Authentic Christian Culture

Oral Presentation
4:05-4:25 p.m. CDT on April 14, 2021

During the 2020-2021 academic year, the members of this group were exposed to Dr. John Senior’s work, who, for a time in the early 1970s, directed the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas. This program was essentially a great books program that served to satisfy the general education requirements for many KU majors. During the short life of the program, Senior and his colleagues Dr. Quinn and Dr. Nelick co-taught courses that sought to educate students within the context of Western Civilization through the study of art, history, and literature. In addition to the course work, co-taught through dialogue, the faculty supported creative endeavors, which allowed students to experience wonder through art, culture, and astronomy. Essentially, the program sought truth, goodness, and beauty through an exploration of Western Civilization.

A consequence of the program was a great conversation about Catholicism. Both students and faculty converted in droves. Today, program alumni serve as archbishops, bishops, priests, professors, teachers, and laypeople. Notably, Our Lady of Clearcreek Abbey, a contemplative Benedictine Monastery near Hulbert, Oklahoma, finds its roots in the Integrated Humanities program at KU. After reading the late Dr. Senior’s collective works and an autobiography written by Father Frances Bethel, OSB, of Clearcreek, the group was left with the question: How did a great books program at the University of Kansas in the early 1970s lead to an experience that resulted in a significant number of conversions and even the founding of a new Benedictine Monastery?

We believe the first step towards answering this question would best begin with a pilgrimage to Clearcreek in hopes of an audience with Father Bethel. In mid-January, the student group and Drs. Ramsey and Riches traveled to Oklahoma, became guests of the monastery, joined the brothers in twenty-four hours of prayer, and had the opportunity to interview Father Bethel. The interview was recorded and analyzed in relationship to the question listed above. The group produced a video that will be shown during our Discovery Presentation, highlighting Bethel’s interview and each group member and faculty sponsors’ impression. We understand that this approach does not lead to findings that can be applied broadly but does lend truth to the monks of Clearcreek and how that experience relates to Senior’s program at KU.

Olivia Shingledecker, Benedict Kinnison, Shea Nowicki, Patrick Lennon, Patrick Aaron Riches, Matthew Ramsey, Theology, School of Education

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