President of Relatively New Catholic College Named After Pope JPII Will Appear on CatholicTV

Dr. Derry Connolly, President of John Paul the Great Catholic University (JP Catholic) will be featured in an interview on CatholicTV.

JP Catholic is one of the newest Catholic universities in America. It is located in San Diego, CA.

Dr. Connolly is one of the original founders of JP Catholic and was originally inspired to start a university after witnessing 1000 students attend Mass at Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH. “These kids were absolutely on fire for their faith.” recalled Connolly in an interview posted on online.

Connolly had recently read the words of the president of a well-known Catholic university which said, “a great Catholic university had to be first a great university -and then Catholic.”
“Pope John Paul II would say that to be a great Catholic university, you have to be first a great Catholic organization and then secondly a great university.” said Connolly in the same interview (The Weight of Glory Blog).

Inspired by the faith of the students in Steubenville and a desire to start a quality school which would be faithful to Catholic teaching, Connolly and other co-founders started JP Catholic. Classes began in 2006. The first class will graduate in December 2009.

Speaking of the requirements of theology faculty, Dr. Connolly said, “The teachers have to be standing on platforms in the community saying, for example, that embryonic stem cell research is not consistent with Catholic teaching. They have to align themselves with the Church on issues facing people in the media and in technology in the community. They must be highly visible Catholic spokespersons.”

Also featured on “This is the Day” will be Joseph Curto, founder of Catholics for Christ- an organization designed to evangelize different people at different spiritual levels using evangelistic meetings, missions, retreats, and seminars.

Mr. Curto has spoken hundreds of times, helping Catholics deepen their personal relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Currently a parishioner at St Francis de Sales in Purcellville,Virginia, Joe has served on the Pastoral council for 3 years and currently conducts a weekly Adult Bible Study, and facilitates the St. Francis de Sales Charismatic Prayer Group “Refuge.” In addition, Joe serves the Diocese of Arlington as a board member of Charismatic Renewal Service Committee (CRSC).