Fr. José Badenes, 6/26/07
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New Course of Study Stirs Imagination
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LMU's nascent – and growing – academic, interdisciplinary Catholic Studies program is directed by José I. Badenes, S.J., Ph.D.
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Until last autumn, LMU didn't offer a Catholic Studies program. How, pray tell, could that have been?
"I think it was just by default, that there was no attention paid to it," says José I. Badenes, S.J., Ph.D.
If so, that's certainly no longer the case. Today, Badenes is the director of the university’s nascent – and growing – Catholic Studies program.
Launched last fall, the endeavor is an academic, interdisciplinary effort that currently offers a minor. Future goals include attracting donations to create an endowment, and offering a major.
"My intention," Badenes says, "is to beef up the curriculum by having faculty prepare interesting, attractive courses.”
Already, interested LMU educators have designed a quartet of such new classes. The professors' development work was made possible by seed money donated by the LMU Jesuit Community.
The only Catholic Studies course required for the minor is titled, “THST 122: Theological Foundations of Catholicism.” Once students pass that class, Badenes says, they're better able to make connections between what they've learned and what they are then taught in various Catholic Studies electives, which are cross-listed in departments such as philosophy, history and art.
Two years ago, Badenes was named chair of an LMU committee studying ways to implement the program. He researched other universities' programs, meeting with various department heads.
Since the program’s launch, two pioneering LMU students have declared Catholic Studies minors. Neither are theology students; one is an engineer. That suits the program director just fine.
“This is all about the Catholic imagination," Badenes says about the program. "This is what Catholicism is all about.”
Indeed, the Catholic Studies mission statement states that the program is, “designed to expose students to the study of the intellectual, social, cultural and spiritual expressions of Catholicism.”
The mission statement also cites Vatican II, and stresses that the program is open to participants from any religious background and level of “faith commitment and viewpoint.”
As if heading a new program isn't enough work for one man, Badenes also chairs the Faculty Mission and Identity Committee, which is responsible for such projects as the annual President’s Institute, a week-long seminar in which faculty discuss topics related to LMU’s core values. He also continues to teach in the department of modern languages and literature.
His current area of specialty is 19th and early 20th century Spanish literature, particularly the works of Federico García Lorca. Badenes says he's also currently working on his second book, a comparative study of García Lorca and the U.S. playwright, Tennessee Williams.