By Christina Capecchi
Twenty Something
The McConnon sisters needed a trumpet player. The three young women performed in a liturgical ensemble at St. Luke’s in St. Paul, Minnesota, and they were seeking a little brass to enhance the upcoming Christmas Eve Mass.
“Francis Roby!” a parishioner told them. “He’s a trumpet player, and he’s a member of the parish.”
The McConnon sisters enlisted Fran, who performed his musical duties with energy to spare, which he devoted to admiring the youngest sister, Maura.
“She was very cute!” thought Fran, who — like Maura — was a high school senior at the time. “For a young man, that’s automatic appeal, and I could see she was a kind and friendly person.”
It took Fran two weeks to summon the courage to call Maura and ask her on a date. Six years later, they were married.
They raised two daughters, Katie and Bridget, in St. Paul and built careers on their shared Catholic values — Fran, as a social worker for Catholic Charities and later a guidance counselor at a Catholic high school; Maura, in elementary education, teaching children how to read. They sponsored students from various third-world countries over the years.
Then came a conversation that ignited a passion. Fran spoke to Augustino Mayai, a friend they’d met through Bridget’s college who was living in South Sudan. Augustino explained that South Sudan is the poorest country in the world because tens of thousands of young adults graduate from high school each year lacking the means to earn a college degree.
The wheels turned quickly in Fran’s heart and head. He and Maura decided that day to start a college scholarship program for South Sudan, beginning the following month — September 2021 — with a $20,000 donation from their capital gains. For years, they’d lived paycheck to paycheck, but the house was finally paid off, and they were done paying for their kids’ college. They could spare the money.
It was enough to enroll 33 South Sudanese students in college. Come spring, they officially established a 501c3 and enlisted other donors, enough to provide scholarships for 20 more students. The Padoc Area Scholars Society was born.
Today, 183 promising young South Sudanese are in college because of PASS. Most are Christian, and many are Catholic, pursuing in-demand fields such as medicine, business and agricultural science. On the website (southsudanpass.org), you can click on the blue “Sponsor a Student” button to peruse the applicants and choose a specific student to sponsor. Anne is a 26-year-old orphan who wants to study social work “to help my community and my country at large.” Baba, 23, has toiled in manual labor — carrying stones for foundation, pouring cement — and now recognizes that “the only key to solving my situation is education.”
The Catholic Church’s social justice principles propelled Fran and Maura — with “compassion and generosity” at the center, he said.
“I want to challenge more people to know they can make a big difference,” said Fran, 67, now a grandfather of two.
As they helped the South Sudanese, Maura courageously battled breast cancer. She died last June.
She left Fran her retirement savings, which he is now pouring into the construction of a dorm in Juba, the capital city. Most PASS scholars live on the streets.
Fran marvels over Maura’s lasting impact. Faith in action. “She worked extremely hard, and she would be so happy knowing her sweat and tears will be assisting some of the poorest youth in the world for decades to come,” he said.
He’s praying other Catholics will donate to furnish the new dorm, sponsor students and support PASS at large.
It calls for a switch in thinking, Fran said — from trying to gain as much as possible to trying to help as much as possible. “The attitude is, ‘I will give as much as I can while I can.’”
Christina Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.