Benedictine Living Learning Community promotes community values

The Benedictine Living Learning Community is designed to bring students of both St. John’s and St. Ben’s together to learn about and celebrate Benedictine values. Rodger Narloch, director of the Benedictine Institute, described the community as a workshop opportunity to live together in a micro-commuity.

Narloch is one of the leaders of this community, and its sentiment is tied to offering students opportunities to practice Benedictine values socially and fundamentally.

A class is also required with the program but is not meant to place a burden on class load, as it is one credit and once a week. It is meant to help students in the program learn about Benedictine values and their history through an academic lens.

“In terms of the primary components… the living arrangements are kind of neat. [We asked ourselves] …how do we bring people together so that we’re not, living in our own little unit, but [instead] we think of ourselves as a group we think of ourselves as a community,” Narloch said.

Housing for this program is in CSB’s Lottie Hall for Bennies and SJU’s Bonnie and Pat Halls for Johnnies. Space is meant to be community-oriented, with kitchens next to rooms and community spaces to promote conjoined living.

“To me, it’s natural to bring Johnnies and Bennies together [for this]. We’ve had different kinds of programs aimed at helping Johnnies and Bennies to better live out Benedictine values… This is just a different kind of thing, and it’s been successful here at St. John’s, so it’s a way to bring something that we’ve seen working here and have St. Ben’s students participate in that,” Narloch said.

This program will give students a new experience in the Benedictine community.

“I saw the newsletter in the bulletin. I wanted to be a part of a a new experience and meet new people so I figured this would be a great way of doing so,” CSB first-year Clara Winters said.

Benedictine significance is ingrained into both campuses, with many undergraduate programs offering insight into what it means to live out those values, and this program is another form of that insight.

As both housing opportunities are in sophomore dorms, the Benedictine Institute is reaching out to incoming sophomores, but Narloch emphasizes that juniors are welcome as well.

Overall, the program is aimed at helping students understand how their socialization can play into Benedictine living, then employing a community aspect by teaching others how to do the same.

“It can help us to [be] more empathetic towards others who have a different way of living in community than we do,” Narloch said. “I’m really interested in those discussions about how these different sub-communities play out and having that opportunity in the classroom to talk about it.”

The application deadline for the Benedictine Living Learning Community is Feb. 14, with some room for late applications as well.

The form is on the CSB/SJU website. Those who are interested or have any questions should reach out to Narloch. Brief interviews will be conducted after signup.