Saint Damien Community Updates

A collaborative project of KU Leuven, Université Catholique de Louvain, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the Belgian Bishop’s Conference.

The Saint Damien Community is an intentional community for students to come together in faith, worship, and the pursuit of knowledge situated in one wing of the Amerikaans College.

October 2019

A new academic year in Leuven means a new Saint Damien Community at the American College.  I am pleased to offer you, our alumni and friends, this brief introduction to this year’s community.  This year there are 14 members in the community.  Coming from different religious traditions, these women and men, lay and ordained, are studying philosophy, theology or canon law at the KU Leuven.  A community within a community, they live on the same floor of the American College, gather regularly to share meals and prayer, and they plan spiritual and social events during the year to support their life of faith.  Now in its 7th year, with Aristel Skrbic as coordinator, the Saint Damien Community keeps alive a tradition of formation and service for the good of the Church and the world which the American College began many years ago.

(Very Rev.) Anthony Bawyn (’82)

Past-President 

March 22-24, 2019. Saint Damien 2019 Conference
The Saint Damien Society organized a theology and philosophy interdisciplinary weekend conference at the American College, on the theme of Community, Friendship, and Aloneness. The conference had four keynote speakers: Dr. Duane Williams (Liverpool Hope University), Prof. Anne Vandenhoeck (KU Leuven), Prof. Andrea Robiglio (KU Leuven), and Fr. Aldomarcio Margoto Dal Bo, SJ (KU Leuven). There was also an afternoon seminar led by Dr. Duane Williams, a panel presentation sessions by members of the Saint Damien Community, and a Eucharistic celebration. See a gallery of photos from the gathering on the Saint Damien Community at the American College, Leuven Facebook page.

The newly renovated American College is open and is welcoming a new intentional community of students coming to Belgium to pursue studies in Theology, Philosophy, or Canon Law. This community is named the St. Damien Community after the great Flemish priest and missionary St. Damien of Molokai, who is a clear example of the ties historically existing between Belgium and the United States. The St. Damien Community is open to any qualified American who has been accepted into the Theology, Philosophy, and Canon Law degree programs in Leuven or in the Theology, Philosophy and Canon Law programs in Louvain-la-Neuve.  The community is envisioned as including both priests sent to Belgium to pursue canonical or civil degrees as well as lay people who wish to pursue degrees in order to serve the Church.  It will offer students the opportunity to live in an intentional community with other fellow Americans who are studying in Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, and intends to offer a ‘home away from home’ as students begin settling into their new life in Belgium. 

The American College, founded in 1857, began as a seminary to train future Catholic priests for missionary service in the United States of America.  The Native American face on the College building served as a reminder to those in formation of the original people of North America.

The Belgian people continue to generously share the gift of their Universities, the hospitality of their peoples, and the beauty of their land with those seeking deeper meaning in service to the people of God.