Bro. Bancha Saenghiran in front of the historic St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.

Bro. Bancha Saenghiran at the feet of the statue of St. Peter with other pilgrims and a Roman mosaic in the background.

THE ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN BUILDING UP A NEW HUMANISM IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUM

Synthesis for Address delivered at University of Rome, “La Sapienza”
by
Peter W. Sheehan, AO Vice Chancellor and President Australian Catholic University

September 8,2000

SYNTHESIS

In this address, it is argued that University education for all must contribute critically to the preservation of the moral and ethical standards that define citizenship. The process of developing the new Humanism most be guided by values, and there is a special role for the Humanities in that pursuit.

All human societies have practised and valued the study of what we now call the Humnaities the creation, maintenance and transmission of knowledge about humans as self-conscious individuals and about human culture in all its manifestations. The knowledge and skill generated by the study are essential for human society. While paying heed to the strength of our inherited cultures, we must have values that endure through changing social and‘ economic circumstances. Universities must facilitate culturally aware societies that powerfully support tolerance ,which bridges the cultural divide. We need the wisdom of Universities and of our Catholic ethos. While staying in touch with our intellectual heritage, the scholarship of the future must operate to overcome certain anchors to the past. In this pursuit, particu-lar attibutes of future graduates in our university systems stand out especially: open-mindedness; commitment to ethics; good citizenship; and sensitivety to justice and injustice.

University education has a special role in forging its path to the new millennium, but it must grasp the future proactively, and assert values so that Technology can properly support its many contributios. Finally, Excellence must also be pursued, but there has to be a spiritual as we1 as intellecutal dimension to that pursuit.

The challenges of the role of Universities in building up a new humanism in the third millenium are immense. The new millennium calls, and Universities are essential to the task of meeting these challenges.