Benedictine College condemns anti-Jewish flyers, students remove them from campus cars

Anti-Jewish flyers that surfaced repeatedly on Benedictine College’s Atchison campus in late April drew a swift response from students and administrators, with the college saying some students pulled the anonymous handouts off cars in parking lots before the campaign could spread further.

Benedictine said the flyers came from a group calling itself the Coalition of Catholics Against Jewish Supremacy. The college said the material accused one Benedictine theologian of blasphemy, labeled attendees at a campus event as antichrists, and suggested that Jewish people, including members of the local community, are less than human. Benedictine condemned the message and said the behavior did not represent the college or its students.

The flyers appeared in the wake of Benedictine’s April 22 conference, Shoulder to Shoulder: Strengthening Jewish-Catholic Friendship at a Moment of Crisis, which the college described as part of its “Nostra Aetate Beyond 60” observance. Benedictine said the event was meant to deepen the theological, historical and spiritual foundations of Jewish-Catholic friendship, and that the day began with Holy Mass offered for the Jewish people, for healing the wounds caused by antisemitism, and for renewed friendship rooted in reverence for God. The college said the conference marked the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s 1965 declaration on the Church’s relationship to non-Christian religions.

Benedictine’s May 14 statement said the school was honored to have hosted the conference. The college also said its Latin Mass Society, in a statement dated April 30, expressed “disgust and utter disappointment” with the flyer’s contents and said the material did not reflect its views, opinions or sentiments. That made the pushback visibly broader than an administrative response, with students and a campus Catholic group both rejecting the language.

The controversy now appears to be moving beyond condemnation. Mid-May reports said the college may have imposed one-year suspensions on students connected to the flyers, with one report citing a suspension effective May 7 and a campus ban beginning May 8. For Atchison and Atchison County, the episode has become a test of whether a major local institution can protect students, Jewish community members and the wider campus climate while responding firmly to antisemitic intimidation.