Cardus isn’t specifying which revolution it will back, but through a new program called Cardus U it’s soliciting revolutionary ideas.
The U in Cardus U doesn’t stand for university.
“We have no intention of giving out degrees,” said Cardus U project co-ordinator Mark de Vos. “It’s doesn’t stand for anything. It’s just Cardus U.”
Open to both university undergraduates and graduate students, Cardus U offers a kind of structured gap year that will allow young people to shape their most ambitious ideas into a whole new direction in their lives.
“This could utterly shift, in a significant way, somebody’s career trajectory,” de Vos said. “It’s designed to launch people.”
In less than a month of operation, Cardus U has already generated 15 enquiries and four applications from its www.u.cardus.ca web site. The deadline for applications is March 14, with the eight successful applicants beginning their program together in Hamilton, Ont., in September.
The program works by connecting young people with leading minds and decision makers who can help push ideas toward reality. From ethicist Margaret Somerville to journalist Peter Stockland to Bank of England governor Mark Carney, the people in or associated with Cardus will be available to the Cardus U gang of eight to help them get things started, said de Vos.
Cardus U stands on the shoulders of the think tank’s mission to renew the social fabric of North America. Successful applicants may have ideas in social entrepreneurship, media, markets or government, but their aim must be to change the status quo.
“It’s a unique opportunity to participate in the life of a think tank, and a think tank with these deep Christian roots,” said de Vos.
That doesn’t mean Cardus U will be a workshop for theology students or pious babble.
“The language of the Kingdom (of God) is not used. The language of the Lordship of Christ is not used. And that’s intentional,” said de Vos. “We want the people in our cohort to have access to the public square. They’re not able to do that if they can’t communicate and make sense.”
Public debates on urban renewal, diversity, markets, class and poverty have to use public language — not the internal language of the Church.
“That’s always been the vision of Cardus, to enter the public square in a way that is credible that comes out of our faith commitment,” said de Vos.
Cardus U was conceived as a way to fill a hole in the range of options available to young graduates trying to do something ambitious with their lives, according to de Vos.
In the United States university-based programs in social entrepreneurship and social innovation fill some of that gap, but none of them are Christian. In Canada there simply aren’t many mentor-based programs that derive their agenda from the students’ ideas.
The program costs $8,000 plus living and accommodation expenses. Cardus will help place its Cardus U fellows with Christian communities.
Cardus U itself is an example of the kind of ideas that will be accepted for the program. de Vos, a Master of Divinity graduate from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, spent two years working up a proposal, which he pitched to Cardus last November. By January he was hired and is now running Cardus U while holding down a part-time job as chaplain at Hamilton’s private Redeemer University.
The Calvinist meets Catholic mix at Cardus does not translate into an ideological slant, said de Vos.
“The biggest thing we’re looking for is people who can create a project that could set a movement in motion. We’re looking for a person, an idea, that could end up making a significant impact,” he said.