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The popular Catholic daily news email The Loop today shared a special video podcast — their “Loopcast” — of an interview with President Stephen D. Minnis of Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. In it President Minnis shares what makes the college unique, including specialized majors such as engineering and architecture which are paired with a liberal arts curriculum focused on theology and philosophy.
See the whole interview at YouTube or below, but here are the 10 quotes from President Minnis’s Loopcast interview.
On the proposed new independent Padre Pio School of Osteopathic medicine at Benedictine College:
“Tell me a better way you can transform the health care culture in America than by having faithful Catholic doctors trained in a faithful Catholic medical school on a faithful Catholic college campus. It’s a complete game-changer.”
On the residential nature of the college and living the Rule of St. Benedict on campus:
“I tell students to treat guests like Christ. If you’re walking down the sidewalk and Jesus is walking towards you, wouldn’t you take your earbuds out of your ears and stop texting and have a conversation with him?”
On Transforming Culture in America:
“Our vision at Benedictine College is to Transform Culture in America. We believe the culture is broken. It brings about loneliness and hopelessness, faithlessness and truthlessness — and so we believe it’s important for us to equip our young people to go out and form students in the community, faith, and scholarship so they can go out and they can transform the culture.”
On athletics living in the mission:
“I just addressed all the coaches last week. I said, ‘Look it, if you guys go out and win the national championship but you do with a bunch of knuckleheads that aren’t going to class and aren’t involving themselves in Bible studies and are creating all kinds of havoc on campus — we won’t even put up the banner.’”
On athletes winning games:
“On the other hand, if you have a bunch of choir boys and you can’t win a game, well then you’re not committed to excellence. So it’s this incredible balance of winning within the mission.”
On what St. John Paul II called “the culture of death”:
“This proposed medical school really will put the culture of death on notice that we’re tired of this we’re tired of health care professionals, of all people, embracing the culture of death. It’s an embarrassment for this country and we want to change that.”
On American higher education:
“Schools around the country are teaching anti-American history, but we love our country and we believe the last best hope on earth needs to be celebrated. Those values and those traditions and that history needs to be passed on from one generation to the next.”
On the college’s new library:
“We’re building a new library in our campus, but it’s not going to be like any other library that you you’ve ever seen. It will be a traditional library but in that building is going to be a replica of the Assembly Room in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. This will be a place where we can bring our students as well as young people … and teach them about the specialness and exceptionality of this great country of ours.”
On St. John Paul II’s Constitution on Higher Education, Ex Corde Ecclesiae:
“From that moment that [the Land of Lakes Document on Catholic higher education] was instituted our enrollment just dropped precipitously, until 1991 we had 570 total students. That happened to be the year that John Paul II came out with Ex Corde Ecclesiae, which now became a new blueprint for Catholic Education. … from that moment on Benedictine College went from 570 students in 1991 to over 2,200 today.”
On choosing a college:
“I tell kids all the time college is not a four-year decision it’s a 40 or 50 year decision. Things that happen in college will impact you the rest of your life.”
Watch the whole interview below or on YouTube at this link.
Comments on the interview at YouTube praised the college and President Minnis for his personal touch. Said one: “Just dropped our daughter off this weekend and we were so touched that President Minnis and the chaplain both stood outside, in the humidity and heat, to greet every car and student. Then, to our great surprise, a group of volunteer students greeted each car at the dorm to carry each freshman’s stuff up to their dorm room. All of this hospitality, followed up with a beautiful send-off Mass, where parents were asked to turn to their child and pray for/bless them, helped my husband and I to decide right then and there that we’ll never be satisfied by another school.”
Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on the bluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas. The school is honored to have been named one of America’s Best Colleges by U.S. News & World Report, the best private college in Kansas by The Wall Street Journal, and one of the top Catholic colleges in the nation by First Things magazine and the Newman Guide. It prides itself on outstanding academics, extraordinary faith life, strong athletic programs, and an exceptional sense of community and belonging. Benedictine College is dedicated to transforming culture in America through its mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.
