WORDS TO THE WHYS

In an age of artificial intelligence, too many of our schools and colleges are producing artificial stupidity. Thomas Sowell

The Power of Wonder

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.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Your comments will be appreciated and posted if 1) they are on topic and 2) preserve decorum.

Stand by your word.

Popular Posts

Praise God For Beautiful (New) Churches

Image
Laudate Deum propter aedificia pulchra! Let's draw attention to a couple of projects that are worthy of note. 1. Incarnation Catholic Church, Orlando, Florida. https://www.incarnationcc.org/building/ A project in the works since a couple of fires destroyed the former church, the new building promises to be a fitting temple for the worship of Almighty God. https://cosmatiarchitects.com/ 2. The (New) Cathedral of Our Lady Of Walsingham, Houston, Texas. A very handsome new building will replace the beloved neo-gothic structure that has served for a decade as the cathedral for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. - from the Cathedral website: The parish of Our Lady of Walsingham, established in 1984 under the Pastoral Provision of  St. John Paul II, was the first Catholic parish in the United States dedicated to Our Lady under this title and was a parish of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston until 2012. The Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter was established on ...
Read more

Catholic Balance: Freedom, Virtue, and the Common Good

Image
One of the challenges facing many contemporary democracies is the increasing polarization of political life. When public debate becomes dominated by ideological camps that view one another with suspicion or hostility, society loses the capacity for reasoned dialogue and compromise. Citizens are encouraged to choose sides rather than seek truth, and opponents are too often treated as enemies rather than fellow participants in a common political community. Polarized politics can serve society insofar as it highlights important disagreements and brings competing values into public discussion. Vigorous debate is a normal and healthy feature of a free society. However, polarization serves the common good only partially when it hardens into tribalism, reducing complex issues to simplistic slogans and discouraging genuine understanding. A healthier society requires the classical liberal commitment to open inquiry and freedom of expression alongside the conservative appreciation for social coh...
Read more

Where Light Dwells, Darkness Cannot Remain: The Christian Call to Holiness

Image
The Christian life is fundamentally a participation in the light of Christ. Throughout Sacred Scripture, light symbolizes truth, holiness, and communion with God, while darkness signifies sin, error, and separation from Him. Because Christ is the Light of the World, those who follow Him cannot persist in a lifestyle of sin without contradicting their identity as His disciples. Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). This statement presents not merely a comforting promise but a moral challenge. To follow Christ is to leave behind the darkness of sin and to walk in the illumination of divine grace. Just as physical light dispels darkness, the presence of Christ transforms the soul and calls believers to conversion. St. John develops this theme even more strongly: “God is light and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). He continues by warning that anyone who claims fellowship with God wh...
Read more

Why the Altar, Not Administration, Defines the Priesthood

Image
St John the Evangelist Church, Calgary AB The saying, “Without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the clergy are merely bureaucrats,” is intentionally provocative, but it expresses an important truth about the nature of the Church and the priesthood. At its heart lies the conviction that the Church is not fundamentally an institution of administration, but a sacramental communion whose life flows from the Eucharistic sacrifice. The priest certainly has many responsibilities beyond the altar. He teaches the faith, preaches the Gospel, cares for souls, comforts the suffering, and guides the Christian community. These are not bureaucratic tasks but genuine expressions of pastoral and spiritual fatherhood. Yet all of these ministries find their deepest meaning in their relationship to the Eucharist, which the Church calls the source and summit of the Christian life (CCC 1324). When the Mass is forgotten or marginalized, the remaining administrative duties of the clergy can easily come to domi...
Read more

The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.

Image
Yes to Virtue; No to Sin The history of salvation is the drama of two opposing kingdoms: the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. Every soul must choose between them. There is no neutrality in the spiritual life. Our Lord Jesus Christ calls His disciples to reject sin and pursue holiness, declaring, "No man can serve two masters" (Matt. 6:24). The Christian life is therefore a continual and deliberate "yes" to virtue and a steadfast "no" to sin. Virtue is the beauty of a soul conformed to God. It is not merely the performance of isolated good actions but a stable disposition to choose the good with readiness and joy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines virtue as "a habitual and firm disposition to do the good."¹ St. Thomas Aquinas teaches that virtue perfects the powers of the soul, enabling man to act according to right reason illumined by grace.² Through the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity, the Christian particip...
Read more

Liturgical Literacy Through Gesture

Image
One of the quiet strengths of Divine Worship, the Mass of the Ordinariates, is precisely its preservation of a kind of liturgical literacy through gesture. Many contemporary Christians can read words on a page, but fewer can "read" the language of worship enacted by the body. The Ordinariate tradition tends to retain a richer grammar of bodily signs than is commonly encountered in many parishes. By "literacy with gestures" is meant the ability of the faithful to recognize and understand actions such as: making the sign of the cross in acknowledgement and adoration at particular moments, e.g., as the Body of Christ is elevated and when the Precious Blood (chalice) is elevated bowing at the Holy Name of Jesus bowing in reverence toward the cross (the sign of our salvation) and priest (who acts in the person of Christ, in persona Christi ) as the procession passes striking the breast in humility during the Confiteor,  Agnus Dei, and the Domine, non sum dignus genuflect...
Read more

POPE LEO XIV Magnifica Humanitas

Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation. The memory of the saints, righteous people and the oft-forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good (paragraph 211).

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

I doubt not then but innocence shall make false accusation blush, and tyranny tremble at patience.

SENECA

Be wary of the man who urges an action in which he himself incurs no risk.