A Benedictine abbot, former college professor and secondary school teacher is now among the students at his abbey’s Catholic high school, proving that, as he told OSV News, “we should all remain learners throughout our lives.”

“You never just say, ‘I’ve learned enough,'” said Abbot James Wiseman of St. Anselm’s Abbey in Washington.

For several semesters, the abbot has been one of the students in Spanish teacher Belén Fernández’s classroom at St. Anselm’s Abbey School. Founded in 1942 and just steps from the abbey, the Benedictine Catholic school in the nation’s capital offers a rigorous, classically based college preparatory curriculum to approximately 250 middle and high school boys.

Five days a week, Abbot Wiseman sits at one of the desks, completing all tasks and improving his language skills.

“I do all the tests, I do all the tests,” Abbot Wiseman said. “I haven’t missed a class this year.”

The abbot, who taught theology at the Catholic University of America from 1985 to 2012, is no stranger to foreign languages. As a young man, he studied in Europe and “got to know the German language very well.” This facility proved “very useful,” particularly for his academic work, he said.

But, Abbot Wiseman said, the increasing use of Spanish in the United States and his “very great love” for Spanish culture – especially after making the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain – led him to learn the language himself.

“I can read it pretty well,” he said. “But I need to practice speaking the language, and I thought the only thing that would get me to do that would be to just take a course.”

As a lecturer at the abbey school, he has the right to do this, even if he admits that “hardly any” of his teaching colleagues take advantage of this benefit.

Mary Kelly, the school’s communications director, told OSV News she was “not at all surprised” by the abbot’s decision.

“He is an eager teacher and an eager learner,” she said. “Education is his calling.”

Abbot Wiseman said students were initially “a little confused” about his presence.

“They were a little unsure who this guy was,” he joked.

And he insists on not receiving preferential treatment, he said.

“The teacher said the other day she was going to excuse me from taking an upcoming quiz, and one of the students said, ‘Well, why are you excusing him?'” Abbot Wiseman said. “I tended to agree with them. I have taken all the tests so far and I don’t see why I should be given special privileges just because I am the abbot.”

Fernández’s classes keep him on his toes, he said.

“I can’t deny it’s a bit of extra work. … I’m there with a group of sophomores, and in some ways some of them speak better Spanish than I do now,” Abbot Wiseman said. “But I’m trying my best to get as good as I can, and if all goes well, I’ll be taking an advanced course next school year.”

Kelly said that while Abbot Wiseman takes his place in the class to learn, he also teaches by example.

“It’s a great lesson from him for the students,” she said. “We are all lifelong learners.”

Copyright © 2024 OSV News

Press