From all I can tell a recently released website and a few bloggers ( AOI and Fr Gregory)are spreading info on a brand new Orthodox Liberal Arts college.
This is also interesting in light of this recent call from SVS (here).
from Fr Gregory's blog
"One of the greatest needs for the Church in America is an
Orthodox school system. With few exceptions, Orthodox
Christian children attend public schools. Yes, some attend
private religiously affiliated or secular schools. But there are very
few Orthodox parochial
school. A noticeable exception to this, is Three Hierarchs
Eastern Orthodox School (THEOS),
“a private, non-public, non-profit religious school” that services
children in the metropolitan Pittsburgh area.
Turning from elementary school children to older students, the lack
of Orthodox educational options is even more striking. With the
exception of Hellenic
College, in Brookline, MA there are simply no Orthodox
institutions dedicated to undergraduate education. While there are no
doubt a number of reasons for this, it is hard for me to avoid thinking
that all of this represents a significant failure of the Church in
America. For all practical purposes, with the exception of seminaries,
the Orthodox children are educated by State, by the faithful of
non-Orthodox Christian communities and by the faculties of private
educational institutions.
God willing, at least as far as undergraduate education is
concerned, all of this will change in the Fall of 2011 when St
Katherine College begins offering classes in San Diego, CA.
For the last several months, I have been in conversation with the
founder and president of SKC, Frank Papatheofanis, MD, PhD. Reflecting
on his reasons for founding St Katherine College, an Orthodox
Christian, a physician-scientist and educator with over 30 years of
experience in academic medicine and science, Dr Papatheofanis turns
first to Scripture. “St Paul writes in 2 Peter 1:5-10,” says, that
“we increase in our faithfulness to the Lord.” He points out that the
Apostle
…first mentions goodness as an important quality for us
to seek before identifying knowledge as another desirable quality. St
Paul tells us we should increase in knowledge about the Lord. Some come
to know, increasing their knowledge of, Christ from a spiritual
direction whereas some come to understand Him more from knowledge of His
Creation or other routes. As a physician-scientist I have been
supported in my faith through glimpses of the Divine in the created
world. The notion of “inquiry seeking wisdom” emerged from these
experiences. Rigorous inquiry is the bulwark of scholarship and
research. But why? Why does inquiry matter? I think it matters because
Wisdom, Jesus Christ, is revealed to us as we learn more about what He
has created. I think such an approach to scholarship probably reigned
when the world’s great centers of learning were organized. I also think
that an institution founded around such a principle is again needed in
the world today.
St
Katherine’s will “emphasizes teaching and research—with relevance
to the practical world and Christian witness as guiding principles.”
The College will offer “degree programs leading to the Bachelor of
Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees in Art, Biological
Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Economics, English Language and
Literature, History, Interdisciplinary Studies, Music, Philosophy,
Public Policy, and Theology.”
Besides the natural challenge of starting a new college, one of the
things that I find most interesting–and exciting–about SKC is that the
academic program will not only “encompass several academic disciplines
and degree-granting programs … leading to the Bachelor of Arts (BA)
and Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees in Art, Biological Sciences,
Chemistry and Biochemistry, Economics, English Language and Literature,
History, Interdisciplinary Studies, Music, Philosophy, Public Policy,
and Theology” but do so within the context of “interdisciplinary
collaborations, laboratories, and programs whose work cuts across
traditional departmental boundaries.” Where typically an undergraduate
education leads to a fragmentation of knowledge the goal at SKC is to
create “a singularly collegial, interdisciplinary atmosphere” that
educates “students to become creative members of society.” Finally,
and I think most importantly, all of this is within the context of the
tradition of the Orthodox Church.
Thinking about my undergraduate education as a Roman
Catholic at the University of Dallas (itself a Roman Catholic
institution) I remember how important it was for me, and for the
majority of the students, to see our professors not only in the
classroom but to stand with them at Mass and receive Holy Communion
together. I also remember how formative it was to have priests as
professors. These men not only taught in the classroom, they celebrated
Mass in the chapel, heard our confessions, and celebrated our
marriages. Especially through their example, many of us became priests
or, in the case of the women, entered became religious sisters and
nuns.
Speaking as a psychologist for a moment, the four years that are
typically spent at college are incredibly important to a person’s
religious faith. If the empirical evidence tells me anything it is the
local parish and the campus Orthodox
Christian Fellowship simply can’t be expected to meet the spiritual
and developmental needs of 18-21 year old Orthodox Christians. And,
to be fair, institution like St Katherine College isn’t going to meet
the needs of anything but a small fraction of Orthodox Christian
undergraduates. But this shouldn’t stop us from wholeheartedly
supporting SKC.
Please let me encourage you to look at their website
and, if it looks like something that might be of interest to a young
person you know, place along the link.
+Fr Gregory"
It seems Fr Hopko, Scott Cairns, and others will be joining them! Very interesting!
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