A LEADER AMONG CATHOLIC CLERGY

By NANCILYNN GATTA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Some leaders are born; others take up the challenge when someone else won't. The Rev. Dr. Ronald Nuzzi is an example of both kinds.
His leadership skills were recognized as a child attending Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Niles. As an elementary pupil, he was part of the Safety Patrol making sure pupils got on and off their buses in an orderly manner.
The former Niles resident is the director of Catholic Leadership Programs at the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE). The certification program instructs teachers to become Catholic school principals. There is also a preparatory program for students who want to become Catholic school teachers.
Father Nuzzi has never been afraid of hard work, in the classroom or helping around his hometown parish or his school. Because of this, he has a r & eacute;sum & eacute; more than 30 pages long.
He attained his doctorate in educational leadership, master's in educational administration, master's in systematic theology, took graduate courses in philosophy and received a bachelor's degree in philosophy.
Father Nuzzi neither planned nor expected to develop a career that encompassed all three disciplines. But that's exactly what happened.
"It would have been hard to plan even at ordination. I was ordained in 1984 to say, 'There's going to be a tremendous shift in the leadership of Catholic schools; I want to do something about that.' It was going on," he said. "I don't think anyone would have predicted it would have been so thorough as it has been."
His location
He created a niche for himself at the University of Notre Dame.
"When I became a priest and an educator, there just became a great need for someone to, for universities and programs to tend to ... planning for the next generation of leaders for Catholic schools. They're not going to be priests and nuns. They're going to be lay folks," he said.
He acknowledges the change in leadership in the church and accepts the transition.
"It's a good thing. It's a blessed thing. Don't get me wrong. When nuns or priests were appointed principals, they had the benefit of their seminary formation and their religious formation and could be religious leaders in the school," he said.
"It's sort of unfair to ask someone who hasn't had that benefit, who hasn't studied Scripture or theology, 'Well, be the religious leader of your school,' without giving them the experiences and the formations that people like me had."
Though Father Nuzzi's disposition inclines him to measure everything to determine success, he also acknowledges that it is sometimes the small things in life that have shown him the difference that his work has made to others.
"I worked on a religion textbook series. People buy it to use in schools or CCD from a publisher in Texas called RCL [Resources for Christian Living.] I've been working and still working as a theological Consultant. They have my name on the front cover. Just one in the list," he said.
"The guy across the street from where I live, he walked over one day this summer carrying one of these books under his arm. He said, 'My wife teaches CCD at our parish and she wants to know if this is you?' I said, 'Yeah it's me.' I thought it was pretty funny. She wanted me to go to her class. She just thought it was a great thing that the guy across the street worked on the books she's using."
He did go to his neighbor's CCD class. The students enjoyed his visit there, but since he is a priest, they expected him to have all of the answers. "They are some things that God doesn't even tell us," he said.
What he learned
This experience clarified that all of his hard work is reaching its intended audience.
"Those kinds of things give you just a sense of joy that what you're doing makes a difference. Even if it's sitting down and editing a textbook. Someone's teaching from that book," said Nuzzi.
Family ties have shown him how much he's achieved.
"When I started teaching here last year, my niece and nephew were in school here. My sister's kids. My nephew came to my office to show me on his theology syllabus that he had to read for class something that I wrote. It was a funny coincidence. It was kind of a nice thing," said Father Nuzzi. That required reading was a book, "Gifts of the Spirit: Multiple Intelligence in Catholic Education."
Father Nuzzi cites his childhood in Niles, the support of his family, friends and education as the foundation for his success.
"Family values, family focus is certainly something I always take with me. Just the close-knit nature, not only of the churches, but the communities in general. That sense of community really disposes people to achieve. I didn't know this as a child. It disposes people to do well and to succeed in school, to be a good contributor to society. That's not everywhere," he said.
Father Nuzzi is the grandson of Italian immigrants who had only a grade-school education. His parents, Ann DePasquale Nuzzi and Paul Nuzzi Sr., encouraged their son to continue his education.
"My parents said nothing to us [sister Carolyn and brother, Paul Jr.] growing up, but go to college. If you got a gift at First Communion or kindergarten graduation or birthday money, it was put it in the bank. Save it to go to college," said Father Nuzzi.
Definition
Success is many things to many people.
For Father Nuzzi, who originally thought that he would be a diocesan priest or associate pastor who would teach at one of the Catholic schools, believes that he is blessed to be able to teach, do administration work and also say mass for the University of Notre Dame football team after each game.
His career path has taken him from a small town in the Mahoning Valley to the Vatican (translating educational documents from Latin to English) to the University of Notre Dame, where he is overjoyed at his position and the location. Through his position he's given back to the Catholic education system that's been so good to him.
"I'm in heaven at Notre Dame. We just have the mission and the passion and the resources to accomplish those goals. I don't see myself in any other institution, at least doing this work. I don't think there's any question, Notre Dame is the premier Catholic university in the country, if not in the world and they're really committed to K-12 Catholic education. I think the national renewal effort that's under way here for Catholic education is a long haul, so I see that as something still to accomplish," said Father Nuzzi.