Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio is set to launch a Washington, D.C., program for its students, including residential and learning facilities, the university announced last week.
The Ward and Kathy Fitzgerald Franciscan University Homeland Mission (FUHM) is part of the university’s new “Encounter” initiative, designed to extend Franciscan University’s mission and impact beyond its campus in Steubenville, Ohio. It is designed to equip students for “advancing the great global missionary cause of positively impacting the principles and policies guiding the United States government.”
The university has purchased a $3 million property on Massachusetts Avenue in the District of Columbia for the program thanks to a $10 million gift from Ward and Kathy Fitzgerald. Their donation helps fund the Outreach and Evangelization component of the university’s ongoing $110 million Rebuild My Church Capital Campaign.
“The Franciscan charism of ongoing conversion, which invites everyone to continually and humbly draw closer to Christ, will be key to carrying out this mission,” said university president Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, in a Sept. 3 press release.
“The Franciscan University Homeland Mission will invite others to deeper conversion through three pillars grounded in the university’s mission: Evangelization and Joyful Presence, Intellectual and Personal Formation, and Support for Human Dignity,” Pivonka said….
Ward Fitzgerald is the CEO of international real estate private equity firm fund investment group EQT Exeter. The Fitzgeralds are members of the Trustees to the Papal Foundation….
Student rotations at the new center in Washington, D.C., are set to begin this fall on a limited basis and expand in spring 2025.
From Catholic News Agency
This seems utterly unnecessary and pointless. The school just wants bragging rights by having a satellite campus in the capital. How will this improve student learning?
And I think it’s misdirected. Act locally. Washington DC is a cesspool.
This is the Church becoming more worldly and chasing worldly things rather than spiritual.
My wife and I were privileged to hear Fr. Dave Pivonka in person when he presented the vision and rationale for this project and took questions about it. It is in accord with the Church’s teaching that the lay faithful are to influence the temporal order, including commerce and government. Students learn about government by observing it in person and participating in it, not just by reading about it. As a retired civil servant, I’ve seen student interns move into positions in government.
Franciscan University does act locally. Yet, its action should not be limited to that. The power of the gospel should influence a rust belt city like Steubenville, the swamp of Washington DC, Hollywood, Silicon Valley and everywhere. As the University notes, “We form men and women to serve God and one another so they can be a transforming Christian presence in the world. … Our work of proclaiming the Gospel extends far beyond our hilltop campus in Ohio. Through outreach and evangelization, we empower people across the country and throughout the world to deepen their relationships with Jesus Christ and to live as his disciples.”
For some reason, my name didn’t appear with what I posted. So, I’m the one who posted that my wife and I heard Fr. Dave present this program, funded by a most generous gift from the Fitzgeralds, who support numerous worthy Catholic causes and know how the world works; and how to influence it.