The Origin of Community as Experienced by Intercollegiate Athletes at Benedictine Institutions of Higher Education: A Hermeneutical, Phenomenological Hybrid Study

This study focuses on the phenomenon of community experienced at Benedictine colleges and universities and its impact on the faith, character, and human development of recent alumni who participated in intercollegiate athletics on campus. Benedictine education, based on the 1,500-year-old Rule of Saint Benedict, is guided by ten hallmarks which seek to build wisdom cultivated in community. This study specifically examines the extent of the lived experience of community through the lens of former intercollegiate athletes (alumni from the past ten years) and the perceived influence of the hallmarks on their post-graduate lives. I contacted mission leaders, athletic directors, and alumni directors at the twelve Benedictine colleges and universities to help identify a target group of six young alumni who fit the criteria of former intercollegiate athletes on campuses within the last ten years. I strove to find a balance of males and females. The six young alumni nominated described their lived experience of community at their college or university and the perceived influence of the hallmarks on their post-graduate lives. Using a hermeneutical, phenomenological analysis, the community they described was interpreted to observe common themes.Advisor: Marilyn Grady and Nicholas J. Pace