Association of
Benedictine
Colleges and
Universities
Contents
Occasional Papers
Introduction >>>
Dr. Joseph S. Brosnan is the former president of Belmont Abbey College and the past chair of the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities.
Occasional ABCU Papers
Introduction
by Joseph S. Brosnan
I am proud to introduce this inaugural publication of the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities. The excellent essays contained here address some of the critical issues and salient themes concerning the Benedictine influence on contemporary American and Canadian higher education.
The papers contained in this issue were first presented at Belmont Abbey College's "Founder's Day Symposium" held on April 22, 1992, in celebration of the 116th anniversary of the founding of the college by monks of the Order of St. Benedict. The response to the presentations made by Father Hilary Thimmesh OSB, Dr. Anselm Min, and Father Placid Solari OSB, was very favorable. It was decided, therefore, to invite them to make similar presentations as the "keynote program" for the second annual meeting of the Association of Benedictine Colleges and Universities (ABCU) which was held at Belmont Abbey College on May 30, 1992.
The college presidents, monks, faculty members, and other participants in this program found the presentations to be excellent explications of the key issue facing Benedictine higher education and also saw them as potential "talking papers" which could provide a stimulus to provoke discussion regarding the Benedictine mission between and among the trustees, monks, faculty, staff, and students at each of the ABCU institutions. It was decided that these three essays would be published as the first in a series of occasional publications of the ABCU.
My personal thanks to Father Hilary Thimmesh OSB, President Emeritus and Professor of English, Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota; Dr. Anselm Min, Chair of the Philosophy Department, Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, North Carolina (and as of August 21, 1992, Professor of Religion at the Claremont Graduate School); and Father Placid Solari OSB, Professor of Theology, Belmont Abbey College and Subprior of the Benedictine community of Belmont Abbey for the time and effort they put into this project.
I would also like to thank Dr. Richard C. Becker and Dr. Robert A. Preston at Benedictine University as well as the monks of St. Procopius Abbey for their coordinating and financially supporting the publication of these papers.
August 1992.
The Presentations
"Benedictines and Higher Education American Style" by Hilary Thimmesh OSB (30 May
1992)
"Updating Benedictine Education for Today" by Anselm K. Min (30 May 1992)