A Reflection of Father Joseph’s Time on Campus

Image Courtesy of the Dominican Friars Foundation

By Zachary Lichter

When students received the Campus Ministry Newsletter in their email on October 21, they learned in the Chaplain’s Corner that Father Joseph Martin Hagan, the Chaplain for Undergrad Formation, would be getting reassigned after the fall semester of 2024 to the University of Virginia, where he will be their new chaplain. Father Aquinas Guilbeau, the University Chaplain and Vice President of Ministry and Mission, announced in the Chaplain’s Corner of the Campus Ministry Newsletter on November 18 that Father Ceslaus Kowalkowski, a Dominican friar from Manistee, Michigan, will take his place as the new Chaplain for Undergraduate Formation.

Father Joseph was the Chaplain for Worship when he began his assignment at CUA in the fall semester of 2022. When Father Frassati Davis was reassigned to St. Dominic’s in Youngstown, Ohio, after the spring semester of 2023, he was promoted to Chaplain for Undergraduate Formation during the fall semester of 2023. Meanwhile Father Bernard Knapke took his place as Chaplain for Worship.

While part of Father Joseph’s work was celebrating Mass and hearing Confessions, he also spent his spare time getting to know the students, whether counseling them in the Campus Ministry office, grabbing a meal, or having a conversation with him anywhere on campus. It was common to see him walking and conversing with students, resulting in either one laughing, smiling, or, most likely, receiving a hug.

Amanda Brotzman, a senior English and secondary education major, commented about what she loved about Father Joseph.

“He is such a warm person who truly dedicates his full attention to the person he is talking to,” Brotzman said. “He is also a person who loves fully and is also very funny, especially when it gets later in the night and he loses his filter. He is refreshingly funny and I love that I can go to him whenever I need a hug, to talk about something serious, or need a laugh.”

Father Joseph commented on how the students have made an impact on him.

“I have loved my time here at Catholic University, especially getting to connect with so many students, and I hope that I’ve been able to have an impact on them, but certainly, the students have had an impact on me in many ways,” Father Joseph said. “The students have taught me to listen: each one has a story to tell and a cross to carry, and the students have helped me to understand the immeasurable love of the Father’s love for His children: when I meet with them, the Father makes it clear that He delights in His children.”

Before becoming a priest, Father Joseph grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from the University of Notre Dame. According to an interview, he was attracted to the Dominican order because of how they pray the Rosary, how they study and preach, and the life of St Dominic. Father Joseph was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 2019, in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Father Joseph’s first assignment as a priest was at St. Vincent Ferrer in Manhattan. When he learned in 2022 that he was reassigned to CUA, he felt sad leaving his parishioners because he loved his assignment and the parishioners. But he knew that when he got ordained as a priest, he took a vow of obedience and knew that this was what the Lord wanted. After visiting CUA in May 2022 and meeting a few students, he felt excited about his new assignment and to see what the Lord had in store for him.

When Father Joseph isn’t busy celebrating Mass, hearing Confessions, or interacting with students on campus, he spends the summers playing the drums and going on tour across the country with a bluegrass music group called The Hillbilly Thomists. The band recorded their first album in 2017, consisting of seven other Dominican friars from the Dominican Province of St. Joseph.

As students prepare to say goodbye to Father Joseph, they know that someone like him is irreplaceable. But they also know that the students of the University of Virginia will be in good hands with a person who’s loving, funny, an excellent homilist, and will take time out of his day to interact with the students.

Father Joseph has a final message he wants to give to the students.

“Before I leave, I would want the students to know the love and mercy of Jesus Christ and for them to make Him known to others,” Father Joseph said. “Catholic University is a privileged place to both learn Jesus for oneself amid a faithful community and also to make Him known to those who hunger for Him. Be bold in loving Him! In Jesus, you will find the joy and peace that no one else can deliver.”