The character of the Center is shaped by The Rule of Saint Benedict, which begins with the word Obsculta, an appeal to listen carefully.¹ In a world that is busy and noisy, Pope Francis reminds us that monasteries are “like oases, where men and women of all ages, backgrounds, cultures and religions can discover the beauty of silence and rediscover themselves, in harmony with creation, allowing God to restore proper order in their lives.”² What better setting is there today for the type of education that the Church has always encouraged and cultivated? What better place is there for what St. Anselm refers to as a quaerere Deum — a “setting out in search of God”?

Carefully listening and ceaselessly seeking to better understand all things in light of revelation, the center is animated by the confident position that truth exists and is worth discovering, and that once discovered should be communicated to others. The desire to know the truth must be genuine, and therefore the highest standards of scholarly excellence must be maintained. The center thus follows St. John Paul the Great in holding that the “boldness of faith must be matched by the boldness of reason.”³ Furthermore, the center seeks to provide avenues for collaborative efforts with those prompted by something other than Catholic doctrine to understand the created order, for as St. Thomas Aquinas says, “Every truth, no matter who utters it, is of the Holy Spirit."⁴

As such, the center welcomes opportunities to foster discussion with a broad array of interlocutors, both religious and secular. All our inquiries and conversations, however, will be rooted in the Obsculta and the quarerere Deum — careful listening and sincere searching.

The Bishops of the United States remind us that the “purpose of a Catholic university is education and academic research proper to the disciplines of the university,” and academic freedom is thus “an essential component of a Catholic university.” Catholic institutions of higher learning are therefore admonished to ensure that all professors are accorded “a lawful freedom of inquiry and of thought, and of freedom to express their minds humbly and courageously about those matters in which they enjoy competence.”¹ Lawful freedom entails the responsible pursuit of knowledge, understanding and wisdom.

Accordingly, the center will courageously defend the principle of academic freedom, not as an end simply, but as a necessary prerequisite for fostering the environment in which the Hallmarks of Benedictine education can take their proper place. These hallmarks include community, love, prayer, stability, conversatio morum, obedience, discipline, humility, stewardship and hospitality. When practiced with an orientation toward truth and with the protection of free inquiry, the Benedictine Hallmarks provide scholars and students with the opportunity for meaningful reflection and study in whatever discipline they choose to concentrate.

This liberating environment fostered at Saint Vincent College should be a source of happiness directed by caritas. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI spoke to this effect when he said that “charity calls the educator to recognize that the profound responsibility to lead the young to truth is nothing less than an act of love.” He continued: “Indeed, the dignity of education lies in fostering the true perfection and happiness of those to be educated. In practice ‘intellectual charity’ upholds the essential unity of knowledge against the fragmentation which ensues when reason is detached from the pursuit of truth. It guides the young towards the deep satisfaction of exercising freedom in relation to truth, and it strives to articulate the relationship between faith and all aspects of family and civic life. Once their passion for the fullness and unity of truth has been awakened, young people will surely relish the discovery that the question of what they can know opens up the vast adventure of what they ought to do.”¹

Novelist Flannery O’Connor spoke similarly when she said, “I write the way I do because and only because I am a Catholic. I feel that if I were not a Catholic, I would have no reason to write, no reason to see, no reason ever to feel horrified or even to enjoy anything … I have never had the sense that being a Catholic is a limit to the freedom of the writer, but just the reverse.”² The same faith, freedom and joy can and should be found in other vocations, including teaching and scholarly writing.

The center follows Benedict XVI’s call for intellectual charity and sees in writers like O’Connor an example worth emulating. All center programs and activities will therefore be directed by caritas. We hope too that all our endeavors will be occasions for the growth of friendship on campus, for truth is most joyfully pursued with fellow travelers.

The Catholic Intellectual Tradition contains a vast treasury of works that have guided our thinking for centuries. The Rule of St. Benedict is among the most prominent examples of the influence a single work can have. Added to this are the seminal works of Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory the Great and Thomas Aquinas in the West, while the East is home to the books John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and Athanasius of Alexandria. Diversity of approach is evident in the different religious orders, from the intensity of Ignatius of Loyola to the humility of Thérèse of Lisieux. Diversity is also found in academic interests. Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato sí, for example, reminds us of the importance of St. Francis of Assisi’s orientation toward creation and our duty to be good stewards of God’s gifts. That same orientation, when coupled with confidence in the rational order of the universe (Wisdom 11:21) explains the large number of scientific discoveries that have been made by Catholics animated by their faith, such as the father of genetics Gregor Mendel, an Augustinian monk.

In addition to Saint Benedict, many Benedictines have contributed to this tradition. The importance of Gregory the Great and Anselm can hardly be overstated in theology and philosophy. Benedictines have also thrived in the sciences. Benedetto Castelli, a student of Galileo Galilei, contributed to the world’s understanding of fluids in motion; Placidus Fixlmillner was the first astronomer to compute the orbit of Venus; Andrew Gordon developed the first electric motor — these and countless other scientists were Benedictines, as was Stanley Jaki, who spent much of his scholarly career writing about the relationship between theology and science.

In order to preserve and further develop this inheritance, the center promotes understanding of and encourages participation in the Catholic Intellectual and Benedictine wisdom traditions for all associated with the college and the local community. The center is interdisciplinary in nature and hopes to attract faculty and students from every academic department. To this end, the center will be a resource for the college and sponsor seminars, lectures, and other activities so that the works and riches of Catholic thought, particularly the Benedictine contributions to this body of thought, will continue to be known and cherished.