A PROPOSAL to locate a Catholic university in Co Mayo took a step closer to reality last night when some leading authorities on Cardinal John Henry Newman gathered in Ballina for a three day conference and joined members of the Hierarchy who support the venture.
The three day conference aims to evaluate Newman's works in the context of the late 20th century and to seek consensus on how his philosophy could be incorporated into a Catholic university, to be run on the lines of similar successful institutions in the US.
The "Catholic University for Mayo Project" emerged after a public meeting in January 1995, prompted by education interests in Ballina. A company was established to promote the concept, to raise funds and to acquire a site. Ballina UDC agreed to provide a 50 acre site at Belleek Wood and a lease is about to be signed.
Described as "A Meeting of Minds on the Idea of a Catholic University for the 21st Century", the conference was opened by the Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Michael Neary, a former professor of sacred scripture at Maynooth, while Bishop Thomas Finnegan of Killala is a motivating influence behind the project.
Dr Finnegan said: "At the very least, a Catholic university should in its intellectual work do what Pope John Paul II described as unifying existentially two orders of reality which were often considered to be in conflict: the quest for truth and the certitude of knowing the source of all truth, Jesus Christ."
Among the speakers are Dr Ian Ker of Campion Hall, Oxford, who has been involved in publishing 16 books on the late cardinal Dr Philip Boyce, Bishop of Raphoe, a founding member of the International Centre of Newman Friends and a former professor of dogmatic theology at the Teresianum Pontifical University in Rome; and Prof Donal Nicholl of Keele University, a former rector of the Ecumenical Institute for Theological Research in Israel.
Mr Jackie Gleeson, a conference convener, said that they hoped the university would be privately funded, forge links with established third level Catholic colleges in the US and open next year, providing summer courses for about 60 students and building up to 500 full time students within three years.
He stressed that it would aim to attract international students. While it would have a Catholic ethos, they hoped to cater for students from various denominations including some "good quality atheists" to ensure a tension in the cause of truth.
