By Amanda Cochran,
Editor-in-Chief

Correction:In the article "Religious identity in question" Cindy Boland, director of Campus Ministry was misquoted. Her statements concerning abortion, birth control and "The Vagina Monologues" were not in particular reference to Seton Hill but rather as examples of instances where Catholic identity come into play.

From incense and priests to the Crusades and heresies, the term “catholic” can bring to mind a wide range of personal images, but the word means universal-a oneness of vision.

At Seton Hill University (SHU), founded by the Sisters of Charity in 1883, the description “Catholic” officially describes the university as a whole, but after years of change and institutional growth, it means a wide range of visions coming together in this small, Greensburg university community.

The question of what this Catholic institution is and is to become is up for discussion.

To Cindy Boland, director of campus ministry, Catholic identity isn’t simply answered in black and white terms.

Boland describes the legacy of SHU as having an “openness to diversity,” but with some limitations.
Some issues taken up at SHU, such as birth control and abortion, are a cause for pause, Boland said.

The issue of birth control is addressed by the SHU Wellness Center. Though condoms are available in the Center, they are not openly offered. Instead, students must ask for them, Boland said.
Certain theatrical production subjects are also moments for reflection, as well, according to Boland.

“The Vagina Monologues”, a play by Eve Ensler, which was slated for the spring of 2005, was one of those pauses. The play addresses the feminine experience from the vagina’s place. Experiences, such as periods, sex, rape, birth, mutilation, masturbation and orgasms, are described by Ensler’s diverse set of characters.

Boland said before the production of “Monologues”, some students protested the play on the basis of religious beliefs, particularly on Catholic understandings.

Senior Justin Norris, Setonian columnist, was an intern in the President’s Office prior to the “Monologues” production. He said the office received around 600 e-mails from the Neuman Club, a
Catholic organization, protesting the production.

Sr. Lois Sculco, vice president for administration and student life, said the protestors are encouraged to come to a debate to express their view.

She added that situations like these are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and nothing is ruled out until it has been discussed.

“They (other views) have to be heard,” she said. “We need to have other sides...Students need to have a rationale behind a decision. We believe students have a right to know.”

Boland said the university’s decisions are based on the foundations of Catholic understanding, which include academic freedoms and a “greater sense of the truth.”

“There’s more to it than ‘no’,” Boland said. “There’s meaning behind it...It’s not ‘the Church said it, we can’t do it’.”

“Monologues” was produced on campus that spring to SHU audiences, despite the protests.
Norris said he was “okay with it.”

“It’s not really advocating anything that’s counterintuitive to Catholicism,” he said. “It’s just acknowledging the realities of the world.”

Norris added that some of the SHU-based sisters attended the production.

Carmen Marotta, senior, said the playing of “Monologues” on the campus was “inappropriate”.

“(It’s) something you should see on your own time,” he said.

The feminist subject matter, Marotta said, could be offensive to some groups. “Are you taking a stand to take a stand or are you stepping on people’s toes?” he said. “It doesn’t sound very purposeful to me. I don’t understand any good intent (of the production).”

Junior Diana Geleskie, a practicing Catholic, believes that if “‘Monolgues’ or any production were to be turned away without consideration, this would defeat the purpose of a university atmosphere. Just because we’re Catholic doesn’t mean it (“Monologues”) should be censored,” she said. “We can look at controversial topics. You can’t be a higher-learning university without looking at controversial topics.”

Sculco said accepting and tolerating diversity of opinions, especially in Catholic universities, is essential in striving to “reach the ideal,” and contributed to the production of “Monologues” on SHU’s campus.

“We want people to be freely who they are, intellectually, physically and spiritually,” Boland added.

“We allow the spirit of the teachings to guide us. We don’t see a clear-cut delineation.”

Some colleges, however, are making a clear-cut decision. In February, Carlow University in Pittsburgh stopped production of “Monologues” after the school deemed that it was “inconsistent with the school’s mission and Catholic identity,” according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.

Rev. Stephen Honeygosky, chaplain and assistant professor of English, believes that SHU represents a different type of Catholic institution.

“Seton Hill’s Catholic identity is extremely different from (other schools),” Honeygosky said. “Catholicism at (other) schools looks at externals almost exhaustively.”

Honeygosky said some of those externals may include the number of windows in a school’s chapel or permission for students to walk through the chapel when mass is not held. Religious identity at SHU is a “more secure kind of Catholicism” that is open, he said.

No requirement for students to attend mass has ever existed at SHC or SHU.

“The sign that we’re Catholic is not that we’re saying the rosary or lining up for confession...the real sign of Catholic identity is dialogue. It’s thoughtful discussion about everything,” he said.

“Some people want to go back to who’s in and who’s out,” Honeygosky acknowledged, but added that SHU “open(s) the doors, welcoming the people.”

“It’s not seeking where God lives, but what God is,” Honeygosky said.

In that search, Boland and the core of nearly 200 Campus Ministry participants, Boland said, “attempt to administer a program that offers outlets to spiritual needs and fosters spiritual development.”

Campus Ministry, Boland stressed, is not a club, but rather a department of the Catholic-affiliated institution. She said this department is concerned with “helping students with meaning-making, respecting principles and values, as well as collaborating and serving in a community setting.”

Boland said Campus Ministry, in keeping with the universalizing concepts of Vatican II, offer other religions a forum at SHU. Events, such as ecumenical club fairs, discussion groups, religious retreats, and panel discussions, are open and conducted by people of all faiths.

This includes serving at the masses in St. Joseph’s Chapel. Boland said students of all faiths are given the opportunity to serve and participate in the SHU masses.

“It’s something that can extend to all people. It’s about building and serving community,” she said.
Neha Bawa, senior, agrees. A server in Sunday masses, Bawa does not ascribe to the Catholic faith.

“Catholicism is very exclusive, but on campus, it’s not. In my mind, they are separate,” she said.

“Campus Ministry is very welcoming. I enjoy helping Cindy (Boland).”

“Seton Hill always had a concern for the spiritual needs...of the outside world,” Boland added.

“Seton Hill’s Catholicism is reserved,” Geleskie said. “It’s not going to force-feed Catholicism. It’s also not going to diminish the worth of Catholicism.”

Boland believes that several of the university’s traditions started with the Sisters of Charity and then developed.Sculco, an SHC student from 1956-1960, said Catholic identity was never discussed. At that time, the college was two-thirds to three-quarters Catholic, Sculco said.

“(There weren’t) a lot of choices about other religions,” Sculco said. “It was a different age.”

At the start of every class, as well at noon prayers were offered by the faculty, and at dinner the Dean of Women said grace for the students. Sculco added that a majority of her classmates attended mass every morning at 7 a.m.

“That’s just what we did,” Sculco said, adding that they attended in robes with their pajamas hidden underneath. In 1968, the campus was completely altered after Vatican II, a document that liberated some of the Church’s beliefs and teachings in certain sacramental traditions, language and Catholic beliefs concerning other faiths.

Nuns were out of habits, a later curfew of 2 a.m. was enacted, recruitment of minority students began, and off-campus retreats took students away from the confines of SHC’s walls.

“College was a parent. That all went in the 70s,” she said.

Sculco said the recruitment of minority students was a markable difference. “That alone brought diversity,” she said. “Not only in culture, but in religion.”

Over the years, Sculco said, people began asking “What makes us Catholic?” In 1990, Pope John Paul II released Ex Corde Ecclesiae to answer this question. Part of a larger, Apostolic Constitution, it outlines what a Catholic college should be like.

In 1997, Sculco was named the SHU’s mission effectiveness officer. In this role, she directs three university task forces, which assess the Catholic identity of the university.

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