Meet the Priest

MEET THE PRIEST

Meet the Priest: An Interview with Fr. Nicholas Monco, O.P., Saint Benedict Institute’s New Chaplain

Where are you from and where did you go to college?

I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. I went to  Claremont McKenna College where I double majored in philosophy and economics so as to be able to feed body and soul upon graduation.

When did you know you wanted to be a priest?

The basic desire to do whatever was most important in life was there since I first had any ambitions at all. The calling to priesthood didn’t explicitly start to emerge until senior year of high school and I managed to resist it until my senior year in college.

Could you say a little bit about your faith journey?

Growing up my family went to Mass every Sunday (even on vacation) and my father would pray with me every night before we went to bed until I was in about fifth grade. Despite the somewhat pious upbringing and a strong sense of duty I would not have described myself as personally pious. I did not protest going to Mass but I cannot ever remember looking forward to the experience or feeling anything when I prayed. In fact, from about the age of five I became very interested in money and girls—two obsessions left unabated until senior year of high school.

When I was a junior in high school I began reading some of the works of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, which I happened to find on the bookshelves in my room. It was a revelation. For the first time in my life I encountered intelligent people who wrote intelligent things about theology and I experienced the beauty of truth. That started to awaken things in my heart that had been dormant for a very long time. At the beginning of senior year of high school I made a good, long overdue confession. It felt great but that was quickly followed by a short and intense period of spiritual darkness that wrought the deepest part of the conversion. As the darkness lifted what remained was desire to pray, to go to Mass, and to love God in general.

What is your favorite Scripture verse?

One of my all-time favorites has to be Jeremiah 6:16: “Stand by the ancient road, ask the pathways of old, ‘Which is the way unto good?’ and follow it and you will find rest for your souls.”

What is the biggest challenge young people face?

That’s like asking, “Who is the most dishonest person in government?” So many choices.  A top contender would be a culture that promotes disconnection or superficial connections between people as opposed to deep and lasting friendships.

What Catholic devotion is most fruitful for you?

Offering Mass. If I could keep only one spiritual practice in my life it would be that. It grounds everything else.

What advice would you give a young person thinking of a religious vocation? Marriage?

Jesus said, “If you are faithful in little things you will be faithful in great ones.” Do the little stuff right every day and the big questions will sort themselves out. That means daily prayer, Mass at least once a week, regular confession, and works of mercy.

Habemus Sacerdotem! We Have a Priest!

Habemus Sacerdotem! We Have a Priest!

The Saint Benedict Institute is delighted to announce: We have a priest!  Fr. Nicholas Monco, O.P. has been appointed as the Saint Benedict Institute chaplain with a full-time ministry to Hope College.  He begins his ministry on August 1. 

Fr. Nick was born and raised in Chicago.  He went to Claremont McKenna College in California where he majored in philosophy and business.  He then pursued the priesthood with the Dominican Order of the Midwest Province.  He received a Master of Theology and Master of Divinity degree from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, MO, where he also earned a Certificate in Thomistic Studies.  He was ordained in 2013 and has taught Theology at Fenwick High School in Oak Park, IL, for the past four years.

We feel particularly blessed to have Fr. Nick join the Saint Benedict Institute staff.  Once the school year begins, Fr. Nick will offer daily Mass on campus, frequent confession, and weekly adoration.  He will lead Bible studies and the rosary as well as the Vocation Discernment Program.  Fr. Nick will be essential for our goal of forming students intellectually and spiritually so that they will be thoughtful and joyful witnesses to Christ's love.

We also feel particularly blessed to have so many friends and benefactors praying for us and supporting us financially.  We could not have done this without you!  That said, we still need your help!  Please keep praying for this ministry so that Fr. Nick will reach the students God wants him to reach.  And please consider supporting us financially, either through a one-time donation or by joining our monthly giving program, the Saint Benedict Society.  Your prayers and financial support will ensure that this ministry will continue.

Thank you and God bless you!

Jack Mulder on the Journey Home (VIDEO)

Jack Mulder, co-founder of the Saint Benedict Forum and chair of Hope College's Philosophy Department, discusses his journey from the Reformed Church of America to the Catholic Church on EWTN's Journey Home with Marcus Grodi.

Dr. Ortiz on the Journey Home (VIDEO)

Cradle Catholic and director of the Saint Benedict Forum, Jared Ortiz, tells the harrowing tale of how he drifted away from God in his youth and how God slowly drew him back through providential encounters with Muslims, Jews, a few Catholics, and reading a lot of books.  Watch it here: 

A Catholic Bishop Comes to Hope College

By Anna Jones, Theater Major, Hope College '18

It was Wednesday, February 4, and faculty, students, and members of the surrounding community were gathering in Winants Auditorium in Hope College’s Graves Hall. Some came with questions, others with pencils or laptops at the ready, but all with welcoming hearts. Bishop David Walkowiak of Grand Rapids was invited to speak at Hope College by the Saint Benedict Forum. The event was co-sponsored by Hope’s Campus Ministries, Religion Department, and Office of the Provost. This was to be the first time in Hope College’s 149-year history that a Roman Catholic Bishop would make an official visit to the college. As a Catholic student at Hope, I was incredibly excited to be a part of this historic event.

After a brief introduction by the Chair of Hope’s Religion Department, Dr. Jeff Tyler, Bishop David Walkowiak of Grand Rapids took the podium. The bishop spoke for about twenty minutes regarding his vision for the Diocese of Grand Rapids, an office that he has held for just under two years. Bishop Walkowiak was appointed by Pope Francis to serve the eleven counties and over 191,000 Catholics that constitute the Grand Rapids Diocese.

An extensive question and answer session followed Bishop Walkowiak’s opening statements. There were a wide variety of questions asked from the diverse spectrum of attendees. The questions ranged from liturgical to political, covering issues from Eucharistic protocol to reaching out to the Latino community. While these topics were both intriguing and informative, what hit home most for me was Bishop Walkowiak’s effort to “have the scent of his flock,” as Pope Francis exhorts.

About one third of the population of the Diocese of Grand Rapids is Latino. In an effort to better serve this segment of his flock, Bishop Walkowiak learned to speak Spanish. This ability enables him to personally extend the sacrament of Confirmation and celebrate Mass for the Spanish speaking part of his community. Bishop Walkowiak’s commitment to being personally present to his people shows just how dedicated he is to the service of his office.

Bishop Walkowiak’s devoted service can be seen to spring from a deep knowledge about the Christian life. He shared his knowledge in response to a question concerning the nature of love in the Christian vocation. Bishop Walkowiak expounded upon the idea of agape, that highest love of disinterested self-sacrifice. The bishop commented that agape is “outward bound,” it is the unconditional giving of oneself.

With his unique mixture of quiet dignity and authentic congeniality, there couldn’t have been anyone more suited to present to Hope College an example of what ecclesial service should look like. Bishop Walkowiak demonstrated to our Protestant brothers and sisters the unity that the Church desires, and in turn, Hope College recognized and reciprocated that ecumenical desire.

After the conversation in Winants, Bishop Walkowiak, along with members and supporters of the Saint Benedict Forum, enjoyed Christian fellowship and dinner in Hope College’s Maas Conference room. After the dinner, following a long established tradition for speakers who visit Hope, Bishop Walkowiak shared a personal testimony with those present. Bishop Walkowiak’s story wasn’t one of a dramatic conversion or wrought with great life-changing events. It was the story of an ordinary boy who grew up in a good Catholic home. It was the story of a young man who heard God’s call and had the courage to trust and follow. One of the most poignant moments of Bishop Walkowiak’s testimony was when he described how his mother taught him a vocation prayer to pray each day.

“O God, Who enlightens the minds and inflames the hearts of the faithful by the Holy Spirit, grant that by the same Spirit I may know my true vocation in life and have the grace to follow it faithfully. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Its simple sweetness became a part of Bishop Walkowiak’s routine as he discerned his call to the priesthood. Bishop Walkowiak’s visit to Hope College was yet a further step towards achieving the Christian unity to which Christ calls us.

The video of Bishop Walkowiak's talk and Q & A session is available here.

Advent Retreat: Preparing for Christ

Nativity Icon

Advent is a time to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. On Saturday, December 6, the Saint Benedict Forum hosted a retreat to help all of us get ready for Christmas. Students and parishioners enjoyed an abundant breakfast spread before listening to a beautiful talk by Dr. Jack Mulder on the meaning of waiting, suffering, and adoption.  Dr. Jared Ortiz also offered a reflection on what Advent and Christmas might look like through the eyes of Mary.  After each talk, students and parishioners shared personal thoughts and experiences on the themes of the talks.

There was a holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament during which two priests were available for confession.  The retreat ended with Mass.

Being Transformed by the True, the Good, and the Beautiful: Joseph Pearce Speaks to Hope

by Rebecca Fox, Hope College Junior, English Major

When Joseph Pearce took the stage of Dimnent chapel last Wednesday, I’ll admit, he wasn’t who I was expecting.   I’d been terribly excited all week that an Englishman was coming to Hope to give a talk on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (my favorite novelists, Christian thinkers, and scholars). I suppose I’d been expecting a stuffy Oxford-type academic--perhaps wearing tweed and lecturing in a posh accent.

As Mr. Pearce delved into his passionate discussion of the Trinitarian nature of reality, I was immediately struck by three things. The first was that this man had a surprising and captivating London accent. He could have been attempting to impress upon me the importance of further regulation on the exportation of cheese curds and I would have been fascinated. More important, though, was the realization that the subject of God’s Truth, Goodness, and Beauty was intensely personal to Mr. Pearce. As I would find out later, he was not simply discussing an abstract idea, but was revealing the nature of his own intimate experiences with the Triune God.

Over lunch--hosted by the English Department’s Dr. Curtis Gruenler--Mr. Pearce conversed with several Hope students about the merits of having students use creative writing to explore and process great works of literature (in lieu of more traditional academic papers). In person, he was just as courteous and insightful as he had seemed on stage.

His afternoon lecture on the “Christian Imagination of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien” in the Martha-Miller Rotunda was full of eager students, faculty, and community members. Mr. Pearce’s insights inspired nearly half an hour of intense questions after his presentation. His talk ranged from the conversion of C.S. Lewis to the sanctification of the story and the richness of Christian allegory and symbolism in Lewis and Tolkien’s works. As he finished his lecture in a passionate analysis of Gollum as an instrument of divine grace, I was once again struck by his ardency: this was not the speech of a man who is merely academically interested in literary analysis, but was that of someone who has personally experienced divine grace firsthand.

Joseph Pearce’s final talk revealed the depth of this truth. At 7:00 pm in Winants Auditorium, he gave his testimony to a rapt (and large) audience. As detailed in his recently published autobiography, Race With the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love, Mr. Pearce told his story: how God had rescued him from his life as a hate-filled skinhead.   Punctuated with roughly sung snatches of anti-Catholic war songs, he told of his prison sentences and violent ideologies. The providential discovery of the writings of G.K. Chesterton (who was, subsequently, the subject of Pearce’s first book) and C.S. Lewis later were used as instruments of grace in Mr. Pearce’s own life. As such, Mr. Pearce’s conclusion was identification with John Newton’s famous hymn, Amazing Grace.

Having essentially spent the day with Joseph Pearce, I was left with the conviction that story (as Mr. Pearce said in his afternoon lecture) has indeed been sanctified by Christ and can be used by God to awaken the hearts of humankind. Even the heart of a man whose identity is in hatred can be transformed by such Amazing Grace.

These events were sponsored by the Saint Benedict Forum and co-sponsored by Hope College’s Campus Ministries, Dean of International and Multicultural Education, English Department, Political Science Department, Philosophy Department, and Religion Department.

The audio of Mr. Pearce's Chapel talk can be found here.

The video of "The Christian Imagination of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien" can be found here.

The video of "Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love" can be found here.

All photos by Aaron Estelle