Benedictine College

Earlier this week, I visited Atchison, Kansas to give the annual Convocation Address at Benedictine College. I knew little about the College prior to my visit. Wow, was I impressed! It is a very special place. The institution is suffused with a love of learning. One senses it among faculty and students alike. It is confident in its Catholic identity and at the same time enthusiastically engaged with the larger intellectual culture. It is attracting excellent applicants and recently enrolled the largest freshman class in its history. Its leadership is bright, dedicated, deeply faithful, and remarkably youthful.  If Benedictine College and schools like it are the future of Catholic higher education in the United States--and I believe they are--then the Church and the world will be very well served indeed.