Openness to a Journey

An accomplished educator and musician hailing from his hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland, Stephen Handrigan delves into the topic of openness to the journey set before each of us in life and in fundraising. With degrees in music and education, Stephen’s career spans leadership in Catholic and independent schools. This experience led him to the role that he currently holds as president and head of school at St. Bonaventure’s College in St. John’s. An independent, K-12 Jesuit Catholic school, St. Bon’s was reopened in 1999 to offer again Catholic education in the province after church scandals left the archdiocese bankrupt and unable to maintain the schools. 

Through an open discussion, Stephen explores the impact of transparency and trust-building, as well as a rebrand marketing effort that helped locals see St. Bonaventure’s College in a new light. The success of the “What did you learn today?” marketing effort lent way to a new capital campaign effort that played on the theme, now recognizable throughout the community. The What did you give today? Capital Campaign has provided a new learning experience for the St. John’s, Newfoundland, community. As uncomfortable as it is to make the ask, or even receive the ask, for a sacrificial gift can be, it has uncovered the truth that there is no “they” when it comes to supporting our own communities; we are “they” and it is only through educating our own communities about the need that an school, church or nonprofit organization will successfully support a major fundraising goal. Indeed, “sneaky Jesus”, as Stephen affectionately points out, will guide the journey when we are open to laying our plans, needs, resources and communities into the hands of the Lord. 

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Transcript

Christopher Beaudet

I'm Christopher Beaudet with the Steier Group.  In the Gospel, Jesus fed 5000 with only five loaves and two fish. After the crowd was satisfied, there were 12 wicker baskets left over. It seems that whenever you and I set to work and do our part, God provides the abundance. In each episode of this podcast, I'll explore with pastoral leaders and development professionals from across the United States and Canada, all the many ways God meets the spiritual and temporal needs of our parish communities, our Catholic schools and the diocesan church. And not only meets those needs, but provides in abundance. You're listening to Twelve Wicker Baskets.

I thank you so much for joining us here on Twelve Wicker Baskets at the end of March. I hope the liturgical season of Lent has been a time of spiritual richness and renewal for you, Lent is a time of self-denial and to experience its benefits. And some, maybe many, would ask, how can denying myself produce any benefits? And at first glance, this can be a paradox for a self-indulgent culture, but if we consider things a bit more, we realize that we deny ourselves all the time to benefit from the sacrifices we make. Anyone who goes to a gym to work out understands that strength is gained only by denying oneself comfort, pushing to the next level and, yes, even pain. Exercising discipline to study, practice an instrument or learn a new skill requires us to say no to all sorts of things, to make space for the yes of our commitment. Comfort is not a virtue. We all know this, even when we do so many things to try to acquire it. A couple years ago, Abbot Austin Murphy, the superior of the Benedictine Monastery of St Procopius Abbey in Lyle, Illinois, identified four benefits to self-denial, and here's what he said: first acts of self-denial can break bad habits. Second, acts of self-denial create an opportunity for us to probe our hearts, and by this the abbot means we become more in tune with what underlies our daily decisions and activities. It helps us understand ourselves better, to experience a greater sense of intentionality. Third, acts of self-denial opens up space and time for us to contemplate what matters more in life. The abbot wrote, “When we deny ourselves and long for the comfort of what we have given up, this can remind us that God is our most profound comfort and that our deepest longing should be directed to Him.” And fourth, acts of self-denial gives us strength to do good by making an upright interior act, we achieve steadiness and greater willingness to see our neighbors needs and to respond in generosity. I hope this season of Lent provides you the opportunity to break a bad habit, probe your heart for greater self-awareness, contemplate mystery and the ultimate good and serve others with a generosity born from Lenten discipline. My guest today is Stephen Handrigan, President and Head of School at St Bonaventure’s College in St John's, Newfoundland. Stephen was born and raised in St John's. He attended Holy Cross School and Brother Rice High School, and received his undergraduate degrees in music and music education from Memorial University, as well as a master's degree in education from the University of Victoria. Stephen also studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London, England. He has attended the Canadian Accredited Independent Schools Leadership Institute, and he holds Ontario principals and superintendent qualifications. Stephen's career in education began in 1983 in Catholic elementary schools in St John's. He moved to Toronto in 1988 and was a choral and band specialist with the Toronto Catholic District School Board. Steven's career path also included teaching in independent schools, including Upper Canada College in Toronto and the Country Day School in King City, where he held the position of Head of music for over 10 years. Stephen was also the director of the Conference of Independent Schools music festival. He has been an administrator at Bishop Morocco, Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School and Loreto Abbey Catholic Secondary School. And for eight years he was the executive director of St Michael's Choir School in Toronto. Since 2020, Stephen has held the position of President and Head of School at St Bonaventure’s College, a K through 12 Jesuit school in St John's, Newfoundland. For over 25 years, Steven also held the position of director of music at Annunciation parish in Don Mills, Ontario, conducting three choirs, children, youth and adult, as well as serving as a cantor. Steven is blessed with a loving and supportive family. He has two sons, Michael and Thomas. Steven and his wife, Jenny, a retired teacher, live in a heritage home in the historic district in downtown St. John's, the city they love and call home.

Steve, thanks so much for being my guest today on Twelve Wicker Baskets. We're grateful to have you, so thank you for joining me. 

Stephen Handrigan

It's absolutely my pleasure. Christopher.

Christopher Beaudet

Steve, often I like to ask our guests, you know, just to share a little bit about your journey. The theme of our conversation is an openness to a journey. We'll talk about what that means for the St. Bon’s community, as it's affectionately known. But what has been your journey to bring you to lead this community of scholars? 

Stephen Handrigan

Wow. You know, I think when we're all younger, we think I'm going to do this, and then I'm going to do that, and then when I do that, I'm going to do the other thing. And, you know, I think for years, I tried to control that, but sneaky Jesus has a different plan for all of us. And I, anybody who knows me here at the school, they, we talk about sneaky Jesus a lot, because the hand of God has a has a very unique way of forming us and shaping us and directing us. So my story, I grew up in St John's, Newfoundland. A big Catholic family, seven brothers and sisters all went to Catholic schools. Were taught my sisters were taught by the nuns, the Presentation Sisters, I was taught by the Irish Christian Brothers. And, you know, we took a lot of our Catholic education and upbringing and our parish life for granted. It was just, it was just the way. 

Christopher Beaudet

It was the norm. 

Stephen Handrigan

That was the norm. And then I, you know, I'm from a very musical family, and so I did my undergrad degrees in music education here at Memorial University in St John's, Newfoundland. And then taught in our elementary Catholic school system for five years, and then decided that I was going to move to the big city, to Toronto, Ontario. And my wife and I moved to Toronto, thought we'd live there for a year or two, that'd be exciting. And 32 years later, we had lived there, had wonderful careers there, raised our children there, and then moved back to St John's, Newfoundland.

Christopher Beaudet

Is your wife from Newfoundland originally? 

Stephen Handrigan

No, she’s from Vancouver Island. From Parksville, British Columbia, a little town just north of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, right across the street from Vancouver. Most people are familiar with that city. 

Christopher Beaudet

Where did the two of you meet then?

Stephen Handrigan

At the University of British Columbia, I was doing my master's degree out there, and she was finishing her undergrad degree. And we met. And we met in 1986 and

Christopher Beaudet

And you convinced her to go to Newfoundland? 

Stephen Handrigan

I did!

Christopher Beaudet 

Wow!

Stephen Handrigan

 I can be very convincing. Yeah, so she moved to Newfoundland, and anyway, we ended up in Toronto, and it was a wonderful city, and I taught in Catholic schools there. My last, my last position there was as the executive director of St Michael's Choir School in Toronto. It's connected to St Michael's Cathedral Basilica, so it's the premier boys cathedral choir school in Canada. And that was a very exciting position. And then my brother-in-law, I was actually considering retirement, and my brother-in-law here in Newfoundland went to mass at the basilica here in St John's and said I saw in the bulletin, in the church bulletin, they're looking for a new president of St. Bonaventure’s College. And he said, that sounds like you. And I laughed at him, and I said, oh, no, please no, no, I'm gonna retire. And so sneaky Jesus kind of, kind of pointed the finger towards St. Bon’s for me, and through several conversations with the chair of the board, I just took the leap and said, yes, let's move to St John's to take over as president of this it's a Jesuit school. It's a kindergarten to grade 12 school, and its mission by the Jesuits of Canada. Now the school little bit about the history of the school. We've been around since 1856, yeah, it has a long, very venerable history. It really is. It's a, it's a, really, very much a huge part of the culture of our city here. Many of our you know, city leaders, provincial leaders, were educated here at St Bonaventure’s College. It originally was an all-boys school, and for much of its history was a boarding school. And in Newfoundland, they would call that finishing school. So kids would come in from the smaller communities into the big city in the early 1900s to finish high school, and then many of them would go on to, you know, post-secondary somewhere in the world. Mostly in Ireland, actually. Yeah, okay, they went overseas. We're actually closer to Ireland here than we are to many other parts of Canada. And, yeah, we're an island in the North Atlantic, but so St. Bon’s, you know, we we've been around since 1856 but interesting, since 1999 we have operated as a co-educational Jesuit school, kindergarten to grade 12. Previous to that, all of the school systems here in Newfoundland were run by the various denominations, Catholic, Protestant denominations, so our public school system was basically all religious schools, and there was a referendum here in the late 90s on the heels of some of the really horrific abuse scandals within our church. And so there was a lot of negativity towards our church, and people thought, no, the church needs to get its hands out of education. So there was a referendum, and all of our public schools here now are non-denominational. Interesting enough they've

Christopher Beaudet

Steve, was that? Excuse me, was that across Canada or just in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Stephen Handrigan  

Oh no, just Newfoundland and Labrador and and so interesting. You know, many of the schools that were historic Catholic schools still kept the names, so we have Holy Heart of Mary Regional High School and Brother Rice, you know, Junior High School and Gonzaga High School just names. 

Christopher Beaudet

They're all public. Wow. 

Stephen Handrigan

They’re all public schools. So, but there were a group of parents in the late 90s who were devastated by the loss of Catholic education. And they got together, and they approached the Archdiocese of St John's at that time and to reopen St Bonaventure’s College, which had been closed for several years. So they leased the building from the Archdiocese for $1 a year, and they approached the Jesuits of Canada to mission us so that we could operate as a Jesuit Catholic school. And we opened our doors on a wing and a prayer back from 99 and

Christopher Beaudet  

Then you arrived when? right 

Stephen Handrigan

In 2020

Christopher Beaudet

Okay, so that was part of the vision of the reopening?

Stephen Handrigan

Well, no, well, the school had operated for more than 20 years, and I was in Toronto, and they the previous president has actually sadly passed away, and, and they were looking for a new president. And I guess I fit the bill. I ticked all of their boxes. And ended up back here in 2020 actually, in the middle of COVID, which was a very strange time to move and to show up in a school. My first day of work, I walked into the building and there were three people here, and everybody was online. Of course, they were working remotely. A very strange time to take over a school. But you know, COVID is, thankfully in the rear view mirror. Yeah, and St. Bon’s, you know, it's we try to keep our tuition fees as low as possible because we want to make a Catholic education accessible to any family that seeks it.

Christopher Beaudet

Which is the greater tradition of Catholic education.

Stephen Handrigan

It is. It is, you know, those challenges, financial challenges, have become, you know, more challenging for the time since COVID, the cost of everything, of course, is skyrocketed, as we know, right across North America and the world, really. So we do have our challenges, but it's a, it's a phenomenal school. It's, it's, and our, our, you know, our mascot is the phoenix rising from the ashes, and that's what we've done.

Christopher Beaudet

So you mentioned a moment ago about some of the, you know, unfortunate scandals in the church and the impact that that had, which, of course, sadly, I wish it were just there, but we've experienced it in across Canada, across the US and further. But the damage that that did to trust and to respect, or even maybe a willingness to collaborate with the Church, like you said, get, you know, get out of education. And it's interesting, too, that st bonds theme, uh mascot is a phoenix, because it seems like St. Bon’s has had to, throughout its history, kind of reinvent itself a little bit in order to stay true to the enduring mission. And that's kind of what you're doing now with a capital campaign. We'll get into that a little bit. But can you talk a little bit about, you know that cultural, religious shift that's happened in the greater culture? And I know that St. Bon’s recently, not that long ago, invested in a marketing firm to help you kind of brand and emphasize the good work that St. Bon’s is doing, and to be true to your Catholic foundation, but not, maybe not lead with that. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Stephen Handrigan

So, so here in St John's, I'll just speak personally for a moment. There were, up until several years ago, I think 12 Catholic parishes in our city. That has been reduced to three Catholic parishes. Nine churches were closed and sold because the archdiocese went bankrupt because of the various abuse scandals and the and the payouts to the victims, all of the school all of the archdiocese properties were sold off. So my own, my own parish in the west end of St John's, St Patrick's Parish. It's a it opened in the 1880s it's a beautiful it's kind of a miniature stone cathedral, Gothic cathedral. It's absolutely beautiful. My grandfather was one of the first babies baptized in that building almost been our family parish, really, for 150 years. You drive by that church now, and the lights are off, and you know there's nothing happening. It's been sold to a developer, and who knows what will happen to it. So it's, it's, there is a lot of hurt and mistrust because of that. And, you know, I guess if I could speak my I grew up being very churched in the traditions of our church and, and it was very much a part of our, you know, daily, weekly routine, prayer and the rosary and going to Mass, etc. And most of the people in my generation, and I'm 63 years old, I'm not I'm not a young person, but I'm not old, 

Christopher Beaudet

Not old! 

Stephen Handrigan

But not old. They have walked away from our church. They have rejected it. So the children coming to St. Bon’s their grandparents, or even the great grandparents, were very churched, right? Their parents are not. They have walked away from it, but they're still seeking, of course, something that is intangible, like they, they and they, they don't call it necessarily I want a religious or a Catholic education for my child, but I'm seeking the magis. I'm seeking more. And we, we do that here at St. Bon's. It's, it's very much, you know, we, we, we focus on the cura personnel. It's the care of the whole person. It's not only you know the academic excellence and the musical excellence and our athletic program excellence, but you know the spiritual growth, the mental health of our students, the whole person. And so we invite our families and our kids on a journey. The journey of exploration, exploring their faith, and introducing them to this faith journey that that, honestly, even their parents have not had. So

Christopher Beaudet

I think it's often the case, and maybe you've seen that there that you know, the younger people, the students at St. Bon’s, may not be carrying that, that burden, or that, that baggage, to put it colloquially, about all the, all of the damage to that trust and so and again, our theme is that openness, right, there's, there's An openness there to that exploration faith. 

Stephen Handrigan

They don't have the baggage. So they really are blank slates, in a sense, yeah. And they're curious and they want to know, and they're interested. And, you know, I see the transformation every day. You know, in our morning masses, the kids that are attending Mass like I look around, and I think, you know, many of these students, so not even Catholic, but they are seeking something. They're seeking meaning. They're seeing seeking something bigger than themselves. And you know, and even for me personally, the witnessing that is transformational for me as a as a Catholic who's lived through many iterations, shall we say, of our church and but you still come back to the core of what it's all about. And it's really important that that we, our kids experience that, and they do here very deeply. You know, for example, we had a little boy who started in kindergarten here a couple of years ago, and after his first day of school, he got in the car. And, of course, the parents are all excited. You know, what happened at school? What did you like about your class, your classmates, your teacher? And he had a whole list of things that he was excited about. And he said, you know, Mom, you know, in our classroom, there's a man on a plus sign. And of course, he was talking about the crucifix. He'd never seen that before, right? And so that opened up some discussion. I later had a conversation with the parents who who said, you know that they were both raised. One, I think, was raised in the Anglican Church, one in the United Church of Canada. And they said, you know, we're not overly religious people. We attend church occasionally, usually at Christmas time, and maybe, you know, a couple of other times a year, but it wasn't an important part of their daily life. And they said, I don't know what's happening at St. Bon’s with our child, but he just wrote his letter to Santa Claus, and the only thing he wants for Christmas is a crash. And he was just fascinated by Jesus, baby Jesus in the manger, and the three wise men and all of this. And they were, they were deeply moved. And they said, you know, our son is reminding us of, you know, the meaning of Christmas and what it's all about. And they were so thankful that they made the decision to send their child to St. Bon’s. They didn't send them because it was a Catholic school. They sent them because he would get an excellent education, right? But the boldness was this other depth of education and understanding that they they kind of were pushing away from their lives, and then they had this openness to, it's okay, yeah, it's okay to to embrace it. 

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, I love that. Especially since I think one of the tenants of secularity is that faith is incompatible with intellectual rigor, science or whatever, and so to it's it can be refreshing in that landscape to have an institution where questions of the intellect are very comfortable with questions of the soul. And that openness to that journey, you know, I think the story you just told emphasizes this is that when someone's open to a journey, it often encourages those around them to be equally open and yes, often it's the parents of their children, right? I mean, the Lord brought a child in front of the apostles and everyone else and said, this kind of openness, this kind of trust, this kind of inquiry, is, is what we're all called to have.

Stephen Handrigan

Absolutely, and I see examples of that every day here at our school.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, so you, the marketing campaign, “what did you learn today?” is, is, what you what you set up. Talk a little bit about, about that, that decision and that process.

Stephen Handrigan

So if you, if you drive down Bonaventure Avenue here in St John's, Newfoundland, and we're St Bonaventure’s College, of course, and it's an iconic historic set of buildings in the center of town, right next to the Basilica, the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in this province. Magnificent cathedral, Basilica, absolutely, when it was built, it was the largest basilica in North America. Oh, wow, yeah, it's pretty magnificent. But, you know, there's a sign in front of our school is like, we're a Jesuit Catholic school now, in the landscape of a lot of upset and with the church people like, oh, Catholic school, right, right. I'm not sure that's the right thing for our family or our our children and Jesuit, they didn't really have much reference point to what that meant, either. So we thought we needed to change the conversation about St Bonaventure’s College. So we worked with a marketing firm called Target Marketing, and they're probably the one of the largest and most successful firms in Canada. Anybody who's ever visited Newfoundland and have been lured for province by the wonderful tourism ads about Newfoundland, Target marketing has done that. So Target came into our school, and they worked with us for about six months before they even presented any ideas to us. They got to know our institution. They journeyed with us. They got to know our programs, our kids, our faculty, our families, so that they could actually tell our story authentically. We didn't invent things to talk about. They were organically already in the building in what we do. So we are a Jesuit Catholic school first and foremost. But we don't necessarily say that in our marketing. We show people who we are, we show people what we do. And so, you know, there any parents out there. You know, when you would pick up your children from school and they would, you know, get in the back of the car, probably the first thing out of your mouth you would say to your children, so what did you do at school today? What did you learn? And most kids answers to that is, Oh, nothing. You know, can you drop me off at soccer practice or whatever. So we know that we wanted to change that conversation. We wanted our students to have an answer for that every single day. So mom or dad, John, what did you learn today at school? They would have an answer. And so our marketing campaign really attempted to dig down into that question and to show people what a Jesuit education looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like. And if you go onto our website, stbons.ca, and look at our you know, it's, there's a video right on our landing page.

Christopher Beaudet 

It's very good. I would recommend people to check it out. 

Stephen Handrigan

Yeah, yeah. I think it's excellent. We're very proud of it, that that shows what life at St Bon’s is all about. And the music that accompanies it is that is our, that is our, our wind ensemble playing that music that is, that's homegrown. You know, we use Beethoven's Ninth for the music and we change the words, but you know that that has a religious connotation to it. So it's, it's all built in, and you don't, it's kind of like it gets to you and you don't know why. Yeah, that's because we're Jesuit and we're Catholic and we're proud of it.

Christopher Beaudet 

Yeah and everybody in it is so joyful. I mean, the kids are, are clearly joyful. And you judge a tree by its fruit.

Stephen Handrigan  

It's interesting. I had a colleague who, who works in another, another independent school here in town, and, and they were speaking to me, and they said, does that stuff really happen at St. Bon’s? You just, you just did that for the video, right? Yeah, right. It's like, no, absolutely not. Everything you see, that's life at St. Bon’s. So it's true and it's authentic. And you know, then when we were about to launch our capital campaign, and of course, we're working with the Steier Group, and we're very pleased. This is an excellent organization to work with

Christopher Beaudet

And as are you!

Stephen Handrigan 

And they, you know, so Steier was presenting us with all kinds of ideas to kind of brand our capital campaign. And of course, I rejected all of them because it's not that they weren't great. They were! But in St John's right now, it's kind of like the recognition that the McDonald's Golden Arches has for people. Our “What did you learn today?” marketing and campaign, materials and branding is it's so well known in our city right now, people recognize that that's St. Bon’s on our social media and everything we do, you know right away that's coming from St. Bon’s. So we wanted, we wanted to expand on that. So our “What did you learn today?” the branding for our school translated into “What did you give today?” in terms of our capital campaign. And so the recognition was already there for that branding. So it's worked out very well for us.

Christopher Beaudet

I love that. So yeah, I want to ask you a few more questions about that. But first, I just want to take a brief break right here, and then just explore a little bit more about the capital campaign, about its urgent needs, the infrastructure that you're addressing, and then to talk a little bit about how the campaign's been received and maybe some of the challenge that the campaign is intentionally presenting to the community to help St. Bon’s. So don't go anywhere. I am speaking with Stephen Handrigan, the president and head of school at St Bonaventure’s College in St John's Newfoundland, about an openness to a journey. We will be right back. 

Thanks so much for staying with us again. I'm speaking with my guest today, Stephen Handrigan from St Bonaventure’s College in St John's Newfoundland, and Labrador. Steve, right before the break, we were talking about, you know, the transition from the kind of the marketing and presentation to the community of St. Bon’s as, what did you learn today? And then piggybacking on that for the purposes of the capital campaign to create the theme, “What did you give today? “And I know our graphic design has maintained, you know, the look and the feel of exactly that kind of presentation to the community. So capital campaigns, obviously, are, you know, a significant endeavor, and they are undertaken when there are significant needs. So you, you arrived in the middle of COVID and saw three people in the building with a lot of virtual learning. Thank God, we've moved through that, but you also have inherited a physical plant that's as old as that venerable tradition of St. Bon’s. And so talk to me a little bit about you know, the the infrastructure needs and what you know, what led your leadership team to embark upon a capital campaign?

Stephen Handrigan

Well, it's obvious, if you drive down bottom venture Avenue, that st bonds needs, needs a facelift. The main building we're in was built in 1906, I believe. So Iit's about 120 years old. It's a beautiful building. It's iconic. It's got all kinds of architectural, you know, beauty. But when we have a windstorm here within Newfoundland in the North Atlantic, we have a lot of windstorm the last, the last windstorm, I think our head of maintenance. His name is Bobby. He came to me said I picked up 150 shingles off the parking lot this morning. Oh, Bobby, don't tell me that. So, yeah, our need to do a restoration of our buildings, especially the envelope, the roofs, the windows, the exterior is we're in desperate need. We are at least 50 years of deferred maintenance here. I think a lot of, I say, a lot of duct tape was used in the building to kind of keep it going. So nobody is questioning, well, why are they having a capital campaign? Well, it's absolutely obvious. And you know, for context, we were leasing our building from the archdiocese for $1 a year. And then a couple of years ago, when the building went up for sale, we had to buy it back. So that was a huge challenge for us to fundraise to get money to buy our buildings. Now, we own our buildings in our campus, which, for the first time in our history, we are independent, right? We own it, but, you know, the old lady needs a facelift. And so, you know, our first goal is to put a new roof on our building. That is, that is first and foremost. And you know, our windows and facade all need refacing and new windows, new doors. And then, you know, the fencing outside is rusting, and it's all the beautiful old cast iron fencing, but it's well past its sell by date, and there are holes in the fence. And so it's, you know, we need to address that. Yeah, because once you get inside the building, it's much prettier inside than it is outside. So people drive by and they think, Whoa! I’m not sure I'd send my child to that school. Doesn't look so nice. So we, we want, we want to fix that and to solve that. 

Christopher Beaudet

And you, you want to solve it in such a way that it's got a truce solution, and not just a band aid, another band aid or another, buy a couple more years.

Stephen Handrigan

No more band aids. We you know, I am so proud of St Bonaventure’s College, the people who are associated with it are so proud. And, you know, we've been around for well over 150 years. And in 150 years from now, I would like you know my ancestors, people who come here that their great, great grandchildren are still coming to St Bon's. But so we need to ensure our future like the time is now. We cannot wait. And there's been a lot of, you know, pushing, pushing, you know, the pushing it down the road. Oh, somebody else will look at after that. It's okay, you know, we can get by, just get up there now with some caulking and fix that. You know, we all do that sometimes in our own home maintenance, we think, Okay, well, we'll save money, we'll get a new roof next year. But we're, we're decades past. 

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, when there's when there's 150 shingles in your driveway, it's probably good sign caulking is not going to be the solution.

Stephen Handrigan  

Not going to be the solution. No, I. And, you know, with climate change as well, which is very interesting, we're seeing more severe weather and more severe storms here in Newfoundland. And so we want to put a metal, you know, 100 year roof on the building.

Christopher Beaudet

Yeah, makes sense. So a capital campaign is not just an, you know, annual appeal, or a kind of bake sale or selling bricks. It's a, it's designed to address very urgent, pressing needs by making very bold, intentionally bold requests. And the recipient of that request, the community participating in a campaign or being invited to participate in the campaign, sometimes can get sticker shock or, you know, they're especially if their community is not used to a capital campaign. Is St. Bon’s community used to a capital campaign? What's been the reception?

Stephen Handrigan

Well, certainly we're not used to a capital campaign. We've never had one. Newfoundlanders tend to be very generous, but sort of one time emergency generous. So if there is a need, and we need to, I don't know, the boiler breaks, people will step up to the plate, and we'll get a new boiler. However, what we're asking here is that's, you know, a three-year commitment, a sustained giving to ensure the future. And so we've, we've had some very bold asks of our community. And members of our community, they felt quite uncomfortable to be asked for certain levels of commitment. And quite honestly, as the president, I'm quite uncomfortable having to ask. But we must do it. We there is no, no way if we're going to reach our goal of $5 million to do the work we need. And we are a small community, well, it's only us. So, you know, we're trying to educate people to many of their responses would be, they'd say, Oh, St. Bon’s is doing a capital campaign. Oh, I hope they're successful. Oh, they really need to do that. That's great that they are doing that. And my question and my retort to that is like, who's they right? They is you and me, and everybody else who loves and benefits 

Christopher Beaudet

It’s us. 

Stephen Handrigan

Yes, and that's the shift. So the capital campaign is successful, but also the education around the why and the how, and the importance that is a big part of of what we're doing is to change mindsets.

Christopher Beaudet  

So what kind of response, and what kind of response have you been experiencing on the part of people who've been giving and kind of feedback you're getting and levels of participation to the capital campaign?

Stephen Handrigan

It's been very good. We knew when we started out with this capital campaign, it was a new idea for this school. And, you know, philanthropic giving over time, it's a it's a new concept for our school. And quite honestly, probably in our province, Newfoundlanders will respond to a crisis beautifully.

Christopher Beaudet

We saw that on 9/11.

Stephen Handrigan

Yeah, absolutely everybody knows the story of Gander Newfoundland. So we respond beautifully to a crisis. But there was a big education piece about responding over time and the sustained giving how important that is. So that's been a big shift in in the way we are approaching this. So people, we've had many, many meetings and conversations with people to help them understand the importance of that. So, so it's been a big education piece, along with the fact that we are, we are actually gaining a lot of traction, and we are successful. So people are beginning to understand the importance of it, that there is no Them. Them is us. It's only us. We receive no funding from any source at all, local church, Jesuit, church, Jesuit Fathers, provincial, national governments, nothing. So we are completely independent, and it's only us that could keep this place going. So that's been a nice shift in people's thinking and understanding about St. Bon’s. We have a $5 million goal, and we've just we're zeroing in on $3 million right now. We're starting to nod towards the 3 million, which gives me great hope. 

Christopher Beaudet

Absolutely.

Stephen Handrigan

We still have a long way to go, and of course, I say $5 million is our goal, but that that that is really, I guess, if we reach that, we're going to be very successful. But we, over time, we still need to keep going, because there's, there's more than $5 million worth of work that needs to be done here to sustain our buildings. But we had the goal, and, you know, people are responding. We have emphasized for our patrons to discern a sacrificial gift. So we have challenged people, and we have stretched people's mindsets about what that means and the ask for some of our patron has been uncomfortable. It's been uncomfortable for them to receive and ask, and quite frankly, it's been uncomfortable for me to ask, but we have no choice, right? It's not in my wheelhouse to say, Okay, would you give me $100,000 but I've asked people for $100,000 and they have responded with $100,000 and larger gifts as well, and many, many, many smaller gifts. Because regular people, who are, you know, budgeting, weekly, daily, monthly to, you know, the cost of living everywhere in North America, the cost of our groceries, our electricity, fuel, mortgages, you name it. It's, it's all going up at crazy rates. So, you know, we any gift that we receive is deeply appreciated and then you're part of something great, right? I mean, it's, that joy of giving is, and knowing, when you see the new roof going on and the kids bounding down the front steps at the end of the day, coming out as happy students, like you're part of that. Yeah?

Christopher Beaudet

How do you put a price on that? Yeah? You Yeah. 

Stephen Handrigan

And great thing. 

Christopher Beaudet

And that's and that, you know, just occurs to me right now, that really, the invitation to give to this capital campaign is, is inviting an openness to the journey, as well, be a part of the journey. And are you open to it, to taking that? And that's, I think you're making a very good point, something we try to emphasize in every campaign. I know that the Steier Group runs, and namely, that a well-run capital campaign should not only get as close to achieve or maybe even surpass the public goal and satisfy the pressing, immediate needs. It should also foster in the community that supported this effort, a renewed commitment and appreciation and stewardship of that which has been funded, the institution that's been supported, the mission that that institution, you know, furthers. And so we want in the St John's community to foster a brand new look and a brand new appreciation for St. Bon’s and its role in just again, the Jesuit Catholic tradition aside, and by a side, I don't mean dismissed, but that aside, just the benefits of the education and to civic society and to the formation of people, that that is a good that every good minded person would want to support. And so to be open to that journey of education is really key.

Stephen Handrigan

I agree totally. It's, it's, you know, there, it's very easy to become complacent and to think while somebody else will look after that, but you know, we're really challenging people to step up and support us, and they are. The conversations are ongoing. We're still in the middle of the active phase of our campaign. I'm encouraged every day by by the positive response we're receiving, and we're very grateful. But you know, if there are patrons out there who who believe in our cause, you know we'd love to hear from you, yeah, you know we absolutely love to hear from your. Contact information is on st bonds.ca, S T, B, O, N, s.ca go to our website. You can just phone us up, email us. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to talk to you.

Christopher Beaudet

Well, I'm so grateful for the time that you've carved out of your day. You've got a million things going on, I know, and for the time that you've spent talking with me today, Steve, we're really grateful. Yeah, and we have, like you said, more work to do and further on the journey to go for for this capital campaign, “What did you give today?” But I really think that that's going to bear tremendous fruit and set up St. Bon’s for generations to come,

Stephen Handrigan

From your lips to God's ears. I really believe it will, and it has and, and I'll say it now for the third time, it is of God, therefore it is unstoppable. And sneaky Jesus has had his hand on St. Bon's for many generations and years and years, and this capital campaign is another example of of how he continues to do that

Christopher 

Amen. Thank you all right. Well, thank you, Steve.

Stephen Handrigan

thank you very much, Chris. 

Christopher Beaudet

I’m very grateful to Stephen Handrigan for speaking to the long and storied history of St. Bonaventure’s College in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the school that has produced more Rhodes Scholars than any other school in Canada. The story of St. Bon’s is a story of perseverance, dedication and the ability to reinvent itself in changing circumstances to stay true to its enduring mission. We wish the St. Bon’s community, its students, parents and families, faculty, staff and administration all the very best in its bright future ahead, supported in part by their successful capital campaign “What did you give today?” When we meet again at the end of April, it will be Easter and springtime. Join us then for another great conversation here on Twelve Wicker Baskets.