FAITH IN ACTION
Highlights from the College’s Alumni Blog

• Our Sunday Visitor has published a thoughtful profile of Rev. Gary B Selin, STD (’89), a graduate of the College who is both a priest and a shepherd of future priests in his capacity as an assistant professor and formation director at the Archdiocese of Denver’s St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. “It can be exhausting,” Fr. Selin says of his demanding work, but the seminary “is a parish of souls that the Lord has given to me, and in that I find my peace and joy.”  

• “Anything legitimately discovered by science can only help in terms of the overall evangelization effort of our Church,” says Dr. John Finley (’99) in a recent story in the St. Louis Review. “Since God is the author of it all, of course, it’s going to complement what we learn in theology.” A professor of philosophy at the Archdiocese of St. Louis’ Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, Dr. Finley has helped to secure a $10,000 Templeton Foundation grant to incorporate natural science into his seminarians’ studies. 

• Strahov Abbey in Prague, Czech Republic, recently hosted a launch party for the newly released Czech translation of Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis: Sacred Liturgy, the Traditional Latin Mass, and Renewal in the Church, by graduate Dr. Peter Kwasniewski (’94), a professor of theology and philosophy at Wyoming Catholic College. The honored speaker at the event was a dear friend of the College, His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke, who called Resurgent in the Midst of Crisis “very important” and “rich and beautiful.” His Eminence also described the book as “a very important contribution to the work of ... recovering the sense of the organic unity of the Church’s liturgy that has come down to us over the centuries.”

The Faith in Action blog  

“SOLVING PROBLEMS” 
College Hosts Talk for Students Interested in Engineering Careers 

In mid-November  the College’s Office of Career Advisement sponsored a talk and Q&A for students who are considering a career in engineering. Leading the discussion were two local engineers — one civil, one mechanical, with extensive civilian and military experience — who shared their wisdom about how best to apply the benefits of a Catholic liberal education in the marketplace.

“I see the TAC program, which focuses on analysis to find the truth and understand basic principles, to be very complementary with the training and characteristics of a good engineer,” said Ted Kretschmer, a retired project manager at the Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center in Port Hueneme, California. “The engineer must deal with facts, not emotions, in solving problems, and so focuses on truth.”

Mr. Kretschmer’s successor at Port Hueneme, Adam Wallach added that, when evaluating young engineers, he cares not so much that they immediately know how to solve a problem, “but that they are willing to open up a book — actually to admit what they don’t know, and then go figure it out, and that they are asking the right questions.” Consequently, he told the students, “I think that, because of the foundation that you have, you would end up being much better engineers than a lot of engineers who learn the recipe for how two pieces fit together without appreciating the bigger picture.”

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“DORM TALK  SERIES”
Women Contemplate the Meaning of Leisure 

In the most recent installment of the monthly Dorm Talk Series she sponsors in St. Bernard Hall, Resident Assistant Sarah Dufresne (’14) presented a talk on a subject of increasing importance as students approach Christmas vacation — leisure.

The focus of the discussion was the book Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Dr. Josef Pieper, the late German Catholic philosopher and Thomist. “I basically outlined his book during the talk and brought a practical application of his thesis in at the end,” said Miss Dufresne.

Specifically Miss Dufresne addressed the question of how the faithful should make use of their free time. “In our best moments we are glorifying God Himself, and this, too, can be achieved during leisure,” she said. “Christian leisure should look different from what our culture considers to be leisure.”

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