Gift funds seminar on Catholic social teaching programs
By ERIN LaRUFFA
Notre Dame will be able to host a three-day seminar to discuss, propose and develop programs for the study of Catholic social teaching, thanks to a recently acquired $102,966 grant from The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion.
The gift will fund the summer 2000 session, dubbed "Teaching Catholic Social Teaching: A Programmatic Response." Todd Whitmore, an associate theology professor and the director of the Program in Catholic Social Tradition, applied for the grant and will direct the project.
"I've received this grant to help facilitate the development of programs of Catholic social teaching at a dozen Catholic colleges and universities in the United States," Whitmore said.
The group will reconvene on campus in summer 2001 to evaluate the programs implemented at the respective schools. At that time, the group will write a report for various academic administrators and Catholic bishops.
Whitmore does not yet know what schools will participate, but he hopes to get a mixture of small colleges and large universities.
Whitmore said he hopes the grant facilitates intellectual study and the practice of Catholic social teaching. In a prepared statement, University president Father Edward Malloy echoed those sentiments.
"We want to make Catholic social teaching integral to undergraduate studies at all Catholic institutions of higher learning, as it should be here at Notre Dame, and to do so in a consistent and formal way.," Malloy said. "Beyond its immediate benefit to the participant schools, this project will create models for other religiously affiliated colleges and universities."
The Wabash Center is located at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind. Its Web site explains that the center "seeks to strengthen and enhance education in North American theological schools, colleges and universities."
The grant compliments Notre Dame's concentration in Catholic Social Tradition created last year. The undergraduate program is designed to teach students about Catholic social traditions in areas such as theology, philosophy, economics and history.
Whitmore plans to serve as ongoing consultant for the CST concentration.
All News Stories for Friday, September 10, 1999
