For college students around the country, finding a place where they can study and thrive can be difficult enough. But finding an education that will help them make sense of the big picture can be even harder. Christendom College in Front Royal is providing an answer to that problem with the Christendom@ Project, which is bringing Catholic Studies courses to college campuses around the country.
After two years of initial planning, Christendom’s Graduate School of Theology first launched the Christendom@ Project in 2018, with the goal of offering live, online, interactive lectures for students at universities that don’t offer courses in Catholic thought. The college is breaking new ground with this initiative, becoming the first institution to launch an academic offering of this nature for college students.
Since the launch of the project, Christendom has reached dozens of students at eight different university campuses across the country. The project ties right into the graduate school’s mission of restoring all things in Christ by working for the renewal of the Catholic mind, bringing a taste of the rich education offered at Christendom into more spaces.
The project hopes to help Catholics integrate their faith into their daily life and career. For Thomas Duane, who earned his degree at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., the Christendom@ Project not only integrated well with his course load but gave him a deeper appreciation of the history of the Catholic faith.
“Taking a course in early Christian literature through Christendom at Purdue was a unique experience, as it allowed me to study the development of Christian doctrine from a Catholic perspective while studying at a secular university,” said Duane, who studied nuclear engineering. “This has helped me develop a greater appreciation for the great intellectual tradition of the church and improved my prayer life. The class worked well with my course load at Purdue. I would definitely recommend the project.”
Students interested in these courses have come from a variety of fields of study thus far, including business, aerospace engineering, physics, architecture and others. Some now work for large firms such as Caterpillar, others are officers in the military, and some are considering or pursuing a religious vocation.
“Every week, (graduate school Dean) R.J. Matava guided us through the writing and teaching of a different Church Father, elucidating each Father’s importance in his time and the significance of his thought to church history as a whole,” said Virginia Adamson, one of the first students to take Christendom@ while studying at University of Virginia Law School in Charlottesville. “As my understanding of the deep roots of the church’s teaching developed, I also found my faith deepening. For the latter reason, among many others, the course enriched my semester and continues to produce blessings today.”
Students take for-credit courses from Christendom through the project, with each course designed so students from any field of study, with no prerequisite experience, can take them. The courses, taught by Christendom faculty, include “Early Christian Literature,” “The Bible,” “Catholicism and Modernity,” and “Divine Worship in the Catholic Church.” Two more courses, “Philosophical Foundations of Catholic Thought” and “Action and the Human Person” will be offered over the next academic year.
Students who complete these courses can also forge an accelerated path toward a master’s degree at Christendom’s graduate school.
Interested students can register at christendom.edu/@. During the semester, students attend weekly interactive lectures online and meet in small groups to discuss the readings and course content.
Since the launch, Christendom has worked to keep the cost of tuition low with financial aid available through the college’s benefactors sponsoring students .
“Getting a solid foundation in Catholic thought that bears academic credit for a few thousand dollars is an amazing deal,” said Matava. “While Christendom works hard to keep tuition for these courses low, it still can be hard for some students who are already footing the bill for their regular college education. If you want to join the effort, please consider supporting a student who wants to take a course but needs assistance.”
As students embark on diverse fields of study across the country and prepare for careers in the world, they need to find a way to center their lives and their education in Christ. Christendom@ is providing a means to that end, helping university students, as people of faith, to articulate and refine their thoughts, contemplate enduring questions, and form a community of friends to seek wisdom together during the college years.
Find out more
Go to graduate.christendom.edu.
