Intellectual Appeal of Catholicism and the Idea of a Catholic University

Mark W. Roche is the Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C., Professor of German Language and Literature and concurrent professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. From 1997 to 2008 Roche served as dean of Notre Dame's College of Arts and Letters. His books include Realizing the Distinctive University: Vision and Values, Strategy and Culture (2017) and Why Choose the Liberal Arts? (2010), both published by the University of Notre Dame Press. Why Choose the Liberal Arts? received the 2012 Frederic W. Ness Book Award from the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

"The Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of Notre Dame makes a cogent case for intellectual rigor, faith and reason to underpin Catholic educational establishments." —Conscience"The second half of the title suggests a revision of Cardinal Newman's The Idea of a University that is suitable to the contemporary American Catholic campus; the first half refines the vision by concentrating on the intellectual aspects of Catholicism that contribute to this achievement." —Faith and Reason