Episode 2: Living the mission

In the second episode of From the Mall, we're exploring the rich tradition of impact by Creighton's Jesuit community by talking with Fr. Jeff Sullivan, SJ, about a number of topics.

Fr. Sullivan, BA'03, was once a Creighton student himself. He's watched the campus evolve and grow, while also maintaining its culture and roots. He discusses the role that Jesuits play in preserving the traits and characteristics that make Creighton special. Fr. Sullivan also talks about his favorite spots on campus and the beauty of dreaming together with God.

Plus, what's a typical day in the life of a Creighton Jesuit? Fr. Sullivan lays it all out.

 

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Meet our guest

Episode 2 transcript

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Aside from my parents, I feel most formed by Creighton University and the type of Jesuit I am is because of Creighton and the way that I'm here, I feel like the added value that I provide is not being an administrator or a wonderful teacher. It's just being a person who's here, being with students.

JON NYATAWA

Welcome in to From the Mall, a podcast where we share stories from the Creighton community that showcase achievements and impact. I'm your host, Jon Nyatawa.

In this episode, we sit down with Father Jeff Sullivan, Society of Jesus. Father Sullivan reflects on the Jesuit tradition at Creighton University, the importance of presence and community and how fostering meaningful relationships continues to shape the University's mission. He's also a proud Creighton graduate.

We're happy to welcome Father Jeff Sullivan, Society of Jesus, here today to talk about a number of topics, but I want to start with something maybe a little bit more heavy. I don't know. That's probably not what you're supposed to do as an interviewer. You're supposed to start with softballs. But I'm thinking about as I'm walking this morning and walking through campus and I think about what the heart of the Creighton mission is and the fabric of the culture of this institution and the Jesuit community is such a big part of it and has been for years, since the inception of Creighton. Is that a responsibility that you, does that feel weighty to you just to think about all the Jesuits who have made such an impact in people's lives and now here you are doing the same thing.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Wow. That is, the students like to joke. I always say heavy, deep, and real. That's a heavy, deep and real question.

JON NYATAWA

I'm glad this morning that I could set you up.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Maybe the background would be that I went to Creighton, so I feel very honored to be a part of this tradition and to be invited back. Do I feel a responsibility? Yeah, if I'm being a little honest, I think that when I was here, there were 70 men on campus and professors, and now we're about 20, 25. And some of the great Jesuits that were here when I was here have either gone to the retirement community or are in their 80s. Larry Gillick, Greg Carlson, these men that are giants, at least in Omaha in terms of Ignatian spirituality. And I do feel that this place really loves Jesuits and really wants us to be involved. And I think that it caught my attention when a couple of other Jesuits were talking about the role that I have here in Campus Ministry. And I always thought that the power of the Jesuits or the influence, let me say better, the influence of the Jesuits was in the classroom.

But I think really being present to the people is where we've gotten a lot of our influence. And so I try to make myself available. We have this beautiful new community that is built for hosting, and I guess I feel a little bit of an obligation to share the gift of this fantastic space with the larger Creighton community by inviting students and colleagues.

So I guess I never thought of it articulated quite that way, but I do think that maybe what I feel is that the Creighton community wants Jesuits to be a part of this institution, wants to be a part of their lives, and responding to that is something I feel like I want to do, not as a carrying on the Creighton brand, but as building a relationship and community here.

JON NYATAWA

Hmm, yeah, well maybe responsibility wasn't the right word, but maybe there's that certain legacy that's attached to sort of the impact that Jesuits have here. And I know it's different for every person, every Jesuit, and it's different for every student or faculty or staff member who interacts with the Jesuit community. But there's just something about — hey, Creighton’s a Jesuit institution, we know that. But it just feels like when I think about the impact that Jesuits have, it just seems rather significant here.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

And maybe one other anecdote I could add is I feel a little bit like a dad that needs to show up for things. I need to show up for all the events and go to all the games and be at all the things to let people know that they matter. And it matters to students, showing up for Alpha Sigma Nu induction, or there was a woman who just had a baby who invited me to come and be there and be present, or I was just out at Denver this weekend to go to a wedding for somebody that I met for spiritual conversation for a couple of years. And so they would've been OK had I not shown up, but showing up really matters. And I think that that's an ethos that I feel like to be a steward of this place and to show up for people in the big moments of their life.

JON NYATAWA

Well, one of the neat things is — I get to experience this too as an employee, I work here on campus — but we interact with students who — it's such a transformative moment for them in their lives. Is that one of the reasons that drew you to education, drew you to the college campus? I mean, I think of your vocation of ministry. You could do a lot of things, I guess is my thought. And you're here on campus making an impact. Same that fellow Jesuits who are here too. I mean, they could make an impact in a lot of ways in our communities and our societies. But you're here on campus. Why is that?

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Yeah, maybe the little backstory is I had never actually intentionally planned to be in higher ed, let alone Creighton University. I think when I left Creighton as a student and those first couple of years out of college, I was really attuned to the missionary work. In fact, I always thought I would be a missionary. I was very heavily influenced by men like Father Greg Boyle, who has the ministry out in Los Angeles working with formerly incarcerated gang members, Homeboy Industries. There were other Jesuits throughout the world who were doing these very magnanimous, world-beater sort of things.

I guess I thought that that's what Creighton had formed me for. And throughout formation, it is funny. I went from volunteering in Ecuador and on a reservation, and now I'm working in our traditional high schools and now here at Creighton. It wasn't something I ever imagined or planned for myself. I guess I always imagined I would do these huge, world-changing things.

I think it's amazing what God's wisdom is. And God sent me back to Creighton. And at first I was little like, what am I doing going back to Creighton? But it makes sense in that, this is the place I feel, aside from my parents, I feel most formed by Creighton University. And the type of Jesuit I am is because of Creighton and the way that I'm here, I feel like the added value that I provide is not being an administrator or a wonderful teacher. It's just being a person who's here, being with students.

And as you mentioned, many of them are — struggling is not the right word — but being confronted with these questions of who am I? Let's start with, what am I going to do with my life? I mean, I think college really necessitates and there's a lot of pressure.

Am I going to be a doctor? Am I going to be a lawyer? How am I going to make money? How am I going to have a family?

And even me saying that, I feel the intensity and weight of those questions on them. And so to go on a retreat and to actually for the first time ask a question, like, what am I doing with my life? Or who am I becoming? Do I actually enjoy this? Whose dreams am I living out? What types of relationships do I find most valuable? And I think what I provide in my goofy sort of way is a place of safety where they don't feel the weight of those questions that maybe an institution might be asking or an admissions board might be asking. They are able to rest in those questions. And I think that that's a privilege I get to do by having this job. And certainly I run retreats and there's administrative, but the real magic where I feel like the Spirit shows up is just in the conversation that I have with another.

JON NYATAWA

Well, you kind of laid it out a little bit your own path. I don't know if you necessarily had a plan per se, but as you mentioned, students on campus, when you're in college, you're thinking about what is my plan? What is next? And it didn't necessarily go the way you would've thought at age 21, 22, 23.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

No, that's right.

JON NYATAWA

I don't know. Do you find yourself referencing sort of your experience to help others through theirs? I mean, I think of me at age 21, 22, I probably thought I had everything worked out and I'm going to be here by age 30 and here by age 40. And life doesn't work like that. God doesn't work like that.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

And that's again, overly theological. But you and I, Jon, we had a conversation a couple of days ago about this notion of God's plan. And I had a conversation with a student, with two students, very lovely young women, and we were in the car going out to Paxton, Nebraska, for choir pilgrimage. And in the conversation they asked about God's plan and does God have a plan. And later having a conversation with that same woman about — our whole lives are planned out from the age of 5, we're going to school, we're going to kindergarten, we're going into grade school, then we're going to high school. And for many, myself included, college is the next thing. And that's what you do. And so when you hit 21, 22, there is no plan in the same way that's been crafted...

JON NYATAWA

No plan that's been crafted by others...

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

By others.

JON NYATAWA

So you're looking at yourself.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

I think what has been modeled in the way that our families, especially for those that are college pedigree where their parents went to college and their parents are like, you're going to do this, too. I think that we also conflate God's plan with the plan that others have put. So then it comes to a question, does God have a plan for me? And do I have to have it figured out at 21, 22 as you mentioned? And I think the answer is, is that we, God and us playing together or better said, we dream together and can we allow ourselves to dream?

I like to think that maybe I'm theologically incorrect, but they're multiverses. I could walk through door A and this would be my life, and I could walk through door B, and this could be my life and I could walk through door C, and this could be my life. And more important is not which door I walk through, but is God going to walk through it with me as I continue to open and close doors.

And that's the thing that I think is really hard, and I think especially with a generation of people who are so much about achievement and accomplishing that we want to make other people proud and family and friends. And so we think about that with God, if I do this, God will be proud of me, or this is what God wants, and if I don't live up to this dream, is God going to be disappointed? And I think in our realist moments, if we're really close to God, can we just see that God's accompanying us? God has hopes and dreams, but regardless of what we choose or do, that's more important. That's really hard to swallow. And I think it's really hard to feel all the time in a generation where achievement is so important.

JON NYATAWA

I've had this conversation with friends and family before. I think there's this quick story in the Bible, Genesis, I think, where Abraham and Lot their families have to separate.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Yes, that's right.

JON NYATAWA

There’s a moment where Abraham — God brings into a top of the hill and says, look to the east, to the north, to the south, west, wherever you go, I'm going to be with you. I always found that to be really powerful and helpful for me as I took paths and into the unknown, but knowing that, hey, stick to your faith and believe that God is sort of going to walk with you and it'll be OK. Easier said than done, I think.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Yeah, and maybe some insider baseball on that, the story of Ruth and Naomi, where Naomi and Ruth, their husbands have all died and Naomi's old of age, and it's like you can go back home and start your life because you're still young and you can have a family. And Ruth's like, I'm going to stay with you. And I think that speaks to God, it’s a metaphor and allegory to God's fidelity to us that God's not going to abandon us.

And so yeah, I think maybe to ground it in what we're doing here at Creighton, I think that that's what I want to communicate to students is that wherever you go, God is going to be present. And hopefully what is more important than what you do or what you achieve, that the way in which you live your life, especially with these Jesuit values — that's what people are going to remember.

People aren't going to remember what business you — OK, maybe some but — or how much you earned or what you gave in terms of money. What they will remember is the moment that you were riding in a car with them and playing dumb 80s music or being with them when they broke up with their boyfriend or girlfriend or being with them when the death of a family member happens. That's the real stuff. And I think that that's where God is really most present. And so how can we teach and how can we form students so that they live out the magis in those moments, the cura personalis in those moments, the men and women for and with others are in those moments? Over and above, I'm the world's best, fill in the blank.

JON NYATAWA

It's interesting. I haven't walked campus with you, but I've been around you enough to know that you'll engage pretty much with anyone, students. Is that just sort of natural for you? I mean, seriously, before we went up to the elevator today, you were sitting there talking to a student, another student walked by and said, I think he called you Sully.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

He did. He called me Sully. Yeah.

JON NYATAWA

He said, Hey, Sully, I'm going to text you later. I want to talk to you.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

And maybe that's the problem that I have. I can never seem to get anything done. But I would say that started when I was a student here at Creighton. I used to sit on the benches out on the lawn, and I remember my friends joking about, is all you ever do is just sit and read books and talk to people?

I think that that's something I would say, to be honest, that got away from me a lot until I came back here to Creighton. And I think that while this place necessitates a sort of doing and achievement, I do feel like people are willing to stop and make time for each other. I think the rocking chairs on the front steps of Creighton Hall are significant for building community. I think even the structures of some of these buildings allow for that. And I think students really want to engage, and I feel like I want to engage.

I think it's also a turning point in my life as a Christian was, I thought to be a good Jesuit meant that I had to achieve. It's funny, even in the Jesuits that a good Jesuit is in charge of a certain work or pastor of a parish or a president of a high school. And people will ask me, what are your dreams for yourself? And I used to have these great dreams, and I think that even I felt the pressure that I think our students feel of a good Jesuit is successful. And I don't think that that's actually true. I think a good Jesuit is one that loves God and loves God's people.

And while that sounds really cliche and simple, it's really hard to live. And I feel like actually this place allows me — I would like to say that's my natural posture, but I would say that the students actually evoke that out of me and call me into, can you just stay and talk with me? I wish I would say this is my way of being. I think it's been coached into me and responding to those things that we talked about earlier, that what the students really need at this point in their life is just to say, my grandfather died, can you pray for me? Or I'm having a hard week, can we just talk? Yeah. They call that out of me to respond in that way.

JON NYATAWA

On a lighter note, the rocking chairs are really cool.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

They are really cool.

JON NYATWAA

Is that where you like to hang out more?

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

I wish I did more, but I do. I find it fun. I find it fun to walk up there and to sit with students or to tease. And oftentimes they'll like, go get your computer and sit with us. And I'll be like, OK, maybe for two minutes I'll sit and chill for a little bit.

JON NYATAWA

Well, I imagine you'd probably spend a lot of time in your new residence as well, the Jérôme Nadal Jesuit Residence. You mentioned it earlier. I mean, speaking of a place of community that seems to sort of invite that same sense, I would think, it's a really beautiful building.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

And I probably will get in trouble for saying this, but I say to students all the time, they'll stop me and they're like, Hey, do you think there's a chance we could see the building? And I'm like, let's go now or just invite yourself over. Just put it on my calendar. I do feel like the future for us as Jesuits, maybe back to the initial question you asked, the future for us as Jesuits is to really use this beautiful space as a place of hosting because we're not like we used to be where we had 60 guys out everywhere. I think we're actually going to have to bring people into that space and to have lunches and dinners and to use the chapel to pray with and for people. It's going to be a change, whereas we used to go out. I think we're having to learn how to invite people in and to use the house as a way of building community.

And I think that would be a bit of a sea change for us, where even as Jesuits we're built to go out in the world, and now it's almost like we're inviting you to come in. So I'm really hopeful and excited about the potential of this new community, especially as we learn how to use it as a way of being hospitable and bringing people in from the community and sharing stories.

JON NYATAWA

For those who haven't been inside. What's your favorite, do you have a favorite spot?

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Yeah, it's a really niche part of the building. It's in the chapel. If you go in the chapel is, for those that haven't seen it, it's about 270 degrees of glass all around. And there's a nook or a corner where it's to the north, northeast, and it looks down to North Omaha. And I guess I never realized how steep that hill is. It's a pretty steep hill, and I didn't realize how green Omaha is as a city. And then you look, and you see how far it stretches. And I think that it reminds me of how large the city is and our response to go into the greater world. And similarly, that chapel, you look and it's all glass. And I like to say it invites us to, as we're praying and standing at the altar to look out to Graves, to look out to Harper, to pray for the students. I see my colleagues at 7:15, 7:30 as we're having Mass walking in a work, and I'm like, oh yeah, I need to pray for Robby, or I need to pray for Cindy. Or it's like, oh, or I need to pray for these students.

JON NYATAWA

You have a great view of the parking lot too. So if you really wanted to sit at the window, you could kind of spot everyone.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

That's right. That's right. And the sunrises. I think our building, I guess I haven't thought about this much, but it invites us to look out as much as it was jokingly said that there's so much windows that people can look in. It invites us actually to look out into the world in which we're called to serve.

JON NYATAWA

Can you give us sort of a, I don't know if there is ever a typical day for you, but you preside, over Mass, you mentioned in the morning. So do you do a morning Mass? And then I thought you were also presiding over the candlelight Mass.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Good questions. Yeah, so we as a community have morning Mass every day at 7:15, I would say. And I'm learning my adjustments and rhythms and what I can do and what I could do at 40 that I can't do at 44. Six hours of sleep I could do. I can't quite do that anymore.

JON NYATAWA

Four years, really? That’s it.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

I don't know. Somebody said that's the big change, 44. So I would say the typical day would be getting up around 6:30, getting a cup of coffee, praying with the scripture and readings. I actually do my examen, a pretty lengthy one in the morning, and I go back over the day before and look for graces. And then I've shifted my schedule a little bit so that I'm coming in the office about 9:30, but I'll do some pre-email work before I go in. And then 9;30, and then it's hit the door running it. There's typically meetings with students or spiritual direction meetings in Campus Ministry. And then the evenings. And then I'll usually have lunch, not always, but often, I'd say two or three times a week lunch with a student or a faculty staff or group of people, and then have dinner work till about 6 and then have dinner. And then there might be some evening programming or there'll be a Mass. I usually preside at the 9 p.m. mass on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. So it's a full day. And yeah, I have to remind myself that it's awesome to serve, it's awesome to be in the community, but I need to also make time for God and for myself. And maybe I'm overly generous with my time that I don't, I'm overly generous to people that I'm maybe not always generous to God. And so making that intentional.

JON NYATAWA

That's a good reminder for all of us actually, because we can get kind of wrapped up in our work responsibilities, our family.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

I think I've been challenged too. There might even be a false generosity in that. I want to constantly be with people. I want to constantly be with people. As Jesuits, we resoundingly say the first thing to go in our life is actually prayer, because you have to make time for people and you have to make time for work. So what's the thing that oftentimes goes first is prayer. I think that's a problem or a challenge that most of us have faced that how do you keep that time with God? And it's funny how we say God is the center of our life, and yet I feel like, well, God understands so God can deal with me only talking to God for five minutes today. And I think for a day or two, that's okay, but imagine any other relationship where you do that.

JON NYATAWA

I immediately thought about my wife.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Exactly. Exactly. The most important relationship in your life. And then it's like, I can give you five minutes today. Well, we say that God's the most important relationship in our life, and yet we give a minute or two or five. And not that we can say, well, does God really need that? I would say, maybe God doesn't need it, but we need it. We need it.

JON NYATAWA

As an alum. What sticks out? So you've experienced Creighton from a student's perspective, and now you kind of have a different viewpoint of it. What's different? What is different about Creighton in the, well, you actually already did reveal your age. I wasn't going to.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Yeah. Class of ’03.

JON NYATAWA

So 20 years. Obviously the buildings, campus looks different, but does it feel different?

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Yeah, it feels more global or at least more national. What do I mean by that? It felt like when I got here, we were a bunch of hardworking, earnest Midwesterners who were coming to school here. And I think the facility, I think the opportunities are much more robust. I think not only where people are coming from is more diversified, but who's coming here and what they're looking for is more diversified. And I think that adds a really beautiful richness to the campus. It felt a little more homogenous when I was here. I think there's a deeper richness.

I think then maybe, I don't want to say challenge but I think the invitation is, noticing that there are more students that are maybe not Catholic or have no affiliation with Jesuit education or come here for a professional degree. How then do we infuse the mission to people where this is not woven in to their being but maybe something that they came to Creighton for a professional degree or some other invitation, a scholarship. But now it's like, well, how do we share the mission deeply? And how do people start to own that?

That would be, but I think largely the feel of Creighton feels very similar. The community, I think people would say, what's your favorite part about Creighton? Community. And I mean, I would even say go to far as, but I think people say that, but more deeply, what's more deeply part of community is this mission that I think people take on very seriously. And because of the mission, they want to build relationships with people and then that fosters community.

So I think that that's still very true here. I think we still have very earnest, hardworking people that comprise this place and are very generous and almost sacrificial, take that for good or bad, but in terms of giving of themselves so generously to this place and to one another. So I think that's still here.

I think it's also a good invitation to be a national brand. And people know. When I came here, I don't think anybody knew where Creighton was or what Creighton was. And now it's like, oh, we know it's an Omaha. We know it has a good basketball program. We know it has top of the line medicine and healthcare and business. And so it went from being a very simple mom and pop shop to this national brand. But what is beautiful and what we get to share that is unique to Creighton is the community, the earnestness, the deep living out of the mission. I think that's what differentiates us.

JON NYATAWA

I'm sure it's like this in other institutions too, but I think it's really neat that there are so many people who either went to Creighton or who have just worked at Creighton for many years. It's just like, I don't know, that tradition of culture and sort of the atmosphere on campus, it's kind of passed along because there are so many people who have lived it and lived here and been here.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

I think people want to come back and give what was given to them. And also not just unilaterally give back what was given to them, but also to continue to be a part of the community that it's not like once you've graduated, then you're only giving down. But rather, I'm still part of this place that is given to me and I'm giving back, and there's more of a relationship than it as opposed to a transactional — I'm giving back because it was given to me. It's more of like, I love this place and want to see it thrive, and I want people that are like me to thrive, and I want people who wouldn't normally have access to this place. I want to bring them in to help them thrive too. So I do feel like it's more of a sharing of the beauty of what God's doing through this place.

JON NYATAWA

Great. Well, thank you so much for your time. Thank you for answering the tough questions and the silly ones.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Thank you. No, no, no. And Jon, you're such a delightful conversation partner. It's so enjoyable. So thanks for inviting me to do this.

JON NYATAWA

Appreciate it. Well, maybe we'll do it again.

FR. JEFF SULLIVAN, SJ

Yeah, this sounds great. Yeah. Thanks

JON NYATAWA

Again for listening to this episode of From the Mall. We hope you enjoyed it, and we can't wait to see you again next time.