What We Accomplished Together

Dear friends of 1887 Trust,

A much respected theology professor, John Cavadini, recently declared that the meaning of life is “learning to say thank you better.” Cavadini was referring to our need humbly to express gratitude to God for all that we have and all that we are, resisting the temptation to be deluded into thinking that we are living life on our own terms, entirely responsible for our own accomplishments.

We at 1887 Trust thank God for his many gifts to us, one of the most important of which is you. Without your care, concern, and support, we would be unable to continue our effort to persuade Gonzaga University’s leaders to strengthen the school’s Catholic identity.

Authentic Catholic higher education is increasingly under siege from within and without. The federal government seeks to impose its vision of human sexuality on religious institutions via the HHS mandate, for example, while inside Catholic institutions themselves, there are some who actively work to undermine Catholic teaching on faith and morals.

Observers have described the current crisis in Catholic higher education as a dying of the light. Is the process irreversible? The mission of 1887 Trust is to help Gonzaga’s leaders awaken to the crisis of secularization and persuade them to mend and maintain GU’s Catholic character. We cannot see the future, but feel called to work to help shape Gonzaga’s future in a constructive manner.

Toward this end, we have brought to light issues of importance that we hope might invite introspection and action on the part of Gonzaga’s leaders.

2015 began with the most high-profile exposure of our message to date when, in February, FIRST THINGS published an article of ours entitled “We Hide The Word ‘Catholic’ From Prospective Students.” Our article was a response to a piece in The Atlantic that surveyed the marketing efforts of Jesuit universities around the country. We challenged the Jesuit “rebranding” effort that we maintain weakens Catholic identity. We also disputed Gonzaga President Thayne McCulloh’s claim that “…all of the things that the Church and the Jesuits are asking universities to do are here and obvious." Contra President McCulloh, we made the case that Gonzaga and many other Jesuit universities are not adhering to even the minimal guidelines of St. Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universities, Ex corde Ecclesiae.

March 2015 brought another in our series of reports on The Flannery Lecture. The lecture series, “intended to further excellence in theological study and teaching at Gonzaga,” has devolved into a thirteen-year parade of radical theologians who, in many cases, oppose Church teaching on important matters.

During the month of May, we brought readers’ attention to proposed changes in Gonzaga’s core curriculum. We decried the reduction in the number of religion credits in the core, arguing that concepts like “justice” and “service” lose their meaning in a Catholic context, absent a thorough grounding in the Catholic intellectual tradition. We maintain that Gonzaga cannot accomplish that thorough grounding without a stronger core curriculum that provides significant intellectual engagement with Catholicism.

As the new school year began, we shared Daniel McInerny’s lovely article, “The College Orientation Talk You’ll Never Hear” and agreed with his working definition of what a “good school” is:

In the Catholic sense, a good school is one in which Catholic truth is the animating spirit of the curriculum and the faculty, in which all studies are ordered in very practical ways to the disciplines of philosophy and theology, and where the intellectual diversity of the faculty is unified by a common understanding of the dignity of the human person and the person’s ability to know reality.

Most recently, in October we presented the results of our own board of directors’ reflections concerning goals for 1887 Trust and Gonzaga, all of which revolve around strengthening Catholic identity through adherence to the letter and spirit of St. Pope John Paul II’s Ex corde Ecclesiae. In line with that document, we call on Gonzaga to:

1. Confirm and support its academic freedom to be an authentically Catholic university, witnessing to and upholding Church teaching on faith and morals as proclaimed by the Magisterium.
2. Be a place where students and faculty carry out research, teaching, and other activities informed by Catholic ideals, principles, and attitudes.
3. Become a model for other Catholic colleges, demonstrating how faith and reason work together in the Catholic university setting in pursuit of truth.

In order to meet and maintain these goals, we believe that Gonzaga should implement the following concrete steps:

1. Work to attract and maintain a faculty body that is composed of a majority of faithful Catholics.
2. Acquire and maintain a Board of Trustees that is composed of a majority of faithful Catholics.
3. Require theology professors to obtain a mandatum—an ecclesial confirmation of their intent to teach in communion with the Church, to disclose publicly their receipt of the mandatum, and to present students with authentic Catholic teaching.

Some observers argue that too much time has passed and that Gonzaga and other Catholic colleges, having become more and more secular in outlook, cannot be saved. We prefer to place our trust in the God who makes all things possible and ask for His help in steering GU toward a more faithful alignment with its Catholic mission. There are also reasons for optimism. Pope Francis has taken an interest in Catholic education, about which he has said,

"Essential in this regard is the uncompromising witness of Catholic universities to the Church’s moral teaching, and the defense of her freedom, precisely in and through her institutions, to uphold that teaching as authoritatively proclaimed by the magisterium of her pastors." - Pope Francis, January 30, 2014 to the trustees of the University of Notre Dame

Many Catholic faithful in Spokane are also hopeful that the Diocese’s new bishop, Thomas Daly, will prove to be one who takes an active role in encouraging GU’s leaders to be faithful to the Catholic character and mission of the school.

Your help is critical to the future of Gonzaga’s Catholic identity. Gonzaga’s leaders and Spokane’s bishop must know you care and are concerned about the direction of the school and its Catholic identity. Please consider the following ways you can support this effort:

• Pray for Gonzaga and for the efforts of 1887 Trust on its behalf.
• Write to Gonzaga’s president and/or board of trustees – Gonzaga University, 502 East Boone Avenue, Spokane, WA 99258-0102
• Write to Bishop Daly -  Most Reverend Thomas A. Daly, Bishop of Spokane, Diocese of Spokane P.O. Box 1453, Spokane, WA 99210-1453
• Donate what you can to 1887 Trust - 421 W. Riverside Avenue, Suite 802, Spokane, WA, 99201

Thank you for your past support, which has helped us to bring a serious conversation about the direction of Gonzaga’s Catholic identity to a wide audience. We need your help to continue the effort.

We will be very grateful for your financial support, which will help us fund the operation of our website and email campaigns, facilitate face-to-face meetings with donors and key stakeholders, and launch outreach efforts to broaden the reach of our message to more Gonzaga alumni. Long-term, we hope to be able to contribute to campus pro-life activities, and even work to fund increased Catholic Studies offerings at Gonzaga.

When you give to 1887 Trust, you are helping to ensure that Gonzaga University will be a great Catholic university, not simply a university with a faded history of “Catholic tradition.”

May God bless you and all who love Gonzaga,
 
Jim Infantine, President
Garth Dano, Vice President
Sean Harrell, Treasurer
Georganna Clifford
Katherine Infantine
Matt Kiernan
Blair Kelly