Meeting the Challenge: - The Council of Independent Colleges

Alvin P. Sanoff
themselves and decide for themselves what convictions they
will carry with them beyond college and into life. If they
think carefully about faith and ground it in thinking and
reading, their resulting faith will be stronger and it will see
them through the storms of life.”
Colorado Christian
students attend chapel twice a week.
Donnithorne describes chapel as
part of a comprehensive program
of co-curricular student life, “where
the practice of faith is explored and
affirmed.” The classroom, by contrast,
is “where the intellectual side of faith
is explored.”
Values and spirituality also
play a central role at Loyola College
in Maryland, a Jesuit institution with
3,500 undergraduate students. Loyola’s
core curriculum includes courses in
ethics, theology, and philosophy. A
required course in theology looks at
Scripture through the eyes of scholars.
The focus is on interpreting in modern
terms the words that were written two
millennia ago, explains David Haddad,
the university’s vice president for academic affairs. “We
believe that searching for truth through reason is completely
compatible with faith,” he adds. At Loyola, the campus
ministry holds periodic religious retreats, and not just for
Roman Catholics. One was recently held for agnostics and
The service
activities at
Loyola College in
Maryland and
scores of other
small and midsized
colleges
benefit both
students and the
communities
beyond the
campus.
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