The Universidad Católica San Antonio ("Saint Anthony Catholic University"), also known as the Universidad Católica de Murcia (UCAM), is a private university located in

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

in south-eastern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. Founded in 1996 by José Luis Mendoza Pérez, a lay Catholic, with the permission of Bishop Javier Azagra Labiano of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Cartagena The Diocese of Cartagena ( la, Carthaginen(sis) in Hispania) is the diocese of the city of Cartagena in the Ecclesiastical province of Granada in Spain.Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

orthodoxy and the moral and social doctrines of the Church. UCAM aims to contribute to the transmission of human knowledge and the development of research, from the critical, responsible and creative freedom of the person, according to gospel principles. UCAM developed a system of quality management applied to teaching, research and services to ensure the human relations among all members of the university community in order to make more effective educational work and research.

History

In 1978

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

promulgated the Apostolic Constitution '' Ex Corde Ecclesiae'', which made allowance, in Article 3.3, for the establishment of Catholic universities by laypersons. Prior to ''Ex Corde Ecclesiae'', only clergy and religious, along with affiliated institutions such as regional episcopal conferences and religious societies, were authorized under canon law to found institutes of higher learning under the patronage of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The document reflects the directives of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and ...

, which called for increased lay participation in the Church's liturgical and administrative life. UCAM, the brainchild of founder and president José Luis Mendoza Pérez, was the first such university to be established under the new conditions presented in Article 3.3. A member of the

Pontifical Council for the Family The Pontifical Council for the Family was a pontifical council of the Curia of the Roman Catholic Church from 1981 to 2016. It was established by Pope John Paul II on 9 May 1981 with his motu proprio ''Familia a Deo Instituta'', replacing the Com ...

and father of 14 children, Mendoza serves as president of the university. At its establishment in 1996, UCAM had a population of approximately 600 students. its population had expanded to over 16,000.

Campus

UCAM is located in Guadalupe just outside the city of

(capital of the eponymous

region of Murcia The Region of Murcia (, ; es, Región de Murcia ), is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain located in the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast. The region is in ...

). At the heart of the campus is the Monastery of Los Jerónimos, an 18th-century edifice originally built for the

Hieronymite The Hieronymites, also formally known as the Order of Saint Jerome ( la, Ordo Sancti Hieronymi; abbreviated OSH), is a Catholic cloistered religious order and a common name for several congregations of hermit monks living according to the Rule o ...

order of monks. The monastery forms the main administration building, which thus resembles a

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

in structure: four hallways forming a rectangle around a central open courtyard. The school's chapel is part of the original structure. Also present are several newly constructed buildings housing classrooms and faculty offices.

Studies offered

UCAM offers study of undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees (includes Master's programs and Ph.D. programs) in areas of: *

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

Arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...

and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

* Business and

Legal Studies Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

Communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

and Social Studies *

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

Nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

Sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

Schools of University

*School of Business and

*School of

Health Sciences The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences are those sciences which focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple ac ...

and

Physical Education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

*School of

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of so ...

and

Relationship with the professional world

The university maintains connections with over 200 other universities worldwide. Preparation for working life is part of the education program at UCAM, which also has an established network of business contacts to help ensure employment for its alumni after graduation.

UCAM and the "New Evangelization" of Pope John Paul II

Throughout his pontificate Pope John Paul II made reference to the need for a "new evangelization," a method by which the modern world could be effectively engaged with and evangelized to by the Catholic Church. The principles of this new evangelization are laid out most fully in the apostolic letter Novo Millennio Ineunte ("At the Beginning of the New Millennium"), promulgated at the close of the year 2000. UCAM's stance toward the secular world is informed by this notion, as can be seen in the Letter from the President introducing English-speaking foreign students to UCAM. According to Mendoza, the university has

a vocation both to teach and evangelise in the academic, scientific and cultural world and provide an instrument in Faith to solve the many questions and problems of contemporary society and in this way contribute to social, cultural and human development and progress.

Fundamentally, then, UCAM is supposed to be a Christian institution in dialogue with the modern world for the purposes of evangelization and the improvement of human society as a whole.

Controversies

In 2006 and 2012 there were some complaints from the group of lawyers and engineers in the Region of Murcia over some titles offered in this university.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Catolica San Antonio de Murcia, Universidad Catholic universities and colleges in Spain Education in the Region of Murcia Educational institutions established in 1983 1983 establishments in Spain Universities and colleges in Spain