UNITED STATES -- There are approximately 200 Catholic colleges and universities in the United States, many of which are very prestigious. Some are right in New York’s backyard, including St, John's University in Queens, Manhattan College in the Bronx and Fordham University with campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan.
"Catholic schools, historically, are schools that have made it possible for young women and men not only to get a grounding in the faith, but prepare for positions of leadership and influence,” says Fordham University president Reverend Joseph McShane S.J.
That’s going to be on the mind of Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the United States. A meeting in Washington D.C. with all of the Catholic university presidents as well as superintendents for Catholic elementary and high schools is a very important part of the agenda for his visit.
Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Washington tomorrow afternoon. On Wednesday, he'll be greeted by thousands of students at Catholic University. That's where our Dean Meminger continues our pope coverage.
Father McShane will be there.
"I think he is going to begin by saying you inhabit a frontier and in that frontier between faith and reason, between religion and culture there is a lot of work that has to be done,” says McShane.
Father Donald Harrington, the president of St. John's University, says the meeting with the pope is going to be very important for him because he attended a similar gathering 21 years ago.
"In 1987, Pope John Paul II called a meeting of the Presidents of Catholic Colleges and Universities when he was visiting the United States and that is the only other time in history I believe that that has occurred,” says St. John’s University president Reverend Donald Harrington C.M.
Father Harrington says Pope John Paul II told the presidents that they must follow the true teachings of the gospel, but that can be difficult when universities are very diverse with every race and religion.
For instance, St. John's is 50 percent non-Catholic.
So what does that universities president think Pope Benedict say?
"Both John Paul II and Benedict XVI were university faculty members before they became bishops,” says Harrington. “They know what university life is like and I'm very confident that he will be able to call us forth to new values perhaps and new challenges which come right now.”
The university presidents say they're not looking to convert students but rather teach them a little about Catholicism, and hope that its ethics and principles will stay with them long after graduation.