Several of the Catholic students at Hope constructed a snow altar in the Pine Grove behind Graves Hall, complete with altar rail, ambo, and credence table. Fr. Nick celebrated Mass on the altar twice this past week.
Men of Hope (Student-Only Event)
What Do You Want? Pilgrimage and Desire in a Faraway Place
Thursday, February 16, 7 p.m.
Fried-Hemenway Auditorium
Martha Miller Center at Hope College
In asking his contemporaries what they wanted, Jesus points the way to an understanding of human beings as creatures ordered to desire. St. Augustine famously locates the center of our desire in the heart, and the proper object of our desire in God. But how well do we understand our desires, our wants, our longings? Not well enough, and perhaps not at all. In this talk, author and Hope College professor Richard Ray will tell the story of how a sacred journey to a sacred place resulted in a sacred purpose: the reordering of his desires and the reshaping of his heart.
This event is co-sponsored by the Hope College Departments of Kinesiology, Religion, and World Languages and Cultures, as well as the Fried Center for Global Engagement.
Richard Ray has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1982. During that time he also has served as the college’s chief academic officer (2010–2016), dean for the social sciences (2008–2010), and chair of the Department of Kinesiology (2003–2008). He was the college's head athletic trainer, and he developed the academic program in athletic training at Hope. He teaches courses in the athletic training program, First-Year Seminar, and Senior Seminar. In 2016 he completed a 500-mile walking pilgrimage on Spain’s Camino de Santiago. He teaches a Senior Seminar on pilgrimage and presents on this subject to church and community groups. He is the author of two books on his pilgrimage experiences, The Shape of My Heart: A Pilgrimage Remembrance and Walking Gratefully: A Camino Story.
#GivingTuesday 2022
November 29 is #GivingTuesday! Please consider making a gift to support our ministry at Hope College. Anyone who gives $25 or more on Giving Tuesday will receive a Saint Benedict medal with a card explaining this powerful sacramental.
We share stories from our current students every year during October and November. This year, we have focused on our new student interns. These Student Stories are beautiful accounts of community, prayer, worship, intellectual and spiritual growth, and giving back. When you give to the Saint Benedict Institute, your generosity will foster many new stories in the lives of students at Hope College in the years to come.
Check out our featured students below!
William Hurley
“Access to Christian thought through the speakers whom SBI has invited to campus has been very helpful and important to me. I seldom see groups on campus bring speakers to talk about controversial aspects of the faith, and I am grateful to the Saint Benedict Institute for braving the storm and speaking the truth in love.”
Cameron Maloney
“It all started when Fr. Nick invited me to get coffee during my freshman year. I learned about daily Mass on campus, adoration, confession, and spiritual mentorship. All of these things were offered to me, and I quickly made them a part of my weekly routine. The opportunities that the Saint Benedict Institute offered and the community that came with it changed my life.”
Kirsten Miskowski
“If you were to tell me five years ago that I’d be receiving spiritual direction from a Catholic priest on a weekly basis, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. When I was a freshman at Hope College, first trying to find my footing on campus, I was also in the midst of figuring out where I stood in relation to Christ. Coming out of a very dark period in my life, I was grasping for some answers and seeking Truth.”
Alec Kowalski
“The sacrifices of Exodus paved the way for a deeper understanding and relationship with Christ. Instead of wasting an hour scrolling through social media, I was invited to spend that hour with the Lord. I was freed from the saturating grips of technology and modern society and left with a simpler life with eyes turned towards the Lord.”
Fr. Robert Sirico Video, Event Recap, and Photos
By Brian Ntwali
The parables are enduring stories. They are replete with moral potency that has both shaped the Church and has seeped into even the modern secular world. Yet, while innumerable books have been written on this subject, few have ventured to unfold the economic dimensions of these parables and their far-reaching implications.
On October 17, 2022, the Saint Benedict Institute, Markets & Morality, and the Corpus Christi Foundation were pleased to host Rev. Robert Sirico, who lectured on his latest book, The Economics of the Parables. This book seeks to elucidate those very economic dimensions.
Father Robert Sirico is the co-founder and president emeritus of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. Fr. Sirico is also the pastor emeritus at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Parish in nearby Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the author of several books, including Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy, and his writings and commentaries have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the London Financial Times, and National Review.
From the outset, Fr. Sirico stressed this point: the parables were not written to impart ideologies and economic systems. Asserting that would amount to reading foreign meanings into the parables and ahistorically applying economic policies that were still nonexistent. Rather, he sought to uncover the parables’ underlying economic assumptions. Fr. Sirico reminded us that economics is at its core concerned with human actions. As Jesus wove the parables together, he inevitably presupposed certain principles from which we can draw economic realities. If God does, in fact, cry “Mine!” over every square inch of our human existence, as Abraham Kuyper famously penned, does this not extend to the economic dimensions of human life?
To explore some of these economic dimensions, Fr. Sirico selected and unpacked three parables. The first was the Parable of the Prodigal Son (or the “Merciful Father” as he believes it would more aptly be named). Fr. Sirico drew our attention to this seldom-heard connection: just like the prodigal son, the eldest son was preoccupied with material things. It is not material goods that were the cause of evil, but rather the disordered love of those goods. The father invites the guilty sons to jettison the idols of temporal goods and enter back into communion with the father.
Fr. Sirico then spoke about the parable that is dearest to his heart: the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price. He remarked how beautiful it was that the discovery of something became an all-encompassing treasure. The merchant discovered the high value of the pearl and accordingly incurred “costs” to attain it. This substructure of commercial exchanges carries over into a transcendental reality and allows us to appreciate the value and the costs of the true Pearl of Great Price: the Kingdom of Heaven.
The third and final parable that Fr. Sirico considered was one that has become an expression in common parlance but is nonetheless rich with moral instruction: the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Fr. Sirico lamented how this parable—along with the rest of the New Testament—has been portrayed as a text that champions a larger welfare state. The claim that Christianity was “a primitive communism” is a persistent motif voiced by the likes of Friedrich Engels. To dismiss this claim, Fr. Sirico reminded us of Winston Churchill’s poignant reply: “The socialism of the Christian era was ‘all mine is yours,’ but the socialism of today is ‘all yours is mine.’” Aside from attacking this blatant distortion of the parable, Fr. Sirico warned the audience that farming out our duty towards the “least of these” is the antithesis of being a Good Samaritan and an image bearer. Indeed, this parable invites us to be intimately near to all and to recognize our God-given ability to remedy hurt.
As he concluded his talk, Fr. Sirico reminded the listeners of how critical it is to eschew making interpretative errors while reading the parables. To this end, he draws from a breadth of theologians and scholars, ranging from conservative Catholic commentators to liberal Christian scholars verging on atheism, and even a Jewish scholar of the New Testament. He does this because he recognizes that we are prone to fall into the two extremes. On the one hand, there is the romantic tendency to plaster the Scriptures and to refuse to bring them into a modern light. On the other, there is the risk of falling into heresy which begins, as G.K. Chesterton described it, as “a truth taught out of proportion.”
Fr Sirico entreated us to remember that economic realities, while they were strongly presupposed, are not the telos or end of the parables. To borrow the words from Fr. Sirico’s book, the parables are “much like the story of the Incarnation itself: the commingling of divine transcendence with the human contingency. Or to put it in a word, Emmanuel (God-with-us).”
Brian Ntwali is a junior and an economics major at Hope College.
Student Stories: Alec Kowalski
I entered Exodus 90 (a three-month marathon of prayer, fellowship, and sacrifice) nervously with the intent of growing my discipline and deepening my faith. The thought of cold showers and other demanding sacrifices instilled a fear that I wouldn’t be able to perfectly execute the sacrifices. However, I quickly realized that Exodus had nothing to do with perfectly checking off boxes but everything to do with God. I learned that it is about falling in love with God more. The sacrifices of Exodus paved the way for a deeper understanding and relationship with Christ. Instead of wasting an hour scrolling through social media, I was invited to spend that hour with the Lord. I was freed from the saturating grips of technology and modern society and left with a simpler life with eyes turned towards the Lord.
The pivotal realization I was left with after Exodus 90 was that God is not an “it” but a tangible person with whom I had a relationship. I was humbled by the initial difficulty of giving twenty minutes to God every day, but the more I settled into Exodus, the more I realized its fruitfulness. Dedicating time to sit with God each day opened my eyes to a better understanding of his character, love, and grace. I am forever grateful for the deepening of my relationship with Christ as a result of Exodus 90 and Exodus 365 (a year-long program of fellowship, prayer, and varying levels of sacrifice based on the season).
Exodus has led to my conversion to the Catholic faith and my intention for God’s Word to inspire my future career path. As someone who had been discerning the Catholic faith for years, Exodus overflowed my passion for the faith. I was shocked by what an incredible effect giving God my time had on my relationship with him. Hosea 10:12 expresses my experience: “Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.” Exodus led me to seek the Lord, and by seeking, I was led to the beauty of the Catholic Church and her sacraments. Giving Jesus time and sacrifices anchored me in the one Truth.
Alec Kowalski is a recent Hope College graduate from Grandville, Michigan. He is an evangelization intern for the Saint Benedict Institute. Alec's passion and focus lie in one-on-one ministry as peers walk through their journey of faith.
SBI on "The Journey Home"
“The Journey Home” is a Catholic talkshow that tells the story of non-Catholic Christians and others who made the journey into the Catholic Church. The show is produced by the Coming Home Network and was hosted by Marcus Grodi, who recently handed the reigns to his son JonMarc when the show celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. We heartily congratulate Marcus, JonMarc, and everyone involved with “The Journey Home!”
Over the years, several people associated with the Saint Benedict Institute have been featured on “The Journey Home.” They include our two co-founders, Dr. Jared Ortiz and Dr. Jack Mulder, as well as Jonathan Bading, a former student who now serves as the Director of Sacred Music at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Parish in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In honor of the program’s twenty-fifth anniversary, we present these three episodes for your edification and entertainment.
Student Stories: Kirsten Miskowski
If you were to tell me five years ago that I’d be receiving spiritual direction from a Catholic priest on a weekly basis, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. When I was a freshman at Hope College, first trying to find my footing on campus, I was also in the midst of figuring out where I stood in relation to Christ. Coming out of a very dark period in my life, I was grasping for some answers and seeking Truth.
After first meeting and interviewing Fr. Nick for a mandatory class assignment my sophomore year, I asked him if we could meet again for personal reasons because I figured that he would be able to offer some guidance. I had many questions about the Catholic Church as well as issues I wanted to discuss concerning my own mental and spiritual struggles. After that first meeting with Fr. Nick, we began to meet almost every week over coffee to discuss more questions I had. Little did I know, I was slowly beginning to put my life in perspective of who God made me to be.
These meetings continued on for almost a year, at which point I realized that God was calling me into his Church. I started attending all of the Saint Benedict Institute’s Catholic speaker events, going to Sunday Mass, and attending Adoration every week. I was falling completely in love with the Catholic Church and especially the Eucharist. The summer after my sophomore year, at St. Francis de Sales’ Pentecost Mass, I was received into the Church!
After that point, my love for Catholicism just continued to grow. I became Faith Formation Director of Hope Catholics my junior year, I co-lead a Bible study about the Eucharist, and I participated in Exodus 365, all while continuing to receive spiritual direction from Fr. Nick. I remember having this feeling that God was calling me to do more for his Church and for some reason the Saint Benedict Institute kept coming up in prayer. I believe that my internship for this institute was the answer to this prayer. Now I get to evangelize and walk with others in their faith just like the Saint Benedict Institute did with me. In seeking God, I now have this amazing opportunity to talk to others who may be seeking him as well.
Kirsten Miskowski is a senior from Linden, Michigan. She is studying psychology with minors in dance and religion. Kirsten is an evangelization intern for the Saint Benedict Institute and the president of Hope Catholics. She enjoys talking to others about their faith and how God is working in their lives. Kirsten studied abroad in Vienna, Austria, this past summer.
Student Stories: Cameron Maloney
I entered Hope College in 2019. I came in wide-eyed and excited to start the next chapter of my life. I grew up attending Catholic schools and I had grown accustomed to the structure of faith being implanted in my daily routine. When I got to Hope that mandatory structure was gone and instead I had multiple, optional, opportunities. This gave me a unique chance to truly make my faith my own. I sought out more opportunities to practice my faith on campus. This is when the Saint Benedict Institute became a part of my life.
It all started when Fr. Nick invited me to get coffee during my freshman year. I learned about daily Mass on campus, adoration, confession, and spiritual mentorship. All of these things were offered to me, and I quickly made them a part of my weekly routine. The opportunities that the Saint Benedict Institute offered and the community that came with it changed my life. My faith was challenged, pushed, and expanded. My belief in God seemed to grow with every conversation that I had and from every question that I asked.
This year, as an intern for the Saint Benedict Institute, I have been given an incredible opportunity to pour into underclassmen who are like me when I was their age. I get a chance to witness their faith life growing as they ask the same questions that I wrestled with. And I get to lead them through a program that drew me closer to the Lord, Exodus 90.
The Exodus 90 program is something that I have participated in since my freshman year. It is a rare opportunity that allows me to be in community with a group of guys who want to give everything they have to the Lord. Since this program became, and continues to be, such a big part of my faith journey, I decided to get more involved and to help others experience the gift of Exodus. As an Exodus 90 intern, I mentor students and leaders through the program in hopes that it changes their lives, just like it did mine.
Cameron Maloney is a senior from Lansing, Michigan. He is studying mathematics and religion. Cam works as an Exodus 90 intern for the Saint Benedict Institute. At Hope College, he is involved with residential life, campus ministries, intramural sports, admissions, and Dance Marathon.
The Hong Konger Documentary
Monday, October 24, 7 p.m.
Knickerbocker Theater at Hope College
The Saint Benedict Institute is co-sponsoring an event hosted by the Markets & Morality student organization at Hope College and Western Theological Seminary: a screening of the documentary “The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom,” followed by audience discussion with one of the film’s producers, Dr. Stephen Barrows.
The public is invited. Admission is free. The event will also include free concessions.
Jimmy Lai was arrested in 2020 for his role in pro-democracy protests opposing China’s policies in Hong Kong and is currently in prison. As described in the film’s promotional materials, “When Hong Kong’s basic freedoms come under attack, media tycoon Jimmy Lai finds himself in the crosshairs of the state and must choose between defending Hong Kong’s long-standing liberties, or his own freedom.”
Lai had fled Maoist revolutionaries in China as a twelve-year-old in 1959 and began a new life in Hong Kong as a textile worker. In 1981, he founded Giordano, an international clothing retailer. He founded Next Media in 1990 in response to China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, and in 1995 founded the Apple Daily newspaper. Sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. The film’s materials continue, “As China retreated from its ‘one nation, two systems’ policy and began installing pro-Beijing leaders in Hong Kong, Jimmy became a leading voice against repressive policies. Jimmy could have fled but he chose to stay, marching alongside millions of his fellow Hong Kongers in defense of freedom and democracy. He was soon arrested and jailed. International banks froze his assets. Apple Daily was raided and key executives arrested. In June 2021, Apple Daily printed its final edition and shut its doors.”
“The Hong Konger: Jimmy Lai’s Extraordinary Struggle for Freedom” was developed by the Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute in association with Crossfire Productions and Iron Light Labs. Barrows is the institute’s chief operating officer. Prior to his work at Acton, he served as the executive vice president, provost, and dean of faculty at Aquinas College, where he was also a tenured associate professor of economics.
The Markets & Morality student organization aims to support and celebrate freedom of expression in the context of the liberal arts by hosting speakers and films on topics spanning the economic, political, and cultural aspects of human civilization, with a special concern for human flourishing as understood in Christian perspective.
Western Theological Seminary prepares women and men for Christian ministry around the world as pastors, chaplains, non-profit leaders, and church planters. Students and community members are encouraged to take a keen interest in the social, political, and economic events that affect the world, especially those that impact religious freedom or threaten to diminish the value of the individual created in the image of God.
Audience members who need assistance to fully enjoy any event at Hope are encouraged to contact the college’s Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616-395-7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Student Stories: William Hurley
The Saint Benedict Institute was one of the main factors of growth in my Catholic faith while I have been at Hope College. In my process of reversion to the Catholic Church, the members of the Saint Benedict Institute were an example of orthodoxy and holiness that was lacking in my life up until then. Meeting Fr. Nick and other students who were involved in the Catholic community on campus allowed me to immerse myself in my faith. Having a spiritual advisor (Fr. Nick) was very important to my development as a creature of God. Perhaps one of the most important services the Saint Benedict Institute has provided is the ease of access to the sacraments on campus. Daily Mass became a refuge for me, and being able to go to confession frequently was wonderful. The Saint Benedict Institute always strives to sanctify everything, from the beauty of St. Anne’s Oratory to Sunday Mass upstairs.
Access to Christian thought through the speakers whom SBI has invited to campus has been very helpful and important to me. I seldom see groups on campus bring speakers to talk about controversial aspects of the faith, and I am grateful to the Saint Benedict Institute for braving the storm and speaking the truth in love.
I got involved as an SBI intern at the beginning of this year. Previously, I started altar serving and Fr. Nick asked me to become the head server. Over the summer, Carly emailed me about an opportunity to serve as a liturgy intern for the Saint Benedict Institute. I thought this was a great opportunity, considering my love for the liturgy and the involvement I already had in serving. I was nervous about the responsibility of being this intimately involved with the Church of God, but ultimately, I felt I was called to this position and I have enjoyed every minute of it!
William Hurley is a sophomore from Glenview, Illinois. He is majoring in political science. In addition to being a liturgy intern for the Saint Benedict Institute, he works as a tutor for the Academic Success Center and worked as a camp counselor last summer. He enjoys dodgeball, skiing, and playing Minecraft (and his job).
The Economics of the Parables
Monday, October 17, 7 p.m.
Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall at Hope College
Father Robert Sirico, who is president emeritus and co-founder of the Acton Institute, will relate timeless biblical wisdom to contemporary issues through the address “The Economics of the Parables.”
The event is co-sponsored by the Markets & Morality student organization at Hope, the Saint Benedict Institute, and the Corpus Christi Foundation. The public is invited, and admission is free.
The lecture will be based on Sirico’s book of the same title, published this past May. As described in the overview of the book, “In The Economics of the Parables, Rev. Robert Sirico pulls back the veil of modernity to reveal the timeless economic wisdom of the parables. Thirteen central stories — including ‘The Laborers in the Vineyard,’ ‘The Rich Fool,’ ‘The Five Talents,’ and ‘The Faithful Steward’ — serve as his guide, revealing practical lessons in caring for the poor, stewarding wealth, distributing inheritances, navigating income disparities, and resolving family tensions.”
In his capacity with the Acton Institute, Sirico lectures at colleges, universities, and business organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad. His writings on religious, political, economic, and social matters have been in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the London Financial Times, the Washington Times, the Detroit News, and National Review. He is often called upon by members of the broadcast media for statements regarding economics, civil rights, and issues of religious concern, and has provided commentary for CNN, ABC, the BBC, NPR, and CBS' 60 Minutes, among others.
Sirico received his Master of Divinity degree from the Catholic University of America following undergraduate study at the University of Southern California and the University of London. During his studies and early ministry, he experienced a growing concern over the lack of training religious studies students receive in fundamental economic principles, leaving them poorly equipped to understand and address today's social problems. As a result of these concerns, he co-founded the Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute with Kris Alan Mauren in 1990.
In April 1999, Sirico was awarded an honorary doctorate in Christian ethics from the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and in May 2001, Universidad Francisco Marroquin awarded him an honorary doctorate in social sciences. Sirico, who holds dual Italian and American citizenship, is a member of the prestigious Mont Pèlerin Society, the American Academy of Religion, and the Philadelphia Society, and is on the Board of Advisors of the Civic Institute in Prague. He also served on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from 1994 to 1998.
His pastoral ministry has included a chaplaincy to AIDS patients at the National Institutes of Health. He is currently the Pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Grand Rapids.