 Welcome everyone. Thank you so much for joining us this evening. My name is Jessica Colligan, and I'm happy to welcome you on behalf of Fairfield's Alumni Relations Office. This is the third event in this Alumni Stories, Lives at Inspire series. And with me as always is Father Jerry Bloschek, who is our alumni chaplain and special assistant to the president. Our featured speaker this evening is Dr. Robert Parmak from the class of 1998. And Rob is the director of the Nation Mission Initiatives at Fordham University, where he's also a professor of theology and philosophy. We're so excited to have him with us and to have him share his story with all of you. But before we get started, just a couple of housekeeping items I wanna go over. We ask that you please keep your microphones muted just to minimize any distractions and background noise. And second, I recommend that you use speaker view rather than gallery view in Zoom, just to keep the focus of your screen on our speakers. And finally, we encourage questions. Please use the chat feature in Zoom and we will monitor that and get to as many of the questions as possible in the time allotted. And now I will turn things over to Father Jerry. Thanks so much, Jess. A number of you have been following us. A number of you followed us through COVID where we had interviews with Jesuits whom you knew, Jesuits whom you may have had as teachers. And the idea was to not only talk about Ignatian spirituality in the abstract, but quite the contrary to talk about it as it was lived and as you experienced it during your time here at Fairfield or whatever Jesuit institution you might have been involved with. At the instigation of our dear friend, Carolyn Rosakis, Carolyn came up with the genial idea that we really ought to not be so trapped in just remembering the Jesuits whose number we had pretty well exhausted by that time anyway, but that we ought to be looking at our alumni because really our alumni in a singular and extremely impressive way do what this series describes. They, our alumni whose personal stories are lives that inspire. I mean, it's really amazing when Carolyn and I and others and Janet Canapa and Jess and I sat down and reviewed the long list of Fairfield alum, alum some of whom are, many of whom are on this poll, we realized that there were so many of our alumni and alumni whose lives really manifest in such a rich diversity of ways, what it might mean to take Jesuit education or Ignatian spirituality to heart and then to live it effectively and to incarnate it. To incarnate it. So I'm going to acknowledge from the very start in the spirit of candor and transparency, that I'm introducing you to one of my favorite people, Rob Parmack. I've known Rob and his family for over 25 years when Rob first left Fairfield and came to us at Fordham, I had the chance to meet Rob and subsequently connect with his family. So in the course of our conversation, Rob may well tell you more about some of the things that we were involved with together at Fordham and other places, but Rob, I wanna thank you so much for taking the time to be with us. Rob, your first experience, your first exposure to things Jesuit didn't happen when you came to Fairfield but four years before that when you went to Xavier High School. So what happened to an innocent boy from Queens when he ended up being sent to the hands of the Jesuits at Xavier High School? How did you end up there and what was it like for you? Well, thanks, good evening everybody. Oh, you're a military guy, right? Xavier was still a military school, right? Right, so thank you so much for the boss check as well as Jessica for the invitation this evening. So I got introduced to the Jesuit education when actually I was in fourth grade unbeknownst to me. What? Yeah, I was the youngest of three boys. So my two elder brothers attended Xavier High School. Okay. So all I knew was every weekend you were at some either military function, some celebratory mass, some mother's club or father's club bingo night or something. So like my whole social life from fourth grade on was simply at Xavier and I loved it. So much so that I remember eighth grade my teacher saying, oh, where are you applying to? I said, I'm just applying to one place. She says, that's probably not a smart idea. So I applied to two others just to placate her but I knew I wanted to go to Xavier. But I loved it. It was a great experience. I think many ways, you know, such a formative part of my life. You know, when you are nine to 12th grade I'm looking at my friend Colleen who's on the screen now who teaches high school. You know, what a tremendous time it is. That's when your intellect starts blooming, your physical body changes, your psychology, your spiritual life. You know, and I remember great Jesuits who were there Ken Boller who was our headmaster and rector and president of the time, Father Mark Razzelli who I actually have reconnected with at Fordham now, he's at the Jesuit infirmary. So it's great to see him again, Pat Dormer, the track and cross country coach. You know, people that I really felt that not only got me to understand what Jesuit education was about but to feel its impact in your life. What was it about, Rob? What was that encountering of them? What was it about your experience of them that you can now, since you've had the opportunity of course to study and to theorize and to try to thematize Jesuit spirituality, what was it that you were sensing in them and your encounter with them? For me, it was always that they tried to get you to make sure you're using your brain and not checking it at the church door. You know, I used to, Mark Razzelli used to always tell us that and he says, you know, I want to make sure you're using faith and reason. You know, and unbeknownst to me a ninth grade, okay, Father, you know, whatever you think we should do. But you know, as you get old, you realize, you know what, he was actually encouraging me to delve deeper into my interior life, you know, your intellect, your heart. And I use this phrase at Fordham all the time that, you know, at the end of the day, our prayer is to use your head, your heart and your hands, you know, in the sense of like, you're using your intellect, you're using your belief systems, what you have convictions about, then ultimately you're rolling up your sleeves and getting out there and doing things. You know, and I found so many of the Jesuits and community there as well as my late teachers, friends, coaches, you know, they really walk the walk. So I was really impressed, you know, you have someone who's giving a speech in front of 3,000 people and 20 minutes before he's helping set up the tables, you know, he's also the person who is very patient, but somebody's grandmother who keeps, you know, his ear for 20 minutes after the event too. And it always struck me as, you know, these are people that I really believe in and trust in many ways. So I think that's where I sensed it. It was a felt mission in many ways. Oh, well, I mean, you got the basics even before there would have been a vocabulary capable of pulling it together, right? No, so well, which of your Jesuit college counselors told you you had to come to Fairfield? Well, it was Bill McGowan. I knew it had to be Bill McGowan. Yeah, Uncle Bill McGowan. And in his very articulate way that at times he actually did incurs too. So that was interesting, yeah. And, you know, one of these things where he would, you know, he would just call it as it is, you know. Blah, Max, you're gonna go to Fairfield. Is that how he delicately put it? Yeah, pretty much. And he'd say, you know, come to my office, we need to talk. So you weren't sure what exactly that meant, but you go down there and he was honest about it too. And he says, you know, look at your gifts, look what you want to do. And he also gave it the space to explore, you know, at that point too. Maybe I would actually continue doing more military because we had a GROTC US Army program at Xavier that I enjoyed very much. And I think that was also a hallmark of my information. And then in junior year, I came to think more and more. Maybe I would pursue something like that. So I have to say, like I went on a few retreats, talked to different people, took some extra courses and it got me to think about that I really wanted to study the humanities. So that was very blessed about that. So you wanted a university where the humanities would be central? Yeah, and I have to say like, you know, the courses that I took, you know, the teachers that I had at Xavier, they really, I think influenced me in many ways. You know, we speak today about social media influences. These are human life influences that I hung out with every day. You know, the people who gave you good advice, the people who told you what you needed to hear, not just what you wanted to hear, you know, and they did it in a loving, tactful way, but also helped you embrace who you were. You know, I remember going there and there was one Jesuit, Vince Butler, who has since passed, and he was a very kind guy and he was great at speech and debate. And he heard me speak at some military function and he says, Parmar, come over here. He said, oh, good job. I said, oh, thanks, Parmar. He says, now let's make it better. You know, so there reached the point where, you know, and he basically tutored me for a whole quarter, you know, without any problem at all. He said, you know, when can you make it? And I would work with him, you know, weekly on public speaking, on looking at issues. And, you know, this was the guy, you know, he gave him himself during lunch hours and he met me early in the morning before home room and things like that. So that really, you know, convinced me that this was the real deal. Rob, I mean, I'm gonna say this because at the risk of making you blush, but the way you describe these people is what I saw you do consistently with the undergraduate students at Fairfield. And when you ended, I'm sorry, at Fordham, when you ended up being a freshman dean, we'll get to Fordham in a minute, but Rob became dean of the freshman at Rose Hill. And everything that he's saying that these exemplary Jesuits did for him, I have to say Rob, I saw you do for students and especially for students who might not always have, you know, been in the eye of the faculty. You had an eye for the students who were filled with potential, but maybe needed that extra assist and you always did that with your freshmen. So Rob, I had the impression that when you came to Fairfield, you came as a pre-med. Is that right? I did, yes. So I came in very much thinking I would be a, you know, doctor right away. I had an internship at surgery at NYU and Bellevue the summer before. Would this be before you came here? I did, yeah. And I enjoyed it. I lucked out in some program and you basically shattered a position. We went to rounds, we did different types of training. And, you know, what I really came to recognize was, you know, the first one year you took calculus, Latin, chem, bio and English at Fairfield. And then basically you postponed your philosophy in theology. So, and here's my segue to Father Tom Regan who's a big call out too. He was teaching a course and he says, you know what? I heard that you're interested in classics. I said, yeah, I am father. He says, okay. So I think you should continue with that. And he says, you need to take your intro philosophy. And me, well, I didn't even know this guy. I don't know where he came from but he found me at the time. And he said, you should take this Jesuit region by the name of Luis Tampi. You remember him, Jerry? Oh, sure, sure. So he was a great intro teacher. I took his philosophy course and then I fell in love with the class. I really enjoyed it. I continued as pre-health. And then I said, you know what? Maybe I should actually focus a little more on philosophy and the classics. So then I took Tom Regan's intro to modern philosophy course. I remember in Canisius 202. That's for our classroom. And I remember him giving me a really kind of total Regan line at the end of the midterm, the end of the blue book. He says, okay, you know, good work. And he has comments throughout, very helpful. And finally, the last line that I thought was so cryptic, he's like, come see me when you're ready to surrender. That's what I would say. Oh, Tom Regan, you're listening. So you're allowed to offer a rebuttal to anything Parmac is saying. So did you go to see him and did you surrender, whatever that means? I did. So basically, so over the weekend I stewed on this because I wasn't sure what exactly he was talking about but I had a sense. And he says, you know, you enjoy this, you're good at this. Why don't you really, you know, focus on it? And I said, no, you're right. So yeah, that's when I changed to philosophy and classics and I don't regret it at all. And it's funny, years later when I was academic dean, I so appreciated the fact that I had a nice background in a lot of the disciplines, them included because I think it helped me in working with students too in many ways. So no regrets there. May I just read, thanks, Rob. May I just reinforce what Jessica told you that if you have questions or comments or even challenges to Rob, please register them with Colleen, I'm sorry, with Jessica and we'll offer them to Rob as time allows. So Rob, having made that decision, what about here at Fairfield? What else was it? Were you involved in campus ministry? Were you involved in service? How else would you describe your experience here at Fairfield? Yeah, definitely. I see Carissa on there too. She was my co-leader for a Eucharistic minister. So Carissa was there. Hey, Carissa, how are you? So I mean, definitely for me, Fairfield basically was like three intersecting categories. So it was clearly the campus ministry, Eucharistic minister area. It was definitely cross-country and track. There was on the team there. And then I think the third one was really, the tight friends, many of whom are on today, which was great to see. That really, we kind of supported one another and we love one another in many ways. So yeah, campus ministry, I was involved in that in high school too. So I said, okay, perhaps I should continue at the college level. My freshman roommate, Matt Patuko, who's on the call with us here as well. Hey, Matt, thank you for joining us. He was a Lecter. And so I said, okay, I'm gonna do Eucharistic ministers and see Jen Mazel and other people on there too, from the world of EM. And I met this woman, Carolyn Roussikus, who I thought was just being polite at first. And she always was. But little did I know she really took an interest in each and every person. And I say this not to embarrass her, but there hasn't been a birthday since Fairfield, that she hasn't emailed me, reached out to me. And I see other people nodding their heads that it's the case too. One hour before this Zoom today, she gives me a little congratulations note too. So I mean, she's the genuine deal. And I often use this story, Carolyn, that's embarrassing, but because I respect you so much. When I speak to students about leveraging failure, because I think that's part of life too. It's not just looking at the accolades or the awesome things we like to believe we do all the time, but a sense of grit and how we pick ourselves up from failure too. And I remember I dropped the ball on a project in the beginning of senior year. And Carolyn lovingly pulled me into her office and she says, you know, can we speak at a later time? And I said, well, sure, what does that mean? Because she wanted to actually devote the time, not just a quick two minute conversation. So we made an appointment and I came to see her a few days later. And I have to say like, it was terrific because she told me what I needed to hear, not just what I wanted to hear. She mentioned to me, you know, how I could have done things better. And I always remember that lesson. And I try to embody that in my own work with students too, where, you know, we always talk about, you know, cura personalis, care of the whole person. And we only like to think about it in the positive sense of just giving accolades or supporting and giving dignity, all of which is important. But, you know, she cared enough about developing this whole person that she pulled me aside when I was a dummy about something too. You know, and sort of put me back in the right way. So I always thought that was very impactful in my fake life, in my intellectual life, in my friendships, relationships, things like that. So thank you, Caroline. Caroline, it's a privilege to have Rob with us and a privilege to hear him articulate what so many students, so many alumni, so many alumni experienced with you and from you. So please accept what Rob is saying as a sincere thanks from so many people and from the university as a whole for everything that you've done for so many people. Rob, you moved on to Fordham then. And did you study immediately? Did you start studying philosophy? I did, yes. What did you have in mind? Yeah, so Tom Regan says, okay, you should have an appointment with Dr. Dominic Palestra, because he was- Oh, what a terrific guy. Yeah, so he taught Father Regan when he was a grad student too. And he says, you've got to like this guy. I'm sure enough I did. So I went there and it kind of moved from there. So I didn't necessarily have this kind of five or 10 year plan, but I remember Father Regan saying, you know, go where your heart is. And then years later, I came across a quote of Ignatius that I never heard of. He says, that which makes you feel the most alive and what you do is where God is. That which makes you feel the most alive and what you do is where God is. And years later, it finally hit home to me. So I talked to this professor of philosophy and I started to take classes. I was working for the first two years as a grad assistant in student affairs. And that was the best deal because I got housing on campus. You have a very nice apartment as I remember. That's right, we were neighbors. That's right. I was living in the residence halls too, and so was Rob. But I followed Parmac. Parmac went across into Little Italy, into Belmont and charmed every deli owner, every waitress. So if you wanted to make sure you got a good deal from the delis and from the restaurants, you had a no-rob Parmac who became in his tenure at Fordham, the mayor of Belmont. But that's another line of questioning. So there you go, Rob. So you're working theoretically working in student personnel, student life. Yeah, so I was doing peer education and some counseling and I lived in the dorm and I was doing my studies and it was a great kind of combination of all the three. You know, thinking like, oh, I'll go for a master's, get it out of my system and then see what goes on. And then little by little, they offered me the opportunity to teach for a course. And I loved it. I have to say it was the best combination. I was excited to teach. I was nervous as anything because I was really young. So I remember totally getting dressed up to make sure I looked older. And I really connected with the students and I look forward to it. The fact that I was helping them outside in a non-academic sense too. I felt like I got to know them more, little more with advising this and that too. And then sort of as the years went on, I said, oh, I'll go for the doctorate, which I did. I studied more religion and theology too because the more I was studying philosophy, I realized that there's something there that I need to see the intersection. So that's where sort of the nation's spirituality, I think, hit home because I felt it. I felt the presence there. And I was teaching a little more. And Jeff Van Arks, who was the Dean of Fordham College at the time, thought of Van Arks, he says, you know, Rob, pretty soon we're gonna have an opening. You should apply to it. So I said, okay. And he says, you know, but don't be disappointed if it doesn't work out. You're young, you don't have many years under your belt. You know, see how it goes. So thank God it actually worked that well. I was very fortunate that I was selected to be the, when I first started, I was what they called a utility dean. I basically helped with whatever was going on. And then I learned a lot. I was still living on campus, still teaching. And I think that all complimented one another. And then I was freshman dean per God, a good 15 years. Yeah, and a spectacular job with a wonderful group of people, an unforgettable talented and dedicated group of people to whom you contributed so much. Rob, it was during those years that you got involved with fashioning the Monarisa Scholars Program. Is that right? That's right. Yeah, so. What is that, Rob? What was that? And also the, what are you got involved with? The West Wing. Yeah. Very, you know, very, you know, very catchy. What were those two programs? Sure. So the Monarisa one is rivaling Ignatius, his own experience when he was in Monarisa, Spain. Right. People's lives apart or what did you do? No, luckily we didn't. So there was no kneecap, cannonball moments. And so the dean at the time said, we want to start this program. And it was a kind of experiment back then, which now is so common in many schools, Jesuit schools call it integrated learning community. So an ILC. And the idea basically was to combine academic study, Ignatian spirituality and student life activities together. So realizing that the student doesn't learn, you know, in the classroom alone, that we're trying to really expand their horizons, but also get more faculty and staff involved in wholesome ways. So I said, okay, so, you know, I would love to be part of that. And again, the kind of gravitated that was my interest. And they said, well, can you teach a philosophy course in that program, which I did. And then the next year they said, can you kind of help coordinate it? You know, I said, okay. And again, I wasn't really sure where we would go with this, but I learned a lot. The students taught me a lot. And we over time made it a lot more intentional and a lot more pointed. So we had everything from lectures to conversations to dinner, colloquia. We had community engaged learning service projects that we did with the students, staff, faculty, RAs. Everybody was a nice team that we worked together. And we instituted two things, one of which was called the Ignatian integration essay. So whatever course you were taking as part of that Manresa Scholars Program, and there were seven options from which the student could select, business, philosophy, theology, art history. We had a lot of catchy titles, all of which counted as a core course, but they were really specialized versions. And they were reading, writing intensive, and at Fordham, something that we call Elegancy of Perfect, that these are the kind of freshman seminars that I have 19 students limited in the class. So there's really a lot of interaction with the faculty in that way. And we had something called these integration essays. So regardless of the course you took, we were finding ways of practical intersection with Jesuit education and nation spirituality. We had conversations, we had talks, we had a lot of humorous things, events. It was a lot of fun. And then it was going well. So they wanted to start one for the sophomores. And at that time, the West Wing was really a popular TV show. So interestingly, it was also geographically the West Wing of one of the sophomore dorms. So we maximized on that and said, let's have it there. So again, it was this kind of intentional community, many of whom were from Manresa the year before. It was kind of like stage two. And this was on civic engagement, Ignatian education, public policy. We really tried to have the students utilize the skills from freshman year that there are now emerging student leaders come sophomore year. And my colleague and I run that at this point, even to this day too, this for sophomores called the West Wing. Just so you understand that Rob is not just this academic guy. I learned very quickly when I was at Fordham, Rob and I were at Fordham simultaneously. I was VP for mission and ministry then. But I realized that the programs that Rob and I were trying to launch, there was never anything that would interrupt or conflict with his commitment to camp friendship. Rob, just so you get a fuller view of who this guy is, nothing could get in the way of camp friendship. I couldn't plan anything and depend on Parmac if it conflicted with his lifelong commitment, it seemed to me, to camp friendship. What in the world was camp friendship and how did you get involved with that? Look at the big smile. It's the biggest smile he's had. All I have to do is mention camp friendship. So it was by accident actually. I was there, clueless, a couple of months into my graduate studies. And one of the student leaders said, Rob, can you do us a favor? And I said, yeah, sure. Not thinking what the answer was. And she says, well, our chaperone got sick or something happened, I forget exactly. And she says, we're going down for a week to be camp counselors for foster kids in rural Mississippi. And she's like, well, you did Boy Scouts and you're used to that stuff. I said, okay, yeah. So I said, all right, so when is it? She said the first week in June. So we made it work and I met the team. They were like halfway through their formation in the spring semester. So I felt like, all right, we'll make this happen. This way they're not canceling it. I'll do it and it'll be a good experience and leave it at that. Well, little by little, kind of crept up into me, my head and my heart. And realizing that these were great people. Everybody that was involved in this camp gave them their body, mind and spirit type of thing. One of my good friends was on this Zoom right now, Sean. We became close friends down there. And little did I know, he was actually a Fordham graduate. We were the same age, but we didn't cross pads at Fordham because he had already graduated with them. And you're just getting to recognize just good people who are honest and work hard. The kids were a lot of fun too. So this June will be my 23rd year camp friendship. Don't end a rough camp friendship. The other element of Rob Parmac's life that appears in, you know, I've combed just cause I always try to do my homework. I've combed through anything public about Rob Parmac. And it never appears. And Rob, you know what this is. This is your commitment to the elderly and sick Jesuits on campus at Fordham. All the years that Rob was doing this remarkable work with the students. Rob was on the Fordham campus, we have our province infirmary where Jesuits who no longer can take care of themselves who need full-time nursing care. Jesuits who are in hospice care as they're preparing to go to God. Rob Parmac visited these people and I wish I could tell you that these guys had all their former classmates and all the parishioners they worked with. I wish I could tell you that they were inundated with visitors which wasn't the case. The reality of life is what it is when you're sick and elderly, it's not long before you might conclude that you've been forgotten and you might conclude that you had no impact on other people's lives. I don't know what inspired you Rob but all the time you were at Fordham and I'm presuming with whatever time taking care of your mom allows you that you're still visiting the elderly and sick Jesuits at Murray Weigel Hall. How did that happen Rob and what inspired you to do that? I was living in Finley Hall which is right basically across from Murray Weigel. So late at night you would hear at times the ambulances and things like that in a lot of medical care and then one night the fire alarm went off and you couldn't see there was some commotion. So I ran downstairs and little did I know my high school English teacher was a Jesuit who was a president then at Murray Weigel and I met a few others too Frank Tierney, Harry Hoffman all these guys and they were from the old school. We thought they were 110 when I was in high school. So when I met them at Murray Weigel they probably really were 110 at that point. So and I just found like this kind of bond and connection that was there. So then I put two and two together and said we have all these undergraduate students missing their grandparents number one but also practically speaking that could really value this relationship with these older gentlemen and vice versa. So we got it more systematized so we would go over we would do events and programs and spiritual things as well as just simply trivia nights as well as films, take them outside and do things on campus and just little by little the students came to realize as did I just the rich value, the relationships these guys had time to give, which was awesome too. You have a kid who's struggling in a course and really needs a tutor and father so-and-so would love to meet with him every other day to go over literature or something like that. So little by little we came to realize they kind of have this adopt the pops kind of program that they called it. And so we've done a lot of things even to this day and we actually were there about a week and a half ago as part of the Ignatian Week. We did some events that are there and the province informerian, Jim Yannarell who's actually a nurse who was at Fairfield many years ago he's just a funny guy. So we just got along very well and little by little we would pick out all the Xavier people for whatever year they were at. Oh, you went to Xavier? Yeah. And they would ask you what year you were in and I say, yeah, well it was 75 years after you but anyway we somehow still connected. So that's always been a place in my heart I think the Jesuit community but also ways in which like my faith I think was nurtured indirectly by a lot of those guys. Rob, I hope you still afford them when my time comes. I'm gonna count on you to wheel me around Rose Hill when the time comes. Rob, you are now inaugural director of Ignatian Mission Initiatives in the office of the vice president of Mission Integration and Ministry at Fordham University. What the hell is that? So basically I see myself as involved in three things. So I do a lot of Ignatian programmatic things. So I think all my background and experience and just fun with running programs with students, faculty, staff, Jesuits to sort of get us to amplify or Ignatian presence on campus. But also I think to like I mentioned earlier to not just understand it, believe it, but to feel it. So I tried to do a lot of things like that. And I think the background in student affairs and teaching and the dean position primed me well for this. I feel it's very consistent with my personality and what I enjoy too. In addition to that, it involves like workshops and different types of conversations, discussions, particularly with folks in the university that perhaps weren't always invited to the table. So I think that's important too, especially clerical staff and others at different campuses of the university too, in particular Lincoln Center and some of the graduate professional schools too. So I've been doing a lot of work one-on-one as well as with small groups and even larger ones for the academic records office for student financial services for the grad students too. So it's been great. And then the third, because I've just been there a long time is development, which I enjoy. So I don't mind speaking in front of a crowd. I got a lot of good experience, I think from Xavier and Fairfield doing that and just opportunities to try to articulate why Jesuit education and Ignatian spirituality matter on the day to day. So that's kind of what I'm involved in. What do you tell them? What do you tell them? I think ultimately what it's about is, you've heard of that line that a good indicator of Jesuit education is a kind of student that we graduate. So this is this student that work themselves intellectually but also we're receptive to spiritual ideas. You've got them to think more about themselves as an integrated person in a body, mind and spirit. But also to realize that there's joy and there's a lot of humor and fun in it too. All of study may not be boring or cold if anything. I think it should be engaging and warm-blooded in many ways too. So it's been a great learning experience for me to I just started in this position. They invited me this past August. So I'm there not a year yet, but it's been great. Seeing alums working with current students, graduate student population in particular and you're learning a lot about where we're at. And what I'm really convinced about is that we're all sharing in the mission. That's not as if just one department does it or the president or me in this role or the Jesuit community alone. We're all members and partners in what in fact is going on from the freshman who's brand new to the seasoned alum and everybody in between. So it's been a lot of fun, I have to say. If any of you have the ability to go online and get the Fordham News, Rob was at this month or last month they did a feature on Rob and his efforts. And Rob in that article, they do a great job of describing the wide variety of problems. Harry, you're asking his penetration into the student body. That article describes pretty powerfully how effectively Rob has managed to get involved not only in the undergraduate schools, we have two, we have Rose Hill at Lincoln Center and at Fordham. Thank you. Thanks, Jess. Fordham College is both at Lincoln Center and at Rose Hill. And so that's already a big challenge, but then Rob has also very effectively found a way to work into conversation and to respond to the needs of our business school. Rob, you wanna say something about, this is very interesting how you've approached our graduate business faculty. Therefore, I say ours because I'm a Fordham grad and right now I'm on the board of trustees at Fordham. So when I say ours, it doesn't be careful. Whether I'm saying Fairfield or Fordham. Yeah. So I like to think of it, it's almost like talking in their language, return on investment, ROI. So, there's countless stories that I hear from people in the business school and they're currently there as students or staff or faculty or alums that are treasured in their experience where they really feel like they became who they are as a result of coming to Jesuit education in Florida. So these are people that not only are gifted and talented and successful in their respective fields but you can see the kind of person that they are. They value the complementarity of arts, sciences and business. They like the Renaissance approach of study. They're interesting people, they're not boring. They're receptive to the fact that not everything in the world is material and physical thank God, that there's things that have a deeper meaning that we strive for, regardless of where we come from or what we're about. And then ultimately, I think where I was kind of interested in pursuing is to sort of try to get them to see how do we articulate why Jesuit education matters for their job, even if they're involved in a very secular type of employment, not all are. But what kind of boss are they? What kind of colleague are they? How do they treat the kids in the little league coaching that they do? Well, all these kind of things that I think sort of resonate from the kind of education that they got when they were in school, the teachers that cared enough to pull them aside and sort of rear them better, the opportunities that they had, the mistakes that they made. So it's been a really interesting kind of opportunity for me to see the depth of how Jesuit education could reach. Things that I never recognized before. I have another topic that I'm going to direct Rob toward in a second, but I want to be sure that if any of you have any questions or comments that we give Rob a chance to entertain them. Harry Rosetto asks, do you ever sleep, Rob? No, that's Mary McElitis. How do you manage? Well, I mean, for one thing, you're no longer living on campus, right? That's got to be an advantage to be your health, right? You lived on campus for so long. I did, I did. I'm used to the sort of, I don't have a long sleep schedule. I guess perhaps I should sleep longer, but I ran cross-country in track and my roommate, Matt, who's on knows this, right? Every morning we had practice and every afternoon. So you kind of routine your life accordingly. And I think it served me well, which is a, I think a good thing in many ways too. I think the nature of my job too, though it's busy, it gives me opportunities to use my head and heart in different ways. So you're not always in front of an audience. You're not always in front of a class. You know, there are reflective moments to my job too and opportunities to write and read and study and pray. There's opportunities to listen to someone else before I'm going to get involved in something. So I find those very refreshing too. So there are moments that you can sort of get a little respite, yeah. And I think many of you know the extent to which Rob will go out of loyalty to his friends. And I think, you know, that's also exceedingly nourishing to you, your family and your friends. I'm, you know, I'm wading into very deep and treacherous waters here thanks to Colleen Griff and Roland. Why is camp friendship ruining your chances to come to the 25th anniversary reunion this summer? Colleen, do you want to, do you want to pick that up and address him directly? No, Parmack, you're coming back on the Saturday reunion weekend, right? Maybe just one time. Don't be so committed. Oh yes, so this is dangerous here. I'm going to leave that between the two of you now. I got a texture of offline coming. All right, that's an offline conversation. Parmack, there is one of the things that you've been involved with is I think extremely interesting. And I'd love to hear more about it. It was just less than a week ago that in your present function, you sponsored a screening and a discussion on the Pope and young people. Do you want to tell us about what that was and how it went? Yeah, actually it was an idea that came from the student. So I was, you know, indirectly involved and it actually came from her, a first-year student, Anna Maria who works in community engaged learning and in the campus ministry area of Fordham. And she's a smart kid. She's very bright. She had father Tom Scherge for a theology class in the fall semester and it really opened up her eyes in many ways to think spiritual and faith. And she says, you know, let's talk more about relevancy, right? I always talk about that the hope is that we are sincere and genuine, but also relevant to young people. So she says, well, this is a new documentary. We should definitely have it. So I worked with a colleague of mine and the two of them ran it and I attended it and father Scherge was one of the respondents as well. And we had a great crowd. I think there was at least 40 to 50 students. We had it, you know, the university church and what they call Iggy's, the Ignatius room downstairs. To really just talk about ideas, you know, if you haven't seen it folks, you know, I recommend you do. The Pope basically entertains very hot buttons, you know, seminal issues from young people, everything from, you know, ordination questions to sexuality orientation types of discussions to hypocrisy, you know, sex crisis, all these types of things. And he speaks, I think very candidly, but also he takes a lot in. And you see the kind of teacher within him, I think that really impressed me the most not just simply responding right away with an answer to shut the conversation. And I have to say, in many ways, it got me to think more about like why the church needs to continue to be relevant. So we talk about, you know, synodality and things of that nature today. And this came from the student herself. So the hope is that we'll have them continue with something like that too. So a lot of the programs are ones in which we really speak to practical concerns of where the students are at right now. And I think that's the greatest value of it. They don't need a lecture. They don't need, you know, catechism alone. I think in many ways they wanna be informed, but they also need to engage in real life conversations too. So we're not just simply giving them what they want alone, but, you know, like I said, a kind of nice critical sustainable dialogue that is creative, even the mid-detections too. Jim, Jim Tomei was just asked a very important question. Jim, do you wanna articulate it directly to Rob? Sure. Thanks, Father. Rob, just in general, the statistics from, you know, the religious surveys and spirituality in general indicates that there is a declining appreciation for religion, for being active in the church environment, in a prayerful environment. And I guess the question is, given your proximity to kind of the heartbeat of spirituality in our young people today, I was thinking particularly about the millennials and the Gen Zs, what would be on your shortlist of things to be done to perhaps, you know, write the direction in which spirituality seems to be going? I appreciate that question, yeah. I mean, a few things that just strike me, number one is we have to recognize that, in many ways, the church has to be understood as a joyful endeavor, right? So a lot of times we think of things as, you know, commitments that are seen as drudgery, that we have to sort of get things done, check it off the box type of thing. So I think the ways in which those of us that are faith believers are showcasing their faith, I think matters a lot, right? It's the kind of human model that you're witnessing to other people. Little by little, that's what attracts you. That's what attracted me in high school and in college, you know, not so much the doctrinal issue at the time, but oh, that person is an honest person, that person is truthful, that person really cares. They went out of their way to make it connecting to me. So I think, you know, number one, we have to find opportunities to be more joyful in what we're doing. You know, how many times when you're at mass and you might feel that, you know what, am I really connecting that's there? So I think a sense of joy is definitely something that's there. I often talk about these three Rs to my students. So I'll mention it now that, you know, if someone is real, if they're genuine, if they're relevant, then little by little, the hope is that they could become revelatory as time goes on, you know? So the idea there is, you know, to trust, I mean, I was teaching a freshman class. We had our last class yesterday for the semester, Faith and Critical Reason. And it's basically the intro theology that gets them to look at questions of faith, belief and reason and logic and why the two meaningfully but heads. And, you know, I asked them very honestly at the beginning of the course, they're 19 students in the class. And I said, you know, how many of you would self identify as a believer? And, you know, as the years go on, and I've been teaching there for 25 years, we have fewer and fewer that would confidently raise their hand. And, you know, I came to recognize too that a lot of the things that we may have thought they know about, they simply don't. I think COVID, you know, made it a little tougher because they're not only more on church, but I think they're more unscholastically prepared for college too. And I think that's definitely a combination. But, you know, I asked them the tough questions. We talk about, you know, issues of religion, but also why depth of spirituality matters. But I also challenged just this kind of appetizer spirituality too, that's whatever is good for me today. And then tomorrow I have no sense of commitment or, you know, any depth to it too. And I challenged that as poor, believing in many ways too. But I think it has to be relevant to their lives. And again, I don't pander to them. If you know me, I'm not one to just tell you what you wanna hear. But in the same token, I think it's important to recognize that, you know, their whole life, they've heard nothing but crisis and controversy. And that is their experience. And so I think many of them are, you know, reluctant to sort of take that step. So what I try to encourage them to do is not take a plunge, because that might be foolish, to just jump off when not knowing what you're jumping into. But little by little, follow the people that you think are making sense. You know, so I'll give them readings in class, you know, from a variety of sources, not just, you know, hardcore theologians or philosophers, to sense that, oh, this actually matters to what I'm doing. So even the way I structure the assignments to make sure that they're critically engaging, they're not just simply, oh, this is what I think and what I think must be right. So don't judge me. No, we don't go that route either. And I think that's important too. Rob, it seems to me that, and we're reaching the end of our time here, so I really do encourage, if anybody else would like to engage Rob, please let us know. But it seems to me that your response to Jim very much resonates or echoes or finds its heart in what you said in the very beginning of our conversation, quoting what you take to be the core Ignatian principle. And I quote it back to you, that which makes you feel the most alive in what you do is where God is. It's so important, let me say it again, that which makes you feel the most alive in what you do is where God is. Can you link that with your response to Jim and how you try to convey that or invite students into living that and understanding it? I do, I talked to students about the sense of an animated self, right? So, I'm using the skills of Father Regan when he taught us about the anima when we were studying Kierkegaard and others in class, but the sense of, if you're an animated person, the word itself references your soul or your spirit. So the example I give is, think of really good animation, Marvel Comics or DC or some kind of movie that the character, even though it's not a real person, namely it's a cartoon. You can see the sweat on her forehead. She looks so realistic that it looks like she's a human because this animation is done with such detail and so intricate and well done. But likewise to your spirit, if in fact you don't have any kind of zest about you, if there's no high volume, if you will, that I call it, then it doesn't seem to be very human. It doesn't seem to be very engaged or energetic. So for me, if you follow, and this I think is part of Ignatius's spiritual exercises approach too, where look at your day, even if you don't have a lot of time, where do you see yourself being pulled? Good and bad, and where is God leading you? Where are you finding God in all things throughout the day? What are the moments where you recognize certain patterns that are developing? That I seem to have a lot of patience with this person but not very much with that person. That I went back to the same group, even though I didn't have to, it wasn't part of my requirement or the assignment, it was a little by little where your heart is leading you towards, I try to get them to recognize that, that is your spirituality. So even though they might be reluctant and hesitant at the beginning to claim that they believe in anything, ultimately they want to be good people. They want to be ethical, they want to work hard, they want to achieve. So what I try to do is parallel that with ways in which you can see your faith as helping you do that. So it gets you out of yourself. It's good self psychology. It gets you to be receptive to other people, right? Humility is a great thing, not simply your self sacrifice, but equally important because it gets you to recognize you don't have a monopoly on all experience or knowledge. So if in fact you realize that and you rather have a sense of gratitude then I open up my ears and my heart to other people which actually in turn makes me a better version of who I am. So I try to really play on the sense of the integrated self, especially in their world today where social media as well as conflicting opinions are rampant to the point where they have to not get out of their daily existence in order to just gain some clarity. They're constantly bombarded with ideas many of which are done very poorly and I think very monolithic. Thank you, Rob. Jess, I don't know whether this is possible but we have a request from Rob Stein to you, Rob, Parmak about some books or titles, maybe articles. I'd even say websites or blogs that you think would be useful in helping us understand the experience and then spiritual hunger of Gen Zs and millennials. Jess, if we get those from Rob, can we put them, we make them available? Absolutely, yeah. When we send out the recording of the session we can include any links that you think would make sense to share. All right, this is your last chance to let Rob Parmak know what's on your mind. Going once. Tom Regan, do you want to give him a grade on his understanding of the animate itself? Rob is always an A student, no problems there. He continues to be so and he's a delight to port him. And a delight to his alma mater. Rob, no words adequate to thank you, not just for this presentation but for what you have done for young students, faculty, staff, administrators, staff, folks at Fordham over these past 25 years, the way you've served and taken care of my elder with Jesuit brothers. Thank you for everything, Rob, and please receive our thanks and please transfer my personal regards to your family. Thank you so much, Rob. Thank you all for being with me. Thank you, Rob. Thank all of you. It was wonderful to see so many people from different walks of Rob's life join us. So thank you all so much. Thank you, Father Jerry, as always. And I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the night. Thank you.