Summer Sketches

Graduation 2016 has come and gone. Summer School is now in full swing. The campus is more peaceful and more beautiful than ever. As we are visited, so we visit all around the world as well. Here are some highlights…

Charleston

Paris 

Meanwhile, the rising seniors of the Honors Institute, who are currently traveling in Paris as part of the annual Honors summer study abroad program stopped at the Louvre Museum.

Ireland

This spring and summer, we offered a Study Abroad to Ireland, led by Dr. Wendell Farrell  O’Gorman and Dr. Patrick James Wadden (who is originally from Wicklow, Ireland). The sixteen students first had a lecture during the spring semester and then embarked on the Study Abroad shortly after graduation for a duration of two weeks. The course focused on  the introduction of Christianity to Ireland, the “Golden Age” of the early Irish church, the Reformation and English conquest of Ireland, Christianity and Irish nationalism, Northern Ireland and the Troubles. Among other avenues, these topics were approached through engagement with the literary output of major figures such as St. Patrick, Micheal O Cleirigh OFM, Jonathan Swift, James Joyce, and Seamus Heaney.

Juniors Rachel, Nicole, and Katie (photo credit Nicole)

Belfast (photo credit Nicole)

C.S. Lewis’ inspiration for Cair Paravel –Dunluce Castle (photo credit Nicole)

Senior Peter, junior Matthew, sophomore Abigail, and junior Emily (photo credit Emily)

Off to see St. Patrick’s Well (photo credit Emily)

Emily and Abigail by the cliffs by the Black Castle in Wicklow (photo credit Emily)

More Abbey People: junior John, sophomore Abigail, junior Matthew, senior Elisa, junior Hannah, and junior Emily (photo credit Emily)

Gaston County

Back in Belmont, Cathy Comeau from Student Life headed up a project painting pillars on the Thread Trail! So now Belmont Abbey’s Art Club-sponsored historical murals are in progress! It took the team from 9 a.m. to almost 3 p.m. to prime the pillars, then add sky and river. They hope to be done by the end of the month. There will be six images on the three viewable sides of the two pillars: The first will have some Catawba Tribe history on two sides, then growing cotton on the next, images of the textile industry on the first two sides of the second pillar, and back to the present with the Thread Trail insignia on the last side. The next task will be drawing the details on the pillars and painting them. All this originated with the Thread Trail folks, the Carolina Land Trust, and the Catawba Nation.

2016 Alums Rachel & John putting their artistic abilities to work!

Julia Gunter, from ADP, and Cathy Comeau, from Student Life, work on the sky.

Dr. Munro, English Professor and advisor for  Agora our literary magazine, works on the river!

Goodbye graffiti, hello history!

Belmont Abbey

Last stop! Totus Tuus, now in their second week at the Abbey, continue with their training.

Totus Tuus, meaning “Totally Yours,” is a summer Catechetics program for teens, which has brought several priests from the Diocese of Charlotte to Belmont Abbey to teach the theology of the Eucharist, the Mass, the Rosary, and the glorious mysteries of Christ.The program has 13 student trainees who will travel across the diocese and teach the catechism. The students will especially focus on the glorious mysteries of Christ and the importance of devotion to the Eucharist.

Sister Agnes Maria is a Dominican Sister of Mary Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which is an order devoted to teaching. Sister is at Belmont Abbey this summer working with the students in the program to give them a variety of tools to help the trainees teach and manage their classrooms. But Sister Agnes’ job is much more than that, as she gets to be a spiritual advisor to these students and a vocational witness to them. The students also attend daily prayer and mass, and they are encouraged to continue this practice during their time as a teacher.\

The students will be put into groups of four and sent to seven different churches in the Charlotte diocese to teach to middle schoolers during the day and high school students at night. Each group will travel to seven churches over the course of eight weeks to teach what they learned while they were here at Belmont Abbey. Sister Agnes says that her favorite part of working with the trainees is helping them develop their faith. The program requires devotion to the faith; Sister Agnes says it is inspiring to see the students’ eagerness and commitment to Christ.