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Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, and Noelle Mering speak at Franciscan University of Steubenville on the new series "In Focus: Confronting the Woke World." / Credit: JW Beatovich/Franciscan University

CNA Staff, Jul 30, 2024 / 15:45 pm (CNA).

Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, has launched a video series that plans to examine "culture, science, politics, the arts, and current issues" through "the lens of reason and faith." 

Hosted by the school's former president, Father Dave Pivonka, TOR, "In Focus: Confronting the Woke World" takes inspiration from "Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology," a 2021 book by Catholic author Noelle Mering. 

The first series features Mering herself, who is also an editor of the website TheologyofHome.com, a mother of six, and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. 

"The speed with which [the woke movement] has taken over most of our major public and private institutions is extraordinary," Pivonka said in a press release from the school. 

"We must never retreat from the world but always seek to engage it and to share the light of Christ, the only source of true human freedom and flourishing."

"It is easy to think the woke ideology is too political or polarizing for Christian engagement," Mering said. "But this is a movement that stems from something far more fundamental than politics." 

"I truly appreciate being able to discuss this in depth with Father Dave, who keeps love for persons and true care for their well-being at the forefront of our minds and hearts," she continued.

"I can think of no one better than Noelle Mering to help us tackle the profound challenge of the woke movement," Pivonka said.

Most of these ideological differences come down to an understanding of human anthropology, Pivonka argued in the trailer for the series.

"In many ways all of this ideology is wrestling with the fundamental question 'What is the human person?'" he said.

Mering noted in the trailer that Catholics must always be "for the person in front of us."

"One thing we never want to do is to collapse the person into the ideology," she said.  

"Isn't that the danger, that we as Catholic Christians have, is to actually do exactly the same thing that they're doing?" Pivonka added. "'I don't need to engage them, I can just ignore them' — and that's not the answer." 

"In Focus" will be featured on Franciscan University's online platform FaithandReason.com, which features free videos and podcasts on topics ranging from the Church to culture, politics to philosophy, and morality to the marketplace. 

Franciscan plans to release three episodes of the series per year.

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