Graduation 2025!

Fourteen Sisters have just returned from a very exciting trip to St. Louis – to participate in Augustine Institute’s first commencement ceremony on their new campus! Over the last several years, our Sisters have been working as a community to study Theology, and as the years have gone by, we have only been more and more impressed by the program, edified by the faculty, and grateful for the experience. Ten Sisters completed the coursework for credit and received their Master’s in Theology, but all the community participated as much as possible in the lectures, course reading, and many many conversations about coursework. It has absolutely been a community effort!

These years of study have be a tremendous blessing, and we are so grateful to the faculty, staff, and benefactors who made this possible. The chance to visit with our professors was a highlight of the trip, and we hope that these friendships will continue over the years.

Seeing Augustine Institute’s new campus and learning its history was also impressive. The campus was originally a summer home estate of the Catholic Desloge family. Mr. Joseph Desloge built the French inspired chateau in 1926 after volunteering with the French army in World War I. Boeing purchased the property and developed it for use in training their company leadership, but managed to preserve the original beauty of the grounds. Its guest rooms, classrooms, and large gathering spaces have readily lent it to transformation into a graduate school, though Augustine Institute will continue to adapt it more over time. The ballroom originally built for Joseph Desloge’s oldest daughter’s 16th birthday serves as the temporary chapel!

The Sisters who remained home during the trip welcomed the travelers home – providing the graduates with replacements for the cap and tassel that they didn’t wear for the commencement ceremony!