Writer. Producer. Philanthropist. Actress. Director. Comedic Mastermind.

There are many ways to describe Jeannie Gaffigan, and no one would be surprised to hear “Catholic” also on that list.

Her Catholic presence in the media was honored on Oct. 14 when she received the inaugural Eloquentia Perfecta Award from Fordham’s Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education (GRE) and the Paulist Press.

The award is given to a professional whose work in the industry of communications or performing arts captures the essence of the human experience.

“We wanted to honor someone who told the true story of what it is like to be human and invites reflection upon our own experiences,” said Colt Anderson, Ph.D., dean of GRE. “Jeannie, you spread your faith with the perfect pitch for our contemporary time.”

Since then she has been writing, directing, and producing comedy shows, including her autobiographical TV Land hit series, The Jim Gaffigan Show, which has received acclaim for expressing the Gaffigans’ Catholic faith openly and honestly.

“We show what it’s really like to be Catholic and living in today’s society,” said Gaffigan. “We didn’t want to portray a Catholicism that was hidden or watered down for the audience. What you see is what you get.”

The TV show’s fictionalized version of her family, Gaffigan said, illustrates “a household of faith in one of the most culturally diverse places in this country, New York City,” and the struggles that lifestyle incites.

“Our household is not a perfect place,” she said, “and we wanted to show that. We wanted to cast a light on the flaws that are a part of every human experience, and show how we grow in goodness through our triumphs, even if we don’t always know it.”

Through her work as a comedy writer, Gaffigan said she aims to bring communities closer together through their doubts, mistakes, and insecurities.

“People don’t live in a vacuum; there will always be something that offends or upsets someone,” said Gaffigan. “I want to show how people can come together through their flaws, and rise above their doubts through resilience and compassion.”

Gaffigan said that her work is inspired by the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus: “Love ought to manifest itself in deeds rather than in words.” She tries to “evangelize creatively and subtly,” spreading her faith in a humorous and reflective way that does not alienate her audience.

“No one likes a preachy story, which is why it’s important to embody your mission into your actions,” she said.

In lieu of accepting her speaker’s fee, Gaffigan asked that equivalent monetary aid be presented to a Fordham student who reflected the values of the Eloquentia Perfecta Award. The recipient was Caitlin Sakdalan, FCLC ’18, a Film and Television Major, who has started her own food blog and hopes to be a food connoisseur in the media.

Listen to Gaffigan comment on how their show deals with the pressures of contemporary celebrity culture:

–Mary Awad

The Jesuit has singled out society’s relentless chase of possessions as a “the great danger in today’s world” and encouraged political leaders to consider financial reforms that stress ethics.

“Money must serve, not rule!” Francis wrote in his Evangelii Gaudiam (Joy of the Gospel), an exhortation published in the year his papacy began.

In some circles, this plea has led to the pope being labeled a socialist and dangerously naïve about financial matters.

But a group of panelists in a Fordham University discussion this week, “None of His Business? Pope Francis on Capitalism,” agreed that the resistance Francis is facing is nothing new, nor is the pope’s belief that people of faith can do better.

Pope Leo XIII took on economic issues in the 19th century in his encyclical, Rerum Novarum, said C. Colt Anderson, Ph.D., dean of the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education.

Leo argued that “some opportune remedy must be found quickly for the misery and wretchedness pressing so unjustly on the majority of the working class.”

Francis is doing something similar, Anderson told an audience of more than 50 Fordham faculty, administrators and students at Hughes Hall.

This pope knew that when he said this, that he was [going to face]a lot of opposition,” Anderson said of Francis’ exhortation.

That opposition was often pointed.

“Thank God, so to speak, that his teaching authority is limited to faith and morals, because in matters of economics, he is wide of the mark,” wrote Fox News commentator Andrew Napolitano.

The criticism was part of the pope’s strategy, said Christine Firer Hinze, Ph.D., a professor of theology. Francis has succeeded in getting everyone’s attention.

Anderson said the pope tried to address his critics in his exhortation, and panelists argued that a stand against capitalism without an ethical underpinning is not the same as socialism or even a denunciation of capitalism.

Adam Smith, the 18th-century political economist often cited by capitalists, believed that empathy and capitalism can coexist, said Donna Rapaccioli, Ph.D., dean of the schools of business. That coexistence, she said, is stressed in her school.

“You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘conscious capitalism,’” Rapaccioli said. “Think about companies like Whole Foods, Costco, Patagonia, Chipotle, Southwest Airlines. Even Walgreens has advance inclusion and opportunity. These are successful operations, and they have been able to succeed while respecting people.”

Michael Pirson, Ph.D., an associate professor of management systems for the schools of business and the organizer of the event, agreed. Empathy is the driver of successful human relationships, and businesses that center on the common good have proven to be profitable, he said.

Empathy and business not only can coexist, they must, Francis has said.

“(T)he goal of economics and politics is to serve humanity,” Francis wrote in a 2013 letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, “beginning with the poorest and most vulnerable wherever they may be, even in their mothers’ wombs.”

Click here to read the story on Gabelli Connect.

Story by John Schoonejongen
Top photo by Joanna Mercuri

A month later, the Diocese of Savannah held a statewide day of fellowship in the town of Perry. Each parish brought a colorful banner to display its name. The one that stood out to Bishop Boland, however, was the white sheet tied to a tree branch with the name “Sandhill” handwritten on it.

The display was humble, but the message was clear, Bishop Boland said. Regardless of its size or the structure of its church, Sandhill parish was a proud part of the Catholic family.

Serving the Church on the Margins

Bishop Emeritus Boland was one of three alumni from the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education (GRE) who gathered at Rose Hill on Oct. 22 to share their experiences of working with the poorest of America’s Catholics. Bishop Boland, GRE ’91, was joined by Shay Auerbach, S.J., GRE ’92, of the Diocese of Richmond, Virginia, and Veronica Rayas, Ph.D., GRE ’07, of the Diocese of El Paso, Texas.

The event, “Fordham Serving the Church on the Margins in America,” was a joint effort between Fordham and Catholic Extension, a papal society that supports dioceses in need, including those in which the three Fordham alumni serve.

Founded in 1905, Catholic Extension serves 13 million Catholics in 94 dioceses around the United States and has provided more than $1.2 billion in grants. The organization also awards scholarships for diocesan workers to attend schools such as Fordham for training in religious education and leadership. Fordham alone has received $5.5 million in scholarships from the organization to educate lay ministers and clergy working in Catholic Extension dioceses.

This educational component is critical to the Catholic Extension mission because most poor, rural dioceses lack access to religious leadership, said Father Jack Wall, president of Catholic Extension.

“Sometimes it’s hard for those of us from New York, Chicago, and Boston, where the church is so well established, to conceive of the experience of Catholicism in places where there’s not an abundance of parishes, schools, clergy, and diocesan instructors,” Father Wall said.

“These are places where there’s a great distance between neighboring parishes, where Catholic worship on Sundays often takes place in double-wide trailers, and where there’s one priest for every 7,000 Catholics.”

Bishop Boland said that this has been his experience serving in the Diocese of Savannah, which covers 90 counties in southern Georgia. The diocese extends more than 37,000 square miles, all the way to the borders of Alabama to the west and Florida to the south.

“The diocese is bigger than the entire country from which I came,” said Bishop Boland, a native of Ireland.

Extending a Welcome to Migrants

Distance and limited resources are not the only challenges at hand, the panelists said. Forty percent of the families in Catholic Extension dioceses live below the poverty level. Many are migrants who have fled violence in Mexico and Central America. Because the majority of these migrants are Catholic, they find refuge in the parish communities.

“In El Paso, the parishes pulled together to receive the migrant families who were released from [U.S.] detention centers,” Rayas said. “People came forward to give these families a place to sleep and to take a shower, to help connect them with family members, help get them plane or bus tickets, and to just listen to their stories.”

C. Colt Anderson, Ph.D., dean of GRE — who himself grew up in Savannah and attended a parish supported by Catholic Extension — emphasized the impact of the organization’s work and the importance of its relationship with Fordham.

“The educational resources I had access to were because of Catholic Extension,” Anderson said. “The resources it provides strengthen the whole church and open up opportunities to people everywhere.”

“Our graduates are out there with Catholic Extension and they’re turning faith into action. It’s a powerful story, and it’s a story that we need to tell and to spread.”

The event was co-sponsored by GRE and Catholic Extension with support from the Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies.