The Power of Wonder

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What happens when three professors "put people in touch with the true, the beautiful and the good and let the Holy Spirit work(?)”


Three professors, Dr. Dennis Quinn, Dr. John Senior, and Dr. Frank Nelick, ran a program called the Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas from 1970 to 1979. A “great books” program that started with the ancient Greeks and led students on a journey up to the present, the motto was Nascantur in Admiratione, translated “Let Them Be Born in Wonder.”

[...]

The program grew super fast, from 20 students in 1970 to 140 in 1971, and 186 in 1972.

But then the conversions started happening. By one estimate, over the 10 year course of the program, more than 100 students decided to join the Catholic Church.

Alums of the program include: Archbishop Paul Coakley of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Bishop James Conley of the Diocese of Lincoln, Dom Philip Anderson, abbot of Our Lady Of The Annunciation of Clear Creek Abbey, and Dr. Robert Carlson, one of the three founders of Wyoming Catholic College.

As to why the program led so many young people to the Church, Archbishop Coakley has said, “You put people in touch with the true, the beautiful and the good and let the Holy Spirit work.”

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