Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation and proud parent of a Christendom College student, gave a stirring address at Christendom’s Homeschool Visit Day on October 12, addressing the importance of liberal arts education and its role in shaping future Catholic leaders. Roberts, a passionate advocate for liberal arts education, shared personal insights from his family’s experience with homeschooling and his son’s own discernment in choosing Christendom, all while emphasizing the critical need for strong Catholic institutions in today’s America.
“There’s probably no perfect curriculum out there, but Christendom’s curriculum comes pretty close to perfect,” said Roberts. “For our son, the spiritual formation was preeminent. And not that architecture and size mean everything about Catholic identity, but I just want you to reflect on the statement that this college made when it built that beautiful chapel that can be seen from Interstate-66 in one of the most hyper-secular parts of a hyper-secular country. That tells you everything you need to know about the school’s identity, about the seriousness with which spiritual formation is at the heart of the institution.”
Roberts also reflected on the importance of social life at Christendom, balancing the rigorous academic and spiritual demands with a vibrant community atmosphere. “The life here for students is tremendous,” he said, praising the campus culture where students are “seriously Catholic, serious about their studies, and…very joyful.”
As the president of the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank in Washington, D.C., Roberts also spoke to the broader implications of a liberal arts education for career success. He noted that employers, including his own organization, specifically seek out graduates with a liberal arts background due to their analytical and communication skills.
“We go out of our way where I work to look for students with liberal arts degrees because of their ability to analyze information,” said Roberts. “What really distinguishes liberal arts students and students from this college is their ability to synthesize that information and to communicate it…I have the privilege of working with a handful of Christendom graduates. They are daily communicants at our nearby church. They are people who lead a monthly holy hour organizing that with the local parish priest. So, it isn’t just a habit or a set of habits that occur for four years. They are a set of habits, as I know from the many Christendom alums I know, that persist.”
In closing, Roberts told the story of when his son, Philip, decided to come to the college, and what went into making that decision.
“For our son, as he got down to decision day, having visited [other Newman Guide-recommended schools], he decided the day before. He came in and he told my wife and me that he was coming to Christendom. It was no surprise to us, it seemed like such a perfect fit. But I asked him, ‘Why did it take you so long?’ Christendom was sort of number one at the beginning, and number one at the end. He said, ‘I just wanted to make sure. It was as if Christendom was in my dreams and in my prayers, and it was chasing me. It’s like it was meant for me and I for it.’ And of course, hundreds of Christendom students will tell you that as well. Trust, as St. Thomas would say, the nudging of the Holy Spirit.”
For Roberts and his family, Christendom College represents the culmination of a search for an institution that fosters both intellectual rigor and spiritual depth — not only for them, but for thousands of other families across the country and beyond.
Watch Roberts’ address in full here.