My old friend Carlos Eire:
Ever since 2013, this class [The Catholic Intellectual Tradition, at Yale] has attracted highly motivated students who are eager to explore a dimension of thought previously hidden from them, simply because the texts we read and discuss have not been part of their education. Surprisingly — and shamefully — this applies to Catholics who have attended Catholic schools from kindergarten through high school as much as to those who haven’t. Unsurprisingly, it also applies to Protestants, non-Christians, and others with no religious affiliation. It is easy to notice the intensity with which students in this class grapple with the reading, regardless of their background. I have always gotten the impression that for a large number of them, the reading is more than an assignment. Of course, this can happen in other classes too. But I’ve been teaching for over fifty years, and I’ve never felt or seen this kind of intensity in any other course of mine, including those, many years ago, in which all the students were monks and seminarians.