Pillar Podcast and President

The Groundhog and all its attendant festivities have been a prominent part of the past few weeks, and among the menagerie of events was the arrival of J.D. Flynn, Ed Condon, and Michelle LaRosa to host their Pillar podcast at the University of Dallas. campus.

According to their website, The Pillar is “a Catholic media project focused on smart, true, and serious journalism from dedicated, informed, Church-loving Catholics.” The topics they cover range from more basic and popular topics to more specific issues within the Church.

Flynn and Condon, co-founders of The Pillar, hosted their first event of the week, a live performance with audience participation at the Ratskeller on campus on Friday before the groundhog party in the park. Before moving on to the questions they had prepared for discussion, the couple ran into sound problems. The decision placed them behind the Rat’s bar, which remained active throughout the show, leading to numerous humorous comments during their live stream about customers coming over to order drinks in the midst of their discussion.

Among the issues discussed in the Catholic journalism podcast were the recent visit of Pope Francis to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the actions of the German bishops at the current synodality synod, and the story of the groundhog from La Rosa, a UD graduate. Throughout the performance, the audience swore friendly and joked from time to time. The trio expressed great respect and love for the University of Dallas and its Catholic identity, pointing out its uniqueness among other American universities.

The second highlight of the podcast was an interview in the Gorman Faculty Lounge with Dr. Jonathan Sanford, President of UD. The podcast covered a range of topics, focusing on Sanford’s thoughts and experiences regarding education at Catholic universities and UD in particular.

Sanford said, “I’ve known JD for a long time, he was my first year student at the Franciscan University.” The conversation was constructive and instructive, according to Sanford, who said, “They asked me questions that were insightful because they recognize the tension between the university and the wider culture, they know that we are unusual as a university.”

Sanford praised their journalistic prowess. “I really admire how they boldly entered a journalistic space that often comes with a lot of tension and control,” he said. “These are independent operators and have developed quite a following over the past few years.”

The fun and lively events from Pillar have been a welcome addition to the groundhog celebration and the university wishes them all the best.