The Steubenville Experience - Conor's Story
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The Steubenville Experience - Conor's Story
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Conor, a former pupil at Stonyhurst, shares
how he his desire for Catholic formation led him to study at the Franciscan
university at Steubenville in America I was born in Phoenix but when I was nine, the family moved to England. When I was 13 I went to be educated at a Catholic public school in Lancashire run by the Jesuits called Stonyhurst. My parents were daily Mass goers and made sure that we all went to Mass on Sundays. It wasn't until the age of 17, however, that I had my own awakening of faith. I started to go to daily Mass and began to develop my relationship with Jesus Christ. The faith I had grown up with now gradually became personal to me. Through this, the Lord gave me a tremendous desire to know more about the Catholic faith so that I could deepen my relationship with Him. This happened providentially around the time I was choosing what universities to apply to and what courses to take. The desire to study theology and philosophy was the easy part of the discernment process. Deciding where the Lord wanted me to study was the difficult part. I applied to six universities in the UK and I received offers from all six of them. Feeling like a young child on Christmas Eve, I went to visit two of these universities so I could discern where God wanted me to be. The visits were huge anti-climaxes. I wanted solid Catholic theology and a good faith atmosphere in which to grow in my relationship with the Lord. Both places seemed to me to be wanting in this. I turned to the Lord in prayer asking for his help and guidance to know what to do. Then as if out of the blue, the Franciscan University of Steubenville was suggested to me four times by four different people. At first I wasn't interested but after a couple of weeks prayer I felt God was calling me to at least look at the prospectus. Reluctantly I picked it up. As I did I felt a sense of confirmation in my heart but I was afraid, as the place sounded quite awesome spiritually and I didn't know if I wanted that. If I was ready for that kind of challenge. Finally, however, I said, "All right Lord, I will do your will just let me know if this is it." Three days later I awoke suddenly from sleep
saying "I go! I go! I go!" I sat up in bed astonished.
It seemed like Franciscan University was God's choice for me.
Six months later I arrived at the Franciscan University. I felt both peaceful and excited and this past year has indeed been a time of unfathomable blessing and growth, for which I praise the Lord. The degree that I am pursuing is called "Humanities and Catholic Culture", a degree unique to Franciscan university. This incorporates the ideas of Christopher Dawson that "Religion gives structure and impetus to society." This is a fantastic liberal arts degree that involves the study of all the major components of reality: philosophy, theology, history, politics and literature and how Catholicism formed them. Thus I will get a holistic education to go into any profession with a clear knowledge of where we have come from and where we are going. The huge spiritual energy on this Christ centred campus has also been paramount to my personal growth. The zealous attitude of the faculty and students shows itself in numerous ways from the 80% daily Mass attendance to the numerous apostolic works of Mercy and mission trips and the Christian households we live in. All of this makes for a perfectly balanced atmosphere
in which to develop the full person: mind, body and soul. I see
the university as an ideal setting for the formation of the individual.
Here I feel I am receiving solid Catholic doctrine that will
enable me to grow spiritually so that afterwards I can go out
into the world confident that I can fulfill Pope John Paul's
call for a generation "to bear witness to Christ by their
lives" and to "Not be afraid to be the saints of the
new millennium".
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