Two Benedictine Students Named Röpke-Wojtyła Fellows
Of the thousands of seniors at colleges and universities across the county, only 16 are awarded the prestigious Röpke-Wojtyła Fellowship each year. This year, two of those students come from Benedictine College. Named to the 2024–2025 class of Fellows are Jeffrey Schremmer, a senior Political Science major, and Julia Nore, a senior Finance major.
Jeffrey Schremmer
“I am honored to have been selected for the 2024-25 Röpke-Wojtyła Fellowship,” Schremmer said. “This fellowship will provide an excellent opportunity to build upon my Benedictine education and explore the rich tradition of Catholic Social Thought with a cohort of young, Catholic leaders from across the country.”
The Röpke-Wojtyła Fellowship, named for Wilhelm Röpke, the late economist, and Karol Wojtyła, who became better known as Pope John Paul II, is a program for Catholic undergraduate seniors from any institution across the United States. Its purpose is to educate future Catholic intellectuals and business leaders in the study of the market order and in social thought — in particular Catholic social thought as it compares to secular scholarship. The Fellowship is a call on young Catholics to explore important questions of social philosophy, such as the makings of a good society, the civilizing aspect of commerce, and the tensions between markets and community.
The Fellowship also aims to encourage the next generation to critically engage intellectual traditions and authors they might not otherwise encounter during their studies. These include the Church Fathers on trade, the medieval debates on commerce and the economy, the origins of property, the impact of labor value theory on social movements, the critiques of political economy, Wilhelm Röpke’s assessment of the social framework for the market order, and Karol Wojtyła’s philosophy of the human person are some examples of the scholarship this Fellowship explores. Additionally, in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the publication of Michael Novak’s seminal work, The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism, the 2024-25 cohort will spend focused attention on themes raised there.
Julia Nore
“I am excited to be a part of a fellowship that gets to encounter challenging ideas together with interesting presenters and integrate them into our learning and our lives,” said Nore. “This is an amazing opportunity, and I feel so fortunate to be a part of it.”
The Catholic University of America will host the program in Washington, D.C. Fellows will participate in three one-day colloquia in Washington, with a fourth gathering in Rome. At all these events, students interact with exceptional and inspiring scholars to allow them to engage with intellectual traditions they might not otherwise encounter.
