{"id":10785,"date":"2012-02-07T10:07:52","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T16:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=10785"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:34:34","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:34:34","slug":"arizona-to-get-its-first-catholic-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/02\/arizona-to-get-its-first-catholic-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona to get its first Catholic college"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Details: <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The first Roman Catholic presence in Arizona dates to 1539, when Franciscan priest Marcos de Niza explored the Southwest in his quest for the mythical seven cities of gold.<\/p>\n

Despite this early visit and the 1692 founding of a Jesuit mission near Tucson, the church\u2019s long history has failed to produce a Catholic university or college.<\/p>\n

Even Vermont and North Dakota, which respectively have the second-smallest and third-smallest state populations, have Catholic colleges. But Arizona\u2019s large Catholic population may finally have a college to serve it, with January\u2019s announcement that Benedictine University plans a downtown Mesa campus.<\/p>\n

The lack of a Catholic college probably has more to do with money than a lack of demand, said MaryBeth Mueller, the Catholic schools superintendent for the Diocese of Phoenix.<\/p>\n

Several Catholic institutions have considered Arizona campuses over the years, including Illinois-based Lewis University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were seriously looking at establishing a university, but when it came time to raising the necessary funds, I think that\u2019s what changed their minds,\u201d Mueller said.<\/p>\n

Benedictine isn\u2019t sure what took so long for Arizona to get a Catholic college either. Charles Gregory, the university\u2019s executive vice president, said the institution had casually discussed an Arizona presence years ago. When Mesa sent invitations to Benedictine, its administrators jumped at the chance without looking into why they\u2019ll be the first Catholic college.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t why,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cI really have not done much research as to why there hasn\u2019t been somebody before now.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read more. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Details: The first Roman Catholic presence in Arizona dates to 1539, when Franciscan priest Marcos de Niza explored the Southwest in his quest for the mythical seven cities of gold. Despite this early visit and the 1692 founding of a Jesuit mission near Tucson, the church\u2019s long history has failed to produce a Catholic university […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,1],"tags":[108,204],"class_list":["post-10785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-uncategorized","tag-arizona","tag-catholic-colleges"],"yoast_head":"\nArizona to get its first Catholic college<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Details: The first Roman Catholic presence in Arizona dates to 1539, when Franciscan priest Marcos de Niza explored the Southwest in his quest for the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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