The life of Derry Connolly, Ph.D., reads like the synopsis of a movie script. An Irish graduate student arrives at Caltech in Pasadena with no place to stay. He knocks on the door of the first Catholic church he finds and asks if there is an Irish priest he can speak to.
The priest takes him to the recently vacated monastery where he is housing students from a young Catholic college. They have room for one more student. One of these students has a sister and Connolly finds his true love. They have been married for 43 years.
But this “script” does not end here.
Years later, Connelly accompanied his daughter on a university tour at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. A few moments in the school’s adoration chapel changed his life.
Connelly wasn’t sure if the university was the right school for his daughter. He was a man of science and had a secular education. But as he visited the chapel and marveled at the many young, energetic Catholic men and women, he felt that God was calling him to do something with what he saw as an untapped natural spiritual resource.
He wasn’t sure what he was called to do, so like many of us, he put God aside. A few years later, God called back, and this time Connolly had an idea. He had always been inspired by the admonitions of St. Pope John Paul II about the importance of Catholics engaging with the real world, such as the mainstream media.
Students on the set of “No Reception,” the second project of the feature film program at John Paul the Great Catholic University. (Image courtesy)
The Message of the Pope for the World Day of Social Communications 1992 seemed to predict what Connolly was getting at in the early 2000s: “The Christian response to evil is, above all, to listen to the Good News and to make God’s message of salvation in Jesus Christ ever more present. Christians have a ‘Good News’ to proclaim. We have the message of Christ – and it is our joy to share it with every man and woman of good will who is willing to listen.”
Through prayer and a little support from John Paul’s legacy, Catholic John Paul University in Escondido was born. It was to be a place where young creative men and women could hone their skills and learn new ones in all the major disciplines of media arts, directing, acting, cinematography, animation, screenwriting. This school would send them out into the “mainstream” culture and give the culture what it was missing – voices from a theological and philosophical perspective centered on Christ.
Connolly’s idea was not initially met with loud applause and cheers. To him, believing that it could make a difference in an often anti-Christian media landscape seemed a pointless endeavor. He thought his own bishop would think the same, but was surprised by the Polish pontiff’s simple summary: “If it is from God, it will succeed; if it is not from God, it will fail.”
Since 2006, Connolly’s university has flourished. What began as a building in an industrial park and a film school with no camera equipment has now grown to 273 students. An $18 million expansion is underway that will more than double the school’s academic footprint.
Connelly teaches all first-year students a business management course. This is how he gets to know each of his students, and teaching the practical side of the industry is part of the holistic approach that John Paul the Great takes. In an industry where unethical business practices are as famous as the films it produces, a young person entering the media industry would be well advised to bring with them a sound and ethical understanding of business.
University President Derry Connolly stands in the chapel of the John Paul II Catholic University in this 2006 archive photo. (CNS/Denis Grasska, The Southern Cross)
When I spoke with Connolly, he emphasized that his goal is not to wrap his students in “bubble wrap,” but to prepare them for the careers they might choose. The mission of John Paul the Great University is to prepare future professionals spiritually and philosophically so that when they enter the “lion’s den” of the mainstream media, they will not become dinner but dedicated employees whose love for Christ will be visible.
Half of the 273 students are from Southern California, the other half from all over. The school’s ethos is best summed up by what Connolly said about a young woman who had just graduated with a degree in cinematography. “She said she came to JP the Great first for Jesus and then for cinematography.”
When John Paul II visited Los Angeles, arguably the world’s greatest media capital, he challenged the assembled media professionals: “May all those involved in the field of communications realize that they are in truth stewards and administrators of an immense spiritual power that belongs to the patrimony of humanity and is destined to enrich the entire human community.”
If a young man or woman wanted to take the Pope’s words to heart, there was no film school in 1987 that combined faith and film education in such a profound way. Today there is one, and that is John Paul the Great University in Escondido.
