WELCOME TO KOLBE HOUSE of STUDIES

GREETINGS: As Dean of Kolbe House of Studies, I am pleased to both welcome and orient you to our house.

As you might know, Houses of Study have a long and distinguished history as Catholic intuitions of higher education. The first Houses of Study began in major university towns throughout Europe. They served essentially as boarding schools that offered collegiate level courses to students attending the local university. Eventually, many affiliated with the universities and became subdivisions known as colleges. Dominicans established a “House of Study” at the University of Paris in 1218 followed by the Franciscans  and Benedictines. At Oxford the Dominicans opened a house in 1220, the Franciscans followed in 1224. Their example was paralleled by the Benedictines, who founded Gloucester Hall and Durham College.

Like the early Medieval Houses of Study, The Kolbe House of Studies is devoted to Catholic Higher Education and Spiritual Formation. It is administered and led by members of the Militia of the Immaculata (MI) established by St. Maximilian Kolbe in 1917. The Kolbe House is above all a place of graced friendship devoted to the education and formation of lay apostles for the work of political, economic, social and cultural renewal of the temporal order as articulated by the Church in the documents of Vatican Council II:

"The laity must take up the renewal of the temporal order as their own special obligation.... Preeminent among the works of this type of apostolate is that of Christian social action which the sacred synod desires to see extended to the whole temporal sphere, including culture" (Vatican II: Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity, 1965).

In order to facilitate the work of political-social-temporal renewal, the Council Fathers asked for the establishment of educational “Centers” committed to the following purposes:

"Centers of documentation and study not only in theology but also in anthropology, psychology, sociology, and methodology should be established for all fields of the (social) apostolate….Laymen should above all learn the principles and conclusions of the social doctrine so as to become capable of working for the development of this doctrine to the best of their ability and of rightly applying these same principles and conclusions to individual cases" (Decree on Apostolate of the Laity).

Adhering to both tradition and the request by the Church in the modern world to establish centers devoted to the education and formation of the laity for the specific work of renewing the temporal order, the Kolbe House offers an array of courses designed for this purpose. The curriculum consists of an integrated lower division and upper division built around a core of Catholic Classics known as The Greatest Books and related great works in the Natural Law Tradition. In the lower division students study sacred scripture, apologetics and catechesis followed by more advanced theology, philosophy and social science courses in the upper division. Major focus is given to a course known as the Gateway to Catholic Social Theory that prepares students for enriched study of the Papal Social Encyclicals. The Gateway Course begins with an in depth study of the mystery of the human person made in the image of the Holy Trinity followed by the study of Aristotelian and Thomistic Ethics, which prepares them for the study of politics followed by courses in Christian Civilization I and Christian Civ. II in which they study God's Plan for politics and government as revealed in the Old and New Testaments and exemplified by Jewish and Medieval Catholic Law Codes.

Christian Civ. is followed by a course in the Foundations of Modernity including Secularism, Liberalism and Communism and the many challenges to Christian Civilization presented by the French, American and Bolshevik Revolutions. It was during this time that the Virgin Mary made here first appearance in the modern world at Rue de bac in Paris, France where she presented St. Catherine Laboure with the Miraculous Medal and foretold the tumultuous future in store for the Church. It was in this environment of revolution, Liberalism and Communism offset by the appearances of the Virgin Mary at Rue de bac, Lourdes and later Fatima that the Pope Leo XIII wrote the first Papal Social Encyclical. All the encyclicals beginning with Pope Leo's Rerum Novarum and ending with Pope Francis' Fratelli Tuti are examined and then supplemented by a course in Marian Apparitions and Catholic Eschatology that unites everything that has been learned into an integral political-economic-theological vision of the modern world from a uniquely Catholic perspective.

Combining the mastery of these courses, their core readings and the concepts and great ideas they contain into an orderly and integral whole significantly enhances the ability of our graduates to make a meaningful contribution to renewal of the temporal order. External renewal of the temporal order, referred to in the Book of Revelation as the "healing of the nations", requires this type of intellectual mastery, what we refer to as "Education of the Intellect". However, successful action, the putting of ideas learned in the classroom into practice and getting involved in leadership and service in various social and political apostolates is another matter.

Education of the mind is integrally related to, but something quite distinct from, moral and spiritual strengthening, what we refer to as "Formation of the Will" which is needed for virtuous prudent, courageous and sustained action. Formation involves the intellect, but even moreso, it involves the mind in act (more than the mind in thought). Correct action requires more than correct thought, it also requires character which grows out of a properly formed and strong will united to and directed by a well educated mind. All four of the moral virtues involve the will. Thus, no one can act correctly without intellectual virtue that has to do with correct thinking and moral virtue that has to do with correct action. Correct action begins with good habits necessary that evolve into virtues needed by every Christian to act correctly and therefore bear fruit for the glory of God in the various apostolates in which they will work:

“By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit” (John 15:8).

Fruits are acts born out of love. Virtues are dispositions to act in the right way out of motives of justice and love. The theory of virtue can be taught in the classroom, but the virtues require formation of habits nurtured by the gifts of the Holy Spirit and Sacramental Grace. Formation thus necessarily takes place outside of the classroom. Kolbe House offers a unique and highly powerful program of formation through its affiliation with the Regiment of the Morning Star (RMS), a Fraternity of the House of Studies associated with the Militia of the Immaculata. Membership in the RMS is open to all students who would like to advance both morally and spiritually in addition to intellectually. Information about the RMS will be made available on our website.

We hope to see you in the House of Studies and as a member of our academic community. I am confident that you will enjoy and profit immensely from our collection of outstanding authors and array of courses taught by highly educated and extremely dedicated faculty. They are all members of the Militia Immaculata and highly devoted to the Church. They have responded to her call to establish education and formation centers for the lay apostolate and are committed to the Christian renewal of our country beginning here in West Texas. With all of them, I extend an invitation to join us as a student of the Kolbe House of Studies.

In the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts,

Dr. David J. P. Marzak, MI
Dean, Kolbe House of Studies