Legion of Christ to expand into U.S. Catholic higher education?

The Legion of Christ runs many high schools in the United States. Now it appears they are on the cusp of making their first foray into U.S. Catholic higher education (I, at least, am unaware of another Legion-run Catholic College in the US), according to this press release:

Legion of Christ, Southern Catholic Eye Long-Term Collaboration

The Legion of Christ and Southern Catholic College (SCC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that could make possible the college becoming a Legion institution.

"We are excited about this development," said Jeremiah J. Ashcroft, president of SCC. "By collaborating with the Legion, we'll be able to attract students from across North America and develop programs with institutions around the world. This expanded reach and support greatly enhances our ability to achieve our mission to prepare moral and ethical leaders who will enlighten society and glorify God."

"By working with SCC, the Legion can accelerate its desire to offer a greater contribution to higher education in North America. Nevertheless, we are still working things out, so it's not a done deal yet," said Father Scott Reilly, L.C., territorial director for Legion. "Southern Catholic is a great college and there would be considerable sharing of best practices with our existing institutions. I expect that SCC will experience significant growth in student population in the years ahead, with added growth coming from Legion-affiliated secondary schools in North America."

Southern Catholic College is a co-educational liberal arts college, Georgia's first and only residential Catholic college. The school provides a learning environment for academic excellence grounded in the Catholic intellectual and moral tradition. SCC was founded in 2000 and has more than 200 students from 25 states on its campus in Dawsonville, GA, an hour north of Atlanta.

My sources tell me the acquisition of SCC by the Legion is actually farther along than the press release claims. Donors, faculty, staff, students and students' parents have supposedly already been informed about the plans, and the local Archdiocesan paper will be covering the story very soon.

The title of the press release, which mentions "collaboration", seems a technical misnomer. From what I understand, the Legion is buying Southern Catholic College, which has been experiencing difficulties (see below).

While clearly this plan has been in the works for awhile, making the news public at this time - as the Legion is preparing to undergo a apostolic visitation by the Vatican - is interesting to me. Apparently, at this local level, business is certainly being carried on as usual within the Legion.

The Center for Catholic Higher Education has a six-page overview and evaluation of SCC. They have only been hosting students since 2005. A student has been blogging about his experiences at SCC for some time, and makes some allusion to "many difficulties going on" at SCC. For those interested, his 2008 archive is probably the best place to browse. I am not trying to paint an negative picture of the situation - after all, it is by no means out of the ordinary for a start-up Catholic college to experience trials and difficulties in its early years of operation.

From the Legion's perspective, I think this line from Fr. Scott Reilly in the press release is the critical one: "I expect that SCC will experience significant growth in student population in the years ahead, with added growth coming from Legion-affiliated secondary schools in North America."

Currently, graduates of Legion high schools in the U.S. go on to attend a wide variety of colleges and universities. Soon, if they so choose, they may now opt to continue their education in a Legion institution during their undergraduate years as well.

update: readers have noted that the Legion has operated the University of Sacramento since 2005.