Last weekend was a marvelous display of what a Catholic, Benedictine and liberal arts education - in this case, taking place outside of the classroom - can do in the lives of students.

It began with a series of dramatic musical performances in the Carey Center that one of our young Benedictine monks, Brother Elijah, wrote and directed. Entitled "The Way of the Cross," it told the story of Jesus' journey from being condemned to death to his crucifixion and subsequent entombment. Approximately 40 students were engaged in this production, and Brother Elliott and the cast sang with passion and power.

And get this - nearly every one of the seven shows packed the Carey Center. My wife and children and I went Friday night and we saw a number of attendees in tears when the lights came up. Tom Octave did a great job with the chorus comprised of students (and at least one other - I recall Debbie Whiteside, a physician and wife of Paul Whiteside who works at the Archabbey, also singing) and the music and lyrics of Brother Elijah that debuted last year were enhanced and, believe it or not, even better.

On Sunday in the gym, over 100 Saint Vincent students of different faiths or none at all welcomed about the same number of local residents who have developmental disabilities, at our annual Sports Friendship Day. It was impressive to see the compassion and love of our students in action. The day began at noon and ended after a nice dinner (over 200 SVC students donated meals to pay for our guests' meals) and I think our students got more out of this exchange than those who visited us did. We were richly blessed to have them on campus.

Just as impressive as these weekend activities was the student-led effort to have Eucharistic adoration around the clock, beginning last Thursday night. It was an ambitious plan because it meant that at least one person had to be in the chapel during the three days and nights of perpetual adoration.

How did they do? There was a steady procession of students at all hours of the night coming for quiet contemplation and worship as they prayed for the success of the Way of the Cross. Every single hour was covered, and often there were several students and monks scattered throughout the chapel, united in silent prayer.

Surely their prayers were answered and we shall continue to see the fruit of so much faithfulness and so many personal sacrifices. In a couple of weeks at the Easter vigil, six students will enter the Catholic faith and then on April 5th, Bishop Brandt will administer the Sacrament of Confirmation in our student chapel at the 4:30 Mass (please join us for pizza with the Bishop afterwards). What a difference Saint Vincent College is making in the lives of students!

And it looks like this difference is desperately needed today. Many who come to college have found themselves swept up in the cultural currents and undertows of our times. They are looking for the steady anchor of moral truth that only Jesus Christ can provide.

I read on the Drudge Report today that a soon-to-be-released study will show that one in four teen girls have a sexually transmitted disease. That's a staggering number if true. In this week's Chronicle of Higher Education, in a commentary entitled, "What colleges can do about student gambling," incidence rates for students are provided that indicate that if Saint Vincent is like most other colleges, anywhere from 40 to 75 of our male students are pathological gamblers. While some may dismiss the threat of addiction or its consequences as insignificant, read this:

"Just as the news media have chronicled the successes of a few college students in the gambling realm, so too have they reported on the disasters that gambling has brought into people’s lives. Meng-Ju (Mark) Wu, a 19-year old freshman at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, lost $15,000 in May and June of 2003. He went to his alleged bookie’s apartment and shot dead three men: the alleged bookie and his two housemates. At age 21, while awaiting trial in a county jail, Wu hung himself. In February 2006, Joseph Kupchik, a 19-year old accounting student at Cuyahoga Community College, in Ohio, stabbed himself in the chest and jumped to his death from a parking garage after suffering substantial losses in on-line gambling. Greg Hogan, Jr., president of his sophomore class at Lehigh University, was 19 when he robbed a bank to try to satisfy gambling debts from online poker. He had hoped that what he stole would become a large enough stake to win back what he owed.

Those are among the most dramatic examples of students brought to ruin as a result of pathological gambling. No doubt the story of 18-year-old Jeff Simon, who spoke with a reporter from The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2006 about struggling to stay in college in Pittsburgh under the weight of debts from online gambling, is more representative of the many students whose dreams are threatened, deferred, or defeated as a result of gambling."

Saint Vincent is not indifferent to the possibility that students could form gambling addictions over the Internet and that is why we have a filter on gambling content for the residence halls and labs and if any student here has a problem, please let one of our health counselors help you. This does not mean an enterprising student could not figure out a way to circumvent the Internet filter. But it does mean that the College takes seriously its responsibility to provide a faith-filled witness, consistent with our Catholic, Benedictine identity, regarding the great human dignity of every student and the dangers to human dignity that such addictions pose. It remains a mystery to me why so few colleges follow suit. 

Fortunately, many parents and their high school sons or daughters are very interested in coming to Saint Vincent. In fact, when you compare today's admission data with how the College was doing at this point in time previously, you see that our applications remain at record levels (450 more than we had two years ago), the waiting list is growing (last year was our first year with a waiting list and this year's is longer), and deposits from families who intend to send their sons or daughters here are ahead of last year's pace.

What's more, the applicant mix is a delight. The Class of 2012 is shaping up to be academically gifted, diverse (more than 75 minority students have been accepted), and rich with different religious traditions. Those are the hallmarks of Saint Vincent.

And last weekend was dramatic proof of what those hallmarks can mean in the lives of our students and those who come to visit our campus.