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In the fifth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Rev. Peter M. Donohue, O.S.A., Professor of Theater and President of Villanova University. Donohue begins by discussing how academic excellence and Catholicity find a home in the Augustinian charisms that animate Villanova. He details how Augustine’s understanding of what it means to be human proves fundamental to how whole-person education not only fosters efforts focused on the heart and the mind but on the intersection of the two. Donohue then speaks about the influence of the Adrian Augustinians had on him as a young boy and how the sisters cultivated within him a calling for theater and the ministry. He addresses how those callings were cultivated during his undergraduate and graduate education and how they are woven together in terms of how he expresses his service to the Villanova community as its president. Ream and Donohue then explore the Augustinian dimensions of Villanova’s current strategic plan, “Rooted. Restless.” and how that plan fuels Villanova’s ongoing rise as a distinctively Augustinian and Catholic university. They close by discussing how the academic vocation has developed at Villanova over the course of its history, how it developed during Donohue’s tenure as Villanova’s president (now the longest of any president in Villanova’s history), and the ways the university continues to explore formative practices for educators that integrate teaching, service, and research in ways that benefit students, the Church, and society.
Todd Ream: Welcome to Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. My name is Todd Ream. I have the privilege of serving as the publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review and as the host for Saturdays at Seven. I also have the privilege of serving on the faculty and the administration at Indiana Wesleyan University.
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Our guest is Father Peter M. Donohue, Professor of Theater and President of Villanova University. Thank you for joining us.
Fr. Peter Donohue: You’re welcome.
Todd Ream: George Bernard Shaw once remarked that a Catholic university is a contradiction in terms. Now, if pressed, I’m sure Shaw would likely have extended his remarks to the efforts made by our Protestant brothers and sisters, as well as made by our Orthodox brothers and sisters.
The history of Villanova University, however, arguably offers evidence that Shaw was wrong. To open our conversation, how do you envision a relationship shared by Catholicity and academic excellence?
Fr. Peter Donohue: We certainly promote the very notion that it is in the Catholic intellectual tradition. I mean, education in terms of Catholic involvement in it goes back way back, way back to the beginning of the Church when people were first learning to think about the faith and how people taught the faith and how they incorporated and wove that into the daily life.
And certainly the great institutions of Europe are really basics in Catholic involvement and Catholic beginnings. Many of the monastic groups were places where education took place, where they were centers of intellectual discovery. So the Catholic Church, I think, I would say, probably the founders of the university lifestyle.
Todd Ream: Would you offer some examples of what this looks like in concrete terms, perhaps at the Villanova of today?
Fr. Peter Donohue: Well, certainly the way we offer, I mean, our strength is our liberal arts education. There is certainly requirements for our students to take basics in philosophy, theology, how those disciplines affect their way of thinking, how faith and reason come together, and utilizing that in other disciplines as well.
We’ve strengthened here, or we stress here at Villanova an Augustinian pedagogy which takes its shape in educating the whole person. I think every university would probably say that, but Augustine was in his writings was always influenced by the effect of how the mind influenced the heart and how the heart influenced the mind and that you needed to be passionate about what, what you knew and you needed to be willing to share that passion with other people, that knowledge is only good if you’re willing to share that knowledge with others. And so it’s learning about yourself, learning about others, learning about your relationship with God that influences your journey in life. And certainly that is our main emphasis here at Villanova University.
We speak oftentimes I quote St. Augustine quite often, and it’s refreshing to hear our students quote him back to me at times that all of us are on a journey to become what we are not yet. And education is the way of opening that door, opening those various doors along the journey, and discovering how your faith interacts with what you know and the things that are around you and the world that we live in and the society that we are trying to create and how we contribute to strengthening the common good.
Todd Ream: Thank you. In terms of that journey then in the future for the university, would you please offer some examples of what that looks like in the rooted restless strategic plan that you’re currently engaged in there at the university?
Fr. Peter Donohue: The idea of “Rooted. Restless.” again is a very Augustinian theme. He speaks oftentimes in his writings about we must be rooted in who we are. He says, “The higher your structure must be, the deeper your foundation must be.” And so, what are our values? How do values inform our way of thinking? How do the values that we have, how does our faith inform who we are and how we go about things?
The restlessness on his part was that you are always restless for more. And in the, he begins his rule to his friars as “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” And so we are constantly trying to improve. We are trying to move forward. His very notion of an Augustinian education is to constantly move forward, to constantly keep advancing.
As soon as you stop, you’re finished and you’re never finished. You’re constantly moving forward. So the strategic plan in using the words rooted and restless is that we are very rooted in our traditions of our Augustinian Villanova community and we are restless for more.
So how do we use research to discover new things? The ability of our students to find acceptance here how we continue to look at different ways of creating a community that is representative of the world in which we live in. And how do we gain, how do students gain access to the institution no matter what economic background they might be from? So it’s our responsibility to try to offer those possibilities to them. It is how we continue to strengthen our Augustinian charism, our Augustinian tradition through various programming.
There’s a great emphasis here on community. And how we live community and how everybody must contribute to the building of that community. So those are some of the tenets of the strategic plan. There’s six pillars all together, but they all kind of interweave with each other, so.
Todd Ream: In a world of convenient temptations and all too few models in higher education, how does one develop a theological imagination worthy of envisioning as well as advancing the relationship shared by the Catholic character of an institution and academic excellence?
Fr. Peter Donohue: When you study theology or the discipline of theology, it really is an exploration of one’s relationship with God and discovering what that relationship is and how that relationship infuses in your life. And as we look at the study of theology, and certainly our embracing of theology that influence or that relationship with God also influences our relationship with other people, and how we continue to interact with other people, and how other people influence our knowledge of God as well.
So it’s, you know, something that runs through or is part of the very grounding of who we are as a Catholic institution, is that relationship between God, ourselves, and others. And without that, there’s no real understanding of how academic excellence is really something that you can develop and use to influence your life and the life of others, without that notion of who you are in relationship to God and others, so.
Todd Ream: What are some of the most important leadership practices that senior administrators need to consider when fostering this relationship between the Catholic character of the institution and academic excellence?
Fr. Peter Donohue: I think for me, for me, as I look at, you know, our leadership here, it’s important that we understand as leaders of this institution, first and foremost, our mission what we are called to be we promote here at the university, our key principles, which are veritas, unitas, and caritas. How do we, as individuals, discover truth in ourselves and how do we interrelate with that truth to others and how that truth is shared? How we build a community together and that we do it out of a sense of love or commitment to one another, caring for one another.
So first and foremost, it’s important, I think, for not only the administrators, but our faculty and our staff to embrace that mission, and to examine how they can contribute to that mission. It’s more than just understanding it. It’s more than just seeing it as words on a seal or embossed on a stone. It’s really, how do those principles of veritas, unitas, and caritas, how they are in your life and how do you respond to them? Because it’s important. If you’re going to be a part of this community, you have an active role in making sure that those principles are alive and well and understood and accepted by our students. So that’s first and foremost.
The next thing I would say is the ability to dialogue with each other. You know, to listen to each other, to listen to what other people are saying, to really hear what they need. And how do we as individuals respond to that call? You know, how do we, I mean, to take very simply the message of Christ, you know, to love one another as you wish to be loved. How are you, how are you acting that out on a daily basis? You know, are you really loving people as you wish to be loved? Are you really dealing with them as you wish to be dealt with?
Todd Ream: Thank you. What are some of the mistakes then that you would encourage senior administrators to avoid making?
Fr. Peter Donohue: Jumping to conclusions. You know, I think to reacting to something too quickly. You know, there’s always the sense of understanding the situation and really evaluating that situation. And here, as I said, you know, I think an important quality for any administration is the ability to listen that you have to understand what people’s needs are and where they are on their journey in order to help them on that journey. And so to jump to conclusions that this is the best thing or this is what I want or this is what you need to do without really hearing where they are I think is an important quality of how you lead an institution forward.
Todd Ream: Thank you. I want to transition to some biographical details now, if I may.
You were born in the Bronx, but raised in Michigan, earned a BA in theater and communication from Villanova, an MA in theater from Catholic University of America, an MDiv from the Washington Theological Union, and a PhD in theater from Illinois Urbana Champaign. At what point did you know the study and practice of theater was an important part of your life’s calling?
Fr. Peter Donohue: Well, I think it was probably the calling I had first. I’ve been involved in theaters since I was a little kid. I played one of the Von Trapp family’s sons more times than I could remember but, you know, I was either the younger one or the older one. And then, you know, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys and all those kinds of things. So, from a little kid I got very involved in theater.
I was not a big sports person. And so my outlet or my creative outlet was through theater, particularly musical theater. So as I developed in school and elementary school and high school, I was always in the shows. I was many times the lead in the show. Not blowing my own horn here, but I’ve got a pretty good voice.
And my older brother was into acting. In fact, he became an actor. That’s what his career is. So it was something I think I emulated him in some ways of doing. it was always a part of my life and it was always a part of the way I expressed myself and how I found my ability to create. That was important to me.
Todd Ream: Were there any teachers in particular who are more influential along these lines than others?
Fr. Peter Donohue: There certainly was a teacher in high school that really kind of pushed me to develop my voice better. Her name was Sister Irmina. She was a Adrian Dominican sister and she taught music in high school. And I think she realized the quality of my voice and really, had me doing vocal things that weren’t always that fun. They were kind of repetitious, but you know, she helped me develop who I was.
And ironically, she was also the inspiration why I became an Augustinian. So it was really the sisters I had in high school that really kind of opened my eyes to a religious community living. They not only helped my theater background, but they helped my religious background as well.
Todd Ream: Would you say a little bit more about that in terms of your calling to the priesthood, but also in particular, your calling to the Order of St. Augustine?
Fr. Peter Donohue: Oh, well, they’re kind of a funny story in some ways, but as I said, I was taught by Adrian Dominicans through elementary school and high school, started with the Felicians but for the most part was the Dominicans.
I always had it in the back of my mind. I don’t think it was any surprise to my family that I wanted to be a priest. You know, there was a sense of when I was growing up certainly— I’m a little older. So I was pre-Vatican II, as well as Vatican II, and certainly pre-Vatican II, there was a sense of mystery and aura about it all. There was, you know, there was a sense of drama and theatricality in the liturgy.
The life of a religious at the time was a very secretive life. It was almost, you know, mysterious. You never saw them outside of the classroom you know, or in church. You had no idea what went on behind the walls, you know, into that convent and what, how they lived their lives, but they always seemed a rather close knit group of people. And they were always very dedicated to education.
And I was kind of inspired by that. Nothing against the diocesan priests that were in my parish, but I had no desire to be a diocesan priest, that just didn’t do anything for me. I didn’t see myself living in a rectory and, you know, kind of being an independent and kind of developing relationships with people in a parochial setting. Rather, I wanted to be in an educational setting.
So anyway, I shared this with one of the sisters in school one day that I was interested in kind of pursuing it. And she said, you don’t want to be a Dominican friar. They’re too serious. You know, you’re not a very serious person. She said, I would look into some other people. And she said, ironically, the Dominicans follow the rule of St. Augustine. So check out the Augustinians or check out the Franciscans or check out, look at some of those things. Ironically, my mother grew up in an Augustinian parish in New York City. I was a baby, when I was five years old, when we left the Bronx, but we lived in an Augustinian parish on Fordham, right near Fordham University.
And the Augustinians are still there. There was a high school. We had a high school there that we taught in. And so I wrote, I saw an ad for them. I wrote away to them and said, I’d like some information. They sent me some information and I liked what I heard. And I liked the idea of teaching there. We have a number of high schools, as well as two universities. And I liked the idea of that. And the religious community seemed attractive to me. And I never met one until the day I arrived. They accepted me and I came to Villanova to become an Augustinian and to be a Villanova student. So it was a newspaper ad. So sometimes they work.
Todd Ream: Is it a safe assumption on my part that this parish in which your family was a part of up till you were age five, you were baptized in this particular parish, so in some ways you may be coming home then?
Fr. Peter Donohue: Ah, yeah, exactly. I was baptized by an Augustinian. So, I mean, ironically, it was kind of like sooner or later, they were going to get me.
Todd Ream: It’s all part of the plan then.
Fr. Peter Donohue: Yeah, it’s all part of the plan.
Todd Ream: As you think about your calling, how do you understand the relationship shared by priest, theater practitioner and scholar, and university president? In what ways do they complement each other? What ways maybe do they work against each other?
Fr. Peter Donohue: My life, my vocation is to be an Augustinian and that’s what I have been called to do, that is my vocation. And as part of that vocation I am ordained priest, and therefore, called to minister to people. My life as an educator is really connected to the Augustinian community in terms of the number of the kinds of service we do or the kind of work we do. It’s one of the kinds of work we do. We do have parishes as well, but I’ve never really found myself in a parish. I’ve always been involved in our educational ministry. And it influences how I live my life and what I do. And that’s my career.
Theater was my background, my discipline. So it was the thing I spent time in and the Augustinians from the very beginning, always encouraged me to pursue theater. So they never said you shouldn’t be doing that. You can’t be doing that. And, and so they were, um very open to me being involved in theater and doing it.
In fact, when I was down in Washington, DC, I was at Washington Theological Union and Catholic University at the same time. So I was studying theater at one part of the day and I was studying theology the other part of the day. And you know, there’s a lot of intersection with them every once in a while. So that was really the career, you know, my vocation is an Augustinian, my ministry is priesthood. And my career is theater or teaching theater. So that’s how they all kind of influence each other.
Most people outside of Villanova, when I was announced as president, were very surprised that they had selected somebody with a theater background. But I tell everybody, and I’ve told them for years, it’s the biggest acting job I’ve ever had.
Todd Ream: It’s the stage that never, never comes to an end in some ways.
Fr. Peter Donohue: Exactly. Exactly.
Todd Ream: Yep. Well, you mentioned you, you served as chair of the theater department, and I believe for 14 years before being appointed president in 2006, and along with your predecessor, Father Edmund Dobbin, you’re the longest serving president in Villanova’s history. What has such a tenure given to you in terms of service to Villanova?
Fr. Peter Donohue: I tell people all the time, and I really believe this. I am humbled by this job and I am honored to serve as the face of Villanova University in many different locations. You know, I go out to not only Villanova events, but other events and other places and other conferences. And I represent Villanova in terms of who we are as an institution, but I’m honored to be in that position but really the heart, the soul, the spirit of Villanova lies with our faculty, our staff, our alumni, our students. They are the ones that live and develop and represent Villanova in so many different ways of their lives.
As I say, you know, I didn’t want the job. We don’t look in, in our life certainly our training as religious, it’s not like you pursue a job. You’re asked to do a job because people believe you have the ability or the talent, or the gifts to serve in that job. And so I see it really as a servant to the university. So the whole notion of servant leadership is really central to me. It is serving the university. And that is what I’ve been called to do right now in terms of my ministry.
But I have not walked away from being a priest. I celebrate mass on a regular basis. I certainly am visible to people as a Father Peter and they know who I am and what I do. And I continue to do weddings and funerals and I continue to find ways to continue that ministry as well as serve the university.
Todd Ream: Thank you. If it’s at all possible, what efforts define a typical day as president of Villanova University?
Fr. Peter Donohue: There is no such thing.
Todd Ream: I thought I’d preface it that way. What commitments do you find then sort of most fulfilling in that role?
Fr. Peter Donohue: Well, when you know, I was first selected, amongst some very fine candidates who are all Augustinians for this position, several of whom seem to have far more administrative experience than I did, it was important to me from the very get go that I not lose my connection to the students. That’s why we’re here. That’s why this institution exists. That’s why faculty and staff come to work every day, for the nurturing of our students. And so I did not want to lose that.
Over the years, it’s gotten harder and harder to maintain that relationship, but I do. I do work very hard to make sure that I hear the students. I spent time with them. I walk around. I have a monthly afternoon that it’s open office hours for students. They don’t have to make appointments. They just can come in and talk to me. And I do that once a month and I really want to make that connection alive.
And I think that’s not only important for me as the leader of the institution, but also for me as an Augustinian, to allow them to continue to experience who the Augustinians are and you know, our numbers are smaller than what they used to be at one time, you know, the whole faculty was Augustinians. Not the case anymore, but that’s my emphasis, my most important emphasis. And as I said that, you know, as things come up and certainly life has changed quite a bit over the last 18 years of what a president does but I really wanted to maintain that contact with students.
Todd Ream: In terms of that contact with students and the commitments that you have sought to uphold as president, one of my favorites is that you continue to direct musical productions on campus.
Fr. Peter Donohue: Every once in a while.
Todd Ream: With all the other demands on your time and how the presidency has changed over the course of those 18 years, how do you find time to maintain that commitment? And in what ways are you able to make that a priority?
Fr. Peter Donohue: It’s a huge commitment. It’s a six week commitment, mostly evenings and weekends. And it is a very dedicated staff of people in both in the theater department and my office who work to manipulate my schedule to make that happen. I don’t do it every year. I’ve done it like twice, three times since I’ve been president in 18 years.
It’s important for me. You know, I spent a lot of time getting a PhD in theater, and I spent a lot of time working in theater and teaching theater and, you know, directing myself. I used direct every year. And so, you know, that’s something I didn’t wanna lose and I wanted to continue to try to do that. But you know, in a musical, they’ve all been musicals and in a musical theater production, there’s lots of people.
Todd Ream: How do you define the academic vocation? And in particular, what commitments and or characteristics prove most fundamental to your understanding?
Fr. Peter Donohue: I think for anybody who is a teacher who is called to kind of understand what they their role is as a teacher, it is first and foremost to be passionate about what you know, your knowledge of the subject matter to continue to improve that knowledge, so research and scholarship and teaching all merged together to infuse that knowledge to your students and what it is.
I think it’s also for us as an Augustinian institution we very much follow Augustine’s idea of what a teacher is, that a teacher is as much of a person that learns from the students as well as gives information from the students. So there’s an exchange that needs to go on in terms of academic pursuit and academic excellence. I think I think the better you are in terms of listening to your students and responding to your students and learning from your students, then you become a better, a better person to be able to deliver that information and deliver that knowledge.
Todd Ream: Thank you. Over the course of your career there, in what ways, if any, have you seen the academic vocation grow or change or evolve, amongst faculty members in particular?
Fr. Peter Donohue: Well, I think in terms of, you know higher education, certainly, you know, terminal degrees are becoming much more, the, the demand so that, you know, you’re looking for people that have really demonstrated an excellence in their discipline. And you’re really looking for people that have a way of living that excellence in terms of who they are and the way they deliver that information to students.
So I think we here really look for people that are kind of zealots about their discipline, but also very passionate about teaching. So they have to combine those things together. Every faculty member here teaches and every faculty member here is required to teach undergraduates at, you know, along the course. So we don’t have anybody that’s here that’s just research-orientated.
Teaching and research is important and it’s important for us and I think this has been a real change that we’ve seen here as we’ve become more and more focused on research and scholarship in terms of our faculty excellence that they share that research and they invite their students into that process of research and scholarship with them. So engaging them in the work that they are doing outside of the classroom as well as inside the classroom.
Todd Ream: Most faculty members are products of terminal degree programs that are singularly focused on academic excellence, large research universities, public universities, private nonsectarian schools. What formative practices, if any, does Villanova afford the newest members of its faculty in terms of an appreciation for the relationship, as we were talking about it earlier in our conversation, the Catholic character of the institution and academic excellence?
Fr. Peter Donohue: We have an orientation program for new faculty that doesn’t, that doesn’t end in one day. So it’s for a new faculty member. It kind of extends through the whole first year that they’re here at different segments of the semester. So that starts out with a whole notion of who we are as an institution, the history of the institution. They get a lot of flavoring of what Augustine is all about, what his pedagogy, his teaching is about. They must give us a statement about how they will embody the mission in their life here and how they will contribute to the growth of that mission.
We have a summer two-week conference kind of thing that we offer to faculty in using Catholic social teaching and incorporating Catholic social teaching into their disciplines and into their curriculum. We also offer a whole process of a similar summer workshop for our faculty in creating dialogue and conversations about difference in class and how to deal with cultural differences as well as economic differences. So how do you embody that kind of sense of being a Christian-centered university that is grounded in this Catholic intellectual tradition? So they need to understand what that’s all about. And we offer all kinds of things to it.
We also have a program, it isn’t for everybody, but it’s people that can afford the time, but we have a program called a Pellegrinaggio, and it happens during the summer, beginning of summer. It also happens during our fall break. It also happens during our spring break, where faculty and staff members are invited to take a journey in Italy from Milan, where Augustine was baptized down through Italy to the various stops along the way that he made and to end in Rome where he buried his mother, Ronica, and sailed off to Africa to start his community. So it’s kind of the journey of Augustine in his development of his Christianity. It’s an interesting program and everybody loves it. So the food is always good.
Todd Ream: That sounds fascinating. Thank you. As our time draws to a close, I want to ask, in what ways, if any, has the relationship that Villanova shares with the Order changed over the course of your presidency, and then perhaps also the Church?
Fr. Peter Donohue: The Augustinians view the Augustinian community views Villanova as kind of a flagship for us. So our largest number of working friars is here at Villanova. We have about 20 friars, 22 friars that are active in terms of the ministry of Villanova, whether it’s in the classroom, administration, campus ministry, various other things that student life programming that they’re involved in.
So now that number has changed. When I first started here as president, that number was about 30. So we’ve lost a few. When I first came here in 1992 as chair of the department, probably the number was more like 40. And so we are aging. We don’t have as many young men entering as we have older men leaving so we are leaving life, leaving this world. It’s a struggle for us, I think, to continue to maintain presence here, but also it’s important for us as a community to really continue to sponsor and support the university and its journey.
But right now, in our bylaws, the president of the university is first and foremost to be an Augustinian, unless that changes for some reason or another. So since 1842, it has always been an Augustinian. There’s never been a conversation not to have an Augustinian as the leader. And I think there certainly are Augustinians after me that could take this service on as well. So I don’t think I’m the last one.
But it’s important for us to kind of maintain our presence here and also for us to infuse in the community here, what it means to be an Augustinian, because you don’t have to be vowed religious to live the Augustinian charism and the spirit. And many of our faculty and staff have really, have accepted that as to be a part of their responsibility to keep the Augustinian charism alive.
We have a very good relationship with the archbishop here. And we just gave him an honorary doctorate degree. He was the speaker at our commencement. So we do a lot in terms of service to the local church. Villanova also is the local parish community for the people that live around the university. So we have a pastor and an associate pastors and D.R.E. Programs and all that that are run out of the church on campus so, you know, it functions both as a university and a parish center.
And we do a lot in terms of our relationship with the other Catholic universities in the diocese of Philadelphia. The archdiocese, I should say. There were 11, there are now 10 Villanova has just acquired what was Cabrini University, so that will become part of Villanova, but we have 10 other Catholic institutions in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. And we work together a lot to kind of use our intellectual gifts here, as well as the excellence of our academic programming to really help foster the Church.
We also have a very vibrant program here, master’s degree in church management that we’ve had for a number of years. So it’s how we contribute to the betterment of parish life and training people to administer to parishes, so. We have a very vibrant, you know, part of our theology program is liturgy and there’s several people here that work as consultants for local parishes in terms of liturgy and liturgy development, as well as music. So I guess that would kind of sum it up.
Todd Ream: Our guest has been Father Peter M. Donohue, Professor of Theater and President of Villanova University. Thank you for taking the time to share your insights and wisdom with us.
Fr. Peter Donohue: You’re welcome. I’ve enjoyed it. Have a wonderful day.
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Todd Ream: Thank you for joining us for Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. We invite you to join us again next week for Saturdays at Seven.
