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Christopher Jay studied at a faithful Catholic college and gained valuable understanding of the human person and God’s design for sexuality, but he never thought that one day he’d be fighting against a “drag queen library hour” at a New Hampshire public library. Yet, that’s exactly where he found himself just recently, not long after graduation.

“People knew that they were opposed to drag queens targeting children, but they couldn’t enunciate why,” says Jay. “They knew that this was wrong and damaging, but they haven’t received education that would enable them to analyze what is and what is not ‘freedom.’”

Jay graduated from Wyoming Catholic College in Lander, Wyo., in 2012 and from Ave Maria University School of Law in Naples, Fla., in 2018. After passing the bar, he worked with Cornerstone Action and Policy and the Massachusetts Family Institute as a legal advisor and lobbyist for pro-life and pro-family causes.

For Jay, the drag queen event was a “shocking ‘cultural thermometer’ incident.” “I issued a public records request and discovered that the drag queen, who also performs pornography, was suggesting that he and the library should hold a similar future event targeted at 2- and 3-year-olds.”

“One of the more eye-opening things about that situation was experiencing the ‘emperor’s new clothes’ dynamic — where everyone, both opponents and supporters, knew exactly what this was about, but almost no one would talk candidly about it, either because they were afraid of backlash or because they supported a disordered view of human sexuality,” Jay continues.

“Most ended up trying to oppose the event by pretending they had some purely procedural objection (‘this is a waste of taxpayer money,’ etc.) instead of being able to articulate moral dimensions that underpin the enacted policies and laws,” he says.

Wyoming Catholic, a faithful Catholic college recommended in The Newman Guide, teaches students to “read a text, analyze it, challenge it” and involves “critical thinking over and over again.” These are the same skills that are needed for law school and for work as a lawyer, Jay explains.

His senior-year classes on Catholic social teaching and political philosophy opened a “profound philosophical arena” for him and were “central” to his decision to start working in the public sphere.

He also values the conversations he had with the College’s Dr. Jeremy Holmes about “integrating his classical learning with raising a family.” Jay married a Wyoming Catholic classmate, and they are expecting their fourth child. “Everything you’re doing should be ordered towards your vocation.”

The College’s wilderness immersion program also played an important role in Jay’s formation.

“The wilderness experience brings you back down to earth and forces you to come to grips with reality,” Jay explains, remembering some “stressful situations” outdoors that led to community building.

He may never have expected that a drag queen library hour would become a part of his reality soon after graduation, but it has emboldened Jay and taught him that there’s “no such thing as a ‘neutral’ process or human action that can be arbitrated on its own by ‘pure reason.’”

“Every procedure, principle, or policy can only be understood in relation to that which we regard as good and evil,” he said. Mainstream secular education can actually “inhibit” our “ability to understand the world.”

It was more than 20 years ago, when Sean Kay graduated from a faithful Catholic college—and today the presidents, board members and top financial officers of some of the nation’s highest ranked colleges and universities look to him for guidance.

Kay is a partner at PwC, the brand name of PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the largest professional services firms in the world. As the firm’s national endowment leader, Kay meets with chief executives about the “risks and issues that are impacting their industries” as they consider investment options.

“When I have a really challenging conversation—even if it’s on a technical, business matter—I find that I’m drawing upon experiences that I gained during my undergraduate years,” says Kay, who is a 1997 graduate of Christendom College in Front Royal, Va., a faithful Catholic college recommended in The Newman Guide. “I’m able to use those skills much more frequently than the ones I learned in graduate school.”

“Graduate school gave me the credentials, but it is my undergraduate Catholic, liberal arts experience that allows me to be successful in what I’m doing today,” Kay explains. He benefitted from Christendom’s strong core curriculum and majored in English and economics.

His clients “don’t want to talk about debits and credits,” Kay explains. Instead, he articulates the big picture: the concerns that he sees in the marketplace, and how these issues are affecting his clients’ peer institutions.

PwC employs more than 250,000 people worldwide, but Kay is part of the four percent of employees who have been named a partner. PwC doesn’t sell any products, and so Kay’s national clients are paying for his expertise, which he says comes with “knowledge and experience”—and is built upon the foundation he received at Christendom College.

“For the first time in my life as an undergraduate student, I met people who so badly wanted to do the right thing,” says Kay, remembering groups of students who would pray the rosary together or go out in groups for dates. “Faith was critically important to everyday life.”

Students can take their Catholic, liberal arts experience and use it for building a career and raising a family, he said. “We can be great examples out in the marketplace and out in the world,” and we don’t need to “hide our talents,” says Kay, who married a graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville and now has ten children.

Another key element of Kay’s time at Christendom was a mentorship that helped propel him into his career. The late Dr. Philip Crotty, who was a College board member, met with Kay individually about four times a year and asked him, “What would you like to do after graduation?”

“As a member of the Board, I found it extremely impressive that Dr. Crotty would go and meet with a student that he had never met before,” says Kay. Dr. Crotty pointed out graduate schools that emphasize the value of a liberal arts foundation, such as Northeastern University. It was there that Kay earned his Master’s in Business Administration and a Master of Science in Accounting.

“I was incredibly blessed” through the mentorship with Dr. Crotty, a dedicated Catholic and generous philanthropist, says Kay. The two ended up becoming close friends and met frequently throughout the rest of Dr. Crotty’s life. 

Today, Kay is following in Dr. Crotty’s footsteps. He is a supporter of faithful Catholic education and a board member at The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, N.H., which is also recommended in The Newman Guide.

“I love that graduate who has a Catholic, liberal arts perspective, because that individual has a discipline associated with seeking the truth,” says Kay. “They have a set of skills around having a view, articulating that view and defending that view.”

“That skill set is so far superior to someone who has four years of business, or some very specific, technical experience,” Kay explains. 

From his perspective as a graduate, donor and parent, Kay is eager to promote the value of faithful Catholic education. “I am a big believer in this core group of schools that is committed to orthodoxy.”

Amid new challenges to priestly celibacy at the Vatican’s Amazon Synod and from other corners of the Church, the graduates of faithful Catholic education—by their deep formation and understanding of Church tradition—are well-prepared to dispel errors and misconceptions about this important discipline of Catholic priests.

One such graduate is Father Gary Selin, S.T.D., author of Priestly Celibacy: Theological Foundations and formation advisor and assistant professor at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colo. He argues that celibacy “allows the priest to give himself more freely to the Church in imitation of Christ.”

A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif., which is recommended in The Newman Guide, Fr. Selin says the College helped him “acquire the virtues necessary in becoming a disciple before learning to be a leader.”

When asked about his time at the College, Fr. Selin recounts how he was “impressed with the way that the students gravitated toward the chapel for Holy Mass and personal prayer.” He also remembers a fire that once surrounded the campus and how the flames “stopped in their tracks” after one of the College chaplains “blessed a hillside with the Blessed Sacrament.”

We are grateful for Fr. Selin’s willingness to respond to the questions below, as a part of our “Profiles in Faithful Catholic Education” series.

Newman Society: Priestly celibacy is one of the topics being discussed at the current Synod in Rome. Why did you decide a few years ago to write a book on this topic, and why do you think priestly celibacy is important?

Fr. Gary Selin: During my seminarian days, I heard Cardinal Francis Stafford give a talk about priestly celibacy, in which he argued that priestly celibacy is more than a mere ecclesial law that can be changed. Rather, it is integral to the priesthood and intrinsically related to the Eucharist. Through my research, I discovered that the principal reason for celibacy is that it perfects the configuration of the priest with Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church. Celibacy consequently allows the priest to give himself more freely to the Church in imitation of Christ. 

Priestly celibacy is important, because it reminds us that we are created ultimately for God alone. There is an interesting interplay between celibacy and marriage in reference to our journey toward heaven. That is, the celibate priest serves as a reminder that marriage is not the end-all, but a sacrament through which people can grow in holiness. Married people are to help each other get to heaven. There are plenty of opportunities to grow spiritually in marriage, as it requires much sacrifice. On the other hand, spouses can remind the celibate priest that he is called to live a life of sacrificial service, and not one of a comfortable bachelor. Married couples have inspired me through their sacrificial love for each other, in imitation of Christ’s love for His Church (Ephesians 5:25).

Newman Society: How did Thomas Aquinas College help foster your vocation to the priesthood?

Fr. Gary Selin: At the college, I found myself within a strong community of students where friendships developed organically and deeply. We were united in our desire to deepen our understanding of the truth. I found that all the streamlets of truth led to a unified vision. The overall structure and dynamism of the curriculum led to contemplation of Divine Wisdom, the Triune God. Of course, God’s grace was present during the whole time.

I was also impressed with the way that the students gravitated toward the chapel for Holy Mass and personal prayer. The many hours that I spent in prayer in that chapel helped me see how Jesus Christ is the Truth, the source of the wisdom that we discovered through our studies and on our knees in prayer.

The atmosphere of friendliness and joy on campus helped me see more clearly that God desires our happiness and beatitude.

These experiences, along with serving Mass, having holy priest chaplains on campus, and my devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, helped me be more convinced that God had given to me a vocation to the ministerial priesthood.

Newman Society: Do you have any particularly impactful memories or stories from your experience at the College?

Fr. Gary Selin: In the fall semester of 1985, a large number of students consecrated ourselves to Our Lady at the Marian grotto. I think that it was the next day that a huge fire exploded on the mountains surrounding the campus. We were not able to leave the campus, because all roads were cut off by the fire. It was quite frightening. Many of us did what we could to fight back the flames. One of our priest chaplains blessed a hillside with the Blessed Sacrament, and the flames stopped in their tracks. The campus was saved from destruction, although everything around us was burnt. I felt strongly God’s presence during that time.

I treasure the memories of the many wonderful hours in the classroom, as I learned from the sources of wisdom of the great books that formed our Western civilization, under the guidance of our well-formed tutors of the college. These excellent conversations continued over meals, during walks, and into late night in the dormitories. One can never put a price tag on these conversations that made life worth living.

One regular visitor to the campus remarked how the students at the college were always joyful. I think that this was due to the good spirit among the faculty and students, rooted in Christ as the source of all joy. The sunny southern California days certainly helped as well!

Newman Society: How does your own formation help you in the formation of seminarians?

Fr. Gary Selin: St. John Berchmans once said, “My penance is community life.” Indeed, common life in the seminary can be difficult, but the blessings of forming and building a community overcomes the challenges. But my role as a mentor of seminarians demands of me a constant spirit of charity and self-forgetfulness. My time at the College helped me begin to acquire the virtues necessary in becoming a disciple before learning to be a leader. I am very grateful to the College for giving me the environment in which I was able to grow in those virtues. In my seminary formation work, I try to be a servant-leader, following the words of Jesus in His discourse at the Last Supper. In order for me to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit in the work of forming future priests, I must learn to serve and not to be served.