Wyoming School of Catholic Thought

From June 11-15 adult learners gathered in Lander from Wyoming, North Dakota, Illinois, Missouri, and California for the first annual revived Wyoming School of Catholic Though (WSCT).

The original school on Casper Mountain was led by then-bishop of Cheyanne David Ricken along with Dr. Robert Carlson and Fr. Robert Cook. And it was on Casper Mountain that the idea of a Catholic college was first conceived. Soon after Dr. Carlson and Fr. Cook found themselves in Lander establishing Wyoming Catholic College.

Now the child is reviving the parent.

Over the course of the week, participants heard from six WCC faculty members including President Glenn Arbery and Academic Dean Thaddeus Kozinski on the topic “Returning from Exile.”

The readings and lectures included topics from Milton’s Paradise Lost, the Old Testament account of the Exodus, Dante’s Purgatorio, the New England Puritans, Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and The End of the Modern World by Romano Guardini. These were supplemented with films, seminars, daily Mass, informal discussions, fantastic meals, good fellowship, and the Wyoming outdoors.

“I love the study of literature and film,” commented one participant, “and believe they are beautiful and powerful ways to deepen my relationship with God and the Church.”

And that’s just what Bishop Ricken had in mind. He spoke for WCC today when he wrote that participants in the WSCT, “will be formed both spiritually and intellectually, which will enable them to play their part in a new Catholic Renaissance.”

For all who missed this amazing week, The After Dinner Scholar, our weekly podcast, features fifteen-minute interviews with WSCT faculty plus his or her lecture in its entirety.

Next year’s Wyoming School of Catholic Thought is planned for June 10-14, 2018. It’s not too early to plan your Wyoming vacation to include the school along with the Wind River Mountains, Yellowstone National Park, the Tetons, and the rest of “God’s Country.”