The theology of the Mercy university

I’m energized by my attendance at the recent Conference of Mercy Higher Education gathering, which brings together leaders of the 17 institutions of Mercy higher education in the United States (a consortium second in size only to that of the Jesuits). As a member of the Board, I am privileged to hear stories of how the women and men of these colleges strive to carry on the great mission founded by Venerable Catherine McAuley. At the heart of Mercy education is a remarkable faith in God, manifested in a deep, abiding love for people and the good that they can do for the world if given the chance. Many of the students at the Mercy institutions are first-generation college students; many are in serious economic need; many lack support from family, or have significant challenges due to family commitments. Many, in short, have to work incredibly hard to earn a college degree. Those who have worked to educate them, beginning with the Sisters of Mercy and the men and women who have partnered with them over the years, live out an approach to education rooted in a profoundly theological conviction. The conviction is this: that education is most fundamentally about providing a framework within which a student (young or old) might begin to imagine herself anew, and work toward the great desires which impel her toward realizing that vision. An illustration will help shed light on what this means, and why it is so deeply rooted in a hopeful theology.

Greg Boyle, SJ, the Jesuit priest who founded Homeboy Industries, an organization comprised of former gang members in Los Angeles, has written eloquently about his challenging 25-plus year ministry. It is both a moving human story, as well as a commentary on the theology of Mercy education. Boyle observes that at the root of the pathologies of gang life is a deeply internalized shame, an often unrealized sense that one is completely unworthy of being human. He asks, reflecting on several heart-wrenching stories of how internalized shame has twisted young homies into self-loathing, violent people,

How does one hang in there with folks, patiently taking from the wreck of a lifetime of internalized shame, a sense that God finds them (us) wholly acceptable?

Boyle understands God calling him to broker a new self-understanding among the homies.

At Homeboy Industries, we seek to tell each person this truth: they are exactly what God had in mind when God made them–and then we watch, from this privileged place, as people inhabit this truth. Nothing is the same again. No bullet can pierce this, no prison walls can keep this out. And death can’t touch it–it is just that huge. But much stands in the way of this liberating truth. You need to dismantle shame and disgrace, coaxing out the truth in people who’ve grown comfortable believing in its opposite.

Mercy education is about this “liberating truth” that God finds us wholly acceptable. It is about being the presence of God to those who are not quite sure of that truth. It is about opening up a new way of imagining oneself: helping a person see herself or himself the way that God does. This theology of Mercy is profoundly Catholic, rooted as it is in a sacramental imagination oriented toward transcendence.

Twentieth century chemist and philosopher Michael Polanyi offers a clue as to how this approach works. He describes Christian worship as a “framework of clues which are apt to induce a passionate search for God,” a heuristic impulse similar to scientific discovery. (A heuristic impulse can be described as anything that helps a person discover something.)

A heuristic impulse can live only in the pursuit of its proper enquiry. The Christian enquiry is worship. The words of prayer and confession, the actions of the ritual, the lesson, the sermon, the church itself, are the clues of the worshipper’s striving towards God. They guide his feelings of contrition and gratitude and his craving for the divine presence, while keeping him safe from distracting thoughts. (Personal Knowledge, 282)

The Mercy educator hopes to do something analogous to what Boyle does for the homies. Within the constraints of their limited time with students, they seek with their students to “coax out” (Latin educere) the truth that God has called them to some great good in the world. Prayer and liturgy, philosophy and theology and the other liberating arts and sciences provide a framework for discernment, a heuristic that gives students the opportunity not only to discover themselves as wholly beloved by God, but also capable of undertaking a lifetime of service in building a beautiful world as professionals, citizens, people in relationships, and even members of the community of faith.

This heuristic model of Mercy education is the ultimate form of teaching someone to fish rather than giving her a fish. Many colleges and universities give students fish, in the form of practical degrees that may or may not last through the next economic cycle. Mercy colleges and universities–and indeed, many others who share this basic model–are about transforming students so that they can go fishing till the nets are bursting.