Core Identity Resources
These Lasallian Catholic Mission related resources are offered primarily for the use of Manhattan College faculty, staff, students, and administrators as they seek to realize, promote, and integrate their efforts and the distinctive Lasallian Catholic identity of the College in keeping with the College’s strategic plan. Please contact the Office of Mission to recommend additional resources or for consultation.
Lasallian Catholic Heritage of Manhattan College
Catholic Intellectual Tradition and Catholic Social Teaching
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Catholic Intellectual Tradition
Learn More
- About Catholic Intellectual Tradition
- Examining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition
- Sacred Heart University’s take on Catholic Intellectual Tradition
- Exploring the Catholic Intellectual Tradition
- Boston College’s take on Catholic Intellectual Tradition
- Address to Educators, Pope Benedict XVI
Virtual Dialogues
- Catholic Intellectual Tradition Series Lectures
- St. Mary’s University welcomes you to a free, annual lectures series featuring men and women who have shaped the Catholic intellectual tradition − a tradition at the heart of the educational enterprises at St. Mary’s University.
Books/Articles
- Where Is Knowing Going?
- In Where Is Knowing Going? the author explores what constitutes the Catholic identity of Catholic colleges and universities. Going beyond a doctrinal understanding of Catholic identity to one that engages and is engaged by the intellectual tradition of Catholicism, Haughey does not find that the issue of Catholic identity is adequately dealt with by marketing the distinctive identities of institutions in terms of their founding religious orders or saints.
- Engaging The Catholic Intellectual Tradition - Sacred Heart University 's Common Core: The Human Journey
- The Role of Catholic Schools in Reducing Educational and Economic Inequality
Take Action
- The Church In The 21st Century Center
- The Church in the 21st Century (C21) Center at Boston College is a catalyst and resource for the renewal of the Catholic Church in the United States. Drawing from both the Boston College community and others, the C21 Center engages in critical conversations facing the Catholic community focusing on four critical issues: handing on the faith, roles and relationships in the Church, sexuality in the Catholic tradition, and the Catholic intellectual tradition.
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Catholic Social Teaching
Learn More
- Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
- Learn more about the seven themes of Catholic Social Teaching
- Higher Education and the Lasallian Mission in an Age of Inequality
- The authors propose that the governing principles of Lasallian colleges and universities are ethical rather than market-based, inspired by ideals that are sharply distinct from those that govern a strictly capitalist system, and play an important role as a counterweight to free market inequalities.
- The authors argue that by (i) leveraging the international network of Lasallian schools and programs (ii) targeting advancement initiatives and (iii) maintaining Lasallian mission formation efforts and applying ethical restrictions on the influence of market-based rationality, the economic and moral integrity of future of Lasallian educational institutions is maintained and solidified.
- Promoting Financial Literacy: A Path to Alleviating Social Inequality
- While the existence of a link between social inequality and income is indisputable, the highly complex and multifaceted dynamics of the relationship between income inequality, race and gender need to be addressed through institutional policies and educational programs. Specifically, the authors argue that financial literacy should be the first step toward long-term financial stability and wellbeing while recognizing the efforts that NGOs and Catholic institutions are making in the field of personal finance education in order to mitigate income inequality and promote social equality. Best practices, shortfalls and recommendations on how Manhattan College’s Lasallian mission can be better fulfilled by addressing the long-term financial wellbeing of the underserved are discussed.
- A Lasallian Response to Rape Culture
- The article offers a challenge to, and an invocation of, the values of Lasallian mission against rape culture. Exploring historical responses within the Lasallian tradition to this pervasive problem in society and identifying a few rich resources within its underlying charism for tackling this pernicious evil (the virtue of silence / listening & a paradigm of association). The Lasallian obligation to address rape culture and attitudes of patriarchal normalcy is articulated; and a challenge is issued to actively teach students about healthy relationships, gender norms, and sexuality.
- Intersectionality of Student Disabilities and Lasallian Mission: Utilizing Distinctive Lasallian Pedagogy to Foster Student Inclusivity
- Historically, the Lasallian Catholic mission has responded to societal needs and provided education to marginalized individuals. Lasallian postsecondary institutions continue to support students, advocating for inclusion and equity. However, no formal guidance exists on how the Lasallian mission can further support the experience of students with disabilities within the higher education environment. As such, the exploration of Lasallian pedagogy and how it provides opportunities to meet the needs of students with disabilities is necessary.
Virtual Dialogues
- Laudato Sí After Five Years: Hearing the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor
- Five years ago, Pope Francis wrote Laudato Sí, the first papal encyclical to focus on care for creation as a central moral obligation. His groundbreaking letter brought together the call to protect the environment and to defend the “least of these” through an integral ecology that challenges all of us. The letter is a hopeful call to action, holding that climate change is a moral test as well as a scientific reality and policy challenge.
- In cooperation with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the Initiative hosted an online dialogue on the powerful message, continuing importance, and future implications of Laudato Sí with one of its architects from the Vatican, a theologian focused on environmental ethics, a leader in acting and educating on the encyclical, and a grassroots voice on the front lines of environmental justice.
- Faith and the Faithful in the 2020 Elections: Religion, Racism, and the COVID-19 Crisis
- The 2020 presidential campaign is being reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis it created, and the national focus on racism in the aftermath of the killings of George Floyd and other African-Americans at the hands of law enforcement officers. These challenges are testing our faith and our politics, our religious communities, and our nation.
- The role of religion, racism, and the COVID-19 crisis was addressed by a panel of respected journalists and political leaders who bring differing religious, racial, generational, and political perspectives and backgrounds. John Carr, director of the Initiative, moderated the online conversation.
Take Action
- Call To Action
- Call To Action educates, inspires and activates Catholics to act for justice and build inclusive communities through a lens of anti-racism and anti-oppression principles.
- Catholicism, Racism, and Social Justice: Historical Realities and Lasallian Visions for the Future
- The article examines the intersect of segments of the Catholic Church viewing some racial or cultural groupings as inferior beings and the theme of God in the Lasallian heritage as valuing and welcoming all peoples.
- A careful examination is made of the Catholic Church’s role in the establishment and perpetuation of slavery and other racially based discriminatory practices in the Americas and the repercussions that reverberate to this day.
- The author reminds Lasallians that in order to address social justice issues today, we must go beyond simple assistance and instead must get to the roots of the problems to find structural solutions and educate to justice.
- Lasallianism, Social Justice, and Community Service: Characteristics of Participants in CBU’s September of Service: 30 Days of Good Deeds
- The authors’ initial assessment findings of a campus-wide community organized service activity, focusing on characteristics of individuals who participated – voluntarily or as part of a requirement – versus non-participants, provide guidance for programming and recruitment efforts at Lasallian colleges and universities.
- Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
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COVID-19 and The Catholic Church
Learn More via Virtual Dialogues
- Moving Beyond a Life on Hold: Young Catholics in a Time of Crisis
- Pope Francis reminds us that “this is not a time for indifference.” This online gathering explored how our Catholic faith and its teachings can help inform young people’s response to this crisis. How can we shore up relationships and community in a time of physical distancing? How can we best serve the poor and vulnerable at a time when we can’t leave our homes? How can we uphold human life and dignity at a time when the sick and elderly are faced with the reality of the “throwaway culture?” How can we best live out a faithful, principled, and effective response to the crisis? How can we live with hope in a time of fear and loss?
- Global Dimensions of the Coronavirus Crisis: Responsibility and Solidarity, Policies and Priorities
- This online Public Dialogue examined the global dimensions of the coronavirus crisis that are so often neglected in our focus on the pandemic’s impact on the United States. How is COVID-19—with its deadly health consequences and awful economic costs—affecting the rest of the world? What are U.S. responsibilities to the poorest places and people as the pandemic moves across the globe? The Initiative brought together Pope Francis’ designated leader on the crisis, the longtime leader of Bread for the World, and a leader on the front lines in Africa to explore the human and moral dimensions of the crisis as it spreads to even more of the poor and vulnerable around the world.
- The Papacy Confronts Coronavirus
- The COVID-19 pandemic has affected religious and spiritual life in innumerable ways, challenging ancient traditions and practices. Shortly before Easter, Austen Ivereigh, biographer of Pope Francis who writes for the Tablet, Commonweal, and America magazine, had an illuminating interview with the Pope about Catholicism, the Church, and the papacy in the time of the coronavirus. The same week, author and Berkley Center senior fellow Paul Elie, in a daily comment for the New Yorker, discussed Pope Francis's powerful use of ritual and imagery in this moment to bring out his pontificate's core themes of service, self-sacrifice, and humility.
- Life and Dignity, Justice and Solidarity: Moral Principles for Responding to the COVID-19 Economic Crisis
- This online Public Dialogue examined the human, moral, and policy dimensions of the economic crisis that has come with the COVID-19 pandemic. How can moral principles of human dignity, solidarity, priority for the poor, and dignity of workers shape the continuing response to this global crisis? Competing claims have been made about who should be protected and who should not, who needs economic rescue and who does not. This online dialogue examined how faith and the principles of Catholic social thought can contribute to national and global debates and decision-making and guide our individual and community choices on these important economic questions.
- Catholic Social Thought and the Coronavirus Crisis: Moral Principles for Terrible Times
- The coronavirus pandemic is a moral crisis, raising fundamental questions about who we are, what we believe, and how we should act to protect human life and dignity and promote the common good in a time of fear, danger, and loss. We face not only a global health calamity, but unprecedented economic, governmental, political, and moral challenges as well.
- This online dialogue explored how faith and Catholic social thought can offer moral principles for hard choices, ethical criteria for public action, and hope in a time of fear. In particular, Catholic social thought offers principles to guide our choices as individuals and families, as a nation, and as a global community.
- Moving Beyond a Life on Hold: Young Catholics in a Time of Crisis
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LGBTQA+ and the Catholic Church
Learn More
- New Ways Ministry
- New Ways Ministry educates and advocates for justice and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Catholics, and reconciliation within the larger church and civil communities.
- NPR Interview Discussing Pope Francis' Appeal for LGBTQ Protections
- Rachel Martin of NPR speaks with Fr. Bryan Massingale, an openly gay Catholic priest and professor at Fordham University, about Pope Francis' statements regarding the rights of LGBTQ people to civil unions.
- Fortunate Families
- Fortunate Families, a Catholic Family, Friends & Allies Ministry, supports LGBTQ+ sisters and brothers by facilitating respectful conversation and sharing personal stories within dioceses, parishes and communities, especially with bishops, pastors and Church leadership. By accompaniment and bridge building Fortunate Families seek to uphold and safeguard the dignity of LGBTQ+ daughters and sons of God.
- DignityUSA
- Dignity USA, works for respect and justice for people of all sexual orientations, genders, and gender identities—especially gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons—in the Catholic Church and the world through education, advocacy, and support.
- Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbian and Gays (PFLAG)
- PFLAG promotes the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, their families and friends through: support, education, and advocacy.
- The National Center for Transgender Equality
- The National Center for Transgender Equality is a national social justice organization devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy on national issues of importance to transgender people.
- National Black Justice Coalition (NBLC)
- NBJC is a civil rights organization that focuses on racial justice and LGBTQ+ equality. They promote awareness of the struggles of black individuals within the queer community and seek to empower their community.
- Human Rights Campaign
- LGBTQ Terminology Provided By LSU
- Lasallian Women and Gender Resource Center
Virtual Dialogues
Articles
- Pope Francis Speaks to LGBTQIA Parents
- How Parishes Can Welcome LGBTQ+ Catholics
- What does it mean to be pro-life?
- What does it mean to be pro-life? Certainly defending the unborn child in the womb. But also defending other areas where life is endangered. Here, Fr. James Martin, SJ, emphasizes six other areas where Catholics need to reverence life.
- Mass for the LGBTQ community
- In this Facebook post, created by Fr. James Martin, SJ, he reflects on the LGBT community. He focuses especially on those who find themselves identifying as gay and Catholic, and how members and leaders of the Catholic church can respond in faith.
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Transgender Folks and the Catholic Church
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In this Facebook post, created by Fr. James Martin, SJ, he reflects on the importance and value of transgender lives. Attached are several resources on how to better support the transgender community within the Catholic church and beyond.
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- New Ways Ministry Praises Pope’s Support for Civil Unions, Seeks Same Recognition in Church
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This is a statement from Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry’s Executive Director, in response to Pope Francis announcing his support for civil unions that recognize same-gender couples.
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- New Ways Ministry
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Educational Equity and Racial Justice
Learn More
- Exploring the Intersections: Racial Justice, our Lasallian Heritage, and the Catholic Tradition * Vol 9, No 2 (2018)
- Documenting the second Lasallian Higher Education Colloquy on Racial Justice that explored that application of Lasallian values to the challenges of racial justice on Lasallian college campuses, the authors present the Mission Mandated Lasallian Vision for Racial Justice in order to inspire contemplation, action, and revision. The authors also call for the creation of Lasallian Affiliates for Racial Justice as a means to connect and coordinate racial justice actions within and across campuses, among other further steps to ensure racial justice work continues.
- Lasallian Mission and Values to Embolden Racial Justice
- Addressing racial justice issues on campus and drawing from their own personal and professional experiences of teaching and learning at a particular Lasallian institution, four Lasallian scholars writing from various disciplinary contexts (art and design, education, nursing, and business management) and from distinct racial identities, reflect on the Lasallian mission and values through a social justice lens.
- Addressing Race and Class in the Lasallian Legacy of Social Justice
- The authors propose a re-examination of the educational legacy of John Baptist de La Salle wherein a 17th century concern for the poor in France becomes broader social justice concerns in the more global economy of the 21st century. Consequently, they assert that his legacy and its continuing impact requires an understanding of power and cultural reproduction to frame the problem of intersectional race and class in the 21st century. Readers are invited to consider the socioeconomic entanglements of race and class through a new discourse guided by the Lasallian core principles.
- Confronting Social Inequalities in Higher Education: A Conceptual Model and Lasallian Perspective
- Acknowledging that racial and economic disparities in higher education persist, the authors present collaborative models, such as the social ecological model, that integrate both public health concepts and practitioners, paired with Lasallian principles, that can be useful to address systemic inequities in education and promote health. The authors discuss the root causes of educational disparities and potential interventions that institutions of higher education can use to reduce these racial and economic disparities present within higher education as well as the external community.
- Tapping a Treasure: The Impact of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies on Black Catholicism and the American Catholic Church
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Glossary of Terms
- This resource is a list of carefully researched and thoughtfully discussed key social justice terms and definitions. It is by no means a comprehensive list as equity, diversity, and inclusion terms are ever-expanding and changing, but it is a good place to start.
Virtual Dialogues
- Responding to Racism: A Lasallian Dialogue
- Four Lasallian educators—a global languages professor, a multicultural affairs director, a Christian ethics professor and a chief diversity officer—entered into a discussion to help participants understand and learn how to act in response to systemic racism.
- Justice and Faith, Family and Community: Latino Leadership in a Time of Crisis
- This conversation among young Latino leaders explored how faith and Catholic social teachings can help shape how we respond to these crises in our own lives, families, and the broader community. Participants discussed how Latinos can come together to act against racism, the effects of COVID-19 and the Latino community, immagration, and more.
- Racism in Our Streets and Structures: A Test of Faith, A Crisis for Our Nation
- At this Public Dialogue four African-Americans—an archbishop, an academic leader, a pro-life advocate, and an anti-poverty leader—help us understand and act in response to the the crisis on racism.
- Robin DiAngelo and Resmaa Menakem (audio)
- The show we released with Minneapolis-based trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem in the weeks after George Floyd’s killing has become one of our most popular episodes, and has touched listeners and galvanized personal searching. So we said yes when Resmaa proposed that he join On Being again, this time together with Robin DiAngelo, the author of White Fragility. Hearing the two of them together is electric — the deepest of dives into the calling of our lifetimes.
- John Lewis “Love in Action” (audio)
- An extraordinary conversation with the late congressman John Lewis, taped in Montgomery, Alabama, during a pilgrimage 50 years after the March on Washington. It offers a special look inside his wisdom, the civil rights leaders’ spiritual confrontation within themselves, and the intricate art of nonviolence as “love in action.”
Additional Articles
- A Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together
- Signed by The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar and Pope Francis
- A Racial Divide in the United States A Reflection for the World Day of Peace 2015
- An anti-racism reading from National Catholic Reporter
- Poverty and Racism Overlapping Threats to the Common Good
Books
- Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own
- How To Be An Antiracist
- Stamped from the Beginning The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
- The Warmth of Other Suns
- When Affirmative Action Was White
Take Action
- National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education
- Understanding Racism in the United States: Saint Mary’s Press
- This opportunity is a 10-day curriculum designed to be an independent learning tool that is enriched by classroom interactions and teacher-guided discussions and activities.
- Exploring the Intersections: Racial Justice, our Lasallian Heritage, and the Catholic Tradition * Vol 9, No 2 (2018)
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Hiring for Mission
Learn More
- Hiring for Mission at SMC
- Check out Saint Mary’s College of California’s take on Hiring for Mission. Manhattan College is a similar institution for it is also rooted in traditional Lasallian values.
- Hiring for Mission at Saint Mary’s University
- Learn more about Saint Mary’s University in Minnesota and their strategies on hiring for mission. In this piece, they focus exclusively on inclusion and human dignity. Manhattan College is a similar institution for it is also rooted in traditional Lasallian values.
- Recruiting and Hiring Tenure-Track Faculty Flowchart - Loyola Marymount
- This visual resource will allow you to better understand the enhanced process of hiring in Higher Education. This is an example from Loyola Marymount but is similar to other high education institutions like Manhattan College.
- University of San Francisco - Equity Briefing
- The University of San Francisco, a Jesuit Catholic university, includes what they focus on when Hiring for Mission.
- Hiring for Mission at SMC
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Lasallian Heritage of Manhattan College
Here are a number of ways you can learn more about the Lasallian faith, both here at Manhattan College and around the world.
Learn More
- Manhattan College Green Book
- Distributed to all Manhattan College community members, this book is a guide to the presence of the Lasallian and Catholic tradition on our campus, in our current programs and practices, and in the lives of some of our distinguished faculty and alumni.
- The book also provides a collection of quotations that are intended to assist with reflection on our core values and commitments. It is our hope that members of the Manhattan community—current and future students, faculty, administrators, staff, and alumni—will find this book a pleasant and helpful companion, one that may perhaps spark further study of and reflection on the rich legacy of the Brothers of the Christian Schools
- Lasallian.info
- Representing Lasallians in 80 countries, the 45th General Chapter of the Brothers of the Christian Schools met for 51 days to evaluate the Institute and set out the main guidelines for the future of the Lasallian mission.
- This link provides background information, resources, updates throughout the Chapter, and outcomes following its conclusion.
- In the Footsteps of De La Salle
- Based on an actual pilgrimage of the places in France where St. John Baptist de La Salle walked and worked, In the Footsteps of De La Salle is a virtual journey that tells the story of the educational movement that De La Salle and the first Brothers began in 1680 — an educational journey which is ongoing today.
Take Action
- Various Lasallian Formations for Faculty, Staff, Administrators
- Social Justice and Lasallian Higher Education Today
- The author provides a brief introduction to the 10 articles in the special AXIS section entitled “Social Justice and Lasallian Higher Education Today” that examine a range of concerns from a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary positions, hoping to provide a starting place for understanding the intellectual range of our Lasallian mission and how matters of social justice can be further attended to through the work of researchers at Lasallian tertiary institutions.
- Exploring Academic Collaborative Opportunities between Lasallian Colleges and Their Potential Impact
- The research questions and hypotheses being studies through collaboration projects among faculty members at Manhattan College in New York City and Universidad de La Salle in Bogotá and Yopal, Colombia in economics, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, education, and science and their connections to social justice are summarized. The authors provide recommendations for others to embark on a similar quest to strengthen our Lasallian missions within the global Lasallian network.
- Urban Teacher Education through a Lasallian Lens: Community Partners, Dispositions, and Answering the Call
- Focusing on the work of preparing teachers at Manhattan College, the author focuses on community partnerships that help Lasallian educators keep moving toward the call that has been set for us in the modern age, resolving in some part the tension whether to prioritize excellence in education or service to the poor and social justice advocacy.
- Manhattan College Green Book
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Role of Catholic Education
Learn More
- Decennial Report of the Application of Ex Corde Ecclesia
- Ex Corde Ecclesia (ECE) and "Ex Corde Ecclesia: The Application to the United States" published by the United States Conference of Bishops (USCCB) on May 3, 2001, affirm the ongoing work of Manhattan College administrators, faculty, and staff to preserving and enhancing the Catholic identity and culture of the College as exemplified by and implemented since its founding in 1853 through the religious heritage of Saint John Baptist de La Salle.
Take Action
- Decennial Report of the Application of Ex Corde Ecclesia