Center for Catholic Studies

Mission of the Center

Founded at Seton Hall University in 1997, the Center for Catholic Studies is rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition and is dedicated to fostering a dialogue between religion and all areas of contemporary culture, including science, humanities, and professional life. Its work contributes to fostering the wholeness or “catholicity” that Seton Hall University seeks to bring into the world. To that end, the Center sponsors an undergraduate degree program in Catholic Studies, offering a major, minor and certificate program, co-curricular activities, foreign study opportunities, and publishes Arcadia a student journal. It also offers an ongoing program on faith and culture topics for faculty, students and the general public. The Center includes the Bernard J. Lonergan Institute and the Micah Institute for Business and Economics. It is also the home of the G.K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture and its prestigious journal, The Chesterton Review.

 

History of the Center

The Center for Catholic Studies has existed at Seton Hall University since 1997.  From the beginning the Center dedicated itself to faculty development, especially faculty seminars linking the Catholic intellectual tradition with broader faculty concerns. It has also sponsored lectures on Catholic and humanistic concerns and has become the home of the G. K. Chesterton Institute for Faith & Culture, with its prestigious Chesterton Review,  the Micah Institute for Business and Economics and, most recently, the Bernard  J. Lonergan Institute.  In 1998 the Center initiated a minor in Catholic Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences. This minor that has been populated by a number of students, particularly those who have participated in various foreign study course/trips sponsored by the center – to Italy, Mexico, Poland and this summer to Australia.  2003 saw the initiation of the undergraduate major in Catholic Studies.  Students may also take  a second major or a  minor in Catholic Studies. A number of other students take Catholic Studies courses as electives and participate in Catholic Studies programs.  The study-abroad programs are generally fully subscribed. Whereas the major in Catholic Studies provides a broad liberal arts education exploring the interaction of Catholicism with various disciplines and cultures throughout the world, students are encouraged to consider foreign study opportunities.  For-credit foreign study course trips are available each academic year, both in partnership with other institutions and through programs offered by the Center for Catholic Studies.  

The program in Catholic Studies has been of special interest for a number of faculty because it allows them to link their specialization with broader areas of  interest.  Not only are Catholic Studies programs emerging in Catholic universities around the country but they are emerging in public universities as well. Seton Hall is the only university in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area that offers an undergraduate degree program in Catholic Studies, offering a major, double major, minor or certificate program, along with a full range of co-curricular activities and community life.