Journal
of Catholic Social Thought
Volume 3
Number 1
Winter - 2006
Race and Ethnicity as a Responsible and Necessary
Challenge to U.S. Catholic Education in the 21st Century
Alberto
López Pulido
University of San Diego
This essay argues that the history of
U.S. Roman Catholic higher education is rooted in a vocation of
space for Roman Catholic, working class, racial/ethnic,
immigrant groups. The pressures of Anglo-conformity and
assimilation in the 20th century drove Roman Catholic
leadership to abandon its original intent for Catholic higher
education. This essay identifies the intellectual and curricular
vision and intent of Ethnic Studies as an academic strategy through
which Catholic higher education can recover its original mission and
purpose in line with the transformative nature of Roman Catholic
social teachings and thought.
