BISHOP
KEVIN J.
SWEENEY
I have been writing this column for almost three years. I think that this is the second time when I am asking you, dear readers, for direct feedback. I would like to know how you react when I mention a “podcast”? I think that there may be some (or many) readers who, when they read the word “podcast,” respond by saying or thinking, “Why does he keep talking about podcasts? I don’t even know what a podcast is!” Or, “I’ve never listened to (or watched) a podcast, and I’m not interested in doing so.” If that is the case, I would ask you to email ([email protected]) or write to me (Bishop’s Office, 777 Valley Rd., Clifton, N.J. 07013) and let me know. If there are enough readers who would rather not hear about “podcasts,” I will try to refrain from mentioning them going forward. There also may be readers who are happy to hear about podcasts, such as the one I am about to describe; I would ask you to write and let me know that as well.
With this “disclaimer,” I would like to let you know about an episode of a podcast that I listened to recently, which had the similar effect of hearing or reading a news story or watching a documentary that is so inspiring, it could potentially change someone’s life or, at least, make someone feel a little better about the world around us. I will attempt to give a summary of the story (stories) told in the podcast, but I really hope that each reader might take 45 minutes to listen to the podcast itself. It is an episode of a podcast called Revisionist History, created and hosted by Malcolm Gladwell, a popular author and former writer for the New Yorker magazine. Revisionist History is now in its eighth season. As I have shared before, it is also the first podcast I listened to (in 2018, I believe) because my brother recommended it to me. Here is a link to the episode, with the title “A Good Circle.”
For those who have never listened to a podcast, you can find it by googling “Revisionist History” or, if you have an iPhone, by tapping on the “podcast” icon and searching for “Revisionist History” and clicking on the “A Good Circle” episode, which aired on June 29, 2023. You can also find it by going to the Hope College website.
The story begins by introducing Matt Scogin, the president of Hope College, a small, Christian, liberal arts college in Holland, Mich. President Scogin had been working on Wall Street, making a good salary, when he had what he describes as a “mini-existential crisis” about the direction of his life and the meaning of his work, after the death of his parents (in 2013 and 2015). He said that he went through a period of “prayer and discernment” that led him to apply for the position of president of his alma mater, where he was serving as a board member. He was surprised that the job was offered to him, and soon after starting, when discussing the cost of college tuition, a friend said to him, “No one should have to pay for hope.” That led President Scogin, with the Board of the college, to create the “Hope Forward” Program in which students do not have to pay for school while they are studying but agree to a “covenant” by which they promise to give money back to the school after they graduate and begin their careers. You will have to listen to the podcast or go on the school’s website to get more details (sorry).
Malcolm Gladwell heard about and visited Hope College because another writer, Mitch Albom, had emailed and invited him. I hope that many readers are familiar with Mitch Albom, who started his career as a sports writer but became well known when he wrote a book called Tuesdays with Morrie. Whether or not you listen to the podcast, if you have not read Tuesdays with Morrie, I highly recommend it. Something that I did not know about Mitch Albom and learned through the podcast is that he has been traveling to Haiti every month for the past 13 years. After the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, which, according to Albom, “in 45 seconds killed three percent of Haiti’s population,” he heard about an orphanage that had been destroyed. He decided to go to Haiti to “see what he could do,” and that led him, with the help of friends, to work at rebuilding the orphanage. They eventually opened a school in the orphanage. Some of the graduates from that school recently applied and were accepted to Hope College through the “Hope Forward” program.
Albom says that when he first started visiting (every Tuesday) his former professor, Morrie Schwartz, who was dying from ALS, he was “not very charitable.” He goes on to say that Morrie once told him, “Taking makes me feel like I am dying; giving makes me feel like I am living.” The phrase, “giving makes you feel like living,” changed Albom’s life and led him to begin doing charitable work, which eventually led him to Haiti and the orphanage. A story (or stories) told on a podcast about a college, an “experiment” called “Hope Forward,” and a man who has been living the idea of “Hope Forward” with volunteers and children in an orphanage in Haiti is I think, a very inspiring and uplifting story. I hope that you may find it as inspiring, uplifting (and entertaining) as I did.
I am sharing this story for another reason. I listened to this podcast a few days before the Fourth of July. Many of us feel that our country and our society are going in a “bad direction.” I believe that our country has lost or is losing much of what makes it a “Beacon of Hope,” described as the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.” Our country has been and, in many ways, continues to be a country “built” by people of faith, goodness, and incredible generosity. Listening to a podcast episode called “A Good Circle” reminded me that there are still many people of Faith, goodness, and inspiring generosity that are a blessing to our country and who continue to share our blessings, not only with those within our borders but with those who are suffering and in need in other parts of the world. I believe that “Hope College” is a great name for a school. I hope and pray that we will always be able to say that, in these United States, there are many places and people who generously share the gift of hope.