Catholic teens, are you looking for a good pursuit this summer?

Choose from nearly 20 Catholic college and high school programs to embolden faith and academic acumen.

The Cardinal Newman Society has approved more than a dozen Catholic summer programs for high school students in the United States and abroad.  

The various programs vetted by Newman — with almost all at colleges featured in the Register’s annual “Catholic Identity College Guide” — offer a wealth of choices to students for the summer. Some focus on evangelization, and others offer philosophy, literature, theology and the sciences. 

For example, the Catholic Institute of Technology offers an intensive course in computer science to high schoolers, and ITI Catholic University has summer courses for high school grads, while Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, has conferences focused on strengthening teen faith and fellowship. The Register reached out to several of the colleges and universities and spoke to administrators, parents and students about why this kind of summer school is a good choice. 

 

Living a Catholic Life

Christendom College offers what it calls “The Best Week Ever” at its campus in rural Virginia. It is well-attended, drawing 65 to 70 students for each of five one-week sessions each summer, and has been going strong since 1999. Christendom offers classes each day in philosophy, theology, history and literature. The college also offers daily Mass and Eucharistic adoration, as well as recreation, hikes in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains, swimming in the Shenandoah River and dances, as well as a talent show and debates. The program has been successful in recruiting students to attend the college. 

Director of Admissions Sam Phillips of Christendom said that students of the summer course “leave with an appreciation for the liberal arts, the Catholic faith, and the beauty of God’s creation, as well as true friendship.” It offers an initial immersion in the academic, cultural and spirituality offerings at the college. “It shows the integration of Catholic faith and life,” he said, adding that the course draws students from around the country and overseas. 

“Whether or not at the end of the week they decide to attend Christendom, they can say, ‘This changed my life, being immersed in this Catholic culture. I never knew that was fully possible,’” he said.

Franciscan University has four intense summer conferences on its campus this year, starting on June 27. These three-day events feature Mass, fervent rallies and renowned speakers, such as Catholic speaker and Newman Center chaplain Father Mike Schmitz and Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Espaillat of  New York. 

Executive Director of Conferences Brian Kissinger said the conference “walks teens through evangelization and catechesis, proclaiming the basic message of the kerygma: that Jesus came, loves us so much and gave his life for us, suffered, died, rose and ascended, and offers us the opportunity to live with him forever.” Conversion and community are the products of the program, he said.

Saunders Richardson has enjoyed attending Franciscan’s conferences four times. 

“It has really inspired me to live my faith, my love for the Church, for the Eucharist and the sacraments,” she said. Her mother, Kammie, a youth minister for Christ the King parish in Acme, Michigan, has been taking teens there for more than a decade. 

“It’s a passion of mine to bring students regardless of where they are in their faith, because I believe that Steubenville knows how to catechize teens effectively. They have the best evangelists, best worship, and the best fun,” she said.

Franciscan also offers similar youth conferences in California, Colorado, Louisiana, Texas and elsewhere, in collaboration with various dioceses and initiatives like the Life Teen movement. Kissinger said that approximately 8,000 teens will attend the on-campus conference, and approximately 32,000 more attend at the other venues.

 

Catholic STEM, With College Credit

Alexis and Bill Haughey of Massachusetts sold their construction business to found the Catholic Institute of Technology, an American institution offering college degrees located at Castel Gandolfo, where popes over the centuries have spent their summers near Rome. 

Alexis, who is pursuing a doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, said CIT was founded in 2024 but already has drawn faculty from several Vatican academic institutions for its intensive computer training. 

“Our summer program is a great opportunity to experience the beauty of Italy, while also gaining amazing technical experience,” she said.

She referred to the institute’s program as a boot camp, providing skills to aid students going on to any university. It also offers university degrees in the sciences. 

Rachel Kelly, who works in admissions at the institute, said it offers Catholic students interested in the sciences an opportunity to meet others with the same interests while learning that faith and science need not be opposed. 

“For those with an aptitude in STEM, the Catholic Institute of Technology has a responsibility to develop the gift God has given them,” she said. While other Catholic institutions emphasize liberal arts, the institute seeks to affirm faith while forming future scientists, she said. The single session of the summer course starts on July 5 and ends on Aug. 4. Students receive attention from faculty to develop a project that they eventually finish at home. Upon completion, they can receive three college credits. 

 

Immersion in Catholic Culture

The summer program at ITI Catholic University in Austria, offered in English, presents an immersion in a Catholic culture where Catholic holy days are also observed by civil authorities and even businesses are closed. 

Founded in 1996 by Pope St. John Paul II, it offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in theology and philosophy. Its summer program is  offered to college students ages 18-plus, running June 30 to July 11. 

According to its website, “Our hope is that vital questions about the natural world, the human person and relationships, and ultimately about God Himself, will spark a new found wonder” and a desire to know and live by the truth. 

In an interview, ITI professor Vincent DeMeo said students will be exposed to the doctors of the Church, holy Scripture, and the writings of Sts. John Henry Newman and John Paul II. 

“Its motto is ‘I have called you friends,’” he said, adding that students will “study friendship with God, as revealed in the Gospel of John and the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, and then look at love and friendship in marriage, and then the unity of theology and science. There is a course on how they are similar, how they are distinct, and how they work together.” 

Students Elizabeth Innerst and Michael Deloso told the Register that their experience at ITI has been invaluable. Deloso said he came to ITI because of its solid, Catholic, liberal arts education. 

“It has opened my mind to the truth of reality, set me on the path for the rest of my life,” he said, while also saying it offers the benefits of studying in the heart of Europe. 

Father Juraj Terek, who serves as chaplain and professor of theology, said ITI took inspiration from American institutions, implanting it in Europe. At least half of the student body is from the U.S. 

“It is a meeting of cultures. They come from different walks of life,” said Father Terek, who is a Byzantine Rite priest from Slovakia. “It’s a microcosm of the Church.”

The wealth of choices does not stop with the above programs. The Catholic University of America offers classes in drama, architecture, engineering and writing, while Wyoming Catholic College couples moral theology with wilderness hikes. 

Professor Bainard Cowan of the University of Dallas, for example, described UD’s summer course for teens that runs June 8-21. 

Dubbed Arete (Greek for “excellence”), the course reviews ancient Greek philosophy and literature, medieval and Renaissance traditions, modern novels and poetry. 

“By focusing on excellence, that will organize everything else and allow you to eliminate everything that is beneath your proper concern,” he said, adding, “We stress excellence and virtue.” 

 

Links to Catholic summer programs:

Aquinas College — Nashville, Tennessee

Ave Maria University — Ave Maria, Florida

Belmont Abbey College — Belmont, North Carolina

Benedictine College — Atchison, Kansas

The Catholic University of America — Washington, DC

Christendom College — Front Royal, Virginia

Franciscan University of Steubenville — Steubenville, Ohio

Holy Apostles College and Seminary — Cromwell, Cromwell

John Paul the Great Catholic University — Escondido, California

Thomas Aquinas College — Santa Paula, California and  Northfield, Massachusetts

The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts — Merrimack, New Hampshire

University of Dallas — Irving, Texas

University of Mary — Bismarck, North Dakota

University of St. Thomas Houston — Houston, Texas

Walsh University — North Canton, Ohio

Wyoming Catholic College — Lander, Wyoming

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom — Barry’s Bay, Canada

ITI Catholic University — Trumau, Austria

University of Navarra — Pamplona, Spain

Catholic Institute of Technology — Castel Gandolfo, Italy