Catholics On Call Participant Profile-Josh Stagni

Josh Stagni is originally from Palm Bay, Florida. He now resides in South Bend, Indiana. Josh attended a Catholics on Call conference in August of 2006.

Do you prefer walking in the forest, along the water, or in the desert?

I prefer walking along the water. This may seem obvious being from Florida, but I didn’t walk along the beach too often. But I do enjoy taking long walks along the beach… Seriously, the sound of the waves crashing on the beach or even a flowing river is very calming and soothing. Moving water is so powerful and yet can also be so tranquil. Oceans and rivers are amazing creations of God. Walking along the tranquil beach, hearing and seeing the ocean allows me to pray and think about my life, the world, and how all of that relates to and comes from God.

If you could travel anywhere in the world for the purpose of vacation, where would you go?

I would go to Australia and New Zealand. I’ve always wanted to go there. My dad has been to New Zealand because it was the last stop before heading down to Antarctica, where he was stationed in the Navy. Thus I have lots of coins and such from there and did a 7th-grad World Cultures project on that country. Both of those countries are so beautiful and varied in their landscapes.

What is your favorite liturgical season?

That’s a tough one. All the liturgical seasons are good in their own ways and speak to me louder at different times in my life. Since I am in Lent while answering this, it would be easy to pick that one. But, I think I’ll pick Easter. The Triduum itself is just awesome liturgically, theologically, and ritually. The rest of the Easter season is also great because it is like one big heavenly party. Plus, it becomes all about the disciples and thus also us spreading this good news of Christ’s death and resurrection. Being in a choir adds to this because the music is a lot of fun and so joyful, which is what our lives should ultimately be in the end – joyful. The Lamb’s Supper is heavenly and will be the Feast of all feasts. So Easter is a pretty sweet season for celebration and to take up the call to spread the good news and live our lives as people saved by Christ’s actions on the cross and at the empty tomb.

Where do you fall in birth order in your family? Is this significant to you?

I’m an only child, so first and last. This is significant to me. It explains some of my qualities, such as having trouble sharing and being shy. But it has shaped in a good way my friendships, for my friends become my siblings in a very real and tangible way. I have always longed for siblings and so I adopt them or are adopted by them. Thus my best guy friends are my brothers (younger or older, depending on the age and thus relationship) or sisters (same as with brothers). It really makes the idea of Christian family (brothers and sisters) a reality to me.

Have you had a mentor in your life? Who is this person?

I’ve had a few mentors in my life, but I’ll only focus on one here. A mentor of mine throughout my career at Notre Dame (undergrad, staff, grad student) has been my choir director, Steve Warner. He is an accomplished liturgical musician and composer – rather famous in liturgical music circles, actually. He’s been the director of the Notre Dame Folk Choir, which he started in 1980, for now 27 years. The choir has had multiple recordings and tours in the U.S., parts of Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. With all this success, Steve still remains incredibly humble. And he is not firstly a musician, but a pastoral minister. He takes his theology seriously and makes sure that his role as a choir director is to teach, nurture, and form his choir members (i.e. students) as people of faith and ministers themselves. As someone studying to be a full-time lay minister in the Church, I have learned a lot from Steve about how to be pastoral and really live out all the theology I learn. He has been and continues to be a great mentor and role model of how to be minister in the Church.

What have you learned about yourself by attending at CoC conference?

I learned (or better continued to learn) about what I am passion about, what I’m good at, what I desire, and how all those things can lead to what God is calling me to do with my life. I learned ways of discerning how to use my gifts and talents to serve God and others. I also learned a bit more about what a Master of Divinity degree and program is and what you can do with it. For me, it meant that I wanted more training (theological knowledge, pastoral courses, formation, ministry experience) in a set program to better prepare me to be a minister in the Church. I had not even thought about an M Div before the CoC conference and after it I started looking into the possibility. And now I am in the M Div program at Notre Dame, all because the thought was placed into my head at the CoC conference.

Compiled by Katie Cranor, Bernardin Scholar.