Newman Forum for High School Students
2026 Summer Institute
“There and Back Again: The Adventures of Heroes, Saints, and Pilgrims”
August 5-9
University of St. Mary of the Lake
APPLY HERE
SAMPLE SCHEDULE
Registration Deadline: June 29th, 2026 | $450
Early Bird Registration Discount: May 31st, 2026 | $250
Course Description
St. Augustine once wrote that we should “so seek as if we should find, and so find as if we were going to go on seeking.” Join us on the beautiful grounds of Mundelein Seminary for a week of exploring the Western and Catholic intellectual tradition as we examine together the rich theme of the journey. Our texts will be drawn from the Bible, Greek Mythology, and Christian literature, theology, and spirituality from the Medieval Era to the modern day. In our expedition together—alongside the likes of such adventurers as Odysseus, Augustine, Dante, Bonaventure, Teresa of Avila, and Don Quixote—we will consider what it means to set out as sojourners and pilgrims longing for a true homeland in which we’ve never lived, to act heroically in the face of a broken world, and finally to return home to God, accepting the call to be saints. As Pope Francis has said, all Christians are “people on a journey”: how can these biblical, literary, and theological narratives of journeying and pilgrimage help us to understand better our own holy journeys toward the fullness of time, when God shall be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28)?
High school students (including rising freshmen and recently graduated seniors) are welcome to apply for this 5-day seminar. Mornings will consist in academic seminars and small group, and afternoons will focus on these themes through team-building activities.
For more information, please email NewmanForum@LumenChristi.org
