COLLEGES SPECIAL SECTION A TEACHABLE MOMENTCatholic colleges across the country are rethinking ways to serve their students and come together as communities amid the challenges of 2020. With the health of Leaders of Campus ministers staff and students Catholic colleges see the upcoming in mind, adminis- see it as part of year as an oppor- trators implement their mission to tunity for creative, protocols to help facilitate equality new experiences slow the spread of and diversity in in the faith lives of COVID-19. their communities. students. > PAGES 6B-8B > PAGES 12B-13B > PAGES 16B-18B CNS, Adobe Stock, Courtesy images 2B OUR SUNDAY VISITOR | SPECIAL SECTION AUGUST 23-29, 2020 MISSION Annual tuition, room & board: Administrations renew Discoverthe eternal wisdom $10,100 USD of the Church focus on purpose, community Amid the pandemic, leaders sized that the university’s response to COVID-19 had to be guided by the institution’s mission, values at Catholic colleges take time and the community’s expectations. to think about what matters most “As a Catholic institution, we realize that our Experience form of education is rooted in relationships with vibrant Catholic culture in By Brian Fraga each other,” Pestello said. “It is community which the beauty of rural Canada The 2020-21 academic year will be unlike any is essential, and we have long argued that our ap- other for Catholic universities and colleges. proach to education, which is a high-touch ap- Because of the novel coronavirus, many college proach, and it is part of who we are as a Catholic- students this fall will be attending classes in large Jesuit institution, is the best way to educate.” auditoriums and lecture halls instead of conven- tional classrooms. Some courses will be exclusively Focus ‘not on the virus’ offered online or via a “hybrid” model of virtual At The Catholic University Of America, Provost Receivean authentically learning and in-person instruction. Aaron Dominguez told Our Sunday Visitor that COVID-19 not only has disrupted the learning the pandemic has prompted the university to “re- Catholic liberal process for undergraduate and graduate students, think everything,” includ- arts education and forced administrators at Catholic colleges and ing everyday activities that universities to devise new policies, operating pro- students and faculty used to cedures and guidelines to keep everyone safe from take for granted, such as eat- the virus, it also has prompted university adminis- ing lunch and walking into a trators to further reflect on their institutional mis- building. sion. “In terms of education, we “We’ve been talking about our mission and definitely will be integrat- values much more over the last several months, ing technology, in a healthy Ontario, Canada explicitly because we want way, into everything we do, Dominguez www.seatofwisdom.ca to make sure they are front probably more so if it weren’t and center, and guiding us,” for this particular impetus to make a change, even said Fred Pestello, president when we come back to predominantly in-person, of Saint Louis University in on-campus learning,” Dominguez said. St. Louis. The social distancing that the pandemic re- Pestello told Our Sunday sponse required created a new appreciation among Visitor that a university lead- university faculty, staff and students who had to ership team, which has been spend the final weeks of the spring 2020 semester Pestello meeting weekly since the apart from each other. If anything, they have all pandemic swept across the United States in March, has consistently empha- Continued on Page 4B On-Campus, Hybrid, and Online Degree Options 140 Majors & Minors 30 Graduate Degrees 40+ Student Organizations 22 Varsity Athletic Teams Visit us to learn more! Virtual or On-Campus madonna.edu/visit 36600 Schoolcraft Road | Livonia, MI 48150 | 734-432-5300 The provost at The Catholic University of America said the pandemic has caused the school to “rethink everything” as it relates to educating its students. 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Let Franciscan University help you discover your unique greatness—and become the man or woman God created you to be. 80+ Programs Including Biochemistry, Biology, Business, Catechetics, Communication Arts, Criminal Justice, Education, Engineering, History, Nursing, Philosophy, Psychology, Theology, Criminology (Minor), Music Ministry (Minor) Academically Excellent • Passionately Catholic FRANCISCAN.EDU 1235 University Blvd. | Steubenville, OH 43952 800-783-6220 | [email protected] An Equal Opportunity University 10x13FOSV2020.indd 1 8/5/20 3:16 PM 4B OUR SUNDAY VISITOR | SPECIAL SECTION AUGUST 23-29, 2020 Continued from Page 2B described a Catholic university tion experience is relationship, as both a faith community and community and being together. learned just how important be- an academic institution. That’s something the students, ing in community is to higher “The focus for us this year is the faculty and staff, for that education, especially in a Catho- not going to be the virus,” Father matter, and the friars, have lic context. Pivonka said. “I mean, that’s a greatly missed.” “Overwhelmingly what we’ve reality, and we’re going to have While describing the pan- heard from our faculty and stu- to deal with it. But the focus, the demic as being “profoundly chal- dents is that they miss being in center of our life, is not COVID. lenging in myriad ways,” Mi- community with each other,” The center is always what it’s al- chelle Wheatley, vice president Pestello said. “They miss those ways been; the Lord and having of mission and ministry at Gon- relationships, and that’s impor- a relationship with Christ, trans- zaga University, told Our Sun- tant to the intellectual, the spiri- formation, conversion and edu- day Visitor the implications and tual, the emotional, the psycho- cation.” impact of the coronavirus “have logical growth and well-being of also quite remarkably served to our students.” A sense of community reinforce and bring even greater Franciscan Father Dave Piv- A common insight, gleaned clarity to our unique identity as onka, president of Franciscan from the pandemic experience, an exemplary university deeply University in Steubenville, Ohio, that Catholic university officials rooted in our Jesuit, Catholic told Our Sunday Visitor that in have been highlighting in their and humanistic tradition.” the big picture, the mission of recent messages to students, fac- “This difficult time for our a Catholic university does not ulty and staff is that all the mem- world has provided multiple change given the circumstances bers of their campus communi- opportunities for Gonzaga to around it. ties have responsibilities to one reflect upon and demonstrate — “The mission, at least at Fran- another to keep each other safe. and for our students, faculty and ciscan University, is that our Father Pivonka said the com- staff to more fully experience — students are formed in a Catho- munal nature of education has what our mission statement re- lic intellectual life where they also become more apparent to fers to as a ‘mature commitment Participants pray during Eucharistic adoration July 18 at Immac- engage their professors who are him in recent months. to dignity of the human person, ulate Conception Seminary in Huntington, N.Y. The service was Catholic and believers, and who “Education isn’t merely the social justice, diversity, intercul- affiliated with Camp Quo Vadis, an annual weeklong retreat desire men and women to be dissemination of knowledge,” he tural competence, global engage- for high school and college students who want to deepen their formed both in their mind and said. “It’s a relationship. Knowl- ment, solidarity with the poor faith and are open to discerning a vocation to the priesthood or in their heart,” said Father Piv- edge is passed on, of course, in and vulnerable, and care for the religious life. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, workshops this onka, who noted that Pope St. the classroom, but also in the planet.’” year were presented via videos posted on the camp’s website. John Paul II, in his 1990 apostolic interaction with the professors CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae, in the hallway. Part of the educa- Continued on Page 5B ONE OF THE TOP 20 CATHOLIC COLLEGES IN AMERICA -NEWMAN GUIDE TOP 10 COLLEGE IN THE MIDWEST -US NEWS & WORLD REPORT #WHEREGREATNESSBEGINS Benedictine.edu/visit AUGUST 23-29, 2020 OUR SUNDAY VISITOR | SPECIAL SECTION 5B Continued from Page 4B there,” said Pestello, who added FRESHMAN CLASS that while technology can aid Dominguez said he would be education, it can never be a sub- “eternally grateful” for how the stitute for community. AFTER THEIR SENIOR YEARS WERE ALTERED, INCOMING community at The Catholic Uni- “I think we are inherently COLLEGE FRESHMAN LOOK FORWARD TO THE FUTURE versity of America has rallied to- social animals,” Pestello said. gether amid COVID-19. “People missed each other. They It wasn’t the senior year that 2020 graduates anticipated. After preschool, kindergarten and 12 “It was really profound, and missed the human contact. They years of classes, they looked forward to the prom, senior trips and celebrations to launch them into that’s what’s getting us through missed being close to their col- life’s new journeys. it,” Dominguez said. “We have leagues. … All those things at That didn’t happen.