In its mission statement, web pages, admission brochures, and in a great many other ways Boston College identifies itself as a Catholic and Jesuit university. Many in the BC community—alumni, students, their parents, faculty and administrative staff—will have very clear ideas about what these two terms "Catholic" and "Jesuit" mean.
Not surprisingly, though, given the changing world we live in and the diverse backgrounds we come from, these ideas might vary considerably from person to person.
And many who come to Boston College as students or new faculty and staff members will have only a hazy idea of what these terms mean and will find themselves for the first time reflecting on their significance, especially in a university setting.
Many in the BC community have asked for help in finding information that will answer their questions about the university's distinctive identity. Gathered here are some resources for this quest.
A good place to begin is Boston College's mission statement, approved by the Board of Trustees in 1996. In 350 words it links religious faith, intellectual inquiry, and the pursuit of a just society. It commits Boston College to fostering the rigorous intellectual development of its students as well as their religious, ethical and personal formation; to producing research that advances understanding and addresses societal needs; and to advancing the dialogue between religious belief and other formative elements of culture. And it takes note of the contribution of a diverse student body, faculty and staff, and of different religious traditions and value systems to the fullness of the university's intellectual life.
No mission statement, however carefully crafted, can answer all the questions people will ask about Boston College's Catholic and Jesuit identity. The suggestions that follow will lead you deeper into these topics.
We don't usually talk much about things that are very clear to us and which we take for granted. Therefore, talk about the mission and identity of Catholic and Jesuit universities can be rightly interpreted as evidence that mission and identity are in question, not always well understood, and perhaps not fully the object of shared agreement. The history of mission talk in Catholic and Jesuit universities is not much more than thirty years old. For an overview of this conversation, the stages it has gone through, and some of its unresolved issues, see J. A. Appleyard, S.J., and Howard Gray, S.J., "Tracking the Mission and Identity Question: Three Decades of Inquiry and Three Models of Interpretation" (Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education18, Fall 2000, 4-15). For another view of why this discussion of mission has occurred, see "What Made Catholic Identity A Problem?," by Philip Gleason (in The Challenge and Promise of A Catholic University, ed. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994, 91-102).
Finally, it is worth noting that any list of recommended articles and books like this one will inevitably be a selection from among a great many possibilities and may even be an eccentric selection. Users of this web site who want to recommend additional resources or who wish to comment on the ones mentioned here are encouraged to communicate with this office by sending a message to mission@bc.edu.
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