Ben Kessler Follow-Up: "The Identity of a Catholic University"

Zenit is running an interview clearly inspired by last month's commencement address by Ben Kessler:

Interview With Notre Dame's Father John Coughlin

NEW YORK, JUNE 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Questions about the nature of Church-related universities resurfaced after a commencement speaker at a Catholic institution was booed when defending Church teaching on premarital sex and contraception.

For insight into the identity of Catholic colleges in general, ZENIT turned to Franciscan Father John Coughlin, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.

He shared with ZENIT the essential characteristics of a Catholic university as laid out in canon law and the 1990 apostolic constitution "Ex Corde Ecclesia," and the need for a commitment to the priority of Catholic truth over all other claims.

Q: What does it mean that a university is Catholic? What are the ways Catholic identity should manifest itself on a practical level? [More...]