The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1958-07-25
Catholic Intellectuals
No Reason To Be Ashamed
OUer Catholic Education
by Erik v. Kuehnelf-L eddihn

Formerly we talked about the intellectual superb
ority of Catholic as compared with ProtestantS ana
secularistS in Europe.
This week let us consider the mucI-discussed
"inferiority' of Catholic intellectualS in America.
There are several reasons for this, and we are dead
certain that the alleged deficiencies of formal Cath
Ollie education are not the prime factors.
OF course, one insoIvable dilemma has, until now.
besef all (higher) Catholic education in your country:
young Catholics had to be prevented from going TO
secular or Protestant universities and colleges where
they might lose their faith.
In accepting or rejecting a student the Catholic
institutions could not take merely his scholastic
record into considerations; they had to bear in mind
that every applicant has an immortal soul which
should not be exposed to destructive influences and,
as a result, the task of creating a true elite was
severely hampered.
Today the number Of prospective Catholic stu.
dents is much too large to be absorbed by the exist.
ina Catholic colleges and the problem now is, how to
take care spiritually of the Overflow" OF Catholic stu
dents in secular colleges and universities.
Naturally, this division has its pitfalls, Should
the Catholic colleges concentrate on the gifted and
surrender the less intelligent ones to the loving care
of frequently agnOstic professors? In other words:
should it be the primary purpose OF a higher Catho-
lie education to build up an elite which will gain
national recognition and fame-or should 1t merely
aim at "better averageS"?
The answer is very difficult, yet, let it be said
that most men of genius owe very little to their FORM
al education. with the near absence of Catholic uni
verSities in Europe, the ascendancy OF. Christian schOl-
ars in the higher places of learning, and the relig-
iouS crisis which normally sets in at high school age,
this delicate problem does not present itself either on
the Continent or in Britain. /.
AS to the reasons for the present state of affairs,
however, we have to consider the following two i'm
portant factors:
being real Americans. Hence some of them make
special efforts to emphasize certain popular American
notions, but they hardly realize that antiintelectual-
ism is only insofar American as it is Protestant.
GTn nnCId0 Horf n 0rd MINI fc an
other Protestant, but by no means original American
trend.
A genuine Catholic anfi-intelIectuaIism does not
exist. 1t never did. II can only be imagined as an
imitation Of a Protestant attitude and, in our case, is
a counterfeit "Amerieanism." If the artist and fhs
intellectual have q hard time in America they have
almost exactly the same troubles in northern Europe.
American Catholics, moreover, are Gas far as
numbers go) late arrivals on the American scene.
Socially many of them are only about to graduate.
An intellectual elite needs time to c~rystalize and
we know from unimpeachable statistics that the high
er layers produce higher o. Qn Europe the
professional and bureaucratic upper middle class, not
the aristocracy, has the highest I.Q). The reason for
this state of affairs is biological rather than environ
mental. 3sstf ,@.&4es% ( he ~
OF course, we can only speak Of averages and
IikeIihoods. They do not exclude the possibility of the
son Of an UnskiIied worker being a genius. Only fhe
expectation is smaller. Yet, if the boy is a genius he
will be lost to his class and probably marry into .
higher layer).
Therefore all religious statistics must be under
stood in sociological terms. If, for instance, Catholics
in Scandinavia have such a high educational average
and produce such outstanding writer's, the Church
cannot take all the credit for this since Scandinavian
Catholics are mostly upper class.
Conversely the French Jews who, unlike the
Russian Jews; are an elite, have produced a long list
Of outstanding men in several fields. The Russian and
Polish Jews have no comparable record.
There is no reason for alarm about American
Catholic education, which / know from experience to
be superior to the average secular one. There is more
clear, methodical thinking in Catholic American col
leges and universities than elsewhere and, in addition,
the excellent Newman Clubs provide ~first-rate sup
Elementary instruction in secular institutions.
In due time, l think, a splendid harvest will be
reaped.