Phi Kappa Theta (PKT), UW-Madison’s Catholic fraternity, held its spring induction ceremony near the heart of campus at Saint Paul’s Catholic Student Center on April 12.
PKT celebrated the inductions of Lucas Douglas, Sahaj Paudel, Gabriel Pirlot, Eli Schmitt, and Liam Thomassen.
With their addition, the five inductees expand PKT to 51 active members, of which 20 brothers live in household.
The growth of PKT over recent years is a testament to the fraternity’s strong Catholic identity, leadership, and brotherhood formation.
‘Dark and traditional’
The induction ceremony that took place at Saint Paul’s was “something different,” said Schmitt, one of the inductees.
Schmitt is a first year student at UW-Madison; he hasn’t declared a major but is planning on obtaining a degree in statistics.
He explained that the ceremony, which only the fraternity brothers are able to participate in, originated in 1889 when the first chapter of PKT was founded.
It was “dark and traditional,” he added — due to the fact that, besides its long history, the ceremony was completed by candlelight.
After finding out about Saint Paul’s and starting to attend Masses and events in October of last year, Schmitt was introduced to PKT brothers at a Newman dinner, which is a large meal that brings together hundreds of students on Thursday evenings each semester at Saint Paul’s.
At that Newman dinner, Schmitt was invited to be an associate member of the fraternity.
After thinking and praying about joining PKT, he went through a six week trial period and “loved it”.
He added that “I was never a ‘frat guy,’” and “I didn’t have any plans on joining a frat, but that was before I knew UW-Madison had a Catholic fraternity.”
Schmitt continued and said that he’s very excited “Madison is able to have a Catholic frat,” and “I know there are guys who want to dip into the fraternity-style [of living], but you look at a lot of frats and some of the things they’re doing — it doesn’t align with the faith.”
How PKT builds community, Schmitt explained, isn’t focused on drinking and hosting parties but rather on becoming strong and holy Catholic men.
PKT is a social fraternity. The brothers host parties, formals, and men have to “rush” in order to join.
However, those aspects of brotherhood come in second behind Catholic morals and tradition.
It’s no secret that social fraternities are often a source of negative press and embarrassment for the universities affiliated with them. Hazing, obscene parties, and social pressure to over-drink are what seem to be normal parts of college fraternity culture, but Schmitt added that being Catholic first and foremost provides healthy boundaries to the brotherhood and everything the brotherhood does.
Within the challenges of typical fraternities and sororities, PKT believes it can be a “light to Greek life,” said PKT President Spencer Mitchell.
‘Give, expecting nothing thereof’
Mitchell, who became the chapter president at the beginning of this year’s spring semester, said the chapter has been “rebranded” over his four years in college.
He said that during his first semester, in the fall of 2020, senior leadership had “checked out,” following a semester at home due to COVID restrictions.
That experience was at odds with PKT’s mission.
He said, “Our motto is to ‘give, expecting nothing thereof,’ so when your seniors don’t ‘give,’ the guys don’t have an example to follow.
Mitchell remembered a couple years ago, when “half of my initiating class dropped from the fraternity”.
“I joined at a very weird point where some people didn’t feel that the older brothers were invested, so we had people leave. There was a moment when the remaining men in my class met. We [agreed] that the fraternity is not what we want it to be,” he continued.
Ultimately, that meant that Mitchell and his class needed to run for leadership positions. They decided that through their hard work, they were going to change PKT into something they wanted to be a part of.
Now, due to changes in how the fraternity works and lives, including better formation, brotherhood culture, and social activities, “We’re at a strong point,” said Mitchell.
“This year, we’re going ‘all out’ as much as we can. We’re trying to get the older guys to lead by example, to show the young guys what being a Catholic man in college can be, and also to show the other Greek life [fraternities and sororities] that there are different ways to live. You don’t have to drink every Friday night . . . to have a good experience and have fulfillment.”
Future plans
Mitchell feels like he’s “standing on the shoulders of giants. The guys before me worked hard to get us to where we are now.”
“I have the experience of implementing changes we’ve been working so hard for. . . We have a clear and definitive direction to move towards.”
One of those proposed changes is moving the fraternity to Langdon St., where UW-Madison’s other social fraternities and sororities live.
PKT is currently housed near Regent St., a block away from St. James Church in Madison.
The fraternity’s move to Langdon St. would help fulfill the goal of being a “light to Greek life”.
Being in the heart of Greek life, the hope is that PKT’s influence and example of healthy, Catholic culture could bring good to an otherwise arguably bleak neighborhood.
Mitchell said that “The guys are excited about it. [The move] might not happen in their time — it’s definitely not going to happen in my time — but that’s what ‘giving, expecting nothing thereof’ is. Even though I’m never going to experience the benefits of this, I’m going to give it to the younger guys.”