Florida Catholic | Priest to students: Be Open To God’s Call

Priest to students: Be open to God’s call

International affairs expert speaks to FSU Catholics.

HEATHER SEEMAN | SPECIAL TO THE FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Published: 02.22.08

BROTHER ALLEN MARQUEZ | FC
Msgr. William Kerr speaks to students attending the FSU Catholic Student Union's "Spirit Night" at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Tallahassee Jan. 23.

TALLAHASSEE | A Florida State University international affairs expert told members of the school’s Catholic Student Union of events that not only changed his life, but also the lives of hundreds of other people around the world.

Msgr. William Kerr, executive director of the Claude Pepper Center for International Dialogue at FSU, spoke at the Catholic students’ Spirit Night Jan. 23. He said that after he completed his doctorate at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., he fully expected to return to the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, his home diocese, but found God had another plan for him. He was asked by Archbishop Donald Wuerl, then bishop of Pittsburgh, to take the position of president at La Roche College. He hesitantly took the job, which he held for 12 years. Through it, he experienced many surprises.

At one time, he was contacted by a Croatian woman from California, asking him to help bring students back from the concentration camps in Yugoslavia. She would give him money to bring them over, which started the university’s new scholarship program, Pacem in Terris, meaning “peace on earth” after Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical.

Msgr. Kerr traveled to Europe only planning to bring back eight students, but ended up with 28. They were greeted upon arrival in Pittsburgh by more than 1,000 people with signs welcoming them to the United States. Msgr. Kerr mentioned that this was probably the most meaningful part of his experience with his position in Pittsburgh.

Msgr. Kerr also spoke of how the president of Rwanda, who had heard of his work with the Yugoslavian students, asked him to come to the African nation. It was toward the end of the genocide, and the people of Rwanda had been through many struggles. The president offered $6 million for Msgr. Kerr to take 20 students from Rwanda to Pittsburgh for the scholarship program. Msgr. Kerr eventually brought more than 400 students into the program.

Following his presidency of La Roche College, Msgr. Kerr served as executive director of the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., before moving to the Claude Pepper Center.

Msgr. Kerr said that looking back on life he has a very acute sense that the Lord has been leading him. He ended the night saying, “I think sometimes when we go through our lives and we make decisions, we must always be open to what it is that God is calling us to.”

Seeman is an FSU student and an officer of the Catholic Student Union.

Priest to students: Be open to God’s call

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