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Franciscan University Sent me a Survey

Franciscan University Sent me a Survey

Last updated on: July 18, 2018 at 12:21 am by Mary Pezzulo

Franciscan University Sent me a Survey 2018-07-18T00:21:03-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

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I don’t know what they were thinking.

All I do all day is prattle about my opinions, and I’ve honestly made my opinions about Franciscan University crystal clear by this time. I didn’t like my time there. It was awful for many reasons, some of which weren’t even the University’s fault.

But I like taking surveys. I bought an eshakti dress with my tax return and a big first-time buyer discount, and now they send me product surveys all the time. They’re fun to fill out; they make me feel like a fashion designer. Filling out surveys is always fun. I’ll place my answers here, though, because I get paid to blog and I don’t get paid to fill out surveys.

Which of the following describe you?

Other, please elaborate: I am not an alumna, just a graduate student who crashed and burned with a chronic illness. I did get my MRS, though, and I’m still married to him. He’s wonderful. I’m a little confused as to how I’m on your mailing list.

From your perspective, what are the needs related to education and learning?

What a fascinating question, if a bit open-ended. It’s not really my area of expertise. Everyone needs to learn, and the most important lesson is that one CAN learn. But what is an education? The question goes back at least as far as Plato. I suppose that, in order to be educated, one must begin by accepting what one doesn’t know. Perhaps I should start earlier than that. I think there has to be an acceptance THAT one doesn’t know; that one doesn’t have all the knowledge; that one will have to submit herself to a teacher and learn. One also has to accept the possibility that the teacher doesn’t know either, of course, or it’s not education but just swallowing a slurry of memorized data. You also need at least fifty thousand dollars, and that’s just for an undergraduate degree.

How can Franciscan University help serve those needs?

Charge less.

From your perspective, what are the needs related to outreach and evangelization?

The Catechism defines Evangelization as “the proclamation of Christ by word and the testimony of life.” I suppose, then, that in order to evangelize, you need Christ, and you need a life, and you need to live your life in conformity to Christ according to your own vocation. Who is Christ but perfect Love? I feel that the most effective evangelization is to love one’s neighbor as oneself, even to the point of laying down one’s own life.

How can Franciscan University serve those needs?

I suppose you’d better start loving your neighbor as yourself, assuming you haven’t already.

From your perspective, what are the needs related to forming leaders?

Merciful Heaven, anything but leaders. There’s nothing worse than a religious person who considers herself a leader, except perhaps a person who calls her job an “apostolate.” They are obnoxious, silly, shallow creatures immune to constructive criticism and they always seem to use the trendy slang terms that were fashionable five years ago. They never catch up. When I was at Franciscan, the campus was chock full of catechetics students who considered themselves leaders. They wanted to lead youth, specifically, as youth group leaders as an excuse to extend their own adolescence. Some of the most saintly people I know were also in Catechetics, for the record, but also the worst people. Both ends of the spectrum. Perhaps that’s all changed by now; good on you if it has. I fear it would be easier to get any actual evangelization work done with a croquet mallet made of a live flamingo than with an eager young person who fancies herself a leader.

The example of leadership we have in the lives of the saints is that God chose the least interested and foisted leadership upon them while they were doing something else. All Saint Paul wanted to do was murder Christians, but then he was struck blind. Saint Benedict wanted to be a hermit but somehow founded Western monasticism. Saint Francis abandoned a life of luxury to serve lepers and live by begging, and we all know how that ended up. Let us all do as they did and not try to be leaders. Just serve Christ and your neighbor and don’t look over your shoulder too often to see if anyone’s following you.

How can Franciscan University help serve those needs?

Do the world a favor, and don’t.

Who is Franciscan University not currently serving that we ought to serve?

That list would extend far beyond the sensible word count for a blog post. Far, far beyond. Don’t get me started. Or better yet, just read what I’ve already written about Franciscan University.

How can Franciscan University serve the group(s) identified?

Impress me.

Please share any other comments/feedback:

Christ the King Chapel is shaped like a toilet and it smells funny.

Mary love you. God bless!

Likewise I’m sure. May God grant you many happy and blessed years.

Eshakti surveys are more fun, but this one felt oddly good.

(image via Pixabay)

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