Dartmouth provost and former Notre Dame dean Santiago Schnell recently made headlines for urging the U.S. bishops to better safeguard universities’ claims to Catholic identities. I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with his message—and reliving some of my own wild journey at a so-called Catholic university, when I was a new convert unacquainted with the ideological war waging in Catholic higher education.
The anti-Catholic indoctrination started small and was practically unnoticeable. I was in my freshman biology class when my professor began sharing how science doesn’t really prove anything—since certain proof would require an infinite number of experiments, and that was, of course, impossible. At the time, in my naivety, I thought this was ground-breaking. Little did I know that my professor was regurgitating the untenable philosophy of David Hume, promoting a skeptical worldview.
I found myself in my next semester’s biology class, listening to another professor explain how biological sex and species are both social constructs (hello, nominalism!). He continued that since homosexual behavior exists in the animal kingdom, homosexual relations among humans must be “normal.” At least this time around, I immediately realized his philosophy was poor.
Then came the theology professors. I had heard from some theology-major friends that the theology department was, to say the least, questionable. The professors encouraged students to refer to God by any pronoun, and some even argued that they or she was most fitting. One claimed that Jesus’ call for Lazarus to “come out” of the cave reveals that Jesus was part of the “LGBTQ community.” When Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe v. Wade, the theology department responded with a lecture series endorsing so-called reproductive rights. (The university itself even materially cooperates with abortion by covering it in student health plans.)
So, when I discovered that I was required to take a theology class to fulfill my core requirements, I seriously debated taking a class on Islam or Hinduism, which was sure to be less cortisol-inducing than the courses being taught by wolves in sheep’s clothing. Instead, though, I landed on “Jesus Christ in History,” thinking no one could seriously mess history up. How naive was I again.
On the first day, the professor taught that neither the Gospels nor any early Christian until the Council of Chalcedon endorsed Jesus’ divinity. A fellow student in the class told me that the lecture strengthened his faith—his Muslim faith. After class, I confronted the professor, knowing full well the early Christians believed Jesus was God, since I had read their writings myself. He dismissed my objections, simply responding that he keeps his Christian faith and his history separate.
I dropped the class.
Anti-Catholic propaganda wasn’t limited to the classroom. The student life experience included annual drag shows (including ones that mock nuns), weekly “Free Condom Fridays,” LGBTQ masses, and assaults on pro-life students. Even more demonic: the only dormitory with a connected chapel was said to have chapel hours restricted after students were caught having sex in the chapel.
Despite around thirty priests living on campus, the Faith was practically dead. I think this was a trickle-down effect: from priests who preached “queerphobia” as a sign of the times, to those who didn’t properly absolve sins in the confessional, to the Jesuit Superior who said drag shows could be done tastefully, the Faith seemed lacking among clerics, too.
Although I survived my undergraduate years with my new faith intact (most Catholics do not), my soul was left extremely scandalized and disheartened. Worse, I discovered my school was not the exception to Catholic colleges, but was the norm: many Catholic universities host drag shows (among other LGBTQ-endorsing events), have ties with the abortion industry, and leave their students to be more supportive of abortion, gay “marriage,” and fornication following graduation.
Thankfully, Pope Leo also seems to recognize the Catholic university crisis, as he recently urged Catholic schools to ensure that all academic disciplines are permeated by the Christian vision. Although I wholeheartedly endorse his message, I fear it doesn’t extend far enough. Many schools are not simply neglecting the Christian vision—but are directly attacking it. It’s difficult to find a Catholic school that does not host LGBTQ events, and it’s even harder to find ones that are boldly outspoken against LGBTQ ideology. Conversely, it’s easy to find schools that endorse this ideology and promote it everywhere—even in the chapel.
I am convinced that until the Church begins rigorously enforcing John Paul II’s Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Satan will remain a tenured professor at many so-called Catholic universities, and we will continue to see souls not only become apathetic to the Faith, but directly hostile to it.