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As secular colleges continue to drift further away from the traditional roots of Western education, more and more young Catholics are seeking out institutions that share the ideals of the Church.
And many Catholic campuses are simultaneously rediscovering their roots in the Church. St. Thomas University, located in Miami Florida, has spent the last five years recommitting to its identity as a Catholic institution.
Founded by American Augustinian friars in 1946, the then-Biscayne College was first established as the “Universidad Católica” of Havana, Cuba. Four short years later, during Fidel Castro’s revolution, the friars were forced to flee to America when communist forces took over the campus and desecrated its chapel.
Landing in Miami, Florida, the friars were welcomed by the archbishop, who gave them land in the archdiocese to begin operating what is now St. Thomas University. Eventually, the Augustinian friars left, leaving the school to the archdiocese.
The university lost much of its Catholic identity over the decades until, about five years ago, the archdiocese decided on a plan to restore it to what it once was. The archdiocese brought in David Armstrong as the university’s president and enlisted Fr. Rafael Capó to help.
“Between the efforts of President Armstrong and myself, we have been working the last five years to strengthen the Catholic identity, go back to our roots, and have the whole university embrace the mission,” Capó said.
With new funding from the Lilly Endowment and the Network for Undergraduate Exploration, St. Thomas University has been revisiting its history to educate students, staff, and faculty on the dangers of communist thought and the importance of the Catholic faith.
“False ideologies not only hurt the Gospel but also the human person,” Capó said.
The university recently produced a resource book for students that includes sections on the history of the institution, what it means to be a Catholic university, and the administration’s vision for the future of the school.
St. Thomas’ goal is to build excellent leaders for the Church and society through education and Catholic tradition. Faculty and staff have begun studying the book to better equip them for the mission. In addition, the university established a “Catholic identity day” that recurs at the beginning of each school year.
“The future of St. Thomas University is a continuation of its storied past – a future where the flame of Catholic Identity burns brighter with each passing year,” Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami wrote in the university’s Catholic Identity book.
