Continuing a faith journey that embodies Lutheran Values

Dear Cal Lutheran Students, Staff and Faculty,

Sometimes, or should I say “often,” my office staff knows best. Earlier this week, they suggested that I send these notes on the Thursday that falls in between the Connecting@CalLutheran gatherings rather than on the same week. As it turned out, it made great sense to get my second note out this week to correct an erroneous statement I recently made.
 
I made a comment during last week’s Connecting@CalLutheran about being this university’s first non-Lutheran president. I was repeating what many folks had told me, but, embarrassingly, I was wrong. I have since learned that former President Mark Mathews was Presbyterian. Please accept my apology for not checking my facts before I repeated an inaccurate statement.
 
As faith would have it, that mistake opened the door for me to address an important question that has come my way. On several occasions since being appointed as your new president, I have been asked if I would be comfortable sharing my own “faith journey.” The answer is,  “yes,” and I will try to capture it here…
 
I  was born into a large Italian family and baptized and confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church. Like several cousins and friends, I struggled with some of the Catholic teachings. Unlike the other kids who set their questions aside, I made mine frequently known to my parents and our family priests.
 
As I look back, I can see that my “what ifs” and “whys” were relentless. Today, I can understand why my constant queries frustrated parents like mine who worked so hard. They had few precious moments to sit back and entertain a barrage of questions. But as a kid, I couldn’t keep the swirling questions at bay. The more my questions were dismissed and discouraged, the more my interests in the Church eroded. Being told to “show some faith” didn’t work for a kid like me.
 
A few years later, when I embarked on the college-going process, my parents encouraged me to apply to the University of Notre Dame. Notre Dame was one of the schools that my family admired: Its rigorous academic programs, Catholic identity, and in loco parentis philosophy strongly appealed to them. Convinced that ND would be the perfect place to strengthen my affinity for the Catholic Church, they  were thrilled when I received an academic scholarship there. To their dismay, my studies at Notre Dame heightened my uneasiness with the Church. I struggled with its prohibition of women’s ordination and its stance on homosexuality, family planning and birth control. Instead of examining this tension and seeking to engage in productive resistance within the system, I took the easy way out. I left the Church.
 
Despite my Church absence, my faith in God rarely wavered. I became comfortable with the reality that I was a searcher: seeking — admittedly, in intermittent ways — to find a church whose values spoke to me and made me feel part of a faith-in-action community.
 
During the fall of 2018, I had the humbling experience of spending almost every weekend with my dear mother as she lost her battle with Parkinson’s. My solitary prayers and nature meditations failed to provide the sense of comfort and community that I needed during that painful time. As I sat with my beloved mom during those months, I missed being a part of a church and a faith community.
 
During the Cal Lutheran interview process, I began to familiarize myself with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and with the Lutheran values fueled by God’s generosity (ELCA Mission & Vision and “Rooted and Open: The Common Calling of the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities”). The ELCA, its values, and the tenants of Lutheran higher education resonated strongly with me.
 
Since being appointed as Cal Lutheran’s eighth president, I have continued my entrée into Lutheranism. In every speech I have made and every set of remarks I have assembled, I seek to reinforce the Cal Lutheran mission and the values it espouses. It is this very mission that called me to apply for the presidency — a mission I hope to bolster even further by spotlighting the Lutheran ideals of grace, generosity, and inclusion.
 
Seeking to model the values that are fundamental to the ELCA will make this strong university even stronger than it is today. Moreover, modeling these values will help to mend the world we inhabit at this very moment. Don’t we agree that if more of us enacted the values of the ELCA, our campus, our community, and the world around would be more decent, more loving, and more humane for all?
 
I am not a Lutheran. I am as committed as anyone, however, in embracing the meaningful values that ground Cal Lutheran and the Church upon which it was founded. I am also genuinely interested in learning more about the ELCA and in finding a church that will become an important part of my personal and professional journey. Perhaps the one I am studying right now will be that church.
 
I do not intend to use these notes as monologues about myself, but an explanation of my personal faith journey seemed apropos at this time. As I meet more and more of you around campus, I am interested in hearing about your own journey.
 
Until then,
 
Lori E. Varlotta,
President