Even in an era when many would discount basic truths of the spirit and human person, Bellarmine insists that its students become more fully aware of an inner cosmos of ultimate questions and an external world laden with issues and needs of great social and ethical complexity. Without a reverence for such questions and issues, the University maintains, the individual cannot begin to advance to educated maturity. Such a conviction shapes the core curriculum, standards and ethos of this institution.
Bellarmine is a university Catholic in roots and ongoing tradition, deeply influenced by the event of the Second Vatican Council. Catholicism here seeks to be creative, inquiring and faithful. The University is also a center for ecumenical research and exchange, open to students, faculty and staff of a variety of religious traditions. With its vision of both the individual and society being nurtured by the Gospel of Christ, the University also draws strength from being a place of inquiry and discussion. At Bellarmine, Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Jewish and Islamic scholars and students, as well as some from other households of faith, meet in mutual discourse.
