Christendom College is a Catholic liberal arts college in Front Royal, Virginia, United States, located in the Shenandoah Valley. It is endorsed by The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College and has been characterized as a conservative Catholic liberal arts college. The school does not accept federal funding. History Founding Christendom College was founded by Warren H. Carroll in 1977 with $50,000. Carroll, who was a contributor at L. Brent Bozell Jr.'s Triumph magazine, decided to found Christendom in the aftermath of the Land O' Lakes conference in 1967. Desiring a return to a Catholic university education adhering to the teachings of the Catholic Magisterium, Carroll and four founding faculty members, William Marshner, Jeffrey A. Mirus, Kristin (née Popik) Burns, and Raymund P. O'Herron, started the college in an abandoned elementary school in Triangle, Virginia, housing a total of 26 students and five faculty. Carroll decided not to accept federal funding at the college, choosing instead to rely on generous benefactors. Similar to the reasonings at Hillsdale College, Carroll believed that the government might eventually intrude on Christendom's academic and religious freedom. In 1997, Warren Carroll acknowledged the debt Christendom College owed to L. Brent Bozell Jr. and Triumph magazine in his obituary for Bozell: In 1979, the College acquired its new campus in Front Royal, Virginia, overlooking the Shenandoah River. It still occupies this site today. 1980s Carroll remained as president until 1985 when Dr. Damian Fedoryka was named as the second president. Carroll stepped back to focus on teaching history and writing, remaining on the faculty and serving as the chairman of the history department until his retirement in 2002. During Fedoryka's seven-year tenure as president, Blessed Margaret and St. Joseph's Halls were constructed, and the college became fully accredited in 1987. The college also retired nearly $600,000 in debt without disrupting the growth of the college. Fedoryka, through his contacts in the Vatican, brought the college into contact with then-Pope John Paul II, who later told Carroll that Christendom "was doing a great work for the Church." Fedoryka resigned in 1992, in order to pursue other educational ventures, including stints at Franciscan University of Steubenville and Ave Maria College in Michigan (later Ave Maria University FL.). 1990s—present In 1992, Dr. Timothy O'Donnell, who had been a professor at Christendom since 1985, was named as the college's third president. During his tenure, the college increased the number