By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski delivered these remarks at the start of a day-long meeting Aug. 16, 2022, of St. Thomas University’s faculty, to reflect on the theme of the Catholic identity of the university.
As Catholics we believe in both the value and power of faith and the value and power of reason. Pope Saint John Paul II said: “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves.”
This “coming to the fullness of truth about God and ourselves” is really a great description of what an academic pursuit that aspires to call itself “higher education” should be about. This “coming to the fullness of truth about God and ourselves” should be part of the DNA of a university that calls itself Catholic; it is the difference between learning how to make a living and learning how to make a life.
In a time when people are tempted to think “that it’s all about me,” an education in the Catholic tradition reminds us that the path to self-realization and true happiness is not found through self-seeking but through self-giving. The purpose of an education is not for us to “get more” but to help us “be more.”
To know the fullness of truth about God and ourselves was what led the Augustinian Fathers to found Santo Tomas de Villanueva in Havana some 70 years ago. “Transplanted” here to Miami at the invitation of my predecessor, Archbishop Coleman Carroll, the work of those fathers was not lost but rather this work found “good soil” here in South Florida and continues to flourish.
The Church, as she has through her history, wishes that her faith, through reasoned dialogue, will shape the culture in which she lives – so that the culture may become more worthy of man. This is why throughout her history the Church has promoted the speculative and practical sciences involved in the educational project.
As Catholics, we believe that truth is one. In that sense, there can be no real contradiction between belief and science, between faith and reason. Copernicus and Mendel were both Catholic priests. The so-called “contradictions” that some would allege are only apparent ones that can be resolved through honest and reasonable inquiry. To oppose faith and reason is to create a false dichotomy – as Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “Reason and faith cannot be separated without diminishing the capacity of men and women to know themselves, the world and God in an appropriate way.”
As Catholics we believe in both the value and power of faith and the value and power of reason.
Here, at St. Thomas University, with a renewed and strengthened Campus Ministry, we can provide for both students and even faculty the opportunity to experience a faith that is not just sentimentality but a faith that is reasonable – and because it is reasonable, a faith that commits you to search for truth, and to find the one who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
“Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.” Guide us with your truth, with your wisdom during this academic year so that our campus community – students, teachers and administration – will not only learn something about how to make a living but that we will know how to make a life.
