The University of St. Thomas

About the Center

About the Center for Catholic Studies

Our Mission

The Center for Catholic Studies is an academic community within the University of St Thomas dedicated to the ongoing renewal of Catholic higher education. Shaped by the Catholic principles of the unity of knowledge and the complementarity of faith and reason, the Center pursues its mission through interdisciplinary teaching and research, service to the community, and cultivation of spiritual life.

          –Approved by the Center for Catholic Studies Advisory Board, February 2004

Our History

The Center for Catholic Studies was established in 1996 to coordinate programs to enhance the Catholic mission and identity of the University of St. Thomas.

However, Catholic Studies actually became a reality a few years prior to that with the creation of an interdisciplinary undergraduate degree program in 1993. The program was designed to engage students and faculty interested in a study of the Catholic intellectual tradition as a whole and how it shapes our understanding of politics, psychology, history, science, literature, theology and other aspects of contemporary culture. 

The program was the first of its kind in the nation and continues to be a leader in Catholic education. Today, the program offers an undergraduate major and minor, a master’s degree, a joint-degree with the School of Law and a study-abroad program in Rome.

Throughout the years, the center has grown to include several institutes which address issues important to faculty members and the general public. It houses the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought as well as the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy. In addition, the center has published the quarterly journal, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, since 1997.

With each component of the center, we strive to accomplish the challenge put forth by Pope John Paul II in Ex Corde Ecclesiae: to "discover how the strength of the Gospel can penetrate and regenerate the mentalities and dominant values that inspire individual cultures, as well as the opinions and mental attitudes that are derived from it."

Message from the Director

Welcome to the Center for Catholic Studies Web site, which will give you an overview of the wide variety of programs coordinated by the Center for Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas.

Don Briel, Ph. D.
The Center for Catholic Studies, established in 1996, provides a wide range of activities and programs designed to enhance the Catholic mission and identity of the University and to contribute to national and international developments in Catholic higher education. We offer both undergraduate and graduate programs within the department of Catholic Studies; sustained opportunities to engage the implications of the Catholic intellectual tradition's relations to pre-professional and professional studies through the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought and the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law and Public Policy; campus wide opportunities to engage Catholic thought and culture through the Joseph and Edith Habiger lectureship and artist/scholar-in-residence programs in Catholic Studies; expressions of the rich and comprehensive Catholic intellectual tradition in the Center's quarterly journal, Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture;  the possibility to spend a semester or a year in the Catholic Studies/Angelicum Program in Rome; and a wide variety of lecture series and faculty development seminars and activities throughout the academic year and summer terms.

St. Thomas' program in Catholic Studies is the oldest and largest in the United States.  Prospective students will find a wide variety of courses in both the undergraduate and graduate programs which will provide opportunities for a sustained encounter with the claims and contemporary relevance of Catholic thought and culture. Most undergraduates combine their work in Catholic Studies with a major in another field. Within the graduate program, there are many opportunities for students to concentrate in a specific area as well as to examine the Catholic intellectual tradition as a whole. The graduate program also offers the opportunity to complete a joint degree program with the University's School of Law.

Through the Center's two research institutes, there are a number of national and international conferences available to scholars both within the University and from around the world. Recent conferences include the Ryan Institute's conference on the 40th anniversary of Gaudium et spes at the Vatican Synod Hall in March 2005 and the Murphy Institute's conference at the St. Thomas School of Law on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and the Common Good in April 2005. In addition, the Center is collaborating with three other Catholic universities: Santo Tomas in Manila, the Angelicum in Rome, and the Catholic University of Ukraine in Lviv in a series of international programs and activities focusing on the relations of Catholicism and culture.

The Center provides multiple opportunities in academic programs, scholarship and interdisciplinary reflection as well as participation in Catholic prayer, life and culture. We look forward to conversations with you about opportunities in each of these areas for your own work and development.

Don J. Briel, Ph.D.
Koch Chair in Catholic Studies
Director, Center for Catholic Studies