Foundation and History

Father William Joseph Chaminade

Chaminade University is named for Father William Chaminade (1761–1850), a French Catholic priest who lived through the French Revolution and the rise and fall of Napoleon. During the Revolution, Catholic churches and land were taken over by the state; clergy who did not cooperate were frequently executed. In the aftermath, Father Chaminade faced a new apostolic challenge: ignorance of the faith, religious indifference, and the abandonment of Christian life, and the structural ruin of the Church. Aiming to dedicate the rest of his life to the renewal of the Church, he realized that new means were required for his times: new institutions, new methods, and even a new kind of missionary.

Father Chaminade understood the rich creative possibilities of a Christian community for apostolic service. Such a community could bear the witness of a people of saints, showing that the gospel could still be lived in all the force of its letter and spirit. A community could thus become the great means to Christianize France. Within the lay Christian communities he initiated, some expressed the desire to follow Christ as vowed religious. Thus, in 1816, Father Chaminade, in collaboration with Adele de Batz de Trenquelleon, founded the Daughters of Mary Immaculate (Marianist Sisters). In 1817, he founded the Society of Mary (Marianist Brothers and Priests). He saw in these two religious congregations the means to animate and extend the network of communities and works founded through his inspiration.

The life of Father Chaminade reveals a deep sense of Providence. Filled with a compelling awareness of the Church’s mission, he was ready to adapt to ever-new situations, eager to respond to the Lord’s indications, and deeply sensitive to the needs of the times. He was gifted with the tenacity of purpose, a profound spirit of prayer, and a keen ability to discern God’s will. He wished to impress these traits on Marianists of all times.

Like social reformers before and after him, Father Chaminade saw schools as a principal means for transforming society. During his lifetime he founded over forty schools, including three teacher-training institutions. In explaining his efforts to Pope Gregory XVI, he said that by opening schools, especially for those classes of people most numerous and most abandoned, and by engaging in teacher training, he sought to counteract the anti-Christian spirit ushered in by the French Revolution and the religious indifference that resulted from it. Consistent with his fundamental apostolic insight, Father Chaminade desired that Marianist schools be true communities concerned for the education of the whole person, respecting both faith and reason as means to the truth, and preparing its graduates for both successes in their careers and life and committed to service. Chaminade University is grateful to have received such a legacy and strives to be the educational community envisioned by Father Chaminade.

Mission

Chaminade University offers its students an education in a collaborative learning environment that prepares them for life, service, and successful careers. Guided by its Catholic, Marianist, and liberal arts educational traditions, Chaminade encourages the development of moral character, personal competencies, and a commitment to build a just and peaceful society. The University offers both the civic and church communities of the Pacific region its academic and intellectual resources in the pursuit of common aims.

Statement of Core Commitments
From our Mission flow the following Core Commitments that both amplify and specify the Mission. We understand our Core Commitments as guiding both the service we offer and the formation of our education community:

Commitments to Service

● To offer quality academic programs, both those leading to a degree and those focused on continuing education, in a manner responsive to the needs of our students and communities
● To graduate students who are recognized for their liberal arts learning, preparation for professional careers, facility in the use of information and communication technologies, interest in life-long learning, appreciation of diversity, sense of ethical responsibility, and commitment to leadership through service to affect positively individual lives and the common good
● To be a community that looks beyond itself and engages in public service, that enriches the life of the wider community
● To exhibit a strong social consciousness that expressly permeates all curricula
● To engage in partnerships with the Hawaii community, our Pacific Island neighbors, the church, and those with whom we share Marianist sponsorship
● To explore critically the intersections of faith and culture and, consistent with our identity, engage our students in this dialogue and participate in the processes of public learning and policy formulation and the building of a more just and peaceful society.

Commitments to the Character of Our Education Community

● To be a unified education community where members are committed to our common mission and their self-development
● To be a faculty and staff with a primary focus on student learning and the development of the whole person
● To hold an extensive view of hospitality, meaning cordiality to the ideas and talents of others; to listen with an open mind that enhances our integrity and reasserts our humanity
● To nurture a culture which honors and promotes open inquiry, reflection, critical dialogue with peers on and beyond the campus, and the dissemination of our scholarship
● To be a scholarly community which explores and encourages connections between disciplines and provides the various experiences necessary to make those connections. This implies intense, dedicated collaboration among colleagues and students
● To foster an excellent multi-cultural learning environment drawing on our unique Pacific Island location
● To conduct ourselves with personal integrity, perhaps the most powerful education tool we possess; to serve as mentors and role models; the way in which we interact with students enables them to work with others in a like manner
● To be a community which stays the course through the difficult periods. Patience, self-discipline, and sacrifice are necessary to build a strong community. We look within ourselves for solutions and the resolve to work through difficulties

The Marianists in Hawaii

The Marianists first arrived in Hawaii in 1883 to assume responsibility for Saint Louis School in Honolulu, in subsequent years, they founded Saint Anthony’s School in Wailuku, Maui, and Saint Joseph’s School in Hilo. In September 1955, the Marianists opened Saint Louis Junior College on the Saint Louis School Campus. Under the direction of the Reverent Robert R. Mackey, S.M., it provided a two-year liberal arts program. Two years later the college expanded its programs and became a four-year coeducational college with the name of Chaminade College of Honolulu. In 1967, Chaminade established an evening program to serve adult learners. A decade later, with the institution of graduate programs, Chaminade College of Honolulu became Chaminade University and “of Honolulu” was added in 1981.

Sister Universities

Chaminade University has close relations with two sister universities located on the U.S Mainland. The University of Dayton, founded by the Marianists in 1850, has approximately 11,000 students and is the largest independent university in Ohio. Saint Mary’s University, founded by the Marianists in San Antonio, Texas in 1852, has approximately 4,000 students. Students at any of the three universities can take a portion of their studies at any of the other institutions.

Marianist Educational Values

The Characteristics of Marianist Universities are a concise statement of ways Marianist universities, including Chaminade University of Honolulu, distinguish the education they provide.  The Characteristics of Marianist University are:

• Educate for Formation in Faith

• Educate in Family Spirit

• Provide an Integral, Quality Education

• Educate for Service,  Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation

• Educate for Adaptation and Change

Educate in Formation in Faith
Catholic Universities affirm an intricate relationship between reason and faith. As important as discursive and logical formulations and critical thinking are, they are not able to capture all that can and ought to be learned. Intellectual rigor coupled with respectful humility provides a more profound preparation for both career and life. Intellectual rigor characterizes the pursuit of all that can be learned. Respectful humility reminds people of faith that they need to learn from those who are of other faiths and culture, as well as from those who may have no religious faith at all.

Provide an Integral, Quality Education
In the Marianist approach to education, excellence includes the whole person, not just the technician or rhetorician. Marianist universities educate whole persons, developing their physical, psychological, intellectual, moral, spiritual, and social qualities. Faculty and students attend to fundamental moral attitudes, develop their personal talents and acquire skills that will help them learn all their lives. The Marianist approach to education links theory and practice, liberal and professional education. Our age has been deeply shaped by science and technology. Most recently, information and educational technologies have changed the way faculty and students research and teach. At Marianist Universities, two goals are pursued simultaneously: appropriate use of information technology for learning and the enhancement of interaction between students and teachers. As Catholic, Marianist Universities seek to embrace diverse peoples and understand diverse cultures, convinced that ultimately, when such people come together, one of the highest purposes of education is realized: a human community that respects every individual within it.

Educate in Family Spirit
Known for their strong sense of community, Marianists have traditionally spoken of this sense as “family spirit.” Marianist educational experience fosters the development of a community characterized by a sense of family spirit that accepts each person with loving respect and draws all in the university into the challenge of community building. Family spirit also enables Marianist universities to challenge their students, faculty, and staff to excellence and maturity. This is possible because of the acceptance and love of a community that gives its members the courage to risk failure and the joy of sharing success.

Educate for Service, Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation
The Marianist approach to higher education is deeply committed to the common good. The intellectual life itself is undertaken as a form of service in the interest of justice and peace and the university curriculum is designed to connect the classroom with the wider world. In addition, Marianist universities extend a special concern for the poor and marginalized and promote the dignity, rights, and responsibilities of all people.

Educate for Adaptation and Change
In the midst of rapid social and technological change, Marianist universities readily adapt and change their methods and structures so that the wisdom of their educational philosophy and spirituality may be transmitted even more fully. “New Times calls for new methods” Father Chaminade often repeated. The Marianist University faces the future confidently, on the one hand knowing that it draws on a rich educational philosophy and on the other fully aware that in order for that philosophy to remain vibrant in changing times, adaptations need to be met.

Selected from Characteristics of Marianist Universities: A Resource Paper Published in 1999 by Chaminade University of Honolulu, St. Mary’s University, and University of Dayton.

Symbols

Chaminade University’s colors are blue and white. The flaming sword on the Chaminade seal symbolizes the twofold “sword.” First, it is the Word of God, Christ, the life of the soul. And second, the word of the person, the life of the mind. It also represents the dual purpose of Chaminade: to guide students toward truth and faith and toward the aesthetic, cultural, and scientific truths of the human race, producing Christian men and women endowed with a sense of their rich cultural heritage.

The University seal includes the words Vita in Verbo “Life in the Word.” Chaminade is also identified with the rare silversword plant, indigenous to Hawaii and found on Haleakala ( a dormant volcano on the island of Maui). The flowers of this local plant are said to resemble the Cross, the symbol of the Christian faith. Chaminade’s athletic teams bear the name "Silverswords."

The University logo depicts the Mystical Rose Oratory, a central part of campus life. It is the site for worship and the Christian community - a place to nurture a maturing relationship with God and humankind.