Diocese will hold national collection Sept. 6-7 for The Catholic University of America

The Diocese of Trenton will join with dioceses across the nation to take up a collection for The Catholic University of America in Washington, the only institution of higher education founded and operated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, at all Masses Sept. 6-7.
 
The university, established in 1870, is a national research institution with more than 5,700 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in more than 250 academic programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels across 12 colleges and 32 research facilities. It is a research institution devoted to the service of the national and global Church.
 
The annual collection, which is the only one taken up to benefit higher education in the United States, allows for CUA to continue providing affordable, quality education rooted firmly in Catholic intellectual, social and moral tradition. Since its founding, CUA graduates have been serving the Catholic Church of today, equipped with skills that are guided by and grounded in faith.
 
Although there are more than 200 Catholic colleges and universities in the U.S. established before and after CUA’s foundation, CUA has the distinction of being the only papally chartered American institution of higher learning. CUA includes three “pontifical” faculties: philosophy, theology and canon law among its 12 schools.
 
Additionally, CUA is the only Catholic university in the U.S. with a School of Canon Law. Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M.; Bishop John M. Smith, and Bishop John C. Reiss, along with several priests of the Diocese of Trenton are graduates of its program in Canon Law and a number of priests received their seminary theological preparation there.
 
The ties with the Diocese of Trenton are significant, with Bishop O’Connell having served as CUA’s 14th president (1998-2010) before becoming the 10th Bishop of Trenton. A central campus building, a university professorship in English and an undergraduate scholarship bear his name, as does the plaza across the street from the campus.
 
When CUA was founded, it was designated as the national university of the Catholic Church in our country, more commonly known as “the bishops’ university.” Pope Leo XIII approved its establishment with a papal charter on the condition that the American hierarchy would support CUA. A national collection was later created to fulfill that commitment.
 
Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis have each visited CUA and the neighboring Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
 
 National Collection | Catholic University Advancement