Saint Maker

Building a framework (the Saint Maker) to form evangelists, meant to encompass all aspects of life, making use of any technologies now available, and those developed in the future. The tool for developing the Saint Maker will be a university. The university will consist of teaching companies where students work to cover tuition. The three-fold reason for this model is: to assist in the university’s mission by being more inter-connected with daily life, providing various benefits to students, and to help reach financial self-sufficiency as quickly as possible.

Problem: how to evangelize the whole world?

Solution: form faith-filled, hard-working Catholics. They will evangelize the world.

Problem: how to form these Catholics?

Solution: through a framework of formation that catechizes praxatically and formally.

Problem: present frameworks (parish catechesis, Catholic schools [including home schools], Catholic universities, and even parishes in general), have a low success rate compared to their failures.

Solution: our present methods are too fragmented. A true solution encompasses all aspects of a person’s life. As God meets people at all times in their lives, the solution must be present at all times and in all places as well. We need a way to connect everything: parish life (liturgy, prayer, charity), family life, catechesis, learning, social life, financial life, business life, family life.

Problem: there presently exists no way to extrinsically connect all these things outside of the individual them-self (who obviously connects all these things by being the point of conflux).

Solution: technology for a complete solution is not yet achieved, but using existent technological means, a framework could be made that begins to bridge all those areas of life.

That is our goal.

A way to connect prayer and work, family and friends, liturgy and learning. All within an explicitly and overwhelmingly Catholic context. To form disciples of all nations.

The overarching goal is to use any present and future technological means to create a framework for Catholic life that promotes sanctity.

The task is the same as it’s always been, but new tools to aid in accomplishing that task are continually developed.

A full answer of what the Saint Maker will look like (this nexus that impregnates the whole life of a Catholic with Catholicity), is not yet clear.

To find clarity on how it needs to be designed, the first step is to develop a place for the incubation of this nexus, and that place is a university.

There is no need to reinvent the wheel, the Catholic Church knows how to run universities.

This one will have a goal: making a community that has both the capability and the resources to develop the Saint Maker.

Since we will be building a new university, there are aspects that must be considered to make it the ideal incubation chamber for our task. The typical divide from academia and everyday life, is not helpful in regards to the goal of this university. In bridging the two, we can build a university that is better equipped to design and build the Saint Maker, as well as provide benefits to students not found in a typical university setting.

A student begins by applying online. This first step is even a class, as the application is a tutorial in how to effectively fill out applications for employment. Part of that application is applying for your first job in the university.

If accepted, follow up tutorials are begun to prepare for a job interview, which will also be a teaching opportunity. Concurrently, tutorials are begun for placement in a dorm, which is carried out exactly the same as applying for an apartment.

With acceptance to the university, a final job offer, and a dorm “rented,” the student is ready to move in.

The first semester is practicum oriented: classes in everything you need to be a successful adult in this world (faith being most important, so classes in how to live a saintly life, but also money management, time management, how to study, how to learn, how to think effectively, how to keep a house, etc).

Towards the end of the first semester, begin transition into formal education. Making use of online and in-person classes (both developed by the university but, especially initially, also from other universities), and also other programs for blue collar work (apprenticeships and certificate programs).

During first semester, the student will apply for a mentor. This mentor will help them through the growing pains of the first semester (which will be substantial, especially in comparison with your typical university experience [due to essentially needing to act like an adult from day one]), and should also function as a very basic spiritual advisor.

There will be no separation between academia and the rest of the world, this will be exactly like the real world. There will be no breaks in the student’s job, they’ll need to negotiate time off to visit their families.

The university will also function as it’s own micro-economy. Students will be paying their way by working, but a profit-sharing system will help encourage diligent work, help them learn money management, and further stimulate the local economy.

Our hypothetical student will continue into their second year, able at any time to apply for a different job or a different dorm. University life is year-round, both to better integrate into real life, but also to avoid any difficulties in staffing university jobs.

As the student approaches the end of year two, it’s their turn to become a mentor. Necessary training will happen during the year, and the student will learn how to sort through applications as they pick their mentee.

The student continues until they complete their formal education program, at which point, they should have all the necessary skills to move easily into the real world.

At this point it also seems another mentorship program can be available, with students studying Human Resources helping recent graduates find and secure a job.

The one thing that travels with most people throughout their day, is their phone. It is not a perfect end goal of what the Saint Maker is trying to accomplish, but it’s a start.

Growing along with the university, will be a mobile application, that will be the start of the Saint Maker. It will be a type of digital parish.

A place for prayer, community, challenge to conversion, and comfort in times of distress.

It can also serve dual purpose as an interface for students with the university. Again, a further inter-connection between different aspects of life.

The university, with a set goal of developing a formational nexus spanning the entirety of human life, must be designed to facilitate achieving that goal. And in the interest of treating funding as something intrinsic to this mission, the university must be self-sustaining almost from the beginning, and moving as quickly as possible to generate the resources to pursue it’s goal.

With this in mind, and seeing the examples of colleges that are set up so that all students work to earn their tuition, it seems the best model to follow (graduate with a degree and a resume).

The university will essentially be made up of teaching “companies.” This should be beneficial for the students, as well as providing a way to begin from nothing, and grow organically, without a large initial funding drive.

Pray for the success of this undertaking!

Saint Maker Whitepaper by Rev David M Baunach, 2021, is marked with CC0 1.0 Universal Creative Commons Licenses