Anselm House is a newly renovated, 20,000-square-foot space on the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus open to students, faculty and staff.
Some students drop in to find a quiet place to study and others seek deeper conversations with peers. Some attend a study group or presentation, take a course or community offering, or relax in a game room. On Thursdays, some might be drawn to the free waffles. Coffee and tea are always available.
The facility provides hospitality and educational programs for students, and hosts conversations, lectures and courses open to the general public, said Dan Olson, managing director. Its Center for Faith and Learning also hosts conversations and roundtables for the university’s academic community.
Olson described Anselm House as a center for Christian hospitality and study that helps students and faculty connect Christian faith and knowledge with all of life. “For more than 40 years, we have been equipping the next generation of servant leaders in the university, the Church and the world,” Olson said.
Father Byron Hagan, co-pastor of St. Mary in St. Paul, described Anselm House as “an ecumenical Christian educational apostolate,” and not a conventional “campus ministry,” although they have common elements such as prayer and retreats.
Father Hagan is a third-year tutor in Anselm House’s Colin MacLaurin Fellows Program, which he calls “sort of the heart of the Christian Study Center at Melrose Station.” The free, one- to four-year co-curricular program of Christian education and community is open to all students pursuing a University of Minnesota undergraduate or graduate degree.
“Our main hope, vision and mission is to integrate faith into all of life, and especially here at the university, to integrate faith and knowledge,” said Emily Kane, welcome center coordinator. She finds that guests seek “a place of encounter” with other people with faith, truth and “authentic Christianity.”
To learn more, visit anselmhouse.org.
