Getting a Catholic Education at SMU

Strong academic reputation. Gorgeous campus. Lively social scene. These are among the brochure-ready reasons for choosing to enroll at SMU. All are true. Here’s one I bet nobody thought of: Get a top-notch Catholic Education. At a Methodist university? A Catholic education? I must be confusing Dallas Hall for Notre Dame’s Golden Dome (minus a certain statue).

I want to suggest that not only is it NOT a wild idea, but that it is distinctly possible and highly encouraged. It all depends on what we mean by “Catholic education”. To be Catholic requires more than rote knowledge of facts and moral rules. Catholicism is a comprehensive way of life – an organic, living tradition that has always enlisted faith and reason together in the pursuit of wisdom and truth about the natural and the supernatural. Only with this starting point in mind do the spiritual practices, the moral conclusions, the dutiful commitments to God and others that have added up from following Jesus in this way of life and that are integral to our shared Christian life begin to make sense and take on their fullest meaning. Doctrine, therefore, is essential, but it must be understood in the context of the God-seeking, Jesus-following, Spirit-led way of life that discerned it and developed it thoughtfully and prayerfully over 2000 years.

If this is what it means to be Catholic, then it is possible to turn every course at SMU into a Catholic course. Looking at each new class through this Catholic lens, every class – Marketing and Medieval Doorknobs, Physics and Basket Weaving – becomes a “Catholic” class. If to know God is to know the world created by God, then every lecture, every assignment becomes an opportunity to learn more about both.

But that’s not it. What we believe is not meant solely for hearty discussions and high fives at the Catholic “club” after class. Our Catholic Education is meant to have implications for how we live with others and for how it compels us to engage the culture we live in. A Catholic education at SMU ought to mean that we offer our insight and wisdom with conviction on serious matters that concern us all – human values, justice, and social responsibility, among others – and, by doing so, transform the campus culture in light of the Gospel.

Such a shift of perspective does not just happen, though. To make the leap to a mature understanding of our Catholic lives and, thereby, pursue a Catholic education that complements the world-class one you’re already getting at SMU, takes guts and time and study. That’s where SMU Catholic can help. Beginning this week on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m., we begin offering “/101/ Catholic Basics”. /101/ approaches the “basics” from this comprehensive point of view. The topics presented each week build a framework for a mature adult Catholic faith and lay the groundwork for seeking a Catholic education at SMU. Each “mini-course” lasts four weeks and ends with an anything-goes “Stump the Priest” session. The first “mini-course” starts this Thursday, asking “Did God write the Bible?”. Contact Erin Duffy for more details.

If we commit to this way of living and learning our faith, then we can truly get a Catholic Education at SMU. Now if we could only find a building tall enough for Touchdown Jesus.