CHICAGO, Jan. 8, 2024 – Wyoming Catholic College has partnered with Hallow, a Catholic prayer and meditation app, to provide its COR Expeditions participants with a tool they can take home to continue to deepen their spiritual lives.
Wyoming Catholic College, a 4-year, Catholic, Great Books college based in Lander, Wyoming, is well-known for its rigorous Liberal-Arts curriculum, its elite outdoor program, and for its no-cellphone policy on campus.
Through its COR Expeditions ministry, the college has been successfully guiding teens and young adults into a relationship with Christ through a literal departure from the noise and busyness of the world, leading them into the beautiful wilderness of the Mountain West.
”Hallow and Wyoming Catholic College share a commitment to helping young people encounter Christ,” said Anne Foster, Hallow partnership executive. “The environment for that encounter is often silence, stillness, and a retreat from distractions.”
This new partnership coincides with the release of Hallow’s “Digital Detox” content, which is provided by Humanality, a non-profit friend of both Hallow and Wyoming Catholic. Also based in Lander, Humanality exists to help people discover freedom through an intentional relationship with technology. Their “Digital Detox” program will feature a technology “fast,” where users will learn about the impact of smartphones and be guided in meditations that highlight the need for setting the proper boundaries with all types of communicative technologies.
“Here at Wyoming Catholic, we see the power and importance of a ’tech fast’ up close,” said Professor Kyle Washut, the College’s president. “Few things are as vital to human flourishing as the ability to step away from the relentless noise and intrusion of our smartphones. I’m glad to see that Hallow is partnering with our good friends at Humanality to offer this program to its users, and I’m convinced it will be a transformative opportunity for many, as it has been for our students.”
“At first, a partnership between an app and an institution that is widely known for its tech fast might seem like a strange fit. Here at Hallow, though, we believe that meditative prayer creates the proper space for an encounter with God because it necessitates a degree of silence, stillness, and a spiritual retreat into the desert or wilderness of our hearts where encounter with God takes place,” said Foster. “This understanding makes Hallow a perfect fit for Wyoming Catholic College, whose strong commitment to a tech-free learning environment has been a key tenant of its success.”
“As important as the mechanics of the tech fast are, a spirituality that accompanies them is just as essential,” Washut continues. “Here at Wyoming Catholic, we have developed a program of Wilderness (or Desert) Spirituality that gives weight to the fast, and we’re glad to share our expertise and experiences with Hallow and Humanality. Together, we can answer the call of Our Lady of Champion, bringing people ‘into the wilderness, and teaching them what is necessary for their salvation.’”
About Hallow
Hallow helps people deepen their relationship with God through audio-guided prayers, sleep meditations, Bible readings, meditations, and music. The app has over 10,000 sessions including a daily Rosary, daily Gospel, daily saint, novenas, examens, Father Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year, The Chosen’s Jonathan Roumie’s audio Bible, Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons, peaceful Christian music, Gregorian chant, and so much more. Launched in December 2018, Hallow is now the number one Catholic app in the world with over 700 million prayers completed across 150-plus countries and over 20 million downloads.
About Wyoming Catholic College
Wyoming Catholic College is a private, 4-year, integrated educational institution that forms its students through a rigorous immersion in the primary sources of the classical Liberal Arts tradition, the grandeur of the mountain wilderness, and the spiritual heritage of the Catholic Church. Grounded in real experience and thoughtful reflection, its graduates love truth, think clearly, and communicate eloquently, engaging with the world as it is.