During the Student Government Association’s tenth senate meeting Professor Aubrey Scheopner-Torres shared a rather disturbing account of the schedule for the new Conversatio Pilot Program. The information she shared should raise some alarms for students who are interested in receiving an authentic Catholic education from a Catholic institution.

Let’s revisit some of those important details that you may have missed. First off, and possibly the most blatant attack on the Catholicism, the complete removal of any and all assignments, study, or even mention, of the Bible. The single most important document to Catholicism as a whole. And again, it’s not some arguably minor change, such as reading the Gospel according to St. Matthew instead of St. Luke or switching from the NAB to the RSV, it is the complete and utter annihilation of the Bible from HU103.

Second on the list of egregious changes is the complete removal of The Rule of Saint Benedict. For virtually same reason as noted above, The Rule of Saint Benedict is an absolutely integral part of the Order of Saint Benedict, the order that founded Saint Anselm College. So, at the very least we can show our gratitude to the Saint Anselm Abbey by being invested in their order, and what better way to do that than to have a first-year program/course that studies the O.S.B and their influence on the college. I know for a fact that this is by no means a novel idea, as Conversatio gets its name from the third solemn vow monks are required to profess, Conversatio Morum. I mean seriously, if a course is named after a very specific and influential topic, you would think that course is focused on that topic, or at the very least studies it at some point.

Additionally, the pilot program’s new agenda doesn’t even mention any of the important philosophers and theologians that play an important role in the current version of the Conversatio course. Currently, students enrolled in Conversatio study the works of Plato, Sophocles, St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and St. Hildegard. With the newly proposed Conversatio program, all of that goes away.

I would also like to point out how Prof. Torres said that her committee “was informed by the mission of the college”. For those who are unaware, Saint Anselm College was founded by Saint Anselm Abbey, a monastery within the Order of Saint Benedict. Their primary mission when they founded this college was evangelization. It was always going to be evangelization. That is simply the driving factor behind the formation of almost any Catholic college. It should come as no surprise that the college is not just concerned with educating students but catechizing them as well.

To conclude, what’s on the new Conversatio program’s itinerary? Migration, Immigration, and Climate Change. Why? To introduce students to “new perspectives” and to be “consistent with the mission of DEI”. What do I think of this? I believe that some faculty members and/or members of administration are upset by their failed attempt to remove the theology and philosophy core requirements (Biblical Literacy, Catholic Theological Reasoning, Theoretical Reasoning, and Ethical Reasoning). I also believe that these same people are still hard at work trying to promote DEI initiatives over keeping original, Catholic, and Benedictine traditions. I leave you with this quote from the college’s website, “Saint Anselm College is rooted in a Christian and monastic tradition rich with the wisdom culled from 1500 years of communities seeking peace through a well-ordered life envisioned by Saint Benedict of Nursia”.