In the second episode of Conversatio this season, Dr. Thomas Varacalli sits down with Tom Carroll, Director and Founder of the Catholic Talent Project, to explore the current state of Catholic education in America. Tune in as they discuss the challenges, opportunities, and future of Catholic schools in today’s society.
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Professor Bennett Quillen: A WalletHub Expert
Professor Bennett Quillen was recently featured as a finance expert in WalletHub’s article titled, Pay-Per-Mile Car Insurance.
Let it snow.
A couple of weeks ago, the Abbey closed campus at noon so that faculty and staff could return home before the winter weather struck. For the first time in over two years, meteorologists predicted, we were likely to see real snowfall, and the roads could be treacherous.
I drove home, eyeing a sky already heavy and soberly luminous. And at some point after getting back, reheating my lunch, and sitting down to work, I looked up to find it was snowing.
As adults we’re bound to have a more fraught relationship with snow than we did as kids. Back then it was all about play and the sheer gift of a day off from school. Snow brought a kind of festival, complete with cocoa, backyard adventuring, and that unique form of flight called sledding. These days, we admittedly have heating costs, driving hazards, and interruptions to busy schedules.
But even if we can’t entirely do away with the grown-up anxieties and inconveniences that come with winter storms, watching it fall for the first time in years felt like a much needed reminder to pause and recall that wondering anticipation, and I was glad to open the door and step outside and catch a snowflake or two. It made me think how important it is to embrace those festivals that don’t fall on any calendar. And to lean into the joyful trust that inspired G.K. Chesterton to say, “An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.”
As kids we can’t wait to get outside in the snow. The cold is part of the fun, somehow, or at least no real deterrent. As adults we prefer to enjoy the snow from inside a well-heated house, preferably with a blanket and a mug of some toasty beverage. And to be perfectly clear, I am strongly in favor of that cozy picture, especially if it includes a good book, or good company, or both.
But there’s something necessary, too, in the willingness children naturally have to venture outside, to get tired and cold and hungry in the way of adventure. It makes the warmth of coming home even more wonderful.
This weekend, which is the first in the season of Ordinary Time since the start of this liturgical year, let’s watch for all those opportunities to rejoice, especially the ones that hide in plain sight. Thanks be to God for making us the kind of creatures who play in the snow. Let’s go out to meet the ordinary, festive adventures of our lives, small and great, and not be afraid.
What the healthcare industry forgot…
Discover the Belmont Abbey MSN Degree.
The American healthcare system has become a hotly contested battleground over basic issues of human dignity, identity, and value. True human flourishing no longer governs the industry, and ideological agendas often muddy both popular and professional understandings of human welfare. Disconnected from Truth, society accepts the dehumanizing visions of transgenderism, abortion, and assisted suicide, which claim the power to redefine sex, human value, and even life itself.
In such a critical and ethically fraught space, nurses, doctors, and healthcare administrators require not only the highest standard of technical training but also the ethical resources to navigate their field. Nearly all Americans depend on critical health services, either for themselves or for a loved one, at some point in their lives, and the ethical dilemmas daily facing our medical professionals directly impact the care we receive during these most vulnerable moments.
Only care governed by an authentic awareness of the whole person can restore Nursing to the full exercise of its healing vocation. When we fail to recognize the human person as a whole and distinct self – created by God in body, mind, and soul – we risk accepting falsehoods that lead at best to confusion and anxiety, at worst to loss of human life and agency. This is why Belmont Abbey’s MSN Program unites rigorous medical science with essential values that return the good of the human person to the very heart of healthcare.
Dr. Lee-Ann Kenny, Chair and Program Director, identifies the ten Benedictine Hallmarks as the guiding principles not only of Abbey Nursing but also of the nursing vocation itself, in faithfulness to its Christian roots. “By definition,” she reflects, “nursing as a profession incorporates the hallmarks, day in and day out, regardless of one’s own spiritual beliefs.” Professor Emily Nishiyama adds, “These Benedictine Hallmarks… provide a foundation for our program, but if you truly look at them, they are the behaviors, the qualities that a nurse embodies.” Throughout the MSN, seasoned faculty regularly incorporate these hallmarks into instruction and invite students to actively and thoughtfully engage them in clinical practice.
Of these guiding hallmarks – humility, obedience, discipline, stability, community, conversatio, stewardship, hospitality, prayer, and love – perhaps the most powerfully resonant for the Nursing vocation are the last four. Stewardship and hospitality, after all, invite us to encounter each patient as Christ and to cherish the unique personhood that makes them such a blessing to themselves and others, while prayer and love sustain us, placing ourselves and our patients in God’s hands. Praying for or with a suffering patient can occasion profound peace, hope, and trust. It reminds us that we are not alone – and that we are more than our physical existence. We and our patients are whole, beloved persons – body, mind, and soul – and when we apply our full selves to loving service, we respond to our patients’ own personhood and needs in a deeper, more authentic way.
More than ever before, the healthcare industry needs women and men who recognize Nursing as a calling in service to the true, human good. Providing the best care certainly requires rigorous medical expertise, but it also necessitates an understanding and appreciation of the immortal dignity of the human person: a vision ultimately rooted in love.
Belmont Abbey’s MSN affirms this need and this vision. We are dedicated to training and supporting leaders in Christian healthcare – faithful nurses, educators, medical researchers, and hospital administrators – in providing and facilitating exemplary care. Come discover what an Abbey formation could mean for you: embrace your vocation and the fullness of human flourishing!
Healthcare, Ethics, and Economics
In Conversatio’s 6th season, Dr. Michael Watson and Dr. Matthew Siebert sit down to explore the intersection of healthcare, ethics, and economics. They dive into key issues like the pros and cons of American healthcare and the role of Catholic teaching in shaping healthcare policy. Tune in now for an insightful discussion!
