CONFERENCE: GLOBALIZATION AND CATHOLIC HIGHER EDUCATION

VATICAN CITY, NOV 28, 2002 (VIS) - Today in the Holy See Press Office the International Conference on the theme, "Globalization and Catholic Higher Education: hopes and challenges", was presented. The conference, organized by the Congregation for Catholic Education and the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), will take place from December 2 to 6 in the Vatican.

The following participated in the press conference: Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Archbishop Giuseppe Pittau, S.J., Msgr. Angelo Vincenzo Zani, respectively prefect, secretary and undersecretary of the congregation, as well as Fr. Jan Peters, S.J., and Msgr. Guy-Real Thivierge, respectively president and secretary of the IFCU.

Cardinal Grocholewski recalled that there are 950 Catholic universities on five continents in which 3,800,000 people study, many of whom belong to other Christians denominations or other religions. "Catholic universities," he said, "have been built by the Holy See or also by diocesan bishops, episcopal conferences, religious institutes or other ecclesiastical or lay persons."

Rectors of Catholic universities from all over the world will participate in the conference, as well as heads of episcopal conferences committed to education from Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Holland and Hungry. In addition, heads of foundations that aid universities and members of different dicasteries will take part.

Archbishop Pittau explained that the theme of globalization chosen for this conference "is not strange to the Catholic environment and especially not to the university atmosphere."

"The university," he said, "must form responsible and virtuous citizens who with their example and word promote a globalization capable of respecting human beings in their entirety."

Referring to the conference's program, Msgr. Thivierge affirmed that on the first day, "different realities of globalization" will be presented "as they are lived in our societies." Furthermore, "the question of globalization and its relationship with Catholic education" will be discussed.

This relationship between globalization and Christian values in the framework of Catholic higher education will be more-closely examined on the second day of the conference. A video-conference is also scheduled in which some directors of UNESCO will speak from Paris as well as former ministers of education, and rectors from the Synod Hall in the Vatican. During the video-conference some of John Paul II's speeches which have to do with globalization will be projected. The third day will be dedicated to the problem of the propositions and activity which must be promoted in the Catholic university world.

Fr. Jan Peters, president of the IFCU, said that the federation "is as diverse as the world in which its members try to fulfill their mission. Among the 200 members we find great research universities in the United States, Europe and Japan, but also young, poor and vulnerable institutions all over Africa; we find both universities that play a major role in the development of modern science or the implementation of modern economy, and universities - in India, for example - that try to guarantee a future for the underprivileged and those who are victims of the process of globalization. This diversity in membership is a real richness for our federation and also its major challenge."

Fr. Peters stressed that "it belongs to the mission of a Catholic university to strive for excellence in its teaching and research, not in a closed atmosphere but in openness to colleagues in less favorable circumstances who can really make an important contribution to the awareness of the consequences of modern research."

"The countries of our world are more and more interwoven, and at the same time the gaps are broadening," he added. "Our universities find their place in and have to cope with these tendencies." He noted that "next week's conference will concentrate on the changing socio-economic, political and especially cultural context of our universities. These developments - in which our universities are both actors and victims - have a different impact whether we are talking from the perspective of either the great, developed research universities in the United States or the small Catholic universities in Africa. The topics at stake are not simple ones, nor will the conclusions be self-evident or generally accepted."

Fr. Peters stated that "Since Catholic universities are privileged places of reflection for our Catholic communities and for the Church as a whole, a real and open-minded collaboration is essential for the success of their contribution. ... This presupposes what Pope John Paul II called, in his Apostolic Constitution about Catholic universities, 'Ex corde ecclesiae', a 'mutual trust' between university people and Church leaders."

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