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Catholic Studies Minor

Academic Advisor: Rev. Charles B. Gordon, C.S.C., Ph.D., theology

Program Administrator: Norah A. Martin, Ph.D., associate dean, college of arts and sciences

Through the Catholic studies minor students seek to understand the mutual influences of Catholic Christianity and world cultures over the course of 2,000 years. Drawing on the resources of many departments at the University of Portland, students will study how faith and reason have shaped Catholic texts, systems of thought, institutions, and devotional practices and how Catholic Christianity has contributed to world cultures through works of charity, justice, and peace up to the present day. At the same time, students will engage in rigorous assessment of the Church’s contributions to intellectual, cultural, spiritual, and social developments, in order to achieve a mature understanding of the Church’s role.

Besides providing opportunities to explore the dynamic and mutual interaction between the Church and cultures, the minor challenges students to add their own transformative contributions to the rich and living tradition of Catholic Christianity. The Catholic studies program encourages participation in its summer study abroad programs.

The Catholic studies minor provides opportunities for students to engage in sustained reflection on the Catholic tradition and to experience its many facets — intellectual, spiritual, liturgical, artistic, and service. Because it is necessarily interdisciplinary and promotes the study of faith and service, the Catholic studies minor clearly manifests the mission of the University of Portland.

Learning Outcomes for Catholic Studies Minors

Catholic studies graduates at the University of Portland should be able to:

  1. Identify informing principles of Catholic thought and culture through examples from selected times and places.
    1. Explain orally and in writing informing principles of Catholic thought and culture.
    2. Explain orally and in writing how these principles are instantiated in various times and places.
  2. Explain how expressions of Catholic faith and thought influence surrounding cultures and, in turn, are influenced by them.
    1. Explain orally and in writing how Catholic faith and thought influences at least one culture in which they are found.
    2. Explain orally and in writing how at least one culture in which Catholic faith and thought are found has influenced that faith and thought.
  3. Explain how Catholic faith and thought inform social justice and service.
    1. Engage in an applied internship in a Catholic social service setting.
    2. Engage in analysis and systematic reflection on the connection between that internship and the principles of Catholic thought and culture, both orally and in writing.

Capstone Experience

Students pursuing the Catholic studies minor will participate in a three-credit Capstone Seminar in Catholic Studies and Social Justice that includes students completing their social justice capstone experience. This seminar requires all participants to engage in an applied internship in a social service setting. Students in the Catholic studies program are required to do their internship in a Catholic social justice setting and to write a final paper in which they identify the Catholic principles that inform the agency for which they work, how the work they did was an expression of Catholic faith and thought, and how this Catholic service agency influences the surrounding culture and is influenced by it. Students are also required to publicly present their papers.

Requirements

  1. 18 credit hours of upper division PCS courses which must include: SJP 300 (Catholicism and the Religious and Theoretical Roots of Social Justice) and SJP 452 (Capstone Seminar in Catholic Studies and Social Justice), 3 credits from PCS courses in Catholic Thought, and 6 credits in PCS courses in Catholic Culture.
  2. Attendance of at least two events sponsored by the Garaventa Center for Catholic Intellectual Life and American Culture, or by the Moreau Center for Service and Leadership. A brief summary and evaluation of the event will be submitted to the academic advisor for the program after attendance at the event.
  3. Attendance of the final reception: There will be a final reception and the awarding of a certificate of completion for students in both the Catholic studies and social justice programs.