Wow. That's some swipe.
I guess "bible colleges" and the Amish are just silly. Who could pay them any mind with those find upstanding US Catholic bishops out there?
>> Wow. That's some swipe. I guess "bible colleges" and the Amish are just silly. Who could pay them any mind with those find upstanding US Catholic bishops out there? <<
It's not meant as a swipe, and I would apologize to any Baptists or Amish who took it that way. (There aren't that many Amish who read FR, for some reason.)
My point was not to degrade the Baptists' bible colleges; it's an issue of accredidation.
The problem is that in a lot of specialized fields, you need a degree from specific, well-established accreditation organizations. Catholic universities, often with more than a century's investments in specialized programs, are tempted to compromise their principles to maintain accreditation status. Sometimes they fight; for instance, back in the early days of the Clinton administration, they successfully beat back requirements to teach how to perform abortions. But that was a horrific, sudden intrusion; more often, the accreditation bureaus seduce college by gradually introducing more demands: the proverbial camel's nose in the tent.
To their credit, baptist colleges created their own national accreditation bureau, the AABC (Now the ABHE?) But in too many fields that Catholic schools excelled in, but Baptist colleges often didn't even offer, such an upstart organization would lack credibility in academia.
I would be very happy to see Catholic Universities collectivize their influence and form some sort of national accreditation bureau of their own. With Georgetown, Notre Dame, Boston College (and a bunch of other great basketball schools :^D ), I think they could just about succeed. But I believe that would be the endpoint of a great purification movement, not the start. The risk is very high, the "wax bees (reference Kipling)" are great in number, and the required unity would be astounding without direct papal oversight.