STEUBENVILLE, OHIO — Franciscan University of Steubenville President Father Sean O. Sheridan, TOR, JD, JCD, presented a paper and joined more than 2,200 leaders in Catholic education who gathered in Rome to examine the challenges facing Catholic education in the 21st century.

Working under the theme, Educating Today and Tomorrow: A Passion Renewed, participants at the November 18-21 World Congress on Catholic Education, grappled with issues that were timeless as well as unique to the modern era. Topics included the tension between religious freedom and equality, religious education versus secularism, identity and mission of Catholic educational institutions, the spiritual formation of Catholic teachers and administrators, and many more issues affecting Catholic schools and universities.

Father Sheridan spoke on November 21 at the Libera Università Maria Ss. Assunta in Rome at a track for legal scholars who attended the congress. He presented a paper titled “The National Agenda on Challenges/Conflicts of Catholic Schools Vis-à-Vis the State.”

Citing the Vatican II Council, the Code of Canon Law, the U.S. Constitution, and other sources, Father Sheridan focused on several recent legal challenges that U.S. Catholic schools face that arise out of “a Catholic school’s desire to remain true to its mission while existing within a civil society.”  These include the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex unions and the Health and Human Services mandate to provide contraception and potential abortifacients under the Affordable Care Act.

“As the Fathers of Vatican II stated in paragraph 2 of Dignitatis Humane: ‘This Vatican synod declares that the human person has a right to religious freedom,'” said Father Sheridan. The synod further declared, he said, “This right of the human person to religious freedom should have such recognition in the regulation of society by law as to become a civil right.”

In the 25 years since St. John Paul II issued Ex corde Ecclesiae, Father Sheridan said it is more important than ever to attempt to influence the wider culture about the truths of the faith. This, he said, “is different than ’embracing’ or ‘accepting’ the culture through which the Church might become just an extension of the culture.”

The morning of Father Sheridan’s presentation, congress participants were invited to join other visitors for a papal audience with Pope Francis.  As reported by Vatican Radio, in an informal question-and-answer session, Pope Francis said, “For me, the greatest crisis in education, in order that it be [truly, authentically] Christian, is this closure to transcendence.” The Holy Father went on to say, “To prepare hearts, that the Lord might manifest himself,” is the true mission of the teacher and the goal of all education worthy of the name.

Father Sheridan said it was a blessing to represent Franciscan University at the World Congress. “The Church greatly values the ministry of Catholic Education and the leadership role to which Franciscan University has been called. Despite the uncertainty of people’s safety throughout the world, there was a true sense of ‘family’ among the participants and a renewed dedication to the ministry of Catholic education.”

As a sponsor of the World Congress on Catholic Education, Franciscan University of Steubenville made a financial donation to ensure that Catholic educators from impoverished countries could countries could attend the event, which celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s document on Catholic education, Gravissimum educationis, and the 25th anniversary of Ex corde Ecclesiae.