Latest / Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza / Ep.100 - Father Dave Pivonka Asks: What If Universities Formed Saints? | Franciscan Steubenville | Catholic Higher Education | Newman Guide

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Ep.100 - Father Dave Pivonka Asks: What If Universities Formed Saints? | Franciscan Steubenville | Catholic Higher Education | Newman Guide · Virtuous Leaders with Dr. Johann D'Souza

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  The world isn't going to celebrate our faith.
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  In fact, the Scripture says the world prefers darkness.
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  Jesus says time and time in the world you will have troubles,
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  but ultimately living the Christian life, whatever you
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  would say to life is, I can't imagine not doing this.
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  This is Virtuous Leaders, the podcast for based Catholics who
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  will speak truth, do good, or die trying.
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  Here's the show. You are the president of
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  Franciscan University in Steubenville.
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  What is your what is your vision for the university?
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  Yeah, ultimately the vision for the university is to form
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  honestly, Saints for the Church of Saints.
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  And it's funny, sometimes I think we just think of Saints
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  and what they do for the Church. But I think Saints are good for
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  culture. So our desire is to form men and
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  women of integrity, of faith, of courage that are willing to have
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  go ahead and engage the world, to be a part of it, to live in
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  it, but obviously to be different to me as a faithful
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  Catholic Christian. So our desire is to send out men
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  and women that are going to say, Francis would use the word, the
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  image of infiltrate the culture and bring about transformation
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  in that. So we want it for disciples.
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  We want the disciples ultimately to be Saints.
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  Seems to me that's what a Catholic University is supposed
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  to be doing. Absolutely.
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  So what? What makes Franciscan unique or
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  sensitive part? Yeah, well, I mean, I think
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  there's a number of things. First off, as a Francisca
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  University, we take our, you know, our our marshy warriors,
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  if you will, our direction from Saint Francis Besizi, who
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  radically loved the Lord, radically wanted to give his
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  life to the Christ and to be faithful to him.
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  You have a deep love for the Church at the university.
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  We want we understand is Pope John Paul and I'll say John
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  Paul. It's instead of Catholic
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  institution and Catholic University should have basically
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  2 communities, a faith community and an academic community.
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  And those two things need to come together.
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  You would say that Catholic University lacking either one of
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  those wouldn't be an authentic faithful Catholic University.
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  So I'm not can share about what how other people go about this
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  or how other institutions go about this.
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  But what we see is it central, important to us is in all that
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  we do, we place Christ in the middle of it.
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  We are a Catholic Christian university.
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  So whether it's a classroom, see athletic fields, whether it's a
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  residence halls or whether it's the Chapel, a Christ is going to
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  be in the center of what we do. And from that we are serious
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  about the formation of the intellect as well as the heart.
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  Again, John Paul would say that faith and reason not not be
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  separated. You could say that they don't
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  compete with each other, rather they elude.
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  So we take seriously the formation of the intellect,
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  obviously with our academic rigor, with the education,
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  theology or business or philosophy or nursing, but then
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  also the heart. Yeah.
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  What is it? Profit a man if he aims the
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  world, but he goes into the soul.
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  So we take those two things very, very serious.
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  So I've had the director of the Catholic Newman Guide on this
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  show and Francis Ginn, he's one of those schools, university,
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  that's on it among the schools that are on that guide.
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  So that share the the faith component that you describe.
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  How does Franciscan distinguish itself among those schools?
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  Yeah, I think we're, I could be mistaken.
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  I think we're the only Franciscan institute that is on
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  in the Newman Guard. So there's a couple things and
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  that's going to present. I think Franciscan education is
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  always incarnation. You know that that there's
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  there's a value in and of the education, but the value is also
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  the formation that the individual experience is and
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  then that way that they're going to carry that out.
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  So I don't want to get too deep in the woods, but so Francis
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  started three community and in my community is the third order
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  regular. We run Francis universe.
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  He believed that if the world was going to be changed, if the
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  temporal order was going to be changed, it had to be
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  infiltrated. So there's a real sense of that
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  with our student body. Is I always referring to an
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  individual who they actually lives in Manhattan and he's
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  hired dozens of our students. One thing he says is that when
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  our students graduate, they won. They're they're well formed,
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  they're well trained. They know what they're doing.
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  This is an area of business and finance, you said.
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  But the second is they graduate with a mission.
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  They understand that it's more than just a job, but there's a
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  mission to the work that they're about.
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  This would be a gimmick assistant with John Paul's
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  invitation to what we call the University of personal vocation.
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  I don't think any other institution has a personal
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  location office but this is really a a central part of our
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  formation of the students to be able to answer the question each
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  student when they graduate. What must I do to inherit
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  eternal life. Now part of those are the really
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  practical things. Keep the commandments, be
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  faithful to the Lord, be faithful to the church, but then
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  discovering an individual's gifts, talents, things that
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  they're passionate about and then help a form an educational
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  that's ultimately going to satisfy really feeling that that
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  desire of theirs to be able to do something great is is Pope
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  anything. So I think the personal vocation
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  is a part of it the incarnational aspect of a
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  Francisco beauty department. We like to think joy is a part
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  of it. I mean, one of the things that
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  people come to Francisco University that they, there's
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  just a joy on our campus that the students seem to be happy.
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  They seem they seem to enjoy one another, enjoy our life
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  together. So we like to think that that's
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  a Franciscan joy. Yeah.
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  I mean, I'll come about. Other Franciscan elements would
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  be the deep connection to the human person is that Francis was
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  very much about relationship. Once he has this encounter with
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  the Lord, the next thing that happens in his life is he says
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  the Lord send me brothers. So when we take it at Francis
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  University, we really have 3 core values that we focus on at
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  the university. The 1st is encounter this
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  encounter with Christ that I've referenced already, but in that
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  it only happens doesn't only happen Chapel, but happened the
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  classroom all across the campus, but it's also within one another
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  is is that as the scripture of ISIS, we are Christ for one
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  another. So this is the first owner
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  conversion and this is the key charism to the Francis or
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  irregulators idea that conversion is a process of which
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  we are always going through. But again, it's not just not
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  just the spiritual formation, but it's also the conversion.
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  It's also the intellectual. I think sometimes a student will
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  walk in and they think they have an understanding on something,
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  but something in their philosophy class is going to
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  challenge that or in their theology class is going to
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  challenge there. One of the things we're very
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  proud of the strength can actually trust the professors,
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  all the people and theology are taking also to Delhi.
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  So they're going to teach faithfully to what they choose.
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  So when something challenges them, they realize they can
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  trust that. And that's something really
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  important for for conversion and experience.
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  And then last is what we're stating is, is community.
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  And then we believe these 3 three things all live together
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  on our academic community community conversion encounter
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  in the context of the academic endeavor.
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  It I, I actually, I think it's a great, very blessed movie now.
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  Any particular projects you are working on now that you're
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  excited about? Yeah.
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  Well, we just finished our largest project actually in our
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  history and that was the finishing completion of a a new
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  academic building. It's also a Conference Center.
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  It has two wings. And this building actually
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  reflects what we're just talking about.
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  It has one wing, which is an academic wing, which is our
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  engineering department, our business and our nursing.
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  And then second wing is really for conferences that we're
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  allowed able to do year round symposiums, workshops, that kind
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  of thing. Again, the hearts and the head
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  are literally visible in this in this room, in this cool thing.
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  Again, John Paul said faith and reason don't compete, they
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  illuminate. So if you're coming walk into
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  this building which has only been opened for not even a year,
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  it's All Blacks. This idea that illuminates when
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  these two worlds come together, it's illuminating if not each
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  other. So that just got finished.
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  We are about 80% of finished with the significant renovation
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  of our Chapel, Christ the King. So this building that we just
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  built is called Christ the Teacher.
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  Christ is the center of the academic endeavor and the
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  building, our Chapel is called Christ the King.
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  It's also center of our worship. It's a major renovation.
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  We simply didn't have enough space in our Chapel, so we had
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  to do a major renovation. Previously it held about 375
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  students. When we're finished with the
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  renovation, it'll be about 300 for 590.
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  Honestly, most often times when you come to Mass on campus
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  previously their standing remote.
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  So we just simply needed more space.
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  So that's been a project that's been going on actually for about
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  almost 12 months right now. It should, please Lord, it
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  should be completed by the time the students come back in
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  August. But that's a major project that
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  we've been working on. Great.
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  So prior to your presidency here at Franciscan, you had some
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  experience in media. What?
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  What was what were some of the proudest accomplishments you had
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  there? That's great.
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  Well, I guess my first endeavor into it, I I've been traveling
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  and I was preaching full time cross section.
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  My community allowed me to just travel wherever.
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  So I went literally all over the world.
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  But one of the things that I it was pretty evident was just
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  looking out, being with people. These are people that are going
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  to mass that were coming to mission, those types of things.
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  There just seems to be something that was lacking in there.
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  I'll do my way. I believe that's the Holy Spirit
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  is is that we really need the Spirit of God to animate our
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  life. Like Thomas Acquaintance would
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  tell the story of of looking out at his.
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  There were students that were seminarians.
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  You would Taylor it seems like you weren't alive.
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  They just kind of were going through the motions and you
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  would say how is that possible? You've been communicated, you've
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  been baptized. How is it that we don't live a
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  dynamic. Well, ultimately our life needs
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  to be animated for by the Holy Spirit.
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  So I wrote a book at the times would have been about 10 years
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  from now called Breath of God. You know, it's just really
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  taking a look at what role the Holy Spirit plays in our life.
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  Where will the play you know, a Catholic Christian.
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  How does the Holy Spirit want to operate more in our life for you
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  more freedom, more grace, more power, more annoying, more fruit
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  or gifts all that, but also struggling at the time that the
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  reality is a large percentage of people are going to read a book.
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  So we had a a graduate from Fentis University choice working
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  in media and his family in laws wanted to start kind of the
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  medium out of media outreach. So the first, that was the first
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  project we work on and we called it the wild goose.
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  The wild goose was an ancient Gaelic charm for the Holy
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  Spirit. All right, I really love that.
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  I mean, it's not just this domesticated dove that we often
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  see, but a wild goose and there's something about that.
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  So if you go to Ireland, Scotland, use these images in
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  many of the churches of a goose. Well, it's the history to that,
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  you know, it's a 14 part series that we did on really
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  discovering the Holy Spirit, discovering what it looked like
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  to walk the Holy Spirit, to have a life with the Holy Spirit.
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  We're taking a look at the Catechism.
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  It says baptism, the gateway to a life and the Holy Spirit.
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  The question I would ask is, are people living that life of the
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  Holy Spirit? So and that was the first part
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  to begin the next documentary on the life from Saint Francis.
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  I would like to say Saint Francis is more than the bird
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  bath Reality is that's what most people think.
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  He's a bird bath. He loves animal this I just
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  wanted to be able to present Saint Francis and I think all of
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  his beauty and the glory that I think all right, stop.
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  I think one of the greatest Saints that's ever lived.
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  We're going to follow up to the wild goose focusing on a person
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  in Jesus. We call him no way this idea
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  considerable conversion refilm the whole thing in the holy back
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  turned out really really beautiful again just taking the
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  life and then the last project we just finished section we just
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  released the class straight was called my father's father.
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  You figure we do the Holy Spirit Jesus, which probably fairness
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  to charity and it was very personal and it was really
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  focusing on the fatherhood of God.
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  But then also my own relationship with my father who
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  had passed away about two years before and how it was that my
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  father tried to disciple me so that I would come to love to
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  help me father and you again. The big purpose was to try to
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  reach an audience that that might not be reading might be
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  living in this world of social media.
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  You're just tremendously pleased and how it's been respond how
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  it's very speak. Well, your father was a
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  successful man because he passed on the faith, yes.
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  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's absolutely right.
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  That's right. But that was really, it was very
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  intentional about that and talk quite a bit that it's
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  interesting if you are, if you Google, although I think it's
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  changed recently, I've done it for a while, but if you Google
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  this disciple your children, it's automatic change in the
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  word, the idea of disciple your children.
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  But I suggest that it's really the responsibility of of every
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  mother and father to disciple their kids to try to raise a new
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  mineral state. Yeah.
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  And I think sometimes they. Already know?
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  Sometimes people just aren't aware of that.
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  Or, or aren't you as attentional about that as they might?
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  Sure. So I'm always curious on this
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  purchasers show to hear how people are executing their
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  vision. So you as the as the executive
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  of this organization, what, what is, how do you accomplish your
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  goals? Yeah.
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  The First off is, is to make sure that you've got men and
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  women around you that have the same vision.
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  Sorry. I think the leader is really,
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  it's his or her responsibility to make sure people that are
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  part of the institution share that thing.
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  In many ways, that's just continuing to speak to that
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  speak to what is our goals, what are our vision, what is our
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  mission, what are desired outcomes and, and to really say
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  that time and time again, I I jokingly say, but I think it's
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  true. 90% of what I do as a priest or as administrator or is
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  to remind people of things they already know.
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  But this continual reminding people about who we are, what
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  we're about because things a things become difficult, they
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  become busy. Sometimes you get frustrated.
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  So just to be able to continue to remind hiring for permission
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  is it's the most important thing.
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  It's interesting. I was just in the high school
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  and they're trying to kind of create this high school very
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  similar to Francis University, where faith is center, academic
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  rigor is important. It's in center as well.
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  But how do these things come together?
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  And one thing is I think that that often times happens is
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  administrators. And I want to nuance this
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  because the young people are why we do what we do, but the young
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  people aren't going to be impacted unless the tax the
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  staff are impacted. That means hiring permissions or
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  every fact the number at Francis University before they get
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  offered a contract, they have to talk with me.
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  Yes that I I need to make absolutely Sir, the person we're
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  hiring. That's who we are just what
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  we're trying to accomplish. Here's downs what makes this
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  different you need and that they were totally on board with that.
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  They don't come to my desk and tell that assured.
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  I mean, the people that I have surrounded me, they understand
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  their mission and they're going to make sure while we're on
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  board. Yeah, I don't, I don't think
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  I've had to block any guess about the time we get to meet
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  there. We go there.
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  But that's really important for me to make sure the people we
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  have that are engaging, the young people fully are on board.
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  And that's just we're things that learned over the years
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  because the difference between somebody supporting what we're
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  doing, it's something that's actually living what we're
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  doing, people who are living because there's a way that you
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  can support it, but it's not part of your bows, a part of
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  your. I really want people what we're
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  trying to do here, what we're trying to accomplish you, no
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  matter with which we're doing it is part of their DNA.
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  They just really see it as a not just understand it, not just
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  support for the live view. Have you noticed any change in
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  the quality of students in the last five years or so?
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  Sure. Yeah, I think Covid's had a
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  large impact on me. I mean, it's fine.
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  I just read an article, I think in Chronicle of Heart
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  Reservation. Harvard is having to do room
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  needle math classes for their students.
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  It's recording quote the best of the best as far as an academic
• 17:15
  and they're finding the same struggles that we are.
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  Many of the students have struggled for for a large
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  population of these these kids of two years that was outside of
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  the norm of their education. Deep impact on them both
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  Academia, I think also socially we stick to go for that.
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  So sure, we'd absolutely see the difference in that.
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  Well, just given the time of year, I'm wondering if you have
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  any comments on the conclave? No, that's why I'm familiar with
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  Hallow. You'll be doing a thing with
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  Hallowed next week. I shouldn't speak, sorry.
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  Yeah, agree. Praying for the praying for the
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  conflict and the what can we actually do?
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  I joke that I've not received a single phone call asking my
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  opinion on the conflict or my opinion on who should be the
• 18:04
  next. The I can really do is pray.
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  I mean, in many ways, especially for young people.
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  The last time the Pope was elected, there were that were
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  maybe 9 or 10 years old, which is interesting to think about
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  right now. So as young adults, it's really
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  their first experience. So on campus, it's been kind of
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  an exciting time. You know, you know, there's the
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  morning of the loss of the Pope, but now there's like what now
• 18:29
  what what happens till first now just being worthy.
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  They do like it's kind of a fun kind of fun to be on campus.
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  Really it's the students, me graduating 5 days.
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  So we don't know whether or not we'll have a before I believe or
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  not, but it's been fun. Let's be a little bit, just be a
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  part of that with the students, just for them.
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  It's very store. They go back all the way to Paul
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  the 6th, right? Yeah.
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  These kids, most of them, most of the students don't know John
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  Paul. John Paul was had passed away
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  before they were born. It's really kind of remarkable
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  to keep that. Well may I be the first one to
• 19:04
  be honored by asking you what is your opinion of of the upcoming
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  PO? Well, you said you said that to
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  No one has asked your opinion of.
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  Not, not the conflict about who I think's going to be elected.
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  Yeah, I don't, Yeah. I mean, I there, there, there's
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  some kind of speculation. There are some people that I
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  really appreciate. I I'm going to leave that to the
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  Lord and leave that to the to the Cardinals to figure it out.
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  It's probably wise. I guess, but it will threaten
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  me. One of the things that we do at
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  the university that's important is that or see our our fafty and
• 19:43
  staff, I mean the theology and the all the executive team and
• 19:46
  all the Friars and people both do past of care making off the
• 19:50
  fidelity to the Holy Father. So whether that Holy Father be
• 19:54
  Francis Benedict or John Paul, that we're going to be faithful
• 19:57
  to the church and faithful to the Holy Father and recognize
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  that. And and that's one of the things
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  we can't just pick and choose. It's important for us as a
• 20:06
  Catholic to be faithful to that, that we chosen to be.
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  That will continue to. Yeah, well, it's essential to
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  being Catholic, I think. Yeah.
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  Exactly. Any last thoughts for a solid
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  Dave? On on that topic.
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  No, or or anything, yeah. No, I mean it just it's it's
• 20:24
  exciting to being a part of our windows and I'm seeing students
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  walk up to class and they've got notebooks in the book you them
• 20:31
  notes for the last time. I really love being a part of
• 20:37
  Catholic higher education. I love being a part of the, you
• 20:40
  know, both lives. Their world opened up as they
• 20:43
  studied as their form. You know, I love the fact
• 20:46
  they're here for four years to really be able to engage a world
• 20:50
  that really, honestly, really desperately needs what our young
• 20:53
  people have to offer. I just said Mass this afternoon
• 20:57
  in this history was the beginning of poverty.
• 21:00
  Steven and everybody turning against Steven and cats of the
• 21:04
  apostles. And can I share with them that
• 21:06
  the world isn't going to celebrate our faith?
• 21:08
  In fact, the Scripture says the world prefers darkness.
• 21:11
  Jesus says time and time in the world you will have troubles.
• 21:15
  But ultimately living the Christian life, living the
• 21:18
  faithful life is, I can't imagine not doing this.
• 21:21
  And then to be a part of young people discovering that in
• 21:23
  companies to understand that more deeply in their life.
• 21:27
  Bringing this point out, the average university present lasts
• 21:31
  about 4 1/2 years in the United States.
• 21:34
  Because it's a really difficult job.
• 21:36
  If I'm going to pour out my life for Catholic higher education, I
• 21:40
  could think in no place. I would rather do it here.
• 21:42
  The workout is doing here. And what faculty staff do we
• 21:46
  have for industries? Yeah, it's just an exciting time
• 21:49
  to be here apart, Kev. Well, I wish you'd continue
• 21:53
  success with that, Father Dave. Thank you so much.
• 21:56
  Thanks for listening. Please like, subscribe and share
• 21:59
  with your friends. See you next time.