Did you know what it means when you say that UP is Holy Cross and Catholic?
Often UP is referred to as a Catholic university, other times it is talked about as a Holy Cross university. Do Holy Cross and Catholic mean the same thing?
The truth is that one connects us to the other. The Congregation of Holy Cross is a Catholic community of priests and brothers. Members of Holy Cross have been serving at UP since 1902. They have served as administrators, professors, hall directors, campus ministers, chaplains, and more. The particular way that Holy Cross goes about the work of education has formed how we do things at UP. From Holy Cross comes our particular attention to the formation of the whole person, the accent on the importance of community, the importance of invested collaborators and a proclivity for using the cross as an image of hope. Being connected to the Congregation of Holy Cross is part of what makes UP particularly UP.
One of the key aspects of Holy Cross is that it is a religious community in the Catholic Church. All Holy Cross members are Catholic, but not all Catholics are Holy Cross. Part of what it means to be Catholic is to be connected with the tradition as well as the current lived reality of the Catholic Church. This happens though the members of Holy Cross but also through connections that the University has with local people, parishes, and leadership in the universal Catholic Church. It also happens through looking often to the vision of the human person and our role in the world as it emerges from the Christian scriptures and tradition. Part of this is to interact with the world and all of the people in it realizing that these interactions provide deeper insight into truth, beauty, and goodness. Holy Cross shares with most Catholics the conviction that exploring truth, beauty, and goodness leads us to the Author of all those things, and that education is a powerful pathway for doing that.
“Did You Know?” is a regular feature in upbeat intended to help staff and faculty understand dimensions of this Catholic university. You can send questions to Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C., Campus Ministry, or Karen Eifler, Garaventa Center.