A "charism-centered" institutional mission is a mission that is believed to be instantiated and guided by the working of the Holy Spirit. Countless Catholic higher education institutions claim to have missions rooted in one or more charisms. However, institutional assessment processes tailored to charism-centered missions have remained in their infancy due to the lack of a theological grounding for institutional charism and its assessment. This work uses Yves Congar's pneumatological ecclesiology to establish a theological framework for interpreting charism as respecting and enhancing stakeholder diversity and uses Louis-Marie Chauvet's ecclesiology of symbol to pioneer a model for institutionally assessing charism-centered missions. It is argued that assessment processes provide valuable tools for discerning institutional charism. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]