In a complicated and sometimes shallow media world, we need to raise a voice that cries out in that wilderness. Catholic tradition can help us engage contemporary media in the construction of deep community connections. We’ll explore the ways God can work through art, journalism, radio, and television. This track is for students interested in popular culture, communications, and media.

In “Laudato Si’,” a letter written to every person on the planet, Pope Francis stresses that care for God’s creation is an urgent task today, and he offers a vision of “integral ecology” to solve the problems of a “throwaway culture.” Thus, this track explores food, farming, co-operative economics, and community gardening, and is for students interested in learning about practical ways to address questions of physical and spiritual hunger, the crisis of climate change, justice for the poor, the relationship between work and human dignity, life together and the common good, and care for our common home.

The goal of the education track is to support the spiritual and intellectual growth of the next generation of teachers as they come to understand the call to teaching as a vocation.

This Visual Arts Track will encourage students to reflect on the intersection between the Catholic faith and creative art/design practices. Students will learn the basics of egg tempera painting while writing a holy icon and learn how to use art/design as powerful modes of prayerful contemplation, discipleship, and evangelization.