Vocation Project Summary

Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN in partnership with the College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, MN 

Theological Exploration of Vocation: Educating for Leadership in Church and Society Project

The University and College
The Vocation Project
Overall Project Goals
Project Design
Component Programs

The University and College

Saint John's University, founded in 1857 by the Benedictine monks of Saint John's Abbey, is located on 2,400 acres in the heart of Central Minnesota. The College of Saint Benedict, founded in 1913 by the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict, is located four miles away in St. Joseph, Minnesota. The schools are just an hour's drive from Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Saint John's University for men and College of Saint Benedict for women are partners in liberal arts education, providing students the opportunity to benefit from the distinctions of not one, but two nationally recognized Roman Catholic undergraduate colleges. The liberal arts education provided is rooted in the Catholic university tradition and guided by the Benedictine principles of the colleges' founders and sponsoring religious communities. These principles stress the cultivation of the love of God, neighbor, and self through the art of listening, worship, and balanced, humane living. Together the colleges challenge students to live balanced lives of learning, working, leadership and service in a changing world.

The combined enrollment is approximately 4000. In 2000-2001, 78% of the 2020 men enrolled at Saint John's lived on campus. At Saint Benedict's 74% of the 2024 women enrolled lived on campus. The combined faculties include 323 full and part time professors, of whom 44 are Benedictines.

The Vocation Project

Theological Exploration of Vocation: Educating for Leadership in Church and Society Project is an institution-wide project integrating curricular, co-curricular and community life experiences among students, faculty, and staff of Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict. The purpose of the project is to create and sustain an environment where the baptismal call to serve the church and society is comprehensively reflected and acted upon, so that students will be prepared for meaningful life work that emerges from and is rooted in faith commitment. In addition, faculty and staff will be prepared to effectively guide and direct students in vocational discernment.

Overall Project Goals

1. Enhance student theological education and development through expanding the place of theology in the curriculum, deepening the understanding of the Catholic Benedictine values and tradition upon which these two academic institutions are founded, and introducing students to men and women who represent the great variety of ways in which people of faith respond to the call to follow Christ.
2. Enhance faculty and staff theological education and development through ongoing theological education, facilitator training for theological reflection groups, and enhancing advising and mentoring skills by increasing faculty comfort in discussing issues of vocational identity with students.
3. Foster student spiritual development through enriching liturgical celebrations, providing opportunities for theological reflection, and nurturing the cultivation of a life of prayer and service.
4. Foster faculty and staff spiritual development through providing for engagement in theological reflection, encouraging prayerful consideration of their own vocations as educators, and creating opportunities for spiritual growth through days of reflection and retreats.

Project Design

The Theological Exploration of Vocation: Educating for Leadership in Church and Society Project is both broad and deep. The breadth of the project is a result of it being designed to involve a significant number of students, faculty, and staff in curricular, co-curricular, and community life experiences that provide formation and education in core leadership and reflection skills related to vocational awareness. The depth of the project and its transformational nature stem from it being designed to challenge all members of the University and College communities to consider the call to discipleship through theological reflection while providing them with opportunities to deepen their response through involvement in service and ministry. Theological reflection on vocation is at the heart of the project and provides the context for its overall goals.

Component Programs

1. Faculty and Staff Development Program supports the work of the faculty and staff by providing opportunities for both professional development and personal spiritual development.
2. Theological Studies Program focuses on enhancing the place of theology in the core curriculum and enhancing the program of studies for theology majors and minors, particularly in the area of ministerial formation.
3. Catholic Benedictine Values and Tradition Program introduces students to a considered study of the monastic tradition of ora et labora as it is grounded in the Catholic Benedictine values of hospitality, stability, community, and service.
4. Vocation Awareness Program introduces students to the variety of ways in which people of faith respond to the call to follow Christ.
5. Liturgical Life and Ministry Program enriches liturgical celebrations on campus and educates and forms student liturgical ministers.
6. Men’s Spirituality Program expands and enriches the spirituality groups that are part of Saint John's University residential life programs.
7. Theological Reflection on Service Program provides students with the opportunity to engage in structured theological reflection on their service experiences.