Summer Mission Trips
Perseverance. Trust. Planners of Franciscan University’s mission trips needed plenty of both as all 2021 spring break mission trips were moved to summer due to health protocols.
From mid-May to August, 150 students traveled to Arizona, Belize (two teams), the Bronx, Denver, Honduras, Puerto Rico, Los Angeles, New Mexico, North Dakota, San Diego, and Steubenville.
“We stayed faithful,” said Rhett Young, director of Missionary Outreach, “and once again, students told us how they saw Christ in the people they met.”
As one student put it: “Serving on the streets of L.A. showed me exactly where I needed to be—at Jesus’ feet.”
As a defense against future hurricanes, students on the Puerto Rico mission trip applied special paint and sealants to a rectory and church run by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement.
New Nigerian Bishop is Alumnus
Pope Francis appointed a Franciscan University graduate as the new bishop of the Diocese of Abakaliki, Nigeria.
Installed at an August 19 ceremony in Abakaliki, Bishop Peter Nworie Chukwu received his master’s in philosophy from Franciscan in 2002. He then went on to receive a doctorate in philosophy from Marquette University.
Bishop Chukwu was born in 1965, in Ededeagu Umuezekohohu, which is in southeast Nigeria. He was ordained a priest in 1993.
Bishop Peter Nworie Chukwu ’02
Catechetical Milestones
Franciscan’s Catechetical Institute has now established partnerships with over 90 dioceses, impacting over 17,000 Church ministers in 35 countries.
The milestones come on the fourth anniversary of the CI, which seeks to “serve those who serve others”—priests, catechists, parents, and others—with conferences and especially online training in 10 ministry areas including youth and young adults, Hispanic ministry, RCIA, and parenting and forming faith at home.
Coming in 2022 are tracks in Eucharistic Renewal, Marriage Renewal, Special Needs, Diocesan Leadership, and Music Ministry.
Tracks are taught by Franciscan University faculty, augmented by catechetics experts from around the world. Over 150 ministry formation workshops are on the CI online platform.
“In an increasingly secularized culture, we reach into parishes, schools, and families to help strengthen Catholic culture and the handing on of the treasures of the faith,” said Dr. Petroc Willey, director of the Catechetical Institute. Visit the CI at FranciscanAtHome.com.
Criminal Justice Program
Franciscan University’s new Criminal Justice Program received a $1 million donation from a member of the Board of Trustees.
The funds will be earmarked for the development of seven new courses including Homeland Security and Emergency Response; Cyber Crime; Financial Crime; Police Tactics and Use of Force; and Moral and Ethical Challenges for Justice Professionals.
A Center for Criminal Justice, Law, and Ethics, and a bi-annual journal, Natural Law and Justice, will also be supported by the donation.
Unique among criminal justice programs, Franciscan’s program incorporates a Catholic curriculum grounded in Judeo-Christian principles that examines the interactions between human law and higher laws from God.
Oath of Fidelity
Standing before Steubenville Bishop Jeffrey Monforton, 15 Franciscan University personnel took the Oath of Fidelity at the New Student Orientation Mass. Individually, they pledged in words and actions to “always preserve communion with the Catholic Church.”
This year’s oath takers included TOR friars, a religious sister, administrator, faculty, and numerous staff who work in student life and pastoral care.
Sr. Chiara JoanRiffon, TOR, hall chaplain; Fr. Stanley Holland, TOR ’82, pastoral associate; and Fr. James Angert, TOR, pastoral associate, take the Oath of Fidelity.
Ordination
Fr. Joseph Marie Krilich, TOR ’13
Brother Joseph Marie Krilich, TOR, a member of the Franciscan Friars, TOR, Province of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, was ordained to the priesthood by Steubenville Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton on May 22 at Franciscan University.
TOR ordination ceremonies are typically held at the motherhouse in Loretto, Pennsylvania. Due to Father Krilich’s close connections to Franciscan University, however, his ordination took place where he graduated in 2013 with a bachelor of science in chemistry and a minor in biology.
“Franciscan played a significant role in my discernment journey,” he said. “I feel honored to have my ordination take place where, in some respects, my intentional discernment journey began.”
During his time at Franciscan University, Father Krilich was a member of Disciples of the Word Household, on the men’s soccer team, and participated in multiple mission trips.
Father Krilich grew up in Northwest Indiana with his parents and seven sisters—six older and one younger—all of whom graduated from Franciscan.
This marked the first time since the 1996 ceremony for Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, and Father Stanley Holland, TOR, that a priestly ordination Mass was held at Franciscan University.
Father Krilich is assigned to Sacred Heart Friary at Saint Francis University where he serves in campus ministry and teaches religious studies.
Truth of Love Conference
Earlier this summer, Franciscan University’s Theology Department and the Veritas Amoris Project co-sponsored a three-day conference on campus—The Truth of Love: A Paradigm Shift for Moral Theology.
A keynote speaker was Monsignor Livio Melina, former director of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, who spoke via livestream from Rome on “The Truth of Human Action.”
Other talks centered on how to live the moral life and themes related to St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.
