This story appears in the Winter 2017 edition of Instaurare. Subscribe today!
As a teenager growing up in Buckinghamshire, England, Alexandra Di Falco faced a dilemma that many young adults struggle with today: finding a way to further her education without losing her faith in the process. Today’s landscape of higher education is filled with thousands of college and university programs, but few of them educate students through the prism of the Catholic faith, let alone a Christian one. For Di Falco, the landscape was even bleaker in her native England, due to the fact that there are no Catholic colleges or universities in the United Kingdom — a depressing prospect for any young Catholic in the land.
And yet, Di Falco, the eldest of eight children, was approached with a solution, thanks to a group of her friends: a college that they were attending in the States, where they were furthering their education and also growing closer to Christ in the process. Soon enough, Di Falco packed her bags to join them an ocean away, and her next two siblings, Olivia and Isabella, quickly followed in her footsteps, all the way to a little college in the Shenandoah Valley: Christendom.
Isabella, Alexandra, and Olivia Di Falco are originally from England, but now attend college at Christendom.
When Warren Carroll founded Christendom in the late 1970s, he hoped to find just 25 willing students initially. In 1977, the school began with 26 — one more than Carroll had hoped for. Fast-forward 40 years, and enrollment has grown close to 500, with students traveling from across the United States, and beyond, to attend Christendom. In the years since its founding, Christendom’s vision and mission have taken on an international appeal, resulting in students from England, Ireland, Africa, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, and elsewhere leaving home and country to attend the college. While they are far from home, the Di Falco sisters each agree that the Christendom community, and the presence of each other, has made attending college in the United States a great choice.
“Coming to Christendom was definitely one of the best decisions of my life,” says Alexandra, this year’s senior class president. “I now have a better understanding of my faith, and I have learned to write a lot more persuasively. Although I love the classes and am proud of the skills that they have helped me to develop, it is the people here that make this college so wonderful. The students at Christendom are not to be found anywhere else—they know how to be joyfully Catholic.”
Olivia, a sophomore, agrees with her sister’s assessment, and finds that having her sisters here at the same time is a huge advantage.
“It’s utterly amazing having siblings here,” she says. “I absolutely love being able to find one of my sisters and just catch up with them — it makes Christendom feel even more like a home, whether that be having a sister’s shoulder to cry on or to help with study guides. Christendom is obviously very far from England, but coming here has proven to be the right decision. I got used to being far away from home because of my siblings, and because you make a second home and family here.”
Alexandra (left) discovered Christendom first thanks to friends in England. The three siblings love being at the school together, saying it makes “Christendom feel even more like a home.”
The vibrant community, infused with the joyful Catholicism that has helped attract students to the college since day one, has helped them feel at home in Front Royal, Virginia. If the community is engaging them emotionally, the liberal arts education is engaging the Di Falcos just as much intellectually. Alexandra expected as much when Christendom was first described to her by her friends there, and the college has lived up to that reputation.
“I had heard that the education at Christendom was excel-lent; every subject studied was done with a Catholic under-standing, and the professors were truly in love with what they taught. The idea of achieving a liberal arts degree with other like-minded Catholics was extremely appealing,” says Alexandra.
“This liberal arts degree greatly appeals to me because, like most youths in their late teens, I am unsure of what subjects or areas I am interested in and what I want to extend my knowledge in,” says freshman Isabella. “If I had gone to a university in the UK, I would have had to pick what subject I wanted my degree to be focused in right then and there. And so, to grasp this opportunity at Christendom, where I can deepen my knowledge in the core subjects for two further years and then pick my major, just seemed like the perfect option for me.”
The community and education have made the Di Falcos happier with their college decision than any of them had anticipated.
Alexandra, president of her senior class, hopes to go into television production after graduation.
In their time at Christendom, the Di Falcos have each latched onto the many extracurricular offerings the college provides for students, truly taking advantage of the college’s resources while here. Alexandra has been involved with the Student Activities Council for much of her time at college, and was voted by her peers to be senior class president. Olivia has participated in Christendom theatrical productions, including last fall’s production of The Crucible. And Isabella is taking advantage of all of the activities the college puts on each weekend.
The Di Falcos traveled a long way from home to obtain an education that would not rob them of their Catholic Faith. With it in hand, they plan on returning to their native England after obtaining their degrees to impact their homeland for the better in a multitude of fields (Alexandra hopes to go into television production, Olivia plans on starting her own business in London, and Isabella is still discerning her vocation).
When Carroll founded Christendom, he hoped that students would go out and impact every level of society for the better. Little did he know that such a vision would eventually take on a global appeal, drawing the Di Falcos and others from thousands of miles away to his college.
With five other siblings behind the Di Falcos who might attend Christendom, the college has much to look forward to from the Di Falco family in the coming years. The United Kingdom has even more to look forward to, as these young, well-educated Catholics return to their country, prepared to defend the Faith and her teachings.