Originally published at crisis magazine
Something miraculous occurred during the 1970s at a university campus on the plains of Kansas. Scores of young students turned away from the heathenism they’d been raised in and embraced Catholicism. Many even became monks, nuns, or priests; a few were eventually consecrated bishops. Countless others became devout teachers, parents, and writers.
What precipitated this unlikely Christian renaissance at a secular university during a decade when millions were leaving the Catholic Church, Critical Theory was poisoning higher education, and immorality was sweeping the culture like a plague of locusts? How did these hippies turn into religious contemplatives? The answer lies in a humble humanities course, the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program (IHP), led by three literature professors: John Senior, Dennis Quinn, and Franklyn Nelick.
Through this program, the professors (a former WWII pilot, a cowboy, and an army veteran) transformed students by placing them in contact with authentic Christian ideas, texts, and culture. The students’ minds were awakened to the reality of the good, the true, and the beautiful.
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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The IHP, located at Kansas University, surged to unexpected success and popularity during the 1970s, changing hundreds if
