This article explores the current and historical importance of business to the Mercy ministries, and the ways in which business programs at Mercy colleges and universities exemplify and promote their charism. Mission statements, faculty and staff development activities, research, curricular and extracurricular initiatives, community service, and…

Widespread agreement suggests that it is appropriate and desirable to develop and teach business theory and practice consistent with Catholic social teaching (CST) in Catholic business schools. Such a curriculum would cover the same mainstream material taught in other business schools, but then offer a CST approach to business that can be…

How might educators better balance liberal learning (the proper aim of which is the development of the whole person) with education that provides training in technical skills needed for a trade or a working profession suitable to provide for one's family and contribute to the common good? In "Caritas in Veritate," Pope Benedict…

The world of work that students enter after graduation will not mirror the straightforward world portrayed by their textbooks. They will be required to make decisions that will affect more than the bottom line. Faculty at Catholic business schools can integrate the components of Catholic social teaching (CST) into the classroom to help equip…

Business education at a Catholic university should engage students and faculty across the university in critically examining the purpose of business in society. Following the best practices of leading business schools, the Catholic business curriculum has mostly focused on the shareholder and stakeholder approaches--with the shareholder approach…

Professional education importantly shapes the way future professionals understand their work and their identity as members of their professional field. Undergraduate business education does this by giving students an understanding of the nature and functions of business as well as what they may hope for from a business career, along with the…

The following pages present an account of practices developed at the University of Dayton, a Catholic university in the Marianist tradition, to help faculty more intentionally integrate liberal learning and business education by focusing on ways the Catholic Intellectual Tradition can shape the context in which this integration takes place. The…

"Academically Adrift," the recent study of undergraduate performance, has revealed that college students are learning little, if anything, over the course of their four years at university. This article suggests that students are academically adrift, in part, because Americans are culturally marooned between two ways to pursue happiness,…

Building on "Vocation of the Business Leader," the recently released document from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, along with input from Catholic business and educational leaders from around the world, this essay examines five pillars on which a Catholic business school should build its mission: foundations; the purpose of…

Catholic business schools need a process to shape their operations intentionally in light of the Catholic moral tradition. Recent developments in Catholic health care suggest a model they might follow. This model uses a method known as the "Self-Assessment and Improvement Process" (SAIP), which helps leaders deploy moral principles…

By virtue of its divine vocation, Catholic business education must be mission driven. In reality, however, mission drift and failure to maintain distinctiveness are widespread among Catholic business schools (CBS). Many believe that a trade-off between academic quality and Catholicity is unavoidable, and opt for accommodating the expectations of…

The challenge for faculty teaching in Catholic business schools is how to integrate the University's mission and identity as well as the principles of Catholic Social Teaching (CST) into business school courses. Such integration is necessary if Catholic business schools are to provide students with a unique educational experience. This…

This article examines and evaluates the development, design, and impact of one strategy for renewing mission and identity in Catholic business education. The Mission-Driven Catholic Business Education (MCBE) Seminar is used by the Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas to create and sustain a mission-driven culture. (Contains 1…

In order to address the many challenges the world faces, new solutions are needed. This article explores how the Bishop of Buea, Cameroon created a University inspired by the Focolare movement's interdisciplinary paradigm and economic vision known as the Economy of Communion (EoC). In addition, the article presents some of the main cultural…

De La Salle University started in the Philippines as a Catholic school of business in 1911 through the initiative of Archbishop Harty of Manila. Its faith-based orientation gave way to a more secular one in the following decades as it adopted the more scientific and technical approaches of Western business schools. Recent changes in the…