Name: Molly Kathleen Morey
Age: 19
Year: Sophomore
From: Issaquah, WA
Major: History
Hobbies? Sports (especially softball and volleyball), spending quality time with family and friends, traveling, writing, and blaring country music in the car.
What's your favorite class? History with Dr. Schwartz. He really brings history to life as if we were living in that time period. And by getting the Catholic perspective, I learn what REALLY happened.
Do you play any sports? I love anything that includes a ball: softball, volleyball, soccer and basketball, just to name a few. Whether it's a casual intramural game here on campus or a state tournament, I love the competition and camaraderie involved. It's a great outlet from academics as well.
Do you participate in any drama or music related activities? I helped with the "behind the scenes" during the Mystery Dinner Theater last spring and I plan to try out for a part in it this year.
What is your favorite thing about Christendom? The proximity to the Sacraments and the incredible, faith-filled students and friends that can't be found anywhere else in the world. They help me to live the Faith daily.
Why did you choose Christendom? I chose Christendom for its tough academics and morally grounded Catholicism where I can learn to reason and write intelligently, where I can discover the facts of history and the teachings of the Church. Ultimately I wanted a place that would allow me to fully know and love God.
Plans after graduation? Right now I'm just enjoying college. Whatever God has planned for me, I'm sure it is awesome.

Medieval Fest

Last Wednesday, students celebrated Medieval Fest. This year's festival was hosted by Senior Nathan Scott. From early afternoon to evening, events took place ranging from a fencing demonstration to a morality play put on by the faculty. A special dinner was served in imitation of a medieval meal. Many students participated by dressing up in courtly attire. Following the dance, Medieval Fest came to a close at 10:00 and ended, in Christendom fashion, with the singing of the Salve Regina.


Fencing was part of the afternoon's activities.


Following dinner was a reenactment of famous battles from the Crusades: Christian and Islamic armies lined up on the field across from the St. Lawrence Commons and charged each other. Three battles took place and were well-received by the audience.


The morality play performed by the faculty was written by Senior Nathan Scott.


Associate Librarian Stephen Pilon wowed the audience with his juggling.


Anthony Dhanagom and Johanna Troendle dance through the Middle Ages.

Music Fills the Air at Kilian's

St. Kilian’s Café was packed Friday night as students gathered for Pub Night. The night was kicked off with interesting and educational talks by Political Science Professor Dr. William Luckey and Senior Chris Dayton. Following the talks, some Christendom talent took the stage, kicked off by a great performance from Senior Meghan Rubin, who was also accompanied by her brother and Senior Matt Lancaster for a couple of songs.

Following Meghan’s performances, newcomers to the stage, Freshmen Alicia Stanton and Eric Maschue showed off their skills. Eric played the guitar and accompanied Alicia with vocals on a few songs. He then did a few solo performances. Their performances were extremely well-received.

As Freshman Tommy Salmon put it, “They are really, really good.”

Next, Sophomore Matt Marchand showed off his piano and vocal skills, singing a few popular songs. Finally, the Long brothers, Dave and Joe, took the stage and Joe stunned the audience with his juggling act. The brothers closed the night out by performing several songs together. The evening was a great chance to sit back and relax after a hard week of studies!



Meghan played several original compositions.



The Long Brothers sang some classics from their Irish/Folk library.

Over 200 Strong Against Abortion

Christendom College's pro-life student group, Shield of Roses, held its biggest protest in over 30 years of existence. On October 31, over 200 students, faculty, staff, and visitors traveled to Washington, D.C., to peacefully demostrated their opposition to abortion at the Planned Parenthood clinic, located just north of the White House, on 16th Street.

The group protests at this same clinic each Saturday morning during the academic year, but normally only around 20-30 students make the trek into D.C. on a weekly basis. Once a semester, the group's leadership organizes what it calls a “Mega Shield” event and encourages as many of the members of the College community as possible to participate. Last year, Mega Shield events drew as many as 125 students, and prior years' record up to 150 participants!


Read more about this event here.

The Monster Mash

Disney Villains, cartoon characters, and celebrities were just some of the faces that filled the St. Lawrence commons on Saturday night for the annual Halloween Dance. This year, the dance was put on by Freshman class president, Peter Hill, who did a great job organizing the fun event.

Not only did students enjoy dancing, in costume of course, but they also had the chance to participate in games which were held. Participants were divided by class, and the games included a donut-eating relay in which the competitors wore an eye-patch and could not use their hands. There was also a challenge to see who could get all the seeds out of a pumpkin first, and finally, a pumpkin carving contest.

To cap the night off there is always a costume contest, where those in costume can show-off their costumed-creativity. This year, the three finalists were the Disney Villains, The Three Hockey players, and the winners, cartoon characters Calvin and Hobbes. Students had a great time, and look forward to next year's dance!


Carving the pumpkin had an added challenge for some who dealt with all sorts of shapes and sizes.


Donuts on a string: a delicious competition.


Got milk?


The Disney Villains, some of the finalists.


Calvin and Hobbes win the costume contest.

Talent Fills the Room at Schubertiade

Sunday afternoon, the house of Christendom College President Dr. O’Donnell was bustling, as he hosted the year's first Schubertiade. There was much great talent to be seen, including the skills of the musical children of Dr. Clark, as well as performances by Dr. Clark himself, accompanied on the piano by Sophomore Stephen Tomlinson. Stephen also played a few songs on his own, amazing the audience with his piano skills. Dr. Clark’s choir sang Schubert’s Mass in G, directed by Dr. Poterack, and accompanied by a small orchestra made up of students from Christendom. Dr. O’Donnell also performed an Irish guitar ballad, the Killackey brothers played a couple of fiddle duets, and Karl and Paul Heislmaier and Melanie Bright performed a string trio piece. The afternoon was very pleasant, and the college is happy to be home to such amazing musical talent.


Sophomore Liz Sartor turns the page for Sophomore Stephen Tomlinson.


Sophomore Sairey Miller plays the harp.


Dr. Kurt Poterack conducts the small orchestra and choir.

Classical Clark

Dr. Mark Clark has been a professor at Christendom College for three years now. A professor in the Classics and Early Christian Studies department, he teaches core Latin and Greek classes and also one elective per semester. “Which is really fun,” said Clark.

Up until the 1900's, the Catholic Church had a tradition of teaching Latin as a living language for non-native speakers. They would teach Latin exactly the way that all modern language courses are taught: by immersion, teaching it the way it would have been with native speakers.

“Christendom was interested in that tradition, so that’s why I came here. So, in that line, I do a lot of speaking, a lot of plays, and a lot of acting in my classes,” Clark says.

“But, the thing I’m really excited about is the Schubertiade.” (See story above.)

“You get together and you get to play the things you’ve been working on in an informal setting. What’s so nice about it is that at a place like Christendom, where there is deep musical talent, it gives students a chance to do great music, of all kinds, within the context of a rigorous academic program. Here the O’Donnell’s, the Cuddeback’s, and I host it at private homes, which is really nice. It’s great having it in a small, family setting, and it’s the kind of culture we like to encourage,” explains Clark.

On the weekend, Dr. Clark also hosts Don Bosco basketball at the Christendom College Crusader Gymnasium for youth. "It’s not about losing or winning, it’s just about teaching basketball to the kids," he says.

“These are obviously my passions: music, sports, and Latin. I wish we had more golfers,” he joked. “The truth is, Christendom College is really the perfect place for someone of my interests because the students are interested in these things, and really open to learning, and they’re open to the best. I’m just really grateful for the opportunity to do this stuff.”


Dr. Clark leads a discussion in Latin.

Sneak-Peek: Crusader Basketball

With the men’s opening game on Saturday November 7, the basketball season will have officially begun at Christendom. Practices have been going on for weeks, and both teams will have their first games within the next week. The men will play Maryland Bible College and both teams will host Patrick Henry College on November 11 for the opening home games of the season.

This year shows promise for both teams despite the loss of key seniors from last year’s squads; the men lost Marion Miner and the women lost Abby Hill and Becca Harris. But with a new year comes new faces and new talent, and both the men and the women introduce new players to the team this year. The men’s team adds 6 freshmen and expects to get immediate production from Tim McPhee, Brendan Krebs, and Tim Beer. The team returns with shooting guard Matt Rensch and center Bryan Fox, both of whom are captains on this year’s team and hope to lead the Crusaders to a successful season.

The women’s team also adds new faces, including Freshman Sarah Barren and Junior Mary Kate Vander Woude, who did not play last year.

"The team has already shown great intensity and a willingness to work hard," commented Maria Morgan and Anna Mourachian, the women's coaches.

Mary Hill, the leading scorer of the returning players, hopes to have a solid semester before departing for Rome with many of the players from both teams. In fact, the next semester might look like a whole new team for both the Crusaders and Lady Crusaders, as over 6 players from both teams will be departing for their much-anticipated semester in Rome in the spring.

The Crusaders play at Maryland Bible at 7pm this Saturday November 7. The first home games are Wednesday November 11 against Patrick Henry and will be the first games to be played on the newly dedicated Thomas S. Vander Woude Memorial Basketball Court; the women begin at 5:30pm and the men start at 7:30pm. The schedules are available online and you can follow all the Crusaders results on Facebook and Twitter.


Matt Rensch flies up to the basket.

All Saints' Day and a Giant Pumpkin

Welcome back to Rome, everyone!

Time flies here, and with only a few short weeks left, everyone is trying their hardest to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible. Midterms came and went quickly, leaving more time to see the sights in and around Rome.

This past weekend, some of us took advantage of a trip to Subiaco, where St. Benedict fled to live in a cave. Others, including myself, spent Saturday walking around the Vatican Gardens. Strolling around inside the Vatican walls was an experience like few others, producing the feelings of excitement and relaxation at the same time. During the week, tours are in order, and visiting St. Paul Outside the Walls definitely made the favorites list among our group. Friday held a visit to the Catacombs of St. Callixtus: walking through the narrow hallways where millions of martyrs are interred certainly is not an everyday experience. We were blessed to have mass said especially for us in a tiny chapel while we were down in the Catacombs. If the day couldn’t possibly be more exciting, a huge spider made an appearance during our tour, just in time for Halloween.

We were warned in advance that the streets of Rome are not an ideal place to go trick or treating. Instead, our hotel landlord threw us "A Super Big Halloween Party," starring the biggest pumpkin I have ever seen. On Sunday morning, we celebrated All Saints' Day. Huge slices of the pumpkin were delivered to the rooms of those who wanted to participate in our Pumpkin cooking competition. The competition was in the spirit of Iron Chefs of Rome, a tradition began by Rome Program participants in the past couple years. Entered in the contest were varieties of pumpkin cookies, pumpkin ice cream, and pumpkin soup. Yum!

With the end of the semester quickly approaching, Christendom College President Dr. O’Donnell will keep the tradition of the Rome Program and come visit us in the Eternal City.


St. Paul Outside the Walls.


Sitting on the official Papal bench in the Vatican gardens.


Waiting for Pope Benedict in St. Peter's Square.





Q. I get Christendom’s magazine, Instaurare, a couple of times a year and really like it. I was wondering, though, if there is some way I can sign my friends and family up to receive a copy. Is there a subscription rate? –J. Santschi, Manassas, VA.

A. Thanks for asking about Instaurare and I'm glad you like it. It’s pretty amazing that we have 18,000 issues printed four times a year (March, July, October, December) and that number keeps growing. When I became editor of it in 2000, we only printed around 7,000 copies each issue.

First of all, there is no subscription rate for Instaurare – it is free (but if you ever feel the need to slide a check into the envelope, we’d most certainly be grateful). Secondly, you are more than welcome, in fact, encouraged to sign up as many people as you would like to receive their own copy. If you would like to receive multiple copies to put in the back of your church, or give to neighbors, or hand out at school, or simply leave on a plane, we are happy to supply you with however many you need.

We currently send thousands of copies out to parishes around the country. Many priests ask us to send them 50 or 100 copies so they can put them in the back of their churches. For a long time, the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York city took 100 copies of each issue and had them right in front of the visitor’s desk for all to see. Fr. Groeschel has taken extra copies to hand out to people he meets and members of the Roman Curia, such as Archbishop Raymond Burke (who says that he is a “faithful reader of the newsletter"), Cardinal Arinze, Cardinal Stafford, and others receive it and use it to keep up to date on what’s going on here at Christendom. Now, if we could only get them to read this Chronicler Online we’d really be in business!

So, if you want to sign someone up for an individual copy, you can go here. If you wish to get multiple copies (5, 10, 25, 50, 100), please email me at tmcfadden@christendom.edu and I will make sure we get you on the list.

Director of Admissions
tmcfadden@christendom.edu
800.877.5456 ext. 1290

If anyone has questions about applying, visiting, scholarships, financial aid, campus life, rules and regulations, majors, core curriculum, transfer credits, or even about the food here at Christendom, please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.