The Curran Center and American Catholic Studies

Paul Elie speaks at last weekend's symposium honoring Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood

Photo by Michael Dames

As a prospective student, I remember picking up countless flyers and leaflets from admissions offices around the country. If the on-campus events seemed interesting to me, I, naturally, became much more interested in the school. Fordham stood out to me then, and it certainly has not disappointed.

The Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham embodies both our University’s commitment to intellectual inquiry, and the benefits garnered from our location in a city teeming with ideas, people, and a distinct history. Throughout the year, the Curran Center sponsors lectures and other programs on subjects related to faith and culture in the modern world. This past weekend, I attended a symposium honoring and celebrating the 60th anniversary of Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood. Guests offered their own analyses and interpretations of a novel and an author to which each had dedicated much of his or her own academic work. The crowd consisted not only of Fordham students and faculty, but of visitors from outside the Fordham community as well. As a prospective student, Fordham's on-campus events stood out to me because the topics were different and often thought-provoking. This symposium, as have others I've attended, brought new ideas and voices to campus - which is why I think the Curran Center is one of the hidden gems at Fordham.

The Curran Center also offers an undergraduate program in American Catholic Studies. As described by Associate Director Angela O’Donnell, American Catholic Studies is a program for “academically motivated” students who want to study “the culture, the faith, the history, and the theology of the American Catholic Church.” For students both inside and outside of the department, the Curran Center offers courses that investigate Catholicism’s distinct permeation into personal histories, as well as into our larger popular and political culture. O’Donnell explains that the Curran Center would not be what it is without the foundational history of New York City and those whose Catholicism was influenced by it, i.e. Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and others. In this way, the Curran Center is a model of Fordham’s commitment to extending one’s academic life past the Third Avenue gates. As is evident by our blog, Fordham is inextricable from the social and professional opportunities offered by New York City. Yet the Curran Center, and similar bodies, make Fordham’s on and off-campus life academically enriching as well.