Homeschooling through High School--Community College

There's been a lot of discussion among our local homeschool group about sending high school kids to community college. At first glance, it sounds like a great idea. The local school districts will fund homeschooler's tuition at one of our many local community colleges. All they ask is that the kid pass the course, which for most homeschoolers is probably pretty darned easy. (At least that's what I've been told from kids who've been there). Plus, it sounds uber cool to say, "My kid goes to college," when they're only 16. Doogie Howser meets Dougie the Homeschooler. Somehow it's supposed to legitimize homeschooling through high school. Which, by the way, is a pretty daunting task and you'll certainly encounter more than a few raised eyebrows if you dare to tell people (or your mother) that you plan on homeschooling little Dougie past elementary school. But, if you can tell Grandma that Dougie is enrolled at Local Area Community College and he'll actually earn *gasp* COLLEGE CREDITS!! she can proudly tell all her Bunco friends that Dougie is going to college and they can "ooh" and "aah" to Grandma's delight.

But...(you knew there was a BUT coming, didn't you?) how do you know that Dougie will actually learn something meaningful at Local Area Community College? (I'll just call it "LACC" for short). Being a thoughtful homeschooler, you actually like to know what your kid is learning and you understand that institutionalized education doesn't always teach your kids the things you want them to learn, least of all the things that you know they really need to know like how to get ten loads of laundry done, the bathrooms cleaned, the dog vomit scrubbed out of the carpet, the Legos picked up from the living room floor, the grocery shopping done, the kids' scrubbed and dinner made all in time for Fr. Smith to come for dinner.

Maybe that's not really what you think your kids need to know in order to be responsible adults. Maybe you want them to actually know some History or some English Literature or some Calculus or some Spanish. Maybe you've checked into LACC's History department and you know that Dougie will get some excellent instruction in U.S. Constitutional History. Or maybe the English department has an excellent reputation for classical literature. If that's the case, then LACC may be a great way for Dougie to further his education. Unfortunately that's often not the case. Most high school students, for some blithering reason, tend to take courses like: Psychology, Sociology or History of Oppressed Minorities Like Gays and Women.

But Mrs. Jones sends her kids to LACC and she tells you how great it is because they're going to save TONS of money on college since the state (I mean taxpayers) are picking up the tab for her kids' first two years of college. What Mrs. Jones failed to tell you (probably because she doesn't know it yet herself) is that unless the kid has an unusually highly developed sense of responsible planning, he will most likely take some classes at LACC that are completely useless for his future major (which he'll probably change a half dozen times anyway). Or that should her kid actually want to go to a college out of state, the chances of all those LACC credits being accepted are pretty small.

And believe it or not, there can actually be a problem with skipping your freshman year at a four-year college. If you or Dougie are interested in getting the full "college experience," then freshman year is a vital part of that. Two of our four kids who've graduated high school thus far have gone on to Catholic colleges with a visible Catholic identity on campus. There's nothing wrong with skipping that first awkward year of college, but it's not necessarily a good thing either.

We've purposely avoided sending our kids to community college during high school. Why? My first thought is that the large number of high school-aged kids going to community colleges has really dumbed down both the community college and high school. Homeschooling through high school entails branching out from the kitchen table to acquire more real-world experiences. But that doesn't mean shuttling kids off to a community college during some of their most formative young adult years. Some of the parents who send their kids to a community college wouldn't dream of sending the same kid to their local public high school.

If its college credits you're after, look into having your son or daughter take a CLEP test after finishing up a course at home. The CLEP tests are far cheaper than a community college course, at $77 per test. Plus, since they're standardized by the College Board, they're probably accepted at more four-year colleges than the credits from LACC would be. And, Dougie can start taking them as young as he wants. Just find a CLEP testing location and sign up.

Finally, keep in mind that not all colleges will accept community college credits or CLEP exams. For example, the top choices of my two high school kids right now are Wyoming Catholic College and Thomas Aquinas College. Both are Great Books schools whose students study the same courses each year. Everyone has the same major (liberal arts), so getting college credits in high school is a moot point for them. They need to develop strong foundations in the liberal arts through broad reading and learn good study skills to help them in college.

There's no one-size-fits-all description of the perfect homeschool high school program. Some kids may benefit from a rigorous community college preparation or using community college to gain some vocational skills. But I suspect most high schoolers would benefit more from having a rigorous high school program combined with real-world experiences and practical applications. (More to come).

When writing about one's children

...it's usually a good idea to have them proof-read what you're writing, particularly if said child is old enough to read.

Such is the case with one of my recent posts about Twixters. In it, I mentioned the struggle we had getting our eldest daughter off to college for the first time and how she was going to pay for it.

She thought I painted a picture of her as a "slacker senior," which she most certainly was not. She and we, her parents, were treading unfamiliar territory and hearing new terms, like "FAFSA," "EFC," and "unsubsidized Stafford" for the first time. I failed to mention (due to short-term memory loss) that she had won a hefty academic scholarship from a private Catholic school and was a finalist on their math scholarship. However, she turned it down to attend a state university. (I have already edited the posting).

She has now graduated and has applied for PhD programs in nuclear physics and medical physics at five different graduate schools across the country. She found out she's not in the 8% of accepted applicants to MIT's program, but has sweet offers from two other schools while she's waiting to hear from the last two schools.

Yes, dear Maria (not her real name, but she knows who she is), we are so proud of you. Even if you don't go to grad school, you've already done something we were told was impossible: you worked your way through school.

Love,
Mom

Suspended Adolescence: The Twixters, and Why Parents Need to Be Concerned

The problem of delayed adulthood has been documented in the press and by society in general. My home state of Colorado has voted to allow unmarried “children” to stay on their parent’s health care plan until age 25. There are now at least 30 states who mandate delaying adulthood responsibility of children by requiring they be covered under their parent’s health plan. Most of these set the age at somewhere in the mid- to late twenties, but New Jersey has put the age at 31, and New York and Pennsylvania aren’t far behind by setting the guideline at age 30. How would you have liked being called a “child” at age 30?

The Twixters

Sociologists and economists have noticed the delayed onset of adulthood in our society and have expressed their concern in several mainstream articles. Time magazine did a cover article in January 16, 2005, called, “Grow Up? Not so Fast.”

“Some of the sociologists, psychologists and demographers who study this new life stage see it as a good thing. The twixters aren't lazy, the argument goes, they're reaping the fruit of decades of American affluence and social liberation. This new period is a chance for young people to savor the pleasures of irresponsibility, search their souls and choose their life paths. But more historically and economically minded scholars see it differently. They are worried that twixters aren't growing up because they can't. Those researchers fear that whatever cultural machinery used to turn kids into grownups has broken down, that society no longer provides young people with the moral backbone and the financial wherewithal to take their rightful places in the adult world.”

This difficulty with growing up seems to be hitting young men harder than young women. We women who came of age since the women’s liberation movement in the 1970’s, have been told we can “have it all.” As a result, we’ve rushed headlong into life, eager to earn our degrees and become CEOs and supermoms, astronauts and admirals, politicians and presidents.

Young men, on the other hand, have been attending college in fewer numbers and dropping out in greater numbers. This should be cause for concern.

In September, 2008, Newsweek ran an article entitled: “Why I Am Leaving Guyland: Peter Pans aren't as happy as they seem.”

"Today's guys are perhaps the first downwardly mobile—and endlessly adolescent—generation of men in U.S. history. They're also among the most distraught—men between the ages of 16 and 26 have the highest suicide rate for any group except men above 70—and socially isolated, despite their image as a band of backslapping buddies. According to the General Social Survey, a highly regarded decadeslong University of Chicago project to map changes in American culture, twentysomething guys are bowling alone when compared with the rest of society. They are less likely to read a newspaper, attend church, vote for president or believe that people are basically trustworthy, helpful and fair. Meanwhile…the percentage of 26-year-olds living with their parents has nearly doubled since 1970, from 11 to 20 percent, according to economist Bob Schoeni's research with the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan."

Clearly, American manhood is in trouble. Most colleges today are predominantly female. By the year 2012, it is estimated that 60% of bachelor degrees will be earned by females compared to 40% of bachelor degrees earned by males. Women are topping the deans’ lists in colleges across the country and earning graduate degrees at a higher rate than men. This isn’t just a problem for young men, it’s a problem for young women who are looking to marry a young man who is intellectually on par with them. As a recent Wall Street Journal article pointed out, women are finding it more and more difficult to find a husband who earns more than they do. As a result, more and more professional women are opting for single motherhood. Yes, manhood is in serious trouble.

It's never too late

Our young people, particularly young men, are in a state of suspended adolescence and one way of waking them from their slumber is by having them take responsibility for their own educational advancement.

When our first child was applying to college, we were naively clueless parents who had made the noble decision that we weren’t going to pay for our kids to go to college. They would figure out their own paths in life and we would stand in the doorway waving to them as they ventured out to make their mark in the world. My husband and I had been self-motivated students who navigated our own college searches and assumed everyone else was equally motivated. Sometimes I marvel at how much my kids are like me, while at other times I marvel at how different they are from me. Such was the case when our eldest was a senior in high school.

Our smart, beautiful and talented daughter, had no idea what she wanted to do or where she wanted to go to school. Halfway through her senior year she made the decision to attend a large state university about 70 miles from home, and her best friend from high school was to be her roommate. What little money she had managed to earn at her after school job was spent on a fantastic trip to New York City with her theater school. Additionally, she applied to only two schools, and missed the deadline for several scholarships. She didn't apply for any outside scholarships. (She did, however, apply for and receive several scholarship offers from the two colleges themselves). It's not that she was a senior slacker, she was more of a deer-in-the-headlights senior.

To make matters worse, my husband is a successful engineer which means we don't qualify for a lot of financial aid, despite the fact that we had ten kids at home.

I remember going to one of the many seminars that colleges like to hold for parents of new freshmen and being told for the umpteenth time how we parents are paying for our kids to get a great education and wondering if I was the only parent there who thought that wasn’t such a great idea. After completing our FAFSA* and seeing the government thought it was a pretty good idea for us to pay tens of thousands of dollars per year for our oldest child to go to college, and after receiving our “financial aid award letter” from her school informing us that we had been “awarded” a parent loan of $10,000, I was starting to get worried. What if it really was impossible for her to make it on her own? How would we possibly be able to afford the cost, even if it was one of the most affordable schools in the state?

Finally, I asked a financial aid officer at the school, “Is it possible for a kid to pay their own way through school?” I expected to hear how difficult it is, that only a few, very motivated kids could do it, and they would have to be diligent about finding scholarships and working hard during the summer months.

She answered, “No.”

That was it. She didn’t entertain the notion for more than a second. Just, “no.”

At that moment, I determined that if I ever figured out an affirmative answer to my question, I would let others know about it.

By the way, our eldest daughter did manage to graduate from college with a manageable amount of debt through hard work and frugality and is currently planning on pursuing her PhD in medical physics in the fall of 2010.

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*FAFSA stands for “Free Application for Federal Student Aid,” but don’t let that friendly title put you at ease. The “EFC,” or Expected Family Contribution is the amount the Feds say parents should pay towards their child’s college expenses. The figure is equal to approximately ten times what most parents think they can afford.
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I'll be posting more advice for parents and students to help them navigate the college search process as well as having the students take the responsibility for paying the bulk of the cost. Check back frequently and see the box on the right sidebar entitled: The Parents' Guide to NOT Paying for College.

I was born

I saw this on the American Papist. Another great video from Franciscan University of Steubenville, my #2's alma mater.

Yes, Virginia, you CAN pay for college!

There are plenty of people out there who will emphatically tell you it’s impossible for a kid to pay their own way through college these days. I know. That’s what I’ve been told over and over again. Even as my own kids were doing it.

I’m here to tell you that’s balderdash. It is possible for a kid to pay their own way through college today. It’s not easy though. There’s no magic formula or secret scholarship. There is hard work involved. But I believe the sense of accomplishment and the maturity which develops over the course of a student’s undergraduate years will be more satisfying than having mom and dad foot the bill for four or more years only to graduate with a psychology degree and no idea of what to do next.

Some parents feel it is their duty to pay for their kids to go to college. If you have the means and if your kid isn't going to take you for a ride and party for four years, then I say, "Good for you!"

I want to tell all the other parents out there it’s okay to NOT pay for your kid to go to college. You’re NOT a bad parent because you aren’t footing the bill for a $100,000 or more education. You’re NOT being selfish by protecting your own retirement account and credit rating. You’ve probably gotten where you are by your own hard work and it’s time to let Junior grow up and experience some of that American work ethic and pioneer spirit that has made our country strong.

I know many parents who aren’t comfortable with that. They tell me how they graduated with lots of student debt and how hard it was to start a family, buy a house, keep a car running and pay their utility bills. They want more for their kids. They want their kids to have it all right away--without having to sweat or worry over mounting debt.

That’s a noble thing, wanting to take care of your kids. It’s not bad to want to help them avoid debt. But it might be keeping them from growing up.

We live in a technologically advanced world where everything we could possibly want is literally at our fingertips. We have more variety, more choices, more luxury goods than any other civilization at any other time in history. Life is good. Life is easy. Easy credit and the natural human desire to “keep up with the Joneses” have made bankruptcy and losing one’s home all too commonplace.

I propose that your kid will be better prepared in life to avoid financial disaster if he learns how to make it through college on his own (albeit borrowed) dime.

Good ol' natural consequences

There is an adage in parenting philosophies that says natural consequences are the best punishments to apply to children when they break rules. For example, if Sonny doesn’t get his homework done, he doesn’t get to play his computer game. As Sonny matures, these consequences become more severe, because his actions take on greater importance. If Sonny cheats on a chemistry final exam he could fail the course and lose his spot on the football team.

Now, apply this adage to paying for college: If Sonny doesn’t pass his classes, he doesn’t get any credit toward graduation, but he still has to pay for the class. If Sonny doesn’t pay off his student loans his credit rating suffers and he might lose his job. If, however, mom and dad have paid for Sonny’s college education and Sonny has no stake in it, he can continue to fail classes without worry. And if he doesn’t have any student loans to pay back, he can use his paycheck to buy himself more stuff, while mom and dad continue to pay the bills.

Coming soon: Suspended Adolescence--the Twixters

Free the Notre Dame 88!

On May 17, 2009, the Catholic University of Notre Dame welcomed President Barack Obama as its commencement speaker and granted him an honorary doctorate. Pro-lifers across the country, both Catholic and non-Catholic, were stunned that a Catholic university that is named for the mother of Our Lord, would honor the most pro-abortion president in the history of the United States by giving him the podium at an important event such as graduation and by granting him a degree. Fr. Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, was bombarded in the weeks prior to President Obama's visit, with requests to reconsider the invitation. Many observers think Fr. Jenkins was surprised by the outcry and was caught off-guard. Not wanting to give the impression of caving in to the so-called "right-wing" Fr. Jenkins not only refused to reconsider the invitation, he also refused to even meet with pro-life ND students.

As a result, many pro-lifers felt compelled to go to Notre Dame on May 17th to witness their displeasure with Notre Dame and to peacefully protest the president's pro-abortion policies. They were following in the footsteps of other non-violent protestors such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi. Fr. Jenkins had the protestors arrested and charged with criminal trespass, which could cost them each a year in prison and a $5,000 fine, not to mention the cost for many of them to travel to South Bend for all court appearances at every hearing.

The following is an online petition sponsored by the Thomas More Society, Human Life International and LifeSiteNews.com in response to Fr. Jenkins' refusal to ask that all charges be dropped against the pro-life protestors. The 88 protestors include Norma McCorvey, best known as "Jane Roe" in the landmark 1978 Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade, an elderly priest, and two mothers from Denver. A list with biographies of some of those arrested can be found here.

Fr. Jenkins,

Right now 88 pro-life activists (known as the ND88) are facing charges for “trespassing” onto the University of Notre Dame in May of 2009.

It is a source of the gravest scandal that this situation persists with the active cooperation of Notre Dame.

The ND88 were arrested for peacefully protesting the university’s decision to honor the most pro-abortion U.S. president in history at this year’s commencement. In many cases, their “protest” took the form of walking on your campus, praying the rosary, and holding pro-life signs. For this “crime” they were specifically targeted by Notre Dame’s security police, handcuffed, and dragged away and put in jail like common criminals.

Now these 88 peaceful pro-life heroes, many of whom are elderly, are facing up to a year in prison and a $5,000 fine, in addition to the many hardships and uncertainties involved in the trial process.

And yet, there is an easy and completely painless solution to this unconscionable situation. You, Fr. Jenkins, on behalf of Notre Dame, could publicly request that the charges against the ND88 be dropped.

Not only is such a request likely be heeded by the prosecutorial authorities, but it would go a long way to restoring Notre Dame's tarnished image in the eyes of the pro-life and Catholic world.

Indeed, it is extremely shocking and disturbing that, despite repeated requests to do so, Notre Dame has not yet intervened in this way.

Our Lady’s University has no business cooperating in the prosecutions of pro-life individuals whose only crime is having prayed on the campus of a Catholic university, and standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.

Therefore we respectfully implore the University of Notre Dame to immediately and publicly request that the charges against the ND88 be dropped.

Sincerely,

To read the online petition and to add your name to the list, please click here.

For the latest news about the case, go to the Thomas More Society website, who is defending the ND88.

On the sidebar you'll see a clickable link to another online petition. This one is from the TFP Student Action, which is "a project of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. Founded in 1973, the American TFP was formed to resist, in the realm of ideas, the liberal, socialist and communist trends of the times and proudly affirm the positive values of tradition, family and private property."

Speed Dating or Courtship?

Have you heard of "speed dating"? According to Mr. Wikipedia (whoever he is!), "speed dating" originated with "...Rabbi Yaacov Deyo of Aish Ha Torah, originally as a way to help Jewish singles meet and marry." Supposedly it's been around since 1998, and made a huge splash when it was featured on "Sex and the City."

If you're not up to speed on this latest dating fad, don't feel bad. I've only recently heard about it, but I assumed it was for promiscuous work-aholics who didn't have time to develop real relationships or have anything other than a power lunch.

So, imagine my surprise when I heard my daughter's Newman Guide school's Catholic Campus Ministry was sponsoring a speed dating event.

I sure hope nobody takes it seriously, because for the life of me I can't figure out how chaste Christian courtship has anything to do with speed dating.

I think back on my very first date with the man who has been my husband for the past 22+ years. We sat at our table in an Italian restaurant (in Italy!) lost in conversation, staring into each other's eyes. We were barely aware of our surroundings, or that our waiter kept returning to fill our water glasses and ask us if we wanted anything else. The other tables had been stripped of tablecloths, silverware and glasses and the staff must've been eager to get home that night, but they let us sit there, lost in each other's gaze. It wasn't until we finally got up to go home that I realized the place was empty except for us, the waiter and the cook. They smiled knowingly at each other as we left the restaurant that night.

Keep your speed dating, I'll take mine nice and slow.

When vulgarity masquerades as poetry

I've been in a quandry lately and I couldn't quite figure out how to express it in my blog without bringing discredit to others.

I was in a quandry at least until I read this blog today.

In her Conversion Diary blog, Jennifer Fulwiler reminds Christian bloggers to take heed the advice of St. Francis de Sales. In his book, Finding God's Will for You, St. Francis, tells us "...those who follow...hellish suggestions in the belief that they are heavenly inspirations can usually be recognized because they are unsettled, headstrong, haughty, and ready to undertake or meddle in affairs. Under the pretext of zeal, they subvert everything, criticize everyone, rebuke everyone, and find fault with everything. They are men without self-control and without consideration, who put up with nothing. In the name of zeal for God's honor, they indulge in the passions of self-love."

You see, my daughter attends a university named for St. Francis de Sales. She had an unfortunate experience recently, in that she attended a poetry reading on campus featuring a vulgar "poet" who goes by the moniker Oveous Maximus and whose rap lyrics were full of graphic sexual images. I wanted to scream out to the rooftops and tell the world just what I thought of Mr. Maximus and the University that brought him there to pollute the minds of their students. But St. Francis de Sales' words cautioned me to slow down, take a deep breath and think about the effect my words may have on others. As one who considers herself a Christian blogger, I need to consider every word I write so as not to take myself too seriously or assume all my words are "heavenly inspirations." Yet I am still a fiercely loyal mother and I can be pretty scary when I get my ire up. Consider yourselves forewarned.

In this digital information age I was able to view his poetry on youtube. Surprisingly, he has also has some good poems, like "Dulce de Leche," which exhalt the dignity of womanhood. In fact, he tells one audience the reason he chose the name Oveous Maximus was to do precisely that: Oveous coming from the Latin ovum, which celebrates the life-giving role of woman. Maximus elevates the role of woman to near god-hood, or so he says.

Yet one particular poem that upset my daughter was titled, "Letter to My Future Ex-Girlfriend," and it begins similarly to "Dulce de Leche," but then it veers dramatically to the vulgar and begins to take a more violent rhythym while describing unsavory acts which he would like his girlfriend to perform on him.

My daughter's complaints to the Multicultural Office that sponsored the event have thus far been met with a condescending pat on the head, and "...how nice it is that you feel secure enough to express your opinions because that's what college is all about and yet we must remember that he has the right to express himself as well..." So, we are continuing our attempts to relay our displeasure to the University and to get them to recognize that Mr. Maximus is not the ideal role model for Catholic youth striving to be holy.

It wasn't until I was discussing this for the upteenth time with my husband last night that I realized there was some good in Mr. Maximus and I should recognize that when I write about him. However, a bit of dog poo in a batch of brownies can destroy the entire pan even if it's only a bit. And some of his stuff is, well...dog poo.

If you'd like to see an excerpt of my daughter's letter to the Mulitculturalistas, here it is.

Detachment Parenting: from birth to college

When I was pregnant with my first child, I was a naval officer in Naples, Italy. I was working at a communications station and mostly sat behind a desk. I was thrilled to be pregnant and I would sometimes think how wonderful it was that I could bring my unborn child with me where ever I went! I could feel her kicking me when I was writing reports or making official-sounding phone calls. She was safe and always close to me, under my heart.

I was terrified of the day when I would have to leave her in day care to return to work after her birth. How I wished I could keep her snug and close to me always.

By the time I was pregnant with our third child, I was near the end of my obligated service to the Navy, so I was looking forward to being able to stay at home with my three small children. I had not yet heard about the idea of attachment parenting, but once I became a stay-at-home mom, I had more time to read up on mothering topics and I gobbled up all I could on attachment parenting, co-sleeping and on-demand nursing. I had breast-fed all my babies, but early return to a demanding military job meant I couldn't nurse them as often as I would have liked and, as a result, it also meant an early return to fertility for me!

As I grew into my role as a mother of many, I became very comfortable with a more natural type of parenting, which included home births and only breast milk for the entire first year of life (and NO pacifiers). This meant I was always very close to my young children and never left them with a sitter for more than a few hours at a time. This also meant we slept with our new babies for about the first six to nine months until they began to sleep through the night. Breast milk is digested much more easily than formula, so breast-fed babies eat more frequently than formula-fed babies, meaning they don't often sleep through the night until they are several months old.

I didn't mind sleeping with my baby because it meant more rest for me! No more getting up in the middle of the night to stumble around in the darkness and find a crying baby in his crib. In fact, co-sleeping babies don't even need to cry. Mom and baby are so attuned to one another that I'd know when my baby woke and needed to nurse. I'd roll over and nurse and we'd both soon fall asleep.

Homeschooling was a natural continuation of attachment parenting. We were bonded to our children; we loved being around them and we felt it would be better for all involved if we continued that close relationship through homeschooling our kids.

Now we come to the other end of the parental spectrum as we are beginning to see our children grow up and move away. Sometimes I feel like the mother bird who has to give her fledglings a little nudge to get them to try out their new wings. Sometimes I feel like I barely turned around and they've flown away. Now is the time to learn detachment parenting.

We decided when our children were small that they'd have to pay their own way to college. That was a flippant response to nosey folks who demanded to know, "How are you going to PAY for all those kids to go to college?"

Yet so far it seems to be working. We had some rough spots we had to work out in the beginning, but I'm so glad we did. We're so proud of our college kids because they've all worked very hard to earn money and scholarships and have had to take out student loans to pay for their education. As a result, I think they appreciate the value of their education and understand how important it is to pay back the money they've borrowed to finance their education.

Three of the four kids currently in college don't drive. They don't drive because they don't want to pay the insurance and upkeep on a car because they are paying for their education. The one who does drive no longer has a car because it died and she can't afford a new one right now.

I was in the grocery store recently and one of the baggers was telling the checker why she wasn't going to college: she had to make her new car payments and she couldn't afford to both pay for her new car and pay for college. Unfortunately, no one told that young lady that a car will depreciate in value, whereas a college education appreciates in value over time.

I've been thinking a lot about the virtue of detachment. It is a most difficult virtue to practice. Oh, I can tell you how my neighbors could develop that virtue in their own lives, but it's not so easy for me to see how I need to improve. I can point to the numerous "McMansions" in the subdivisions near my house and make snide comments about how they "must have a dozen children with a house that large," but fail to see the McMansion in my own eye.

Having fledglings leave the nest and me having to sort through (and store) what they've left behind has got me to thinking about how much stuff do we really need? (The answer: not much).

Perhaps we don't need most of this stuff we have: a lifetime's supply of wonderful homeschooling books, enough clothes so we don't have to do laundry for weeks, enough toys so that we forget what we have and have no place to put the rest!

Over the next six months I'm going to declutter my house. Yes, that is my noble goal. The kids have been notified. We're going to reduce, reuse and recycle...because it's good for our souls. We're going to get better at this thing called detachment. We're going to learn to love people and use things. And not the other way around. It's more than cleaning up messes. It's a change of heart.

Freshmen orientation at DeSales University

Day 1: all smiles upon arrival at DeSales University


We just arrived home in Colorado after dropping off our daughter to begin her freshman year at DeSales University.

She was able to move-in a few days before the regular move-in day because she signed up to attend a "pre-orientation service opportunity" with the campus center for social justice. They had about 30 or so kids who came early and a few peer mentors from the upper classes. The kids worked on a "Peace Garden" spreading mulch and pulling weeds. They also visited the elderly in an Alzheimer's unit of a nursing home, stocked a food pantry, and did some cleaning for different nursing homes and church-related charities. They also had some fun--movie night and mini-golf.
A lovely covered bridge over the Jordan River

While our daughter was doing her service projects, my husband and I took the opportunity to do some local sight-seeing. (The bus ride from Newark airport to the Allentown airport convinced us to avoid driving into NYC, as we had considered doing one day). We went on a covered bridge tour and did some wine tasting at two local wineries (one of which, Amore Winery , is owned by Dr. Greg Amore, who is a psychologist and head of counseling at DeSales). We also did some walking around historic Bethlehem, and a short hike at the Trexler Nature Preserve . Afterwards, we dined at the Schnecksville Diner. Their sign advertized: We make our own pies. They must've had at least two dozen different pies, but no pecan pie (my husband's favorite...I guess there really is a Mason-Dixon line!)

Wildlife spotted near the nature preserve

And we also spent a lovely day in Nazareth, home of the C.F. Martin Guitar Company, which we toured. (It's free!) And ate a lovely lunch across the parking lot from the factory, at a place the lady at the reception desk recommended. (Mivajo's Pizza; very good.)

All in all, we were very impressed with DeSales University and it's Catholic identity. However, it was rather disappointing to go to daily mass at the university and find there were only the three of us and one or two others in attendance. Once classes begin, the number of students attending daily mass goes up to about a dozen or so, but my daughter has already met some classmates who plan on going to daily mass together, so our hope is that the numbers will start to swell and they'll have to move out of the priests' house and into the regular chapel for daily mass. One of the priests who lives at DeSales is Fr. John Harvey, the founder of Courage . He can often be seen con-celebrating mass with one of the many Oblates of St. Francis de Sales who are in residence there.

Saturday evening was the opening mass and induction of the class of 2013. Father President Bernard O'Connor, OSFS, was the celebrant and he gave a wonderful homily about sacrificial love, service to God and others, and finding your true vocation. The field house was the site of the mass, which was attended by all 400 or so of the incoming freshmen, their families and faculty of DeSales. It was probably at least 90 degrees inside, but no mention was made of the air conditioning being broken, so I was left with the impression that they had no a/c in the field house. Despite the heat, the mass was beautiful and no one passed out.

The freshmen class was asked to stand and recite together their class pledge, which I will quote below:

As a member of the 45th class of DeSales University
I ask to be formed in the tradition of Christian Humanism,
As taught and promoted by this Salesian university.
I pledge to be an active part of my formation
Into the principled and thoughtful Christian Gentleman or Gentlewoman
That God has called me to be.

I seek to blend my love of knowledge with my love of God
And to continue to be open to the Mystery of Truth and Beauty,
I pledge to grow in the true strength a gentle character gives;
To pursue the good rather than to just avoid evil;
And to prepare myself to assume my unique vocation
As a mature believer, a responsible and global citizen,
And a co-creator of the Kingdom of God.

I pledge to be open to all learning,
Respectful of the God who is in me and in all others,
And to bear the good name of this university proudly
At all times and places.

I pledge to make a sincere effort
To understand myself more truthfully every day
So that I may, in turn, discern the movement of God in my life
And to treat others with the same dignity and compassion
As I should treat myself.

As I pledge my effort,
I ask for the support of family, classmates and friends,
The support and guidance of the University's Faculty and Staff
And, most of all, the support of my God.

May I grow in knowledge, wisdom and grace
So as to become the person I was created to be,
And to be that well,
For the good of others and the glory of God.

Fr. O'Connor mentioned the incoming freshman class had one member from India and "as far away as Colorado..." I think our daughter may be the only student west of the Mississippi in her class. We met many, many families who said they chose DeSales because other schools were "too far from home." The vast majority of the people we met were from an hour or two away. I hope this doesn't mean our daughter will be one of the few left in the dorms on the weekends! (Don't worry, Lizzy, I know you'll be a frequent guest at people's homes.)

Two icons leading the procession into the field house for the opening Mass

The spirit of St. Francis de Sales is evident throughout the university. In the mass procession on Saturday evening, the freshmen were preceded by two students carrying large icons of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal. All the dorms are named after Oblates. One of the dorms is a new and beautiful building named for St. Leonie Aviat, one of the founders of the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales. We left a rather sad and homesick young lady at a school that is 1700 miles from home. We are confident she is in good hands, but we pray the school's Catholic identity is ignited by the Holy Spirit and that more faithful Catholic families send their kids there.

The freshman class of 2013: arrayed in their colored t-shirts for orientation

-->Late breaking update: Our Lizzy has since reported a huge increase in daily Mass attendance, as well as 25 or so students who showed up to pray the rosary outside an abortion clinic in Allentown this past Saturday. The pro-life student group is thrilled. Many of the students who came are new freshmen.

We love you, Lizzy!

Part 4: Our epic edu-tour--Franciscan University of Steubenville

Franciscan University of Steubenville

We left our hotel in Bethlehem to drive to Steubenville, but on the way we first had to trade out our rental car at the Allentown airport, then trade it for another one at the Pittsburgh airport. It was a pain, but it saved us several hundred dollars in rental fees. I won't bore you with the gory details. We had pleasant weather for driving the Pennsylvania Turnpike across the state. Along the way, we recognized names of places that previously we'd only heard in Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons...places like McKeesport, and the Susquehanna River.

This was only my second visit to Franciscan University of Steubenville, also known as Steubie U, also known as FUS (pronounced foos, as in, "He played foosball;" not fuss, as in, "He threw a big fuss.") For ease of writing, I'll just call it FUS.

Inside the field house, which converts to a church for Easter vigil and other major events

My first visit was to drop off my son, who is now a junior, in August 2007, for freshman orientation. At that time, I was struck with the utter joy that the students and faculty displayed. Walking the hallways of the dorm, one would hear chants of the rosary being said by a small group of students, or someone playing the guitar and leading a small group in praise songs. Several hundred students volunteer a couple of weeks out of their summer vacation to return to school early to help with freshman orientation. The volunteers could be easily spotted by their bright t-shirts and friendly smiles. They were always willing to carry a suitcase, answer a question, or show us where we should go.

The highlight of the weekend for me was the big welcome they had in the field house for all the new freshman and their families. As we entered the field house all the volunteers formed a victory flank and cheered us as we walked past. I wasn't even a student, but I couldn't help but feel welcome there.

They welcomed siblings; they welcomed those who had come the farthest (there was a girl from Hong Kong in my son's class); they put on ridiculously silly skits making fun of themselves and their school in a very light-hearted and joyful way. I saw attractive kids and not-so-attractive kids and they were all hanging out together and all displaying true Christian joy. I felt confident my son had made the right decision, despite the fact that he spent the weekend with a deer-in-the-headlights look of panic that he would soon be left to fend for himself. In fact, some of his last words to me were, "Mom! You never taught me how to do laundry!" (Note for fellow parents of future college students: make sure you teach them how to do laundry before you drop them off at school.)

This time we were here for the Fr. Michael Scanlan Scholarship Competition and we had a better idea of what to expect. Anyone interested in Franciscan University should know about three important aspects of the university. The first is Fr. Michael Scanlan. He (and the Holy Spirit) are the reason Franciscan University is thriving and is an internationally known university.

Fr. Mike was originally sent to the university in 1974 to close it down because enrollment was down to about 400 students and it had the reputation as a party school. He noticed the students were lonely and they lived immoral lifestyles to fill the loneliness. One of the first things he did was to create the Household system, which is rather like Catholic fraternities and sororities, but based on the idea of like-minded service and gifts to the Church.

The third aspect of Franciscan University is the unique Franciscan spirit that thrives there. St. Francis of Assisi was so much more than a bird-bath saint, as anyone at Franciscan will tell you. He rebuilt the structure of the Catholic Church when it was falling into ruin. The excesses of wealth and power were corrupting many within the Church and the poor were not being served. St. Francis dedicated his life to embracing poverty, serving the poor and spreading the Gospel. The spirit of St. Francis of Assisi is evident throughout Franciscan University, from the many friars you see across the campus, to the devotions that are practiced to the spirituality of the many households.

We were looking forward to seeing my son, Giorgio, and going to Mass at the university chapel. We stayed at the Steubenville Holiday Inn, which, I believe, is owned by the university. (I had asked for their special "Franciscan rate.") It is very convenient to the university, as you can simply walk up the hill to the school. A word of warning: the hill up to the university is extremely steep. Not just kinda steep. It makes your heart pump and you'll be breathing heavily by the time you get to the top of the hill.

Christ the King Chapel and symbol of Franciscan University

We arrived about an hour before evening Mass, so we got cleaned up and walked up the hill. I called my son, but he said he'd been to Mass at noon, and he had class, so he'd meet us later that evening. He had rehearsal with his men's a capella singing group, The Beatitudes, so we planned to see him at rehearsal.

It was an absolutely gorgeous evening when we arrived. It was 68 degrees and no wind. We couldn't have asked for a more lovely evening. After Mass we walked back down the hill to have dinner at the hotel restaurant, Damon's, to try the baby-back ribs, which a friend and FUS grad, Fr. Jim, had highly recommended. By the time we finished dinner, it was raining in biblical proportions, so we decided to drive the car up the hill to see Giorgio.

We had a grand time just sitting and relaxing and listening to them warm-up, but we decided to get to bed early since Lizzy had an appointment at admissions the next morning.

Thursday was set aside as a day for the Presidential Scholars to meet with Admissions, get a tour of the campus and attend classes. Lizzy and I talked with one of the admissions counselors, who had just graduated from FUS. She was very enthusiastic about the school and about the Honors Program.

The Honors Program is a mini-Great Books program, directed by a graduate of Thomas Aquinas College (TAC). It is taught seminar style, as at TAC. Honors students take 32 hours of honors seminars which satisfy the entire Humanities and Social Science core, as well as several courses required in the Communications core. All the honors students I have spoken to, including my son, have said these are some of their favorite classes at Franciscan. Students must be invited to apply for the Honors Program, and typically must have at least a 3.6 high school GPA and score at least 1220 on the SAT, or 27 on the ACT.

After our talk with Admissions, Lizzy attended a nursing seminar, which was a four hour class, but she was able to drop in for about an hour. They were evidently expecting a lot of students to drop in that day, because the instructor stopped class to welcome Lizzy and introduce her to the class. She invited me to stay as well, but I decided I wanted to take a break, grab a coffee and browse the campus bookstore.

After Lizzy's class, we went on a tour with other Presidential Scholars and their parents. Our tour guides were great. We had a gal from New Orleans who was a transfer student from Loyola University. She explained that she had been a Fr. Michael Scanlan Scholarship winner of a half-scholarship, but had turned it down in order to take a full-ride scholarship at Loyola. She became so disheartened by the religious studies department there that she transferred her sophomore year to FUS, losing her full-ride and having to take a much smaller scholarship at FUS. (She wasn't offered the half-ride). Over lunch, I sat next to her and got more information from her about Loyola. She was a religious studies major (I don't think they have "theology" there, in order to side-step Ex Corde Ecclesiae). She told me how she was in a special honors program that gave them special dorms, special food, special classes and faculty access, but that her religion professors, one of whom was a Protestant and head of the department, were very much opposed to the teachings of the Catholic Church, saying the Church was going to change it's stance on things like women priests and contraception. According to them, it was only a matter of time. They didn't want to hear any defense of orthodoxy. She became so fed up that she would bring a newspaper to class, sit in the front row and read the paper. When she finally decided to transfer to FUS, she was called into the offices of several muckity-mucks and they pleaded with her to stay. She said her brother, who had been several years ahead of her in the honor program at Loyola, had lost his faith there and was now an atheist.

Surfer Jesus, aka Alpha and Omega

One of the first stops on the tour was the Ss. Cosmas and Damian Science Building. Our tour guides explained the reason for placing this statue, affectionately known as "Surfer Jesus," but officially known as "Alpha and Omega," outside the science building, was to show the integration of faith and reason in all the science programs at FUS. The science instructors at Franciscan pride themselves that they provide their students with a holistic view of science because they don't exclude God or faith, but teach from the perspective of faith and science being perfectly compatible. FUS has a highly acclaimed and very demanding nursing program, whose students have a special ceremony during their junior year, to dedicate themselves and their careers to God. They also have a large number of graduates who have gone on to medical schools.

John Paul II Library

Next, we saw the John Paul II Library, which was dedicated to our late pope before he died. The entrance to the library has flags from every US state and foreign country from which Franciscan students have come.

The Portiuncula

Behind the chapel is the Portiuncula, a 24-hour adoration chapel, manned by students, and built in the style of an old Italian chapel, reminiscent of the sort of chapel that St. Francis of Assisi rebuilt when he was trying to discern God's call for him to "rebuild" His Church.

Lizzy at the creche

The Creche

St. Francis of Assisi made the first Christmas creche, which FUS has permanently on display near the Portiuncula.

Also nearby are an outdoor Stations of the Cross, a Marian grotto, and a memorial to the unborn. The story the guides told us is that several years ago, when Fr. Michael Scanlan was still the president of Franciscan University, a local Protestant pastor called him and said that he had a couple of aborted babies' remains and he didn't know what to do with them.

Fr. Scanlan said, "Bring them to me," and he consecrated some ground and gave the babies a proper burial.

Soon afterwards, the local police called Fr. Scanlan and said, "We heard you have buried human remains on your property without authorization."

Fr. Scanlan replied, "Oh, are you saying they're human?"

The police never called back and they have since buried several more babies there and erected a memorial marker.

The Marian Grotto

Memorial to the Unborn

Lizzy with her older brother, Giorgio, at the cafeteria

The next day, Friday, was scholarship competition day. The parents had the opportunity to hear presentations from various administrators and staff. One of my favorite parts about Franciscan University is their Austrian Program. As my son will surely testify, as have many other students, it is a life-changing experience. FUS has an Austrian campus located in the alpine village of Gaming. Their campus buildings are located in a 14th century Carthusian monastery, the historic Kartause, which Napoleon once used as a stable for his horses. The students study four days a week and have three day weekends in order to have extra time for exploring the local area and several ten-day holidays to give them time to explore further afield. One of the ten-day holidays is planned in advance for all the students. It is a trip to Rome and Assisi. During the other holidays, the students are free to plan their own trips, or take one of the trips organized by the university. My son spent his spring break helping the pilgrims at Lourdes. It was an experience he'll never forget.

During the parents' portion of the day, we were also told about the coming re-structuring of the core curriculum that was being worked on by the board. They couldn't give us any details, other than it would serve to strengthen the liberal arts education at FUS and incorporate both the Honors Program and the Austria Program.

I asked one of the TOR (Third Order Regular, Franciscan) priests about the religious formation of students at Franciscan, namely, what programs are there to help students who may be discerning a call to the religious life?

His answer was that there are plenty of helps at Franciscan. From daily Mass to confessions and spiritual direction, retreats and opportunities to help with various works of mercy. "But," he said, "we are not here to make priests. Our focus is on educating your sons and daughters and to help them become all that God wants them to be." Nevertheless, there seem to be many religious vocations springing from Franciscan University.

Meanwhile, Lizzy was having faculty interviews and writing essays. The final part of the student competition was a chance for the students to exercise their creativity and perform skits together in small groups. Each group was given a set of props (the same for each group), and an excerpt from the life of St. Francis of Assisi, by G.K. Chesterton.

The students were amazingly creative! Of course this group of students was also amazingly talented. The average GPA of the Scanlan scholars was 4.2. Their average ACT score was 32. It was a nice way to end the day and it gave the students a chance to not only display their creativity, but also to get to know each other a little bit and shake off their nervous energy.

Given past statistics, most of those students will end up at FUS in the fall, adding to the academic excellence of the university. By the way, their incoming freshman class this year had an average ACT of 24. (Air Force Academy's average is 29, which, to me, makes FUS all the more impressive).

For those who may be fans of Dr. Scott Hahn...no, we never saw him. And my son, who is a junior, (computer science major), says he's not sure he'd even recognize him. Evidently, his students are all upper-level theology students. So, if you're going to FUS because you want to take a class with Dr. Hahn, you may be disappointed. But, if you're going to FUS because you want to be on fire with love for the Catholic Church, then you won't be disappointed. As Fr. Michael Scanlan says, "Let the fire fall!"

Preview to Part 4: Our epic edu-tour--Franciscan University of Steubenville

Franciscan University of Steubenville is unique among Catholic universities, in that it is internationally known as one of the most joyfully, exhuberantly, evangelically, charismatically Catholic colleges on the planet. If you don't believe me, just watch this video. By the way, a "pre-the" at Franciscan is a young man study pre-theologate, i.e. in formation for the priesthood. I figured if a young man can go to school with all these pretty girls and still feel called to the priesthood, he must really have a vocation!

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Part 3 of our epic edu-tour: DeSales University

DeSales University is located about one hour north of Philadelphia, near Allentown and Bethlehem. DeSales is a relatively young university; the first freshman class started in September, 1965. The university is operated by the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales, and the atmosphere on campus reflects the low-key, laid-back spirituality of the Salesians. There are about 1500 undergrads, 70% of whom live on campus and it seemed to us the vast majority of students come from within an hour or two away. I don't have statistics for what percentage of the students are Catholic, but it seems to be a much lower percentage than either Benedictine or Franciscan. However, the faculty and administration seems totally committed to their Catholic identity, as their website testifies. I particularly like this quote, from Pope John Paul II's Ex corde Ecclesiae, 1990:

In the world today, characterized by such rapid developments in science and technology, the tasks of a Catholic University assume an ever greater importance and urgency. Scientific and technological discoveries create an enormous economic and industrial growth, but they also inescapably require the correspondingly necessary search for meaning in order to guarantee that the new discoveries be used for the authentic good of individuals and of human society as a whole. If it is the responsibility of every University to search for such meaning, a Catholic University is called in a particular way to respond to this need: its Christian inspiration enables it to include the moral, spiritual and religious dimension in its research, and to evaluate the attainments of science and technology in the perspective of the totality of the human person [Ex corde Ecclesiae, no.7].

The university seems to be implementing this idea through not only class instruction, but also in bringing outside speakers to the campus to speak on topics related to science, technology, ethics and religion through their Salesian Center for Faith and Culture.

Since Lizzy had already received an offer of a full tuition scholarship from DeSales, it was with great anticipation that we found ourselves driving to DeSales early one February morning. Driving in eastern Pennsylvania poses serious challenges for a gal from Colorado. We had the MapQuest directions from the hotel to the college, which we followed, but I found out later that it took us down an older, country road, rather than the main road to the college. I kept thinking we must be going the wrong way especially when we came to the one-lane bridge. Fortunately, we soon literally came “out of the woods,” to the lovely campus of DeSales.
View of the field house from the chapel

We didn't know anyone at DeSales, and didn't know anyone who had gone there. A friend put me in touch with her best friend, who had two kids graduate from DeSales, plus I spoke to another Catholic homeschooling mom who has a son there, and emailed another mom who has a daughter there. Their reports were that it was a faithfully Catholic school, albeit without a lot of vibrant Catholic student life. Most of the students who attend seem to come from the surrounding area (as in, within an hour or two away), and many of the students who attend DeSales aren't Catholic. Nevertheless, the school seems to have maintained its Catholic identity and integrity while catering to a mostly non-Catholic population.

We had an appointment to meet with Admissions first thing in the morning and they would take us to a class and give us a tour. It turned out that there wasn’t room for me in the class, so an admissions counselor escorted Lizzy to her first class, which was Molecular Cell Biology, taught by Prof. T. Catalone. She thought it was a "fascinating" class. (Good thing she wants to be a Physician's Assistant, eh?)

I walked around the campus and found the library, hoping to find a computer to check my email. I found the library, but couldn’t find any available computers that were online, so I went over to the new student center. There I found a bank of computers that were completely unused, and available to surf the ’net. In this cozy lounge area was a gas-log fireplace, with a warm fire blazing and some comfy chairs. I was able to relax and knit a bit after checking my email for the first time since I’d been on the road.

After Lizzy’s class, we met back at admissions and two students were there to give us a tour. One of the students was a PA major and the other was a criminal justice major. They were both from Pennsylvania, but sounded to me like they were from New Jersey. They were both very friendly and bantered good-naturedly about the security on campus and the 15 priests who lived there and frequently interacted with students. They said one often sees the president, Fr.O'Connor, and he knew most kids’ names. As for security on campus, one of our tour guides said that DeSales was ranked #4 for safe campuses, but he wasn’t sure what campuses were the safest, though he figured the service academies must be high on the list. (I laughed and told him that I had gone to the Naval Academy.)

They took us into a dorm to show us a “typical” dorm room. We passed by a uniformed security guard at the front desk, whom they waved to. I’m guessing having uniformed guards in each of the dorms must contribute to the safety on campus, plus add to the cost of the dorm. The two male guides said we were going to see a girls’ room, so I asked if all the dorms were coed? They said, “No, they’re all segregated.” I said I wondered how they got a key to the girls’ dorm. They laughed and slapped each other a high five. They explained that this was just a “display” room and the tour guides took people to see this typical room. It looked pretty messy to me, so I expressed some disbelief that this wasn’t really someone’s room. They said, “No, this is really a display room. It’s really much cleaner than any real room you’d see.” I reminded them of where I went to school. Our real rooms were actually cleaner than the display rooms.

All the dorm rooms have shared bathrooms with showers and toilets. I believe sinks were in the room, but I can’t remember for sure. They said that the showers and toilets are cleaned by a cleaning service once a week. The bathrooms are shared between two rooms, each holding four gals (or guys, as the case may be). It looks like a very comfortable set-up. Most buildings are wireless, but some of the older dorms may not have connectivity in all the rooms, so Ethernet ports are available in all the rooms.

There are apartment-like dorms available for upperclassmen, but these don’t have kitchens, so even the upperclass must use the cafeteria for most of their meals.

Speaking of meals, we dined in the cafeteria several times and found the food was good, but simple. All students have meal cards, but the set-up is different from most colleges we’ve visited. All breakfast and lunch items are charged per item, so salads, soups, ice creams, etc. are weighed and all drinks, cups, etc. are charged. Dinners are one price for all you can eat, so most students eat a hearty dinner, but go light or skip breakfast and/or lunch. Some students may take an extra piece of fruit with their dinner to eat for breakfast the next day. It sounded like a stupid way of doing things to me, because it discourages students from eating breakfast or lunch.

View of the new student center, which houses the cafeteria and the campus bookstore

We had lunch with two other PA students. One was a junior and the other a sophomore. The junior was a gal from Pennsylvania who is very active in the Catholic campus ministry there and mentors for their mandatory freshman program called Character U. She also is part of a new “discernment” dorm that puts students together who are discerning either a religious vocation or another other call to serve the Church as a layperson. The students have a priest and a nun who live with them and they pray morning and evening prayers together and often attend daily Mass together (only one, in the evenings at 5:15) each day. I believe the men and women in discernment are on separate floors or wings of the dorm, which is connected to the main chapel and the adoration chapel, which is only open on Fridays.

After lunch, Lizzy had a Catholic Theology class with Prof. M. Hearden. She thought the class was meant to be a discussion on the book of Isaiah, but since it was a Monday, it seemed to be more of a lecture. The professor highlighted some of the passages from Isaiah (Is. 7:14) that prophesy Christ’s birth. Lizzy thought it was unusual that no one in the class seemed to recognize this as the passage in Matthew 1:23, which quotes Isaiah.

While she was in the theology class, I walked up the hill to visit the main chapel. It is typical ’60’s architecture (what WERE they thinking?) It reminds me of some of the military chapels I’ve seen. Only Sunday masses are said here, and there are only two: 12:30 and 8:30 pm. The reason there are no vigil masses or Sunday morning masses is because each of the 15 priests who live on campus are also responsible for saying masses at nearby parishes, so they are all gone on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings.

The main chapel

After Lizzy’s class, we met with admissions some more and got to tour some more buildings. I asked about the Catholic campus ministry particularly because one of the PA students recommended we talk with the gal who heads it up, Maggie Riggins. Her office is in the old student center, which seems nearly abandoned now, but still contains the mailboxes for all the students, and a hangout (called the Dog Pound) for students to play air hockey or watch a big screen TV. She also introduced us to the head of the social outreach ministry, Jaime Gerhart, who organizes a lot of activities for students, from works of mercy such visiting nursing homes, to taking students to the March for Life (they had 36 attend this year…there would have been more but many of the PA students I talked to had to attend class), tutoring local high school kids and trips to New York City to see Broadway shows.

We also saw the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, a state of the art theater with dance and television studios. DeSales is very proud of both its highly successful PA program as well as its film and theater school.

We hung around the student center for a couple more hours to wait for evening Mass. Daily Masses are held in Wills Hall, which is also the residence for the 15 priests who live on campus. The chapel is very ’60’s, small and awkwardly shaped. The new chapel they plan to build is also an awkward shape…a rectangle, with the altar along one of the long sides. This chapel is sort of round, like Wills Hall, with a triangular raised platform that one has to avoid tripping on when going up for communion. Students provided music for both evening Masses we attended and it was very well done. All the students were reverential and there was no handholding, clapping or talking in the chapel after Mass. In the vestibule after Mass, we had many students and some priests come up and talk to us to ask where we were from and how we liked DeSales. One elderly priest, upon hearing we were from Colorado, said how fortunate we were to have such a wonderful Archbishop as Chaput, and that he was reading his book, Render Unto Caesar. One of the students said to me, “Isn’t there a great Catholic university in Denver?”

I said, “Uh, there’s a Jesuit university named Regis.”

She said, “Nope, that’s not it. It’s for grad school.”

I said, “Oh! You mean the Augustine Institute?”

She said, “Yes! One of my friends is there!”

I take all this as a sign that DeSales is on the right track.

The next morning we had some free time before Lizzy's interview witht the head of the PA department so we decided to stroll around historic old Bethlehem. It reminded me of Fredericksburg, Virginia, where we once lived, without the damage inflicted by the civil war. In fact, Bethlehem dates from before the Revolutionary War and seems to have escaped damage from either war. There are some lovely buildings dating from 1742, when the persecuted Protestant sect of Moravians came to settle this town and start a college.

Outside the Inn at Bethlehem (we didn't stay there...not sure if there was any room.)

Moravian building, circa 1742, Bethlehem, PA

Lizzy's interview was at 1 pm, so we headed to DeSales for lunch in the cafeteria before her interview. I walked her to the office just before her scheduled interview and dropped her off. This is what it looked like:

Anti-climatic climactic? Entrance to the Physician Assistant's Program Office

Evidently, the interview went really well, because just a few days ago she got a letter from Christine Bruce, the head of the PA department inviting her to be a part of the program. The letter was dated the same day as her interview!

Overall, Lizzy was very impressed with the campus. It was quiet, which suits her just fine. The academics are the primary interest to her. She said she would just have to invite other students to go to Mass with her.

One last item of interest: Christine Bruce told Lizzy that her husband's 5th grade religion teacher was now the president of Franciscan University...

Part 2: Our epic journey to 3 colleges in 3 states in 9 days; First Stop--Benedictine College

St. Benedict's Abbey

Benedictine College, nestled on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River, on the eastern edge of Kansas, in the farming community of Atchison, has been around for 150 years.

There are seven Benedictine institutions in Atchison, Benedictine College, St. Benedict's Abbey of approximately 53 Benedictine monks whose monastery is on the campus grounds, a monastery of approximately 150 Benedictine nuns who live at nearby Mount St. Scholastica, the parish church of St. Benedict's, a high school, an elementary school, and another parish church, Sacred Heart.

All this in a farming town of roughly 17,000.

I had visited Benedictine last year, about the same time of year, with my other daughter, Kateri. She had also participated in the Presidential Scholars competition. We were very impressed with the college, though she ultimately decided not to attend. In fact, it was at the urging of Kateri, that Lizzy decided to give it a try.

Lizzy and I began our visit to Atchison with a lovely afternoon walk around cornfields with an email friend that I had never met, but corresponded with since my visit last year. Maria and her family homeschool their kids and live outside of town in an old farmhouse. Her husband is on the faculty at BC, her son is a freshman, and she has taken classes there, so she has a unique perspective on BC and the Catholic life there. She confirmed that BC has embraced their Catholic identity much more strongly in the past 10 to 15 years, and as a result, their enrollment has nearly doubled.

We arrived a day early so Lizzy could sit in on some classes and take a tour of the campus. There were many students arriving that morning, so the admissions office had set up tables on the ground floor of the Student Union. They provided coffee, juices and pastries for the scholarship competitors and their families.

Lizzy's first-hand account follows:

A group of prospective Benedictiners and I followed a pair of sophomore guides across rain-washed concrete sidewalks, beneath towering hemlocks that shed olive-gray shadows on the ground. The Kansas mud yielded a faint stench of rotting worms and bettles, like an insect graveyard rent by floodwaters. I stayed on the path to spare my shoes.

Once we arrrived at Westerman, one of the science buildings, we navigated our way through unassuming staircases and several winding halls that looked like they had been punched out of the same sheet of white plastic.

At last we reached the Organic Chemistry II classroom, identifiable by three faint numbers on the door. The lecture room itself looked like a miniature theater: staggered seating encircling a small stage. (This was the first time I'd seen a school lecture hall; as a homeschooler, I'm accustomed to dining rooms.)

The chemistry professor, Dr. Aileen Beard, was delighted to share her knowledge with a roomful of bleary-eyed college students (many of whom were eating bagels, drinking Pepsi, or trying to finish their homework). Most of what she said escaped my faded knowledge of tenth grade science, though I was proud to be able to understand one word in twenty.

I recieved a bit of a jolt fifteen minutes into the class, when Dr. Beard mentioned that they wouldn't be meeting the following Tuesday (the feast of St.Scholastica, the patroness of Benedictine College), since there would be an all-school Mass during their alloted time.

"I know it's Friday," she added with a small laugh, "and you're all eager to go to Confession." The students laughed at the good-natured joke.

At the co-op I attend twice a week for science and calculus class, the teachers are too wary of separation of church and state to mention religion, except in passing. I guess a name-brand Catholic university doesn't have to worry about the ACLU suing them into financial oblivion.

(Sounds more like an English Lit major, eh?)

After Lizzy's morning class, we had a walking tour of the campus with student guides. They showed us the one of the oldest buildings on campus, Ferrell Hall, built in 1893. That doesn't make it the oldest building on campus. That honor falls to Bishop Fink Hall, which was built in 1878. Ferrell Hall certainly holds first place for being one of the most lovely (and mysterious) buildings on campus. It was orignally the monastery for the early monks, whose abbey church is the present day parish of St. Benedict's, which adjoins Ferrell Hall. Recent renovations, after more than 30 years of being empty, have completely transformed the ancient monastic dwelling into modern dormitory rooms, including some lofts with skylights. Atchison is known as one of the most haunted cities in America, and Ferrell Hall is chief among the so-called haunted abodes of Atchison.

Also on the tour, we saw the new Abbey church, (see pictures at the top and below),which was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. The interior of the church is quite large, probably seating at least 1000. We attended an weekday evening Mass there and there were probably at least 200-300 people in attendance for a regular weekday Mass. (I suspect about 75-100 of those present were students and families there for the scholars weekend).

interior of St. Benedict's Abbey church

As you can see in the picture above, the Abbey church is rather sleek and modern. The acoustics are great, and they have a wonderful pipe organ, with pipes on all sides and both ends of the huge nave, giving you a total "surround sound" experience. The large hanging crucifix over the altar has the corpus with head bowed toward the monks' choir stalls, signifying their death with Christ.

While I'm on the subject of Mass, I noticed the students at all the colleges we attended were very reverent before, during and after Mass. Unlike my home parish, and all the surrounding parishes we attend, there was no grab-across-the-aisle-and-contort-to-connect-the -chain-hand-holding during the "Our Father," nor was there applause after the final hymn (despite the fact that the music was certainly worthy of applause, especially after Sunday Mass at the Abbey), nor was there the low din of chatter after Mass that accompanies all the post-Mass crowds at my local parishes. The students waited until they were in the vestibule of the church to gab with friends.

The tour also included a brief stop at the library and St. Benedicti's Hall, which houses the administrative staff and the Theatre Arts Department.

St. Benedict's Hall

We ended the tour at the Haverty Center, which is a great place for students to grab a quick snack or a cup of the college's own "Raven's Roast" coffee at the Monte Cassino Inn, or find a souvenir at the campus book store.

We had lunch in the student cafeteria and chatted with Maria's son, who is a freshman there. We also saw some other friends from Colorado who are students at BC, as well as my niece from Virginia, who was also attending the scholar's weekend.

Lizzy and her cousin from Virginia

In the afternoon we attended presentations on their mission, financial aid, residence life, study abroad and FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students).

All of the presentations were impressive. We heard a lot over the weekend about the mission of Benedictine College. The mission of the college is to be a Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts, residential college, and to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship. I would agree with President Stephen Minnis when he says that Benedictine does all four of these things exceedingly well.

I really like the way their core curriculum is set up to give all students a solid, liberal arts education. For example all students, even science majors, must take two semesters of a foreign langauge. Likewise, all students must take a core of courses in Theology, Philosophy, English, History, Science and Physical Education.

Their study abroad programs are varied, but their gem, in my opinion, is their campus outside Florence, Italy. The students in this program live in a villa together and have a faculty member accompany them to teach them and travel with them.

FOCUS got its start at Benedictine, then quickly spread to the University of Northern Colorado and now thrive on 39 college campuses in 21 states. Today there are active FOCUS missionaries serving full-time at Benedictine and working with the Catholic campus ministry team to disciple students so they can be effective Catholic leaders and witnesses to Christ.

So what's not to like?

First, let me say that my complaints about Benedictine are minor and insignificant compared to the wonderfully supportive community, rigorous academic standards and vibrantly Catholic life that abounds on campus.

I have three concerns, or, I should say, there are three things that Catholic parents should be aware of when sending their child to Benedictine.

1. I would have liked to have heard more from the science departments about the integration of faith and reason. The biology department is rightfully proud of the their awards and achievements. One of their biology majors, Wangari Maathai, is a 2004 Nobel Laureate. (More on Wangari Maathai in #3). They have a high success rate of graduates being accepted into medical schools. But in today's technologically advanced society, where biology and ethics often collide, I would like to know they are at the cutting edge of not only the science, but also in preparing their graduates for making ethical decisions. When I asked the head of the biology department, Dr. Martin Simon, last year, to please discuss his evolution class, he dismissed my question without answering me, simply by stating that "Evolution is science. God is not. I don't bring God into the classroom." I avoided any confrontational questioning this year (not that I thought my question was confrontational last year, I simply asked him to "discuss" his course), and I just listened to him discuss the biology program at BC. It is impressive. And there are crucifixes in each classroom. But, I suspect Dr. Simon, who was named "Educator of the Year" in 2008, still doesn't bring "God into the classroom."

I know BC offers a top-notch education in Theology and Philosophy, and that all students must take classes in these areas, however, I think BC is doing a disservice to it's biology, biochemistry and other science majors by not helping them integrate the knowledge they acquire in these courses to better prepare them for the bio-medical fields many of them hope to enter.

2. Of lesser concern to me, but still something that bugs me, is the fact that the 150 or so sisters at Mount St. Scholastica, who are closely associated with the college, don't wear habits. (Okay, some of the ones in their 90's do, but they don't get out much). They ditched them sometime in the 60's, which coincidentally, seems to be the youngest age of many of their sisters.

Having worn a uniform 9 years, I understand that people expect something out of one who wears a uniform. If I got on an airplane and saw the pilot and crew were all wearing jeans and t-shirts, I'd be tempted to get off the plane before it took off. A uniformed crew tells me they are trained and know what they're doing. Once when I was flying home on leave, wearing my Navy blues, I was asked by a flight attendant to escort an elderly lady to her gate. I don't know if the flight attendant thought I was another flight attendant, or if she just thought I was more trustworthy than other 19 year-olds, but I felt proud to have been asked to escort the lady to her gate. If I had been wearing ordinary clothes, I seriously doubt I would have been asked to help. Even the servers at McDonald's wear uniforms!

3. Lastly, I have grown weary of hearing the BC tour guides cite with glowing terms the fact that Wangari Maathai is the only Nobel Laureate to graduate from a Catholic college in the United States. The truth is, she graduated from Mount St. Scholastica in the 60's, when orthodoxy to the faith wasn't highly valued. She went on to plant some 40 million trees in her native Kenya. She is highly educated and has received numerous awards and accolades, but her Catholic credentials are nil. She is first and foremost an environmental activist, but for some reason feels compelled to comment on relgion on her official website, "The Green Belt Movement", where she says that the Christian priesthood had in mind the destruction of her culture so that they could colonize and impose their own will on the native peoples. Is this the sort of rhetoric that a Catholic college should endorse? Obviously not, but the good folks at BC choose rather to ignore this part of Wangari Maathai's persona.

To summarize, the above three objections pale in comparison to the immense good that is Benedictine College.

We departed Atchison on Sunday after Mass at the Abbey church and drove to the airport in Kansas City, Missouri, to begin the next leg of our epic journey: DeSales.