Reflections Magazine Issue #48 - Spring 1998 | Page 6

Catholic Identity

6

Exploring Our Religious Foundations
“The mission of Siena Heights, a Catholic college founded and sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters,
is to assist people to become more competent, purposeful and ethical through a teaching and learning
environment which respects the dignity of all.” (Adopted by the Board of Trustees, October 1997)

E

arlier this academic year, the Board of Trustees
approved a new mission statement for Siena Heights,
concluding the work of a campus committee chaired by
trustee J. Patrick Murphy, CM. The trio of growth objectives-competent, purposeful, ethical--give the new statement an old
familiar ring. But there is an important change. The updated
mission lifts up, proudly and prominently, the college’s
Catholic identity and Dominican heritage.
To some, this change might seem unremarkable; but it is
evidence of a significant shift in attitude at Siena Heights.
After omitting all mention of religion in its mission, the
college now is affirming, even promoting, its Catholic
foundation. And the precise nature of that foundation--what it
means, or should mean, to be a Catholic college generally, and
an Adrian Dominican college in particular--has become a topic
of serious discussion in many quarters of the community.
Since coming to the college in 1994, President Rick
Artman has highlighted Siena’s Catholic identity as an
institutional strength deserving increased attention, both on
and off the campus.
“The life and ministry of Jesus Christ was about
betterment,” he said at his inauguration. “A Catholic college,
as it bridges the intersection of faith and culture, ought to be
about betterment.” He went on to challenge the students,
faculty, alumni and friends of Siena Heights to stay focused on
“what we are called to do, and to be, as a Catholic college, as
a Dominican college, as a college whose business is
betterment.”
There is no question that Siena’s Catholic character
expresses itself differently today than in the past. No longer
do students attend daily Mass. No longer do Adrian
Dominican Sisters conduct flashlight checks to ensure resident
students are in, and in bed, at proper times. No longer are all,
or even most, faculty and administrators members of religious
congregations.
“Up to and after Vatican II, students were very involved
as Catholics. Daily Mass and mission crusades were part and
parcel of the college experience, but that was characteristic of
the times,” observes archivist and chemistry professor emerita
Helen Duggan, OP ’41.
Throughout the 1970s, Siena Heights--and many other
schools--moved away from highlighting its tradition of
Catholic education, Helen explains. The number of Adrian
Dominicans teaching and working at the college began a

steady decline. Student religious involvement became a matter
of personal choice and responsibility. Students were more
likely to express their values through leadership and student
projects than through formal religious activity.
Despite these changes the Dominican influence never
disappeared, Sister Helen believes: “The values are being
transmitted today through wonderfully dedicated faculty and
staff. The quality of people on campus is awesome.”
These days, Sunday evening liturgies attract 30-40
students weekly, and campus ministry director Deena
Jarmosevich, OP ’93, coordinates a variety of spiritual and
service programs, from “Soup and Scripture” to “Rekindling
the Flame of Human Potential.” Although Helen Duggan
believes that interest in Siena’s religious heritage has
increased under President Artman’s leadership, Sister Deena
joins many faculty in the belief that there is little overt
Catholic emphasis at Siena today.
“Catholicism is not a given anymore,” says Greg Schira
’89 of the graduate studies office, an active Catholic and a
leader in campus liturgical life. He adds, “We are more
pluralistic today, which is good.”
“The external manifestations of Catholicism have
changed, but the important foundational values are very much
alive here,” says Mary Weeber of the English faculty. “I think
students are mostly affected by the openness of Siena, the
drawing in and encouragement of a community that really does
care about them.”
“Students don’t realize it at first,” agrees Michele Buku
’74, dean of students, “but Siena’s religious foundation does
affect them because we truly are a caring institution.”
Two groups at Siena Heights recently have been involved
in formal explorations of the college’s Catholic identity.
A student-faculty-staff committee appointed by President
Artman is considering how best to implement Pope John Paul
II’s apostolic constitution Ex corde Ecclesiae at Siena. The
group has drafted a preliminary statement that articulates
elements of the Catholic intellectual tradition (a search for
truth informed by the conviction that faith and reason are not
contradictory but mutually informative) and the Adrian
Dominican tradition (commitment to justice, service and the
continued interaction between reflection and action); and
identifies eight ways Siena Heights expresses its Catholic
character. Those expressions include respecting the dignity of