EDMONTON -- It’s a monumental year for Newman Theological College, which is celebrating both its 50th anniversary and the canonization of its namesake, Blessed John Henry Newman.

Jesuit Fr. John Meehan believes Catholic post-secondary education is facing the same issue at the University of Sudbury that Catholic colleges and universities are facing around the world: it’s quite fragile in a world that is increasingly secular.

VANCOUVER -- University of British Columbia president Santa Ono watched the news in horror last spring as the burning spire of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris toppled and crashed during a fire at one of the world’s most famous churches.

David Malloy may be the philosopher in charge at King’s, but he’s no philosopher-king.

VATICAN – The changes in canon law Pope Francis made to ensure that marriage annulment cases were handled more quickly, more pastorally and with less expense mean that some changes should be made in the way church law is taught, said the Congregation for Catholic Education.

VATICAN CITY – Catholic university programs in philosophy, theology and canon law – especially those designed for future priests – must be marked by fidelity to church tradition, academic rigor and an awareness of the challenges to belief in the modern world, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Catholic universities need to study the root causes of forced migration and ways to counter the discrimination and xenophobic reactions it provokes in so many traditionally Christian nations, Pope Francis said.

“We don’t grow intellectually until we’re exposed to different points of view, different cultures, or people we simply don’t agree with,” said Basilian Fr. Terry Kersch, president of St. Joseph’s College at the University of Alberta.

Catholic universities are bastions of informed and adventurous secularism. In fact, the more overtly and decidedly Catholic a university becomes the more it is able to contribute to secular Canadian society.