Livolsi says he 'mis-measured' reaction to chapel
by Ali Castro
October 22, 2007

Beep... Beep... Beep... Much like his speech on Wednesday, Oct. 10, Director of Spiritual Life senior Anthony Livolsi has a beat all of his own.

Livolsi’s chapel message last week centered on the imagery of chapel as an ailing heart, with the beeps of the scanning as its weakening heartbeat and the students as the dying organ.

Livolsi read from Acts 20, a chapter in which the apostle Paul preaches so late into the night that one listener, a young man named Eutychus, drifts to sleep and falls to his death from a third-story window. Paul embraces him, and Eutychus is raised to life.

After reading this Scripture, Livolsi compared the fallen listener to chapel attendees and Paul to the speakers who “go on and on and on and on.”

“I kept waiting for someone to go up to the stage, cover up his mouth and drag him off,” said freshman Taylor Clark. “It’s like he doesn’t fear the repercussions of his words.”

After the chapel service, Livolsi said that he “mis-measured” the reaction he would get.

“The truth of what I was saying was couched within the untruth I was saying.  Because of the pent-up momentum, I couldn’t make the dramatic turn I had intended,” said Livolsi. “The sarcastic tone I had set in the beginning made it impossible to be serious, even when Scripture came.”

Sophomore Becca Burbick opposed the application of Acts 20.

“The focus was shifted from Paul’s devotion to Eutychus’ shortcoming,” said Burbick. “When I read it, I see that Eutychus wasn’t even attempting to stay awake. I feel like [Livolsi] was giving permission to falling asleep, like he was saying that it’s OK to fall out the window, to not listen to the wisdom of God. I think it’s up to us to stay awake and to pay attention. Maybe the blame was put in the wrong place.”

Livolsi agreed.

“I did overemphasize Paul’s responsibility for Eutychus’ fall. But honestly, I don’t think anyone would have listened to me if I started blaming students for not staying awake,” said Livolsi. “I was being playful in the exegetical of this Scripture—this was a ‘perhaps.’ If I could do it differently, I would emphasize Paul renewing him to life. And that blame game—yeah, I don’t think anyone caused it. It’s a situation that is representative of real life, the life here in chapel. And there is no point in blaming.”

After his message, Livolsi gave out a number of apologies for having cast blame, something he deemed as “throwing people under the bus and rolling over them.”

“It’s been a long week of making apologies,” said Livolsi on the Monday following his talk. “I’ve sat down one-on-one with all of the speakers I could wrangle up.  The people I criticized came at me with grace, patience and much love that I didn’t deserve. There was a great deal of pain afterward; I hurt the people in Spiritual Life, whom I deeply love. And I don’t take that lightly.”

Mary Paul, vice president of Spiritual Development, communicated via e-mail her thoughts on Livolsi’s apologies. 

“I think it was important on personal, professional and Christian levels....Ultimately, we were pained by the negative tone and dismissive statements he made regarding the work of Spiritual Development. I greatly appreciate his initiation of conversations with many in our office after the chapel service,” she said. 

According to Paul, there will be no administrative action taken against Livolsi, but she and Livolsi are in an “ongoing process of discussing the message and implications of his chapel speech.”

After seeking the forgiveness of faculty and administration, Livolsi had another group to face: the student body.

“This made me realize that I cannot be trusted to plan [the sermons] myself. I need to connect with students—I’d like to make a committee of students to come on board, to take the three chapels that I’ve got and devise a plan together to present to staff. This time around, I suppose that I just wanted to show that we’re all on the same page—and now we’re moving forward,” said Livolsi.

Some students already see his progressive action.

“Maybe he’s controversial, but I like what he has to say; I appreciate the honesty,” said freshman Casey Wynhoff. “You know, Jesus was pretty controversial himself.”