Catholic “b-schools” and the bushel basket

Business is the most popular major among American college students today. Approximately 19% of undergraduates major in accounting, finance, management, marketing, or a related business discipline. Business is also the most popular area of graduate study, accounting for approximately 23% of graduate degrees. Colleges and universities frequently offer business courses to students through their institution’s school of business, colloquially known as a “b-school.”

B-schools have a long history at Catholic colleges and universities. For example, “The Mendoza College of Business” at the University of Notre Dame is over one hundred years old. Boston College’s “Carroll School of Management” was founded in 1938. “The McDonough School” at Georgetown University has been around since 1957. The long history of Catholic b-schools is supported by Pope Benedict XVI’s assertion that, “Work is fundamental to the fulfillment of the human being and to the development of society.” As the Vatican’s “Vocation of the Business Leader” explains: “The vocation of the businessperson is a genuine human and Christian calling. Its importance in the life of the Church and in the world economy can hardly be overstated.” Accordingly, the mission of the Catholic business school has historically been to offer students the benefits of a rigorous business curriculum within the broader tradition of a rich, Catholic-mission-oriented liberal education.

Over the past decade, many Catholic b-schools have been missing the moment. Though they stand uniquely positioned to buttress against cultural confusion, they have been far too frequently following the crowd. Like their counterparts at non-Catholic business schools, students, faculty members and administrators at Catholic b-schools have invested considerable time, effort and resources thinking about “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) but have spent comparatively little or no time contemplating the rich tradition of Catholic Social Teaching (CST).

In a scathing piece explaining why he resigned from Notre Dame at the end of 2025, renowned sociologist professor Christian Smith recounted the story of a “bright senior finance major” and “committed Catholic weeks away from graduating” who confessed that in four years taking business classes at Mendoza, she had heard nothing about CST. Dr. Smith called this a “mind-blowing dereliction of duty.” Like many Catholic business schools, Mendoza boasts a business ethics center through which it claims students contemplate “the moral purpose of business” and “address the most pressing ethical questions in business today.” But is it ethical for a Catholic business school to teach ethics while never covering subsidiarity? Is it moral for Catholic b-school communities to be nimbly able to cite chapter and verse from “White Fragility,” “How to be an Anti-Racist” and “Subtle Acts of Exclusion” but unable to muster anything from “Rerum Novarum”, “Quadragesimo Anno” and “Centesimus Annus”?

Can’t even pagans do that?

Why are so many Catholic b-schools keeping their lamps hidden under a bushel basket?

These are fair questions. And Lent offers a good opportunity to reflect on Dr. Smith’s brilliant expose. Doing so should prompt long lines at the confessional.

At the same time, hope remains a virtue. Beaten and battered Catholics know that Easter is coming. And as we lament what has gone wrong, anyone in the trenches of Catholic business education should commit to getting things right. And, as we look for a way forward, we may find some promise in these early days of Pope Leo XIV’s papacy.

Just days after his election last year, our new pope met with the College of Cardinals and explained why he chose his papal name:

“There are different reasons for this, but mainly because Pope Leo XIII in his historic Encyclical Rerum Novarum addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution. In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and labor.”

Of course, having navigated the workplace this past decade, faithful Catholic professionals know that “another industrial revolution” began some time ago. And they had more recently begun worrying that AI might take things to a whole other level. Hearing this from our new pope – a pope who chose his name in honor of Pope Leo XIII, dubbed the “Father of Catholic Social Doctrine” – is reassuring. After all, the last Leo gave us the St. Michael the Archangel prayer, perhaps our new Leo is signaling it is time to get serious about the battles we face today.

While addressing the Vatican Diplomatic Corps in January, Pope Leo XIV gave us this:

“It is painful to see how, especially in the West, the space for genuine freedom of expression is rapidly shrinking. At the same time, a new Orwellian-style language is developing which, in an attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fueling it.”

The Pope went on to add:

“At this moment in history, freedom of conscience seems increasingly to be questioned by States, even those that claim to be based on democracy and human rights. This freedom, however, establishes a balance between the collective interest and individual dignity. It also emphasizes that a truly free society does not impose uniformity but protects the diversity of consciences, preventing authoritarian tendencies and promoting an ethical dialogue that enriches the social fabric.”

Amen.

It is hard to find any shades of gray there.

Are Catholic b-schools listening? If Catholic mission is still part of Catholic business education, they should be.

After all, Catholic business students are most certainly part of what the Catechism of the Catholic Church calls “the lay faithful.” They share in the “priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ and they have their own part to play in the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.” They are called to “seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will.” The Catechism continues: “Lay believers are in the front line of Church life; for them, the Church is the animating principle of human society. Therefore, they in particular ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church.” Moreover, the Catechism says that lay Christians “have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth.”

Without question, Catholic b-schools should offer Catholic business students the opportunity to use their faith and reason. They should challenge students to understand what it really means to be human and to genuinely protect the life and dignity of the human person. To grapple with questions about the proper relationship between the human person, work and the marketplace. To ponder the extraordinary nature of the family unit and the critical role it plays properly ordering society. To re-discover the logic – and beauty – of “subsidiarity.” To contemplate the source of “solidarity” and understand what it is as opposed to what the media tells us it means. To do the same with the “common good” – to know its authentic meaning rather than adopt it as shorthand for something it is most definitely not. To consider once and for all what the Church says about private ownership and to see very clearly what it says about socialism.

And to understand the truth that committing to these things connects Catholic business students back to the God who created them each with unique talents to be used for His purpose.

Today, while too many corporate boardrooms have neither any idea why these things matter nor what they have to do with business, Catholic business schools should.

If you are a prospective Catholic business student – or if you are a parent or grandparent of a prospective Catholic business student – I encourage you to pay attention as you make your selection. To ask questions. Of the dean. Of the department heads. Of the faculty. Figure out if and how Catholic social teaching is integrated into the culture and curriculum of the Catholic business schools you are considering. Look for specifics and do not accept generalities.

And pray that more Catholic b-schools possess the courage to genuinely commit to, foster and live out the unique, incredibly beautiful and life-changing tradition of Catholic social teaching.

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