Quiz Bowl

May 16, 2025 | Media

Cistercian’s Middle School Quiz Bowl team traveled to Chicago for the National Quiz Bowl Championship. The trip coincided with Mother’s Day, and we’re grateful to the mothers who made the journey with them.

Dressed in coats and ties, one opponent whispered, “We’re in trouble. They look well prepared.” And they were.

In one match, a student on the opposing team tried to buzz in, but his buzzer failed. Our player’s buzzer worked. Unprompted, our boys spoke up. They had seen the other student attempt to buzz first.

After the match, the opposing coach praised our students’ honesty. Later, a tournament staffer pulled Dr. Mindle aside to say word was spreading about our boys’ integrity and character.

Cistercian finished tied for 13 out of 160 teams. Congratulations to the team and to Dr. Mindle.

Hawk Happenings

Serving in Costa Rica

Twelve of our rising seniors spent a week serving in Pejibaye, Costa Rica with the Diocese of Dallas. Accompanied by Fr. Augustine (their Form Master) and Fr. Raphael, our young men poured concrete, laid foundations, painted, and helped construct chapels alongside the...

Summer Programs 2025

Summer Programs have started at Cistercian! Sports Camps, Rec Camps, Academic Classes, and much more are designed to support the boys’ development as a whole person during the summer vacation.

Summer Programs at Cistercian

Summer Programs at Cistercian are more than books and sports; it’s also board games with monks. Fr. Philip joins the fun in “Board (not Bored) Games,” one of many classes offered June 9–27. Math, rec camp, and more still open for registration

Publications

Continuum Spring 2025

Contents News & Notes The Impossible Dream Teaching God in Many Ways In Memoriam Sports Floating an Idea

Thy Kingdom Come

The more I reflect on the petitions of the Our Father, the more I’m convinced that I have no idea what I’m praying when I mumble those words multiple times every day.

The current object of my loving mystification is “Thy kingdom come.” In an effort to be slightly less intimidated by this vast and marvelous petition, I will arrange my musings as responses to the time-honored journalistic questions.

Lessons learned in a monastery

One of the most important rooms in a monastery, after the church, is the chapter room. This is the place where monks meet to do various things as a community: hear an exhortation from their abbot; listen to a spiritual reading (often a chapter from “The Rule of St. Benedict”); deliberate and vote on the important material and spiritual questions that arise in a monastery, such as who should be the abbot, whether to welcome a young monk as a permanent member of the community through solemn profession, and how best to structure their lives to promote God’s purpose.