Benedictine College Information

Benedictine College is a Benedictine liberal arts college in Atchison, Kansas. It was founded in 1971 by the merger of St. Benedicts College (founded 1858) for men and Mount St. Scholastica College (founded 1923) for women. It is located on bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, northwest of Kansas City, Missouri. Benedictine is one of a number of U.S. Benedictine colleges and is sponsored by St. Benedicts Abbey and Mount St. Scholastica Monastery. The abbey has a current population of 53 monks, while the Mount monastery numbers 147 community members. The college has built its core values around four "pillars" — Catholic, Benedictine, Liberal Arts, Residential — which support the Benedictine College mission to educate men and women in a community of faith and scholarship.

Benedictine College celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008. The present-day college was formed in 1971 by the merger of St. Benedicts College, a mens college, and Mount St. Scholastica College, a womens college.

At the request of Most Rev. John B. Miège, S.J., Vicar Apostolic of Leavenworth, two Benedictine monks arrived in Atchison from Doniphan and opened St. Benedicts College, a boarding school, in 1858. It was named for Benedict of Nursia, founder of modern western monasticism. The mainly classical school curriculum was intended to prepare students for the priesthood. The monks, who had recently arrived in the Kansas Territory, then moved their community to Atchison and founded the present-day St. Benedicts Abbey. It expanded to include commerce subjects to cater to the needs of the local population, which was primarily pioneers and settlers. Over the years the college continued to expand and by 1927 it was an accredited four-year liberal arts college.

In 1863 the Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica, whose namesake is Benedict of Nursias twin sister Scholastica, arrived in Atchison and founded St. Scholasticas Academy (now Maur Hill – Mount Academy) for local young women. In 1924 Mount St. Scholasticas Junior College was opened so these young women could continue their tertiary education. It became a senior college in 1932 and was authorized to confer bachelor degrees.

In 1970, Fr. Alcuin Hemmen, OSB, president of St. Benedicts College, announced that St. Benedicts would become a co-educational college. Sr. Mary Noel Walter, OSB, president of Mount St. Scholastica College had been proposing a merger of the two colleges for over a year. Following Fr. Alcuins announcement, Sr. Mary Noel organized discussion of a merger. It was agreed upon, and the universities merged on July 1, 1971 to form the current Benedictine College. The separate colleges corporations remain in existence for scholarships and land ownership purposes and allowed the newly formed college a free 50-year lease of the separate colleges facilities on their campuses. Benedictine College terminated the lease of the facilities from Mount St. Scholastica College on October 1, 1989 amidst financial hardship. It continues to lease property from St. Benedicts College.

The most popular majors at Benedictine are Business, Education and Theology. Commerce, teaching and the faith are historically significant interests of both the college and the Benedictine order.

The School of Business offers five specialized bachelors degrees and an MBA degree.

The Education Department offers licensure programs in Elementary Education (K-6); Special Education (K-6 and 6-12); Secondary (6 - 12) and (Pre-K-12) and in Education in Biology, Chemistry, English/Language Arts, French and Spanish, History/Government/Economics/Sociology, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education/Health, Psychology, and Physics. The school offers a Master of Arts in School Leadership (PreK-12).

The Theology Department grew out of St. Benedicts Abbey School of Theology and is the result of a 2007 shift from a Religious Studies program to a Catholic Theology program. All Theology professors are to have signed the canon-law mandatum as implemented by the U.S. bishops, and to take the oath of fidelity.The National Catholic Reigisters Catholic Identity College Guide notes that the president has made a public profession of faith and taken the oath of fidelity; the majority of the board of trustees is Catholic and the schools mandatum requirement is public. According to the Cardinal Newman Societys "The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College" guide, the theology department shares the colleges institutional commitment to the magisterium of the Catholic Church.

Benedictine College recently added an Engineering Department in which students earn ABET-accredited degrees in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering or Chemical Engineering. Another recent addition is a fully accredited nursing program, dedicated to Mother Teresa of Calcutta who once visited Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison. The colleges Architecture major, stressing classical styles, debuted in 2016.

Benedictine Colleges Discovery Program gives students the opportunity to create and present original projects in any discipline. In 2010, Discovery Day included 80 presentations featuring the works of 145 students, 40 faculty/staff members, and 18 academic departments; "more than 1800 students have participated in Benedictine’s Discovery Day events since its inception in 1996. In that time, most faculty members and academic departments have taken an active role in sponsoring student projects."

The college offers programs in the performing arts, in majors such as Art, Music, Music Composition, and Theatre Arts with interdisciplinary majors in Music Marketing, Music Education, and Theatre Arts Management, with minors available in Dance, Theatre Arts, and Music. The college features two performance spaces: the Mabee Theatre seats approximately 130 and the OMalley-McAllister Auditorium seats around 545 people. The Abbey Church and St. Scholastica chapel at Mount St. Scholastica Monastery are also utilized for organ recitals, orchestra, and choral performances.

The colleges music department traces its roots to Mount St. Scholastica Academy, now Maur Hill - Mount Academy, when in 1863 the Benedictine sisters were said to have first purchased a house and then a piano. The music department of the college was one of the first cooperative departments between the former two colleges, having been formed in 1964.

Mass is offered to students three times daily in several places, including St. Benedicts Abbey in its Abbey Church, St. Benedicts Church (a parish connected to one of the campus dorms, Elizabeth Hall), and Guadalupe chapel (located in the Abbey Crypt under the main church). The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), an evangelical Catholic collegiate leadership apostolate, was founded at Benedictine College by Curtis Martin. Other active religious groups on campus include Communion and Liberation, Pax Christi, Ravens Respect Life, Partners in Prayer (in conjunction with Mount St. Scholastica), Great Adventure Bible Timeline, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Households and Varsity Catholic. and the Knights of Columbus

The college hosts pilgrimages to Rome and the Holy Land as well as local pilgrimage sites.

Campus worship opportunities including Life of Prayer, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, traditional Catholic processions and Guadalupe Day. Many students participate in perpetual adoration at St. Benedict’s Parish on the edge of campus. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is recited weekly. A daily 6 pm rosary was added at the campus grotto to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions at Fatima. The president leads the rosary weekly in the chapel.

Students are invited to pray the Divine Office with the monks in St. Benedict’s Abbey or the sisters of Mount St. Scholastica Monastery. Lectio Divina is also offered at the Mount.

There are several places of prayer on or adjacent to campus: St. Martin’s Chapel, St. Benedict’s Abbey Church, Outdoor Stations of the Cross, Guadalupe Chapel and St. Joseph Chapel in the Abbey. Retreats, conferences, and performances that college ministry offers to students includes Jam for the Lamb,” and BC Koinonia.

The school built Marys Grotto, located in the center of campus, and Archbishop Joseph Naumann dedicated it in 2009. It is one of three outdoor devotional spaces dedicated to Mary located on the campus. The grotto is the site of the May Crowning "send-off" of student vocations to the priesthood and religious life. The college is located within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, though it is not operated by the Archdiocese.

In 2014, the school renamed its student union the St. John Paul II Student Center on the day of Canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

Complete article available at this page.