While many older institutions of higher learning across the United States reexamine their curricula and their mission to stay true to their founding, a new classical Catholic college launched in Greenville, South Carolina, with a focus on renewing the traditional Christian values of truth, goodness and beauty, along with Marian devotion. 

Rosary College, a two-year liberal arts college with an emphasis on traditional values and faith, has just begun its inaugural semester with an enrollment of 20 students. 

The idea for a new college originated with Father Dwight Longenecker, the pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Greenville. A convert from Anglicanism and a speaker and author, Father Longenecker brought his wife and four children with him into the Catholic Church. His teenage son Elias participated in a dual-enrollment program at a secular university, earning several college credits while still in high school. 

“Wouldn’t it be great,” Father Longenecker recalled, asking himself, “if students in our Catholic high school could follow that path, earning college credits even before their high-school graduation?”

Father Longenecker took his idea to his good friend, prominent Catholic theologian and author Joseph Pearce. 

Together they reach out to other friends: R. Jared Staudt, instructor at St. John Vianney Seminary, and Michael Shick. Shick, who has assumed leadership as Rosary College’s president and chairman of the board, brings a wealth of experience in the military, academia and project management. He served as associate professor of project management at Western Carolina University and founder of Rosemet LLC, a company that helps individuals and organizations to achieve project excellence.

In the college’s first semester, Pearce is teaching “Humanities 101, Classical Epic and Tragedy.” 

“This is a course I’ve taught many times before to first-semester freshmen at Ave Maria University,” Pearce told the Register. “I’ll be teaching about Homer; and Homer sets up the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two pillars upon which classical literature rests. Without it, you don’t have Dante’s Divine Comedy.”

Charley Bondurant, a prominent attorney in Greenville who is both a founding member and a member of the board of trustees, will be providing legal services to the college. 

“I hope, as a convert to the faith, to bring my Catholicism to my work on behalf of the college,” he told the Register. “What makes me different from most of the board members is that I grew up in the South, very Protestant in faith, and I didn’t know any Catholics when I was growing up.” 

Bondurant is excited to see Rosary College adding to the strong Catholic presence in the Greenville area, with vibrant parishes such as St. Mary’s, Our Lady of the Rosary, and Prince of Peace; and with Christ on Main, the new stop-in information center on Main Street. 

 

Enriching Souls

Father Longenecker spoke with the Register about the new school’s plan for imparting a classical worldview. “A classical Catholic education,” he explained, “is important for spiritual growth because it roots the student’s worldview and personal life in the treasures of the past. Without deep roots, the tree cannot flourish; but with a profound understanding of the wisdom of the past, the developing soul has the resources to make connections, understand the present and grow positively into the future.”

This wholesome and holistic approach, Father Longenecker believes, provides the context and content for a dynamic and creative spiritual life.

As Rosary College’s president, Shick believes that classical Catholic education is important for college-bound students. 

Rosary College, he explained, strives to incorporate three primary values: It is an authentically Catholic school with a strong Catholic identity, offering a rigorous education, at an affordable price. 

There is a tendency in education today, Shick told the Register, to emphasize subjectivity over objectivity. While subjectivity is not always wrong, he explained, “it’s one thing if we’re talking about our favorite color; it’s something else when it comes to objective truth. Someone can truly believe that gravity doesn’t exist; but if they take a step off the wrong spot, they learn very quickly that it’s a real thing,” he said.

 

An Affordable Education

Rosary College’s approved tuition rate is $450 per credit hour, but in the inaugural year, there is a reduced rate of only $125 per credit hour ($375 per course) for college-age students. Dual-enrolled high-school juniors and seniors can take advantage of an even lower rate of only $75 per credit hour ($225 per course). Senior citizens receive the same discounted rate, as do individuals who audit courses but do not receive full credit. And the college, recognizing the challenge of meeting college expenses for multiple children, offers a discount of 5% for a sibling who registers, with the discount increasing by 5% for each child in a family up to a maximum of 20%.

 

Next Steps

Shick reported that the college has reached agreements with Ave Maria University in Florida and Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in New Hampshire, permitting Rosary College students to transfer credits to their four-year institutions. He expects to finalize agreements with other Catholic colleges soon. 

 

Students Weigh In

Rosary College has enrolled 20 students for its first semester, ranging from local home-schooled students to adult learners to students from other parts of the country. 

Emily Davis, a freshman, is the seventh of 10 children from Fredericksburg, Virginia, and was home-schooled her entire life. Three of her older siblings graduated from Thomas More College and a fourth is a senior at the same college. Davis is enjoying Rosary’s classes and the discussions that she and her classmates are having about the texts. Her favorite class so far, she reported, is “Humanities 101” with Pearce. “Of all the texts I am reading for the classes right now,” Emily reported, “The Iliad is the one I am enjoying the most.”

Also a home-school student, David Myers from Northeast Texas said that he, too, has enjoyed the classes and has found the coursework to be engaging and interesting. “I’ve really been enjoying all the classes so far,” he told the Register. “All of my professors have been great and can teach well.”

Myers is currently in his junior year of high school, and he plans to graduate from Rosary College with an associate’s degree in humanities in 2026. 

“A philosophy or liberal arts degree would be my primary pick now,” he said, “depending on which college I end up attending. I’m interested in becoming a farrier [a blacksmith who specializes in shoeing horses] or a priest right now, but I’m very open to God having a different plan.” 

Patrick Bailey and his wife Sara, based in Greenville, are adult learners who are auditing “Humanities 101.” The Baileys are both engineers who studied at Georgia Tech. And Patrick explained that they’d not had the opportunity to study classical literature. 

“Whenever you can get a world-renowned speaker,” Patrick said, “it’s worth going out of your way. We’re happy to be pioneers for what should be a very special program in the Upstate [region].” 

Sara Bailey, who gave birth to their first child three months ago, added, “From my standpoint, another benefit is to be able to teach our children in the future the importance of these works — and hopefully, to inspire them to be curious enough to take on the literature for themselves.”

Pearce, who has lived in the scenic Upstate region since 2006, looks forward to the future. “This is a first!”  he said, “because this is the first Catholic college in the history of South Carolina.”