Christendom Begins Semester in Rome Program

By Maria T. Gaetano
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 9/26/02)

This school year, Christendom College in Front Royal launches its new Semester in Rome Program. Half of the junior class will study in Rome during the fall semester, and the other half will be there in the spring.

The students will stay within walking distance of the Vatican, at the Domus Mariae, a beautiful facility with classrooms, a dining room, study halls and a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Mother. Accompanied by Christendom College Chaplain Father Anthony Mastroeni, the students will continue in the core curriculum with classes in philosophy, theology and English literature. Italian art and architecture, as well as language classes, will round out their schedules.

According to J. Michael Brown, dean of students, the study abroad program is a "way to enrich the students’ education by giving them a direct experience of living in Rome." The students, he said, will be enriches intellectually, culturally and even morally.

Because of the great artwork of Christian tradition in the heart of Rome, the seat of the papacy, "you might say there is no better place for a Catholic to go to study abroad than to Rome," said Brown.

The program is designed to complement Christendom’s curriculum, and is part of the junior year because students will already have had two years of core when they go to Rome, including exposure to great literature and the great thought of Western tradition. "A visit to one of greatest cities of Christianity is a very good way to culminate the core curriculum," said Brown.

In Rome, students will take five classes: English Literature, with a focus on Italian classics; Medieval Christian Philosophy; Moral Theology; Italian Art and Architecture; and Italian language.

As part of the academic life, students will visit some of the major churches and cathedrals in Rome and attend guest lectures. They will also make occasional weekend trips to other cities, such as Florence.

Some Christendom teachers, including Dr. Douglas Flippen and Father Mastroeni, who led Franciscan University of Steubenville’s study abroad program in Austria for several years, will teach in Rome.

"Christendom College is trying to give students a sense of their Christian heritage, and to restore things in Christ, to what the Christian culture was historically, and to foster appreciation for what is historically Christian. The heart of that is Rome," said Brown, who hopes the semester abroad will be an "enriching experience that will give the students a sense of their Christian heritage and Christian culture."

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