To develop in students a deep understanding of the Church’s rich tradition of music for divine worship as well as advance in their ability to participate in and present such music, Christendom offers a demanding minor in liturgical music. For further details on this program, see “Music” under “Departmental Requirements and Courses.”
Student Activities Student clubs and activities are initiated by the students–with faculty cooperation under the Student Activities Director—and thus reflect the interests of the current student body. The Student Activities Council exists for the purpose of planning recreational, athletic, social, cultural and religious activities for students. Popular extracurricular activities include the Christendom Choir and Schola Gregoriana, St. Genesius Society drama club, Legion of Mary, Shield of Roses, Chester-Belloc Debate Society, and intercollegiate and intramural athletic sports. Typical weekend activities include College-sponsored parties and dances, movies, cookouts, talent and variety shows, music appreciation evenings, concert trips, ski trips, hikes, canoeing, and visits to the many historical and recreational sites of the surrounding area. The College vans provide students with daily trips to Front Royal and occasional trips to Winchester and Washington, D.C. Some students supplement their involvement in campus activities with participation in local parish activities such as teaching CCD, or by political and pro-life work. For example, each Saturday morning the Shield of Roses sponsors a Rosary prayer vigil near abortion centers in the DC area. The Student Activities Council charters buses each year for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., during which all classes are canceled and in which the vast majority of the faculty and student body participate. The St. Genesius Society is the drama club of Christendom College. The name refers to the patron saint of actors. The purpose of the St. Genesius Society is to foster an appreciation and knowledge of drama, in all its forms, among members of Christendom College and the surrounding community. This may include such activities as play readings; workshops on acting, make-up, and the like; viewing and discussion of classic films; attendance at plays performed in the Virginia/Washington, D.C. area; and the production of other, shorter plays in addition to the major productions performed each year by the Christendom Players. The Christendom Players present at least one major, full-length production each year, normally in the spring. Past productions, since the Players began in 1988, have included Shakespeare’s Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Much Ado About Nothing; Oscar Wilde’s Ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Lady Windermere’s Fan; G. B. Shaw’s Pygmalion; the Broadway musicals Oliver! and The Sound of Music; Agatha Christie’s Witness for the Prosecution; American comedies such as Cheaper by the Dozen and Harvey; and one-act plays such as Terence Rattigan’s The Browning Version.
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