A Failed Catholic University

"As a Catholic University, the Ateneo de Manila seeks to form persons who, following the teachings and example of Christ, will devote their lives to the service of others and, through the promotion of justice, serve especially those who are most in need of help, the poor and the powerless. Loyal to the teachings of the Catholic Church, the University seeks to serve the Faith and to interpret its teachings to modern Philippine society."

Reading this on the university website, a cross between a frown and a smirk formed on my face.

A newspaper article by John Nery in the PDI that initially came out on the 25th of November discussed how the calls for change in the 40 year old "Down From The Hill" Manifesto of Ateneo's Martial Law days have, in a sense, come into being. The Ateneo, more than any other tertiary institution has made a distinctive mark in Philippine society. It is proudly a venue for the discourse of the essence, effects, and solutions of social realities. We are proudly a collection of some of the Philippines' best minds. We are scientists, professionals, trained by the best in both an intellectual, physical, and social sense. The fact that multiple university affiliated organizations discuss and deliberate stands on key social issues serve to show a university steeped in social value. We have succeeded in this sense. As a Catholic university though, we have failed.

Passing by Zen Garden today, I stopped by the social awareness canopies displayed at the center. The largest of the issue walls was that concerning the Reproductive Health Bill. Various Ateneo socially oriented organizations such as the Ateneo Debate Society, Entablado, the Assembly, and other organizations such as the Ateneo Statistics Circle, the Ateneo Economics Association and the Ateneo Student Catholic Action displayed their stand on the matter, with a short rationale. I applaud said organizations for making an informed decision on the matter. In general, the points were well thought out, and obviously come from a very socially aware point of view. We truly are a university of social relevance.

The problem is, although we thrive in the social aspect, in service to the Filipino people, we forget that we, above being a Filipino university, are a Catholic university. Reading the organizations' stands was wonderful, but amidst all the economic and social data and critical analyses, not once did I read a statement pertaining to the Catholic aspect of their stands. We in general forget that we are not merely social scientists, natural or applied scientists, managers, or artistic scholars. We are, as a majority, Catholic. Our organizations exist under a Catholic perspective. We can continue saying, as most of above mentioned organizations mentioned, that we are for the RH Bill because it is "beneficial to the poor", and it "supports women's health rights", and that it is "needed in our third world situation," but the call to us is not merely to know reality in the social perspective, but we must also realize our role as Church in the proceedings. Where is the critical analyses of church documents? Where is the Theology? Where is Splagchnizomai? What our education fails to incorporate in us is this: We are Catholic scientists. We are Catholic managers. We are Catholic artists. The call as a university is to meld Science and Catholicism. This is the original virtue of the first universities established by the Church hundreds of years ago. This is the virtue of our university. The divorce of our academics and our Theology is heartbreaking. In this sense, can we truly say we, the collective Ateneo de Manila, are a Catholic university?