How a Kansas humanities program shaped a generation of Catholic leaders

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From the article:
"The IHP was a two-year program for students. Its inclusion of classic literature and poetry fulfilled several core curriculum requirements at the University of Kansas, making it attractive even to students who might not otherwise seek out such a program.

Students read epics of Homer and Virgil, the philosophy of Plato, Greek and Roman historians, and the Bible. They also read St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Thomas Aquinas, Chaucer, Don Quixote, and Shakespeare.

Twice weekly, students would listen to the three professors discuss the texts together. As part of their weekly class, students would also engage in discussions, and conduct poetry recitations. Students took an immersive Latin class, which was based on rhetoric, rather than a more systematic approach to the language."
 
I once heard now Bishop Conley talk about this program. It was quite popular, but it seemed to be creating too many Catholics, which caused the administration to investigate whether the profs were proselytizing. The conclusion: they were not. They were just teaching the art, literature, history, song and poetry of Western Civilization. Students loved it. The administration didn’t. They killed it off by reducing the amount of credit it got for obtaining a humanities degree.
 
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