Catholic University of America is a private, Roman Catholic institution of higher learning in Washington, D.C. It is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. The university is the official national Roman Catholic university in the United States. American bishops decided to establish the university in 1884. Pope Leo XIII formally approved the plan in 1887. It began as a graduate school and research center. The university first offered undergraduate programs in 1904.
Research centers at the university include the Life Cycle Institute and the Vitreous State Laboratory. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest U.S. Catholic church, is near the campus. It is not officially affiliated with the university, but some university masses are held at the church.
Well-known graduates of the Catholic University of America have included archbishops Cardinal Terence Cooke and Cardinal Patrick Joseph Hayes of New York, Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles, Cardinal James McGuigan of Toronto, and Cardinal John O’Hara of Philadelphia. Other notable alumni have included Senator Thomas R. Harkin of Iowa; Theodore M. Hesburgh, president of the University of Notre Dame; chemist Julius Nieuwland; and playwright Paula Vogel.
The university’s website at https://www.catholic.edu/ offers additional information.
