2025-2026 Year in Review
Campus Ministry
SBI’s campus ministry continued to flourish. More than 170 students attended FOCUS Bible studies, the number of Exodus and Genesis 90 participants rose to record levels, students attended the SEEK conference, and seven students attended our annual retreat at Saint Meinrad Archabbey. Our public witness also continued: Our students once again built an ice altar in the Pine Grove, and we held our third Eucharistic Procession. Best of all, eleven students came into the Church this year.
Student Leader Retreat
About twenty-five students participated in our annual student leader retreat, which occurred right before the official start of the semester. The leadership team of the Hope Catholics student group, Genesis and Exodus leaders, as well as FOCUS Bible study leaders were invited to participate. You Have Only One Problem, a new book of short meditations by Connor Gallagher of TAN Books, served as the basis for the group discussions. It focused on the central idea of surrendering to God’s will as the center of Christian life from which all ministry flows.
SEEK Conference
Over Christmas, several dozen students, Fr. Nick, and our FOCUS missionaries traveled to Columbus to attend the SEEK conference, hosted by FOCUS. SEEK draws thousands from across the country who come to learn and experience the love of Jesus Christ in and through His Church.
Eucharistic Devotion
For the fourth year, Hope College students constructed an ice altar in Hope’s Pine Grove behind Graves Hall, outdoing themselves yet again. Also, SBI and Hope Catholics held the third annual Eucharistic Procession, preceded by forty hours of Eucharistic adoration and Mass.
Exodus and Genesis 90
A record 301 Hope students participated in Exodus and Genesis 90 programs. Our Exodus 90 outreach also included local parishioners, alumni, and students from Notre Dame, Ferris State, Michigan State, GVSU, University of Michigan, Michigan Tech, Drake University, South Dakota State University, and Aquinas College.
Cultivating Wonder Speaker Series
Given the dramatic rise of AI, SBI felt a pressing need to help students move from a technological worldview to a sacramental one, where science fosters wonder and awe instead of undermining their sense of purpose and dignity. Thanks to the support of a grant from the Lumen Christi Institute with funding from the John Templeton Foundation, as well as the Catholic Foundation of West Michigan’s Love & Charity grant, the Saint Benedict Institute hosted a lecture series focused on the meaning and use of technology.
Our first speaker was Dr. Michael Hanby, associate professor of religion and philosophy of science at the Pontifical John Paul II Institute, who spoke on, “Technology and Truth,” in November. The talk discussed technology as a worldview as opposed to a neutral tool.
Dr. Jared Ortiz’s talk, “The Monk and the Machine,” given in January, examined the roots of the modern scientific project and the aspirations of the makers of AI while drawing on the perennial wisdom of St. Benedict. Dr. Ortiz is professor of religion at Hope College and co-founder and executive director of the Saint Benedict Institute.
In March, SBI hosted Dr. Bradley Birzer, professor in history at Hillsdale College and fellow of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, whose lecture, “Tolkien, Technology, and Magic,” explored the technological themes in the work of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Finally, SBI and the Lumen Christi Institute cohosted the webinar event, “Being Human in the Digital Age,” a conversation between Dr. Antón Barba-Kay and Dr. Jared Ortiz. Dr. Barba-Kay is a Distinguished Fellow at the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law and a Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is the author of A Web of Our Own Making: The Nature of Digital Formation.
Thanks to our generous supporters, SBI is able to offer intellectual programming, student activities, and one-on-one spiritual direction that helps students re-encounter nature as a place where they can flourish, recognize themselves as a unity of body and soul, and draw closer to God who gives their lives meaning and purpose.
