"But the Catholic college and university is not one of the faith's big achievements in America. Look at any one of the ratings charts (there are many) and see how low these institutions fare on the competitive scales and how few of them rate at all."
I take issue with his premise above.
Notre Dame, Georgetown, Boston College are top 50 among national universities (on a list filled otherwise with the Ivies and taxpayer funded state schools).
About his law school comment, Georgetown, Boston COllege, Notre Dame, Fordham are all top 50.
His premise that Catholic universities are not a big success for American Catholicism is hogwash -- many of them did not suck at the public teat like other universities for many years so came late to the public funding game, and Catholics were not a wealthy group in American society until the last 50 years, thus meaning that the endowment funds of Catholic universities didn't have time to grow like the Ivies did.
Plus, many Catholic universities have taken an "education first, research second" position consistent with Catholic moral teaching, hence they don't score up top.