Some Reflections on Teaching and Learning Hospitality at a Catholic College

Some Reflections on Teaching and Learning Hospitality at a Catholic College

Most Rev. Mark L. Bartchak | Bishop of Altoona-Johnstown Mount Aloysius College, Thursday, September 27, 2012

Mount Aloysius College | 1

September 27, 2012 | Hospitality at a Catholic College

Some Reflections on Teaching and Learning Hospitality at a Catholic College

Most Rev. Mark L. BartchakBishop of Altoona-JohnstownMount Aloysius CollegeFaculty ConferenceThursday, September 27, 2012

IntroductionI am grateful to President Foley for the invitation to speak to you today. When we met to talk about this gathering, Dr. Foley suggested that I speak about some aspects of the 1990 Apostolic Constitu-tion of Pope John Paul II on Catholic Universities. That document is more often known by its Latin title, Ex corde Ecclesiae.

Dr. Foley further suggested that I not focus so much on the juridic or legal norms that are found in the second part of the document. Instead, he thought that any of the theological or doctrinal

elements in the first part of Ex corde Ecclesiae might be addressed.

I was happy to consider the request for two reasons. The first is that I am a canon lawyer, and it’s a welcome dis-traction to have the opportunity to consider a topic in a way other than my familiar paradigm. At the same time, however, it is fundamental to the study and application of canon law that juridic norms are to be un-derstood according to Church doc-trine, because the law of the Church is based on Church teaching and not the other way around.

The other welcomed reason for a non-legal approach is that John Paul II states explicitly in Ex corde Ecclesiae that Bishops have a particular respon-sibility to promote Catholic universi-ties, and especially to promote and assist in preserving and strengthening their Catholic identity.

Blessed John Paul II adds that this will be achieved more effectively if close personal relationships exist between university and Church authorities which are characterized by mutual

trust, close and consistent cooperation, and continuing dialogue.

Finally, he states that even when they do not enter directly into the internal governance of the university, Bishops should be seen not as external agents, but as participants in the life of a Cath-olic university or college.1 As you know, I do not enter directly into the internal governance of Mount Aloysius College. The effective governance of this Catho-lic college is owed to the vision and de-termined efforts of the Sisters of Mercy that continues to inform and inspire the Board of Trustees, the administra-tion, and the faculty of Mount Aloysius College.

Dr. Foley, along with Sister Helen Marie and Sister Nancy, has been very gra-cious in welcoming me into the life of Mount Aloysius College. I am grateful for the sincere expressions of hospital-ity that have been extended since my first visit here.

That brings me to the focus of my re-flections with you today. I want to talk about teaching and learning hospitality in a Catholic college. Dr. Foley recently told me that there is a special focus on

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Hospitality at a Catholic College | September 27, 2012

hospitality at Mount Aloysius College this year.

I am grateful to Sister Helen Marie for drawing my attention to the place that hospitality has here at Mount Aloysius College, especially as it was understood by Venerable Catherine McAuley who founded the Sisters of Mercy. I will leave that unique Mercy understanding of hospitality to someone else.

Basic Principles from Ex corde EcclesiaeAt the outset I would like to situate the expression “teaching and learn-

ing hospitality in a Catholic college” within some of the major principles found in the Apostolic Constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae. A Catholic college is characterized as having a Christian inspiration not only of individuals, but of the university as an institution and as a community. As an institution and community, a Catholic College is guided by the light of the Catholic faith and strives to be faithful to the Christian message that comes to us through the Catholic Church to which a Catholic college belongs.2

Teaching and learning in a Catholic college are not restricted to memori-zation or mere recitation of the Cath-olic faith. A Catholic college is a place

where scholars, researchers, professors, or teachers are to utilize the meth-ods that are proper to each academic discipline (whether sciences or arts or humanities), but in a way that the search for truth and the acquisition of knowledge are inspired by and perme-ated with Catholic ideals, attitudes and principles.

Each academic discipline is taught and learned in a systematic manner that is proper to that discipline. But vari-ous disciplines, including theology, are to be brought into dialogue for their mutual enhancement. A Catholic col-lege is an institution and community in which the integration of knowledge is

Caption (From left to right): Dr. Timothy Fulop, Senior VP for Academic Affairs; Sister Nancy Donovan, Director of Campus Ministry; Most Rev. Mark L. Bartchak; Sister Helen Marie Burns, VP for Mission Integration; and President Tom Foley.





promoted by a dialogue between faith and reason.3

According to the principles set forth in Ex corde Ecclesiae, it is understood that all members of a Catholic college as institution and as community, con-tribute to this enterprise. This includes students, teachers and administrators; whether they are members of the Cath-olic Church or other Churches, eccle-sial communions, or religions.

A Catholic college is to be animated by a spirit of freedom and charity, and it is to be characterized by mutual re-spect, sincere dialogue, and respect for the dignity and rights of persons. This means that there must be an ethical concern present in which teaching and learning is conducted in accord with moral norms that are not in conflict with the Catholic faith.4

Finally, it is very important to observe that in the Apostolic Constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae, Pope John Paul II teaches that in all of the activities of a Catholic college (whether research, teaching, social life, culture, pastoral care, etc.), in the most profound way what is at stake is the very meaning of the human person as individual and as part of a group.5

You may have noticed that in this brief review of some basic principles in Ex corde Ecclesiae, I mentioned Catholic College, and I mentioned teaching and learning, but I did not mention hospi-tality. That’s because hospitality is not mentioned explicitly in Ex corde Eccle-siae. However, it is certainly to be found

there in an implicit, but not too subtle way.

Of course, I need to explain what is meant by hospitality, and I will offer some thoughts on why it is an essential characteristic of a Catholic college. In order to set the stage, I would like to present two illustrations of hospitality in a college setting.

First Illustration - You Know NothingOne of the many ways I have been blessed in my life is to have received my formal education in Catholic schools, seminaries, and universities. From grade school through doctoral studies I have been blessed by many dedicated clergy, religious and lay women and men who were my teachers and profes-sors.

In my undergraduate studies at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania (it was Gannon College then), I was a philoso-phy major. It was a great preparation for my theological studies in the seminary and later on in my graduate studies in Church law.

The faculty in the philosophy depart-ment was rather unique since many of professors at that time were foreign-born priests. Gannon University was in its infancy at the time of the Second World War. A number of priests fled the turmoil of Europe and arrived at Gannon University where they were

able to continue to live their vocations as priests and professors.

Reverend Alphonse Crispo was one of them. He was educated in one of the great universities in Rome, Italy. When I began my college studies Father Crispo had been teaching phi-losophy for almost 30 years. He was the only professor who taught the required courses on the history of philosophy.

Father Crispo loved philosophy. He taught with great passion, but his teach-ing method was very European. In his heavy Italian accent, Father Crispo would lecture the entire time. It did not matter if it was a 60 or 90 minute ses-sion.

Those who knew about Father Crispo understood that asking questions during his lecture just did not happen. There was one student who did not get that message. By the 3rd or 4th lecture this student was not keeping up with Father Crispo. So he decided to ask a question.

Father Crispo appeared to be oblivious to this student who did not relent in holding his hand in the air. But after a few minutes it was evident that Father Crispo saw the raised hand and that he was not going to acknowledge the stu-dent who was desperate to ask a ques-tion.

This went on for several minutes until the hand raised in the air became a hand that was waving back and forth. Finally, Father Crispo stopped in mid-sentence and asked the student why was he waving his hand? The student

“Nouwen wrote that hospitality is the virtue that makes anxious disciples into powerful witnesses, makes suspicious owners into generous givers, and makes closed-minded sectarians into interested recipients of new ideas and insights.”



quickly replied, “I want to ask a ques-tion.”

Before Father Crispo could explain that questions were not to be asked during his lecture, the student asked a ques-tion. I cannot remember what the stu-dent asked. But, I have never forgotten Father Crispo’s response. He looked at the student and said, “How can you ask a question? You know nothing.”

Anyone who knew Father Crispo; a really good priest and a devoted teach-er; would not have been stunned by his response to that student. He did not say it to put the student in his place or to demean him in any way. Because as soon as Father Crispo said “How can you ask such a question? You know nothing;” he said to the student, “Come to me after the lecture. That is the time for questions.”

That poor student did not know what most of us knew and experienced; that Father Crispo was one of the most gen-erous professors with his time. On any given day, a bunch of us would sit on

the floor in his office later in the day and ask as many questions as we pleased.

“How can you ask a question? You know nothing.” Taken entirely out of context, it does sound strange. After all, how can you know something if you don’t ask questions?

All of us here know the importance of questions. Students ask questions to learn information and teachers ask questions to assess how their students are progressing in their knowledge of the subject.

Second Illustration - Did You Ask a Good Question Today?I would like to share with you one more illustration in which questions are a very important feature of the story. It’s not my own experience. It was a defin-

ing experience for an individual of con-siderable fame.

Isidor (Israel) Isaac Rabi was born in 1898 in a small village in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The name of the village is Rymanow which is located in what is now Galicia, Poland.

To his family and friends, Isidor was known simply as Izzy. His family came to America when he was an infant. He grew up in poverty in a Jewish ghetto in Brooklyn, NY. In 1944 he received the Nobel Prize for Physics, in recognition of his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance.

A long-time friend asked him, “Izzy, why did you become a scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer or business-man, like the other immigrant kids in your neighborhood?” Isidor replied, “My mother made me a scientist with-out ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: ‘So? Did you learn anything today?’ But not my mother.

Caption (from left to right): First Row: Sister Guiseppe DaBella, Sister Margaretta Phillips, Sister Agnese Mikolaj, Most Rev. Mark L. Bartchak, Sister Fran Stein, Sister Eric Marie Setlock; Second Row: Sister Charlene Kelley, Sister Evangelista Strohmier, Sister Helen Marie Burns, Sister Nancy Dono-van; Top Row: Sister Katharine Brennan, Sister Benedict Joseph Watters.



She always asked me a different ques-tion: ‘Izzy, did you ask a good question today?’ That difference - asking good questions - made me become a scien-tist!”6

Rabi’s parents were devout orthodox Jews who practiced their religion at home and in the synagogue. Isidor said that throughout his childhood, God was mentioned by his parents in almost every sentence, even in casual conver-sation. When Rabi was about 12 years of age, he began reading science books for the first time. His new appreciation for the three-dimensional significance of the solar system solidified his love for science. When he came home from the library and told his mother what he had read, she reminded him that he needed to study in preparation for his Bar Mitzvah. Rabi said to his mother, “Who needs God?”7

However, his knowledge and love for science did not cause him to give up on his faith. During his time as a profes-sor at Columbia University, Rabi was not shy about sharing the connection between faith and science.

Rabi said, “Physics filled me with awe; put me in touch with a sense of origi-nal causes. Physics brought me closer

to God. That feeling stayed with me throughout my years in science. When-ever one of my students came to me with a scientific project, I would ask the question, “Will it bring you nearer to God?”8

For Rabi, doing great physics was walk-ing the path of God. A biographer quotes Rabi explaining, “The first verses of Genesis were very moving to me as a child. The whole idea of the Creation - the mystery and the philosophy of it. It sank in on me, and it’s something I still feel. There’s no question that basically, somewhere way down, I’m an Ortho-dox Jew. My early upbringing, so struck by God, the Maker of the world, this has stayed with me.” 9

Isidor Rabi died at home from cancer in 1988. A few months before his death, he was reminded in a very personal way of his greatest achievement that led to the Nobel Prize for Physics. His physi-cian sent him to the hospital for tests, including an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), which was developed from his ground-breaking research on mag-netic resonance. Isidor Rabi remarked,

“I saw myself in that machine. I never thought my work would come to this.”10

Rabi is also quoted as saying, “I think physicists are the Peter Pans of the human race. They never grow up be-cause they keep their curiosity.” II You probably know that Rabi was associ-ated with many prominent 20th cen-tury physicists, including Niles Bohr, Otto Stern, J. Robert Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi. I remember hearing about them in high school. Somehow their stories did not conjure the image of Peter Pan!

I don’t know what image Isidor Rabi’s story conjures up for you, but it made me think of how teaching and learning have something to do with hospitality, especially in the context of a Catholic college. Actually, teaching and learn-ing have a lot to do with hospitality in a Catholic college.

HospitalityI don’t wish to oversimplify this, but for purposes of this presentation, I want to mention that throughout history, hospitality has been known to involve care for the stranger, especially when that person’s survival would be at risk if



such care was not provided. Hospitality may involve welcoming or befriending someone.

Patricia Johnson has observed that hos-pitality involves the creation of a place for another. Such a place is both physi-cal and intentional. It is created from the real means of one for the benefit of another and it is hospitality only when it is given willingly. 12

In the Judea-Christian tradition, hos-pitality is understood as a sacred duty. This is found in the Hebrew Scriptures including the Book of Genesis where the patriarchs were seen as models of hospitality.13 The pre-eminent story is the visit of the Lord God to Abraham.14

In Deuteronomy, Moses explains that those who fear and serve God and hold fast to him and swear by his name must execute justice for the orphan and widow, and befriend the alien by pro-viding food and clothing.15 This sacred duty was understood not simply to be a matter of friendliness or politeness, be-cause it was also to be extended to one’s enemies. 16

In the New Testament, hospitality is ex-emplified by the person of Jesus Christ who gave himself to his guests, even when they did not offer hospitality. Jesus taught that the final judgment will be an account of how each person did or did not provide hospitality. 17

From this teaching of Jesus it has come to be understood that hospitality is a virtue that is a function of the theo-logical virtue of charity. The teaching of Jesus regarding hospitality is related to the law of charity. The primacy of charity is an issue that Jesus addressed in answer to a trick question from a lawyer. This version of the story is from the Gospel of Matthew:

When the Pharisees had heard that Jesus had silenced

the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law, tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Jesus said to them, “you shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first command-ment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”18

It’s worth noting for sake of our reflec-tion today how this conversation is presented in the Gospel of Luke. When the scholar of the law asks Jesus the question, Jesus responds by asking the lawyer: “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” The legal schol-ar recited the two commands and was commended by Jesus who said, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you shall live.”19

In order to understand this teaching, we need to ask another question: “Who is my neighbor?” The answer given by Jesus is found in the parable of the Good Samaritan which Jesus shared with the legal scholar who did not seem to want to let go of his line of challeng-ing questions.20 It says in the Gospel of Luke that in order to justify himself, the lawyer asked Jesus “Who is my neigh-bor?” Jesus answers this question in such a way as to give the legal scholar a choice of answers.

One of the answers focuses on the self-justification that the scholar of the law was seeking. This answer is found in the parable when Jesus uses the ex-amples of a priest and a Levite who en-counter a robbery victim along the side of the road. They could easily justify themselves to move as far away from

the victim as possible and continue on without offering assistance because the victim could be considered unclean, or because the victim’s needs were so great that it might have kept them from doing the things that priests and Levites were supposed to do at that time.

The other answer that Jesus offers to the legal scholar is found in the example of the Samaritan who was moved with compassion when he saw the victim and then went to great lengths to pro-vide assistance. The Samaritan had physical contact with the victim and, using his own funds, he engaged others to provide additional care as needed.

Then in the masterful way of respond-ing that Jesus often used, he answered the legal scholar’s question with a ques-tion. Jesus asked, “Which of these three was neighbor to that victim?” It is es-pecially noteworthy that Jesus did not pose that question in order to obtain an objective answer. He asked, “Which of these three in your opinion was neigh-bor to that victim?”

The content of this simple parable is certainly about the substance of hos-pitality. Hospitality is not simply the sacred duty that is evident in the writ-ings of the Old and New Testaments of the Sacred Scriptures. Hospitality is not simply a practical expression of char-ity in the sense that being a neighbor or Good Samaritan is only about doing good deeds.

Hospitality as VirtueHospitality is also described as a virtue.21 According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, virtue is an habit-ual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of him-self. The virtuous person tends toward the good with all his sensory and spiri-



tual powers. The virtuous person is able to put to use the intellect and the will, and these powers are assisted by God’s grace. 22

One of my favorite authors on matters of spirituality had some noteworthy observations about hospitality. Henri Nouwen wrote that hospitality is the virtue that makes anxious disciples into powerful witnesses, makes suspi-cious owners into generous givers, and makes closed-minded sectarians into interested recipients of new ideas and insights.23

Nouwen reminds us that hospitality re-quires listening. He says that to listen is very difficult because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is much more than al-lowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very being. The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discov-er their own true selves.

Henri Nouwen observes that the pur-pose of hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. It is not to lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives

left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment.24

Nouwen’s insights about hospitality as listening to and not changing people, but offering a space where change can take place through an openness to op-tions for choice and commitment are elements that are found in the story about Isidor Rabi.

Teaching and Learning HospitalityAccording to Nouwen, the hospitable teacher has to reveal to the students that they have something to offer. He noted that many students have been for so many years on the receiving side and have become so deeply im-pregnated with the idea that there is still a lot more to learn, that they have lost confidence in themselves and can hardly imagine that they themselves have something to give, not only to the ones who are less educated, but to their fellow students and teachers as well.

Pope John Paul II explains in Ex corde Ecclesiae, that a Catholic college or university is the place where students should be provided the opportunity to face this challenge. Citing the Pas-toral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World from the Second Vatican Council, Pope John Paul II states that students should be chal-lenged this way during the time of their college studies and throughout their lives because “the human spirit must be cultivated in such a way that there results a growth in one’s ability

to wonder, to understand, to contem-plate, to make personal judgments, and to develop a religious, moral and social sense.”25

Nouwen once wrote that one of the greatest problems of education remains that solutions are offered without the existence of a question. It seems that the least used source of formation and information is the experience of the students themselves. Ex corde Eccle-siae treats of this experiential element within the role of a Catholic college in dialogue with culture through which the aspirations and contradictions of culture are discerned and evaluated in view of the total development of indi-viduals and groups.26

As I mentioned, I cannot remember the question asked by a student during a philosophy lecture. I can only remem-ber Father Crispo saying, “How can you ask a question? You know noth-ing.” That statement by itself and out of context would lead one to conclude that hospitality was absent. It was not being taught and it was not being learned at that moment.

However, for those of us who knew Father Crispo, notwithstanding his monologue lectures, he was abundantly generous in allowing us to ask ques-tions. And what I remember of the questions were his responses which were not limited to a more careful ex-planation of Leibnitz or Espinosa.

In his unique way, he was teaching and we were learning hospitality. Father Crispo created a place, either in his cramped office or his modest apart-ment, an intentional environment in

“Jesuit theologian Gerald Fagin observed that hospitality means openness to what guests and strangers bring to us. We receive a revelation from the guest which can change us and enrich our lives and open us to new possibilities and ways of thinking and living.”



which we his students could learn the truth that philosophers were seeking for centuries.

What was more astounding to us was the way in which he appeared to be vulnerable, at least in the sense that the conversations were not confined to the history of philosophy. When he was engaged in one of his lectures, he appeared to be invincible. But in the other sessions, he talked about music, and art, and faith, and human suffering, and hope, and his faith in Jesus Christ. In those other topics he revealed more of himself and from those conversations we learned more of the truth about ourselves.

Jesuit theologian Gerald Fagin ob-served that hospitality means open-ness to what guests and strangers bring to us. We receive a revelation from the guest which can change us and enrich our lives and open us to

new possibilities and ways of thinking and living. So we can say that hospi-tality involves a real reciprocity. The key to hospitality is to pay attention. When we pay attention, we divest our-selves of self-preoccupation.27

As a college freshman, my first im-pression of Father Alphonse Crispo did not include the idea that he was paying attention to us. How could anyone talk that long without inter-ruption, without interaction through dialogue have any regard for us? What a huge surprise it was for us when his attentiveness in another forum was immediate and profound. There was no mistaking that he was interested in us. Not only did we ask questions, but he was full of questions for us!

You may be thinking, what’s the big deal? After all he was a Catholic priest. Pope John Paul II notes in the Apos-tolic Constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae

that all teachers in a Catholic college who are of the Christian faith are called to be witnesses and educators of authen-tic Christian life. This witness gives evi-dence of such a teacher having attained an integration between faith and life and between professional competencies and Christian wisdom.28

But Pope John Paul II also asserts that there is a similar role for non-Christian teachers in a Catholic college. They are to be inspired by academic ideals and by the principles of an authentically human life.29 I cannot help but think of the ex-ample of Isidor Rabi in this regard, al-though he did not teach at a Catholic College.

Isidor Rabi credits his mother for his being a scientist because she always wanted to know, “Did you ask a good question today?” In that daily exchange between Isidor and his mother, hos-pitality was being taught and learned.



An intentional space was made in and through which Mrs. Rabi respected the unique personhood of her son. It is where and how new life was found and his gifts could flourish. Isidor Rabi continued to learn and to teach about hospitality all through his years as a professor at Columbia University and as a world renowned physicist. He did not hesitate to ask his physics students if their project would bring them closer to God.

Hospitality in Other Expressions of the Mission of a Catholic CollegeThe Apostolic Constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae addresses other non-aca-demic opportunities for teaching and learning hospitality at a Catholic col-lege. In addition to the roles of teach-ers and students in teaching and learn-ing hospitality in a Catholic college, Ex corde Ecclesiae recommends pastoral ministry (typically referred to on col-lege campuses in the USA as campus ministry) as having a unique role of being able to teach students, profes-sors, and others about hospitality. It states that “those involved in pastoral ministry will encourage teachers and students to become more aware of their responsibility towards those who are suffering physically or spiritually. Fol-lowing the example of Christ, they will be particularly attentive to the poor-est and to those who suffer economic, social, cultural, or religious injustice.”30 These opportunities for learning and teaching hospitality become opportu-nities for becoming hospitable in the Judeo-Christian sense that I mentioned earlier. It is also set forth in Ex corde Ecclesiae that a Catholic college or uni-versity can contribute to the teaching, learning and practice of hospitality that is involved in ecumenical and in-

terreligious dialogue. In this regard, it specifically suggests the discernment of spiritual values that are present in vari-ous religions.31

Finally, it is explicitly stated that a Catholic college as an institution can make an important contribution to the Church’s work of evangelization. The Catholic college or university also contributes by providing an “education offered in a faith-context that forms men and women capable of rational and critical judgment and conscious of the transcendent dignity of the human person.”32

Some Final ThoughtsI would like to return to the story of Isidor Rabi one last time. Throughout his career as a professor and researcher at Columbia University, Rabi gave evi-dence of a well-developed integration of his faith and his scientific scholar-ship. He also exhibited a great capacity for learning, teaching, and practicing hospitality. Rabi would often establish an intentional place where his students and others were invited to engage in scientific research.

At the same time, he established an in-tentional place where they might also engage in the discovery of the transcen-dent in their lives, which would result in their discovering the meaning of their own lives. His question was, “Will this physics project bring you closer to God?” He was a person of faith, but he did not try to impose that faith on others.

With due respect for the freedom and integrity and dignity of his students, he was quite comfortable in seeing how faith and science were not entirely in-compatible or exclusive. He saw it as an opportunity to invite others to engage

in a reflection on the impact of one on the other.

When I reflect on Rabi ‘s approach, I think about the ways in which ad-ministration, teachers, and students in a Catholic college can engage in dia-logues that include both faith and other academic disciplines.

I have tried to suggest that this engage-ment involves hospitality. It involves creating an intentional place where this sort of dialogue can occur; where this form of hospitality does not try to change the other, but allows the par-ticipants to seek whatever change is needed in their search for the truth.

When Pope John Paul II issued the Ap-ostolic Constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae in 1990, there were a number of reasons for including a section that contained specific juridic norms. Much of the dis-cussion of Ex corde Ecclesiae that fol-lowed was a critique or a sort of back-lash against the emphasis on the juridic elements.

A number of my colleagues in canon law have written dissertations, articles, and commentaries on the juridic norms. Unfortunately, much of the discussion never focused on hospitality. At best, it resulted in looking at the landscape of Catholic identity and academic free-dom as being a matter of tolerance.33

However, as I stated at the beginning, the law of the Church follows the teach-ing of the Church and not the other way around. I hope that my reflections provide an opportunity for all of you at Mount Aloysius College to recognize that this year’s focus on hospitality is well grounded in the teaching of the Church in Ex corde Ecclesiae.

And if you need any further encour-agement, I would like to conclude with an observation made by Pope Bene-dict XVI on the occasion of the noon



1) John Paul II, Apostolic Constitution on Catholic Universi-ties Ex corde Ecclesiae (August 15, 1990) 28.2) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 13.3) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 14-17.4) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 17.5) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 7; 12. “Every Catholic university, as university, is an academic community which, in a rigorous and critical fashion, assists in the protection and advancement of human dignity and of a cultural heritage through research, teaching and various services offered to the local, national and international communities.”6) Donald Sheff, “lzzy, Did You Ask a Good Question Today?” The New York Times, Jan 19, 1988.7) John S. Rigden, Rabi: Scientist and Citizen, Harvard Univ. Press (2000) 23.8) John S. Rigden, “Isidor Isaac Rabi,” Physics World, (Novem-ber 1999) 31.9) Rigden, Rabi: Scientist and Citizen, 21.10) Rigden, “Isidor Isaac Rabi,” Physics World, (November 1999) 27.11) Mark Fiege, “The Atomic Scientists, the Sense of Wonder and the Bomb,’’ Environmental History 12 (2007) 583.12) Patricia A. Johnson, “The Practice of Hospitality,” Address at University of Dayton (April 16, 2010)13) See for example, Genesis 19:2; 24: 17-33; 43:24.14) Genesis 18:1.15) Deuteronomy 10:18-19.16) Proverbs 25:21- 22.17) Matthew 25:31-46.

18) Matthew 22:34-40. See also, Mark 12:28-34.19) Luke 10:25-28.20) Luke 10:29-37.21) Storm Bailey, “Tolerance and Hospitality as Virtues,” Ana-lytic Teaching, 23 (2002) 28.22) Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1803-1804.23) Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, New York: Doubleday (1975) 66-67.24) Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, 76-7725) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 23. See Vatican Council II, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modem World Gaudium et spes, 59.26) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 45.27) Gerald M. Fagin, SJ, Putting on the Heart of Christ, Chi-cago: Loyola Press (2010) 115-129.28) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 22.29) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 22.30) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 40.31) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 47.32) Ex corde Ecclesiae, 49.33) For further reading, see for example John C. Haughey, SJ, “From Tolerance to Engagement in Catholic Higher Educa-tion,” Woodstock Report 87 (March 2007); J. Michael Miller, CSB, “Catholic Universities and Interreligious Dialogue,” America 192:21 (June 20, 2005); or Stephen L. Trainor, “A Delicate Balance: The Catholic College in America,” Change (March/April 2006) 14-21.

blessing on the feast of the pre-eminent theologian and doctor of the Church, St. Thomas Aquinas, in 2007. Actually, the Holy Father asked an important, open-ended question: “Why should faith and reason be afraid of each other,

if they can express themselves better by meeting and engaging one another?”

I am grateful to have learned about that kind of meeting and engagement from people like Father Alphonse Crispo and Professor Isidor Rabi. And I am grate-

ful to have this time with you today to consider the question at Mount Aloy-sius College; a Catholic college; and an intentional place of hospitality.

Thank you for your attention. §





CAPTION: Most Rev. Mark L. Bartchak discusses hospitality at a dinner with students in the Wolf-Kuhn Gallery at Mount Aloysius College

www.mtaloy.edu | 2012

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Some Reflections on Teaching and Learning Hospitality at a Catholic College