Anyone with access to a news search engine can queue pages worth of articles lamenting the approaching visit of Pope Benedict XVI. These columns predict that the Bishop of Rome will come wielding the hammer and scolding the laissez-faire approach of some American Catholic universities concerning secularizing forces within culture.

These articles seem to rely heavily on conservative-liberal categories wherein approaches are pitted against each other, such as the United States’ political party arrangement and often equally Catholicism and religion in general.

This common approach labels Pope Benedict XVI as conservative and American Catholic universities as liberal, implying a clear conflict. Though this analysis offers limited insight into the actions of the Pope and the tendencies of some American Catholic universities, it is mistakenly too dichotomous to comprehensively consider either Pope Benedict XVI or American Catholic universities.

Regarding the state of American Catholic universities, two things should be considered. Firstly, universities in general constantly intersect with numerous cultural currents, prompting questions and issues. Consequently, according to H. Richard Niebuhr, intellectual Catholicism in the university setting responds against, for, with, above or acts to transform these currents.

In light of the steps taken during Vatican II and the great aggiornamento opening the Church to the world, the question remains — exactly how should this openness take place?

My hope for American Catholic universities is that much care is taken when sorting out these complex interactions because these issues and questions seldom disappear when addressed passively without attending adequately to the reality of their implications.

I believe that Pope Benedict XVI’s visit worries many because he will attend to issues and questions that will unearth real implications and perhaps difficult words.

However, uncomfortable situations often yield better circumstances. By penetrating these questions, American Catholic universities can begin the process of disillusionment, whereby they are divested of delusions and false realities concerning their interaction with culture.

And again, some will feel threatened by this possibility of disillusionment and rightly so, but I welcome the possibility of reconsidering these interactions, even in spite of the challenges necessary to any sort of endeavor.