Usually when college-aged men get together for movies, the cinematic choices lean toward the raunchy. But a St. Thomas group is bucking that trend in favor of movies that promote faith through community.

Junior Sawyer Phillips and senior Allen-Michael Muench head the group, Brotherhood Through Cinema. Phillips started the group last year with junior Alex Krajec, a fellow peer minister, to build brotherhood through powerful, inspiring, “manly” movies.

“(We) find themes and ideals that provoke and challenge a man to a greater goal or challenge or aspiration of some kind,” Phillips said. “(We look at) how to do that through Christ.”

Krajec originally pitched the idea last year as a single event for Campus Ministry, and Phillips soon expressed a desire to join. The group started meeting weekly in the seventh floor lounge of Brady Hall.

Each meeting begins with prayer, is followed by a movie and discussion and concludes with another prayer.

Phillips and Muench now lead the group by facilitating discussion about the chosen movie and its themes, one of their favorite aspects of Brotherhood Through Cinema. Muench says group members talk about how the movie inspires them and can help them live their day-to-day lives.

“(I) love the discussion at the very end,” Muench said. “Just getting to hear what stood out most to people and how it relates to their own lives.”

Phillips said Brotherhood Through Cinema has become a way for men at St. Thomas to make friends and be part of a larger community.

“Guys are kind of secluded, and we need great men doing active things,” Phillips said. “It’s exciting to see them (being part of the community), taking initiative. Not a lot of guys step out like that.”

Sophomore Jared Sachs regularly attended Brotherhood Through Cinema meetings his freshman year. Philips was the peer minister on his floor and invited him to attend.
Sachs doesn’t consider himself to be a very religious person but said he learned a lot through attending.

“Seeing the different perspectives of the people watching the movie led to amazing group discussions … it definitely brought a lot of fun and critical thinking to my life,” Sachs said.

Sachs said having a religious conversation can be difficult at times, but he enjoyed discussing the main themes of the movie and what it means to each club member.

“I learned how each one of the guys defines brotherhood and (found) out how to become closer as a group through brotherhood,” Sachs said.

Muench and Phillips hope to spread more awareness about Brotherhood Through Cinema and have already talked to more students to make that happen.

“We’ve … gotten some RAs on board who are interested in the idea. Just having their support … I think we can grow in that and reach out,” Muench said.

Muench said many seminarians attended the meetings last year, but he hopes to bring more diversity to the group this year with Christians and non-Christians alike.

Although Muench and Phillips would love to see more men join the group, they realize the importance lies in the group’s ability to foster growth and companionship.

“It’s not about the numbers, it’s about the relationships we’re building,” Phillips said. “It would be awesome to have more men be a part of that.”

Emily Coon can be reached at coon8192@stthomas.edu.