The humanities have long played a pivotal role in Catholic higher education but their prominence is under siege as part of a broader cultural skepticism about the value of the liberal arts. This article counteracts these trends by developing a theological defense of the humanities' pride of place in the Catholic university curriculum. Drawing on a…

Encountering and accompanying those who are physically, mentally, socially, or developmentally different from ourselves causes us to stretch the limits of our humanity. Segregating ourselves from interactive experiences limits what we learn about our world, God's creations, and our own capabilities as Christian humans. We must get out of our…

This causal-comparative study analyzed third grade reading scores from the National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) K-2011, by one of five school types, and four U.S. geographical regions. Forty-one of 50 states were represented. The problem studied is the unexplained elementary reading performance…

Contemporary research about purpose suggests that adolescents benefit in multiple ways when they develop purpose, and at the same time, that many adolescents are not purposeful. Adolescents in Catholic high schools may receive a unique set of contextual supports that help them develop a sense of purpose and understand what that purpose is. This…

Ireland's cultural identity has transformed significantly in the past few decades as a result of large-scale inward migration. Consequently, the creation of culturally responsive school environments has become a major concern in policy discourses in recent years. Despite the prevalence of such discourses, research on the cultural responsiveness of…

The current study explores how teachers report using enabling and extending prompts when teaching with sequences of challenging mathematical tasks. Twenty-nine early years primary school teachers completed a questionnaire following their participation in a professional learning project. Findings suggest that teachers': view prompts as important…

Students in the sciences learn to engage with primary research articles as a fundamental part of their discipline, essential to both writing and research. These sources are difficult to navigate, leading students to use (and misuse) these sources in a variety of complex ways. As instructors and researchers, we are aware of these challenges, but…

This article presents a computational approach to examining immigrant incorporation through shifts in the social "mainstream." Analyzing a historical corpus of American etiquette books, texts from 1922-2017 describing social norms, we identify mainstream shifts related to long-standing groups which once were and may currently still be…

This paper explores the process of negotiation, lobbying and parliamentary debate that brought the Irish universities legislation into being in the early 1900s against a backdrop of political and religious conflict. The complex interaction between British ministers and Catholic bishops before and throughout the legislative process dictated the…

Historically, low-income Catholic secondary schools have provided opportunities for underrepresented students to receive quality education and matriculate to community college and four-year universities. This trend continues today, yet for schools like one in this study who identify as college preparatory schools, what happens to students once…

John Greer first introduced the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity in 1979 into his programme of research designed to chart the religious trajectory of students attending Protestant and Catholic schools in Northern Ireland. The present study conducted in 2011 builds on earlier studies conducted in 1979, 1984, the early 1990s, and 1998.…

One of the identified causes for clericalism -- associated with the sex abuse crisis currently plaguing the Church -- is the closed seminary model that prevails in many parts of the world: all four pillars of formation of seminarians occurs in the seminary. This model, which has prevailed since the Council of Trent, encourages future priests to…

Although American Roman Catholic priest Father Joseph Maier founded the Mercy Centre in the heart of Bangkok's Khlong Toey slums in the early 1970s, music was not part of the program until around 2010 when Dr. Mick Moloney began raising funds to support the teaching of Thai classical music. With additional donations, the music program has grown…

This is a response to Bonfiglio and Kroh's "Inclusion in Catholic Schools: From Inception to Implementation." Bonfiglio and Kroh identify three primary barriers to inclusion: (1) Lack of culture; (2) lack of resources; and (3) lack of knowledge and skills. In Karen Hopson's experience, lack of culture can be one of the most challenging…

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the number of urban Catholic and other private schools that are closing amid financial pressure and dwindling enrollment. Contrary to popular understanding, many private school students are from middle- and low-income families, and many private schools are expressly dedicated to serving them. Such closures are…