with reference to their Catholic mission and character and to serve as The Voice of Catholic Higher Education in the United States.”
Michael J. James, the assistant director of the ACCU, believes Reilly’s report is based on an unrepresentative sample of Catholic colleges.
“The data he reports cannot substantiate his general claims and accusations about Catholic higher education, nor can his claims about any of the individual institutions out of the 38 from which the data were gleaned be substantiated,” James said. “Mr. Reilly has attempted to create a sensational story by an irresponsible use, at best, of HERI data. Reilly’s report is merely an opinion piece.”
Volovsek and Kloska both believe that changes in attitudes may be due to societal influence.
“With our newfound freedom as independent college students, we tend to deviate from the ways of our parents and for some, religion and church teachings fit into this category,” Volovsek said. “When faced with the more liberal style of college life, many students deviate from their former, more conservative values.”
UW freshman Alexis Strack said UW Catholic students feel it is natural for ideas and opinions to change when exposed to other viewpoints.
“By being exposed to people with beliefs that do not match up with my own, and by considering the interests of a variety of factions, it is natural for my beliefs to be altered over time, and I think I am no less of a person because of it,” Strack said.
