I’m willing to bet that I am
one of few cradle Catholics without the typical, classic stories of ‘old Sister
Margaret teaching math’ or ‘my school uniform.’ For a variety of good reasons, my
parents chose to send me to public school, so I had never stepped foot in a Catholic
school until beginning the MSBA program this year at The Catholic University of
America. After just one semester in
the MSBA program at CUA, I’ve realized how much I love going to a Catholic
school. In fact, the biggest lesson that I’ve learned so far is the value of a
truly Catholic education.
From kindergarten to college,
I totaled 17 years in public school, followed quickly by serving in the US Army
for four years Needless to say, the past 21 years have not always been the most
encouraging settings for practicing or developing my Catholic faith. When I arrived at CUA, I knew
I was finally at home when I saw that Mass was part of the orientation schedule.
As I walked out of Mass with my classmates on the second day of orientation, it
was clear I had made the right choice to attend this program. However, the
integration of the Catholic faith didn’t end with orientation. As an MSBA
cohort we had another special experience later in the semester when one of our
professors arranged for Mass to be said prior to our cohort’s participation in a
Thanksgiving service project. It was really moving to attend mass with 15
classmates - one classmate serving as lector, and a professor as the
Eucharistic Minister. These opportunities have reinforced, for me that the
integration of faith into everyday business practice is what makes an MSBA
graduate distinguishable from the rest of the “MBA” pack – that we are aiming
to serve a higher purpose through our vocation to business.
When I made the decision to
leave the Army I researched a plethora of MBA and master’s programs and I
quickly made the realization that I could study business anywhere. Nearly every
university, community college, and online school offers some sort of MBA that
gives you a “leg up.” What attracted me to CUA was that the Busch School of
Business had a different offering.
At CUA, business students
learn how to integrate faith and business in all that they do. It’s refreshing to
learn from our professors that morality and virtue shouldn’t be checked at the
door on the way into the workplace – businesses actually wind up being more
successful when virtue has a prominent place in an organization. In all MSBA classes, business ethics is baked
into the discussion and lessons. Whether we’re reviewing marketing plans in
light of Catholic Social Teaching or the moral responsibility of companies to
shareholders, I can share my faith while studying business.
To give an idea of how faith
is incorporated into our business education, I’ll share the most exciting class
of the entire semester, in my opinion. In our course, “Managing the Enterprise”
we devoted an entire class period to evaluating Pope Francis’ management
techniques. The spirited discussion covered the bevy of tough decisions facing
Pope Francis from reforming the Vatican Bank and Curia, leadership lessons from
the priest abuse scandal, and even how to increase vocations to the Priesthood.
Catholic and non-Catholic students alike were highly engaged with well-researched
opinions for over two and a half hours.
The MSBA program is full of
practical lessons - from understanding balance sheets to interpreting Monte
Carlo simulations - but I’m thankful to be learning business at a distinctly Catholic
school. The Catholic University of America is America’s only pontifical
university, so in essence, I’m studying at the Pope’s Business school in
America. This has been an incredibly enlightening and enjoyable experience, and
I can finally tell stories of my time as a Catholic school student, just
without a plaid uniform.
Blog post by Jeff Swierzbinski, PMP
