Between a Rock and a Soft Place

Catholic colleges and universities are caught between two competing pressures. On the one side the church hierarchy, especially the Vatican, wants to make certain that these institutions of higher learning remain faithful to the intellectual tradition and the teachings of the church. On the other side these institutions exist in a postmodern world where relativity and individuality are the norm. This paper proposes to examine how Catholic colleges and universities struggle to remain faithful to the rock of St. Peter (the Vatican) in a postmodern world where norms are flexible and soft. In order to accomplish this, this paper will first examine the efforts by the Vatican to strengthen the Catholic identity of these institutions and their fidelity to the Catholic tradition. Secondly, the paper will examine what is meant by postmodernism. Finally, the author will suggest how Catholic colleges and universities can find the balance between these competing pressures.