Franciscan University Hosts Dr. Arthur C. Brooks

STEUBENVILLE, OHIO-On October 17, Franciscan University of Steubenville welcomed Harvard University professor and bestselling author Dr. Arthur C. Brooks to campus for his talk on "The Secrets of Subversive Catholicism," which was followed by a conversation between Brooks and Franciscan University President Father Dave Pivonka, TOR.

Brooks is a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. He is also a popular columnist at The Atlantic and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 13 books, including Build the Life You Want, coauthored with Oprah Winfrey, and From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life.

Using business principles, science, and behavioral research, Brooks shared with Franciscan University students, board members, and friends how to be more effective Christian missionaries within the modern secular culture by making the faith "public, normal, and magnetic."

The reason people are reluctant to share their faith, Brooks said, is because their brains are hardwired to fear exclusion from the tribe. It's "because your dorsal anterior cingulate cortex is lighting up like a Christmas tree, saying, 'Don't get cast out. Don't be weird. Don't stand against the norm.'"

To combat this tendency, Brooks advised remembering that fear is a natural reaction of the brain, but one that can be overridden by courage when making public declarations of faith. For example, "when you're in the cafeteria of your company or in a restaurant or wherever you are, you're going to cross yourself before you eat and you don't really care who sees you or doesn't see you," he said. "This is missionary work in ordinary life."

Brooks also pointed out religion has been a consistent aspect of civilization since recorded human history. So, Catholics need to share their faith because "people need it. They have an emptiness in them, and they will adopt something else and put it in its place," he said. "This is why politics and activism, when they become identity, they lead us to depression and anxiety."

He highlighted the current culture war and division in the political world, while reminding the nearly 500 attendees that the people who disagree with them politically or religiously are their family, neighbors, and friends.

"Our tendency is to fight fire with fire," he said. "That's bad in politics because you lose votes. It's catastrophic in faith because you lose souls."

Drawing from the Bible, Brooks recalled Christ's commandment to love your enemies, noting, "That's how you make your faith attractive. When you get hostility, you see it as an opportunity to show love."

Not only does sharing the faith in a public, normal, and magnetic way persuade other people's hearts, Brooks added, but it also transforms the believer's heart.

"When you become a missionary for your faith in your ordinary life," he said, "the faith that grows the most will be your own."

After Brooks' talk, he sat down with Father Pivonka for a further conversation about evangelization, how to disagree well, and the mutual interlocking need people have for one another. One point Brooks made was that people can better love their enemies by remembering how they themselves are loved unconditionally by God.

"The strength I get to put one foot in front of the other, to work in the public sphere, and to deal with no small amount of controversy, it all comes down to the fact that I can go to Mass in the morning, I can go to confession, I can pray my Rosary, and I can remember that my Savior died for me even though I didn't deserve it," Brooks said.

Father Pivonka concluded by talking about how Christians need to live their faith out loud in every corner of the world as Christ did.

"That is the nature of the Incarnation. God could have, had he chosen, fixed things without entering the messiness that is human existence, and yet he chose to do that to bring about transformation," Father Pivonka said.

The evening also featured a sacred music performance by Franciscan University's Schola Cantorum Franciscana.

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