It is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English-speaking world and trains men and women for lay and ordained ministry within the Catholic Church.

[5] CTU is run and staffed by religious and lay men and women.

[6] It was founded in 1968, when three religious institutes—the Franciscans, Passionists, and Servites—united their separate theology programs to form one school.

[8] The library holds hundreds of thousands of books[9] as well as an archive of records with information related to CTU.

[10] Distinctive collections in the library include in Catholic religious communities, dialogue across ecumenical and inter-religious lines, and pastoral theology.