The Catholic Intellectual Tradition is a 2000-year-old “conversation” between the Church and the world, a dialogue between the Christian community of believers and the culture in which it finds itself. While the tradition is broader and older than the university, in large part the Catholic university has served as the steward of this “conversation,” preserving, transmitting and developing it by engaging the questions and challenges of its own time and place.

The Catholic intellectual tradition cherishes, develops, and employs a valuable treasury of “texts” that are worth preserving: written texts, musical texts, art, customs and rituals, and modes of thought, expression and action — “finished products” that need to be maintained, supported, and explored. The Catholic intellectual tradition is committed to introducing new generations to these texts. The Catholic intellectual tradition shapes a distinctive approach to the mission of Calumet College of St. Joseph.