CINO - Catholic In Name Only

 A dissent of sorts from the use of this acronym...


Denver, Colo., Apr 3, 2018 / 04:02 pm (CNA).- On Monday, Villanova University won the NCAA basketball tournament for the second time in three years. The University of Notre Dame won the women’s tournament on Easter Sunday, beating Mississippi State with a last-second 3-pointer from junior Arike Ogunbowale, who had beaten Connecticut with a last-second shot just two days earlier.
Ogunbowale was a heavily recruited college prospect, but she chose Notre Dame after attending a Catholic high school, because she wanted to grow in faith.
From many corners, though, as these Catholic colleges celebrate their victories, I’ve been hearing a familiar criticism: that Villanova and Notre Dame, like many schools, aren’t “really” Catholic colleges - that they’re “CINO” - Catholic in Name Only.

But telling universities they are “Catholic in Name Only” cedes the premise that they are supposed to act like genuine Catholic institutions. The CINO label is another way of telling colleges that faithful Catholics don’t expect much from them. And, frankly, faithful Catholics have the right to expect faithfulness from Catholic universities. Vocally. And often.
But the CINO attitude is a way of letting ourselves off the hook, too.
It’s easy to carp about Catholic universities, to focus on their failings, to wonder when bishops will act, and to believe they’ll never change. But faithful Catholics are called to something else.
Pope St. John Paul II said, repeatedly, that every Catholic is called to the “new evangelization.” The first step of that project, he said, is to “remake the Christian fabric of the ecclesial community.”
This means, in practice, to preach the Gospel to Catholic institutions that seem to have jettisoned it. Catholic universities come to mind, among others.

I've used the label "CINO" 59 times in this blog! Here's the first one from May, 2013:

 http://stjoespsr.blogspot.com/2013/05/catholic-angst.html