BY ELIJAH SIMON
STAFF WRITER
There are plenty of Catholic men and women on the grounds of Franciscan University, but this past week there was only one Catholic Guy anyone was talking about when Lino Rulli visited the campus.
Rulli is an Emmy Award winning ex-television host now radio host of the ‘The Catholic Guy’ radio show. He has worked as the executive producer on Emmy winning documentary “The Last Flag Raiser,” a World War II tribute to the flag raising Marines in Iwo Jima.
He also spent years in television and has been offered several positions by the likes of Howard Stern, whom he knows personally.
He was very well received during an intimate lecture with communication arts students and in classrooms while also recording a live broadcast in the J.C. Williams Center.
Students were taken aback by his down to earth nature and carefree attitude. He was described by many as a laid back kind of guy who held firm, yet humorous Catholic standards throughout his time here.
“You know, the Church is a very charitable organization and if you keep trying and trying, someday it will hire you,” Rulli said. “I work in Catholic radio because I love it. But we need normal Catholics in the real world. We need them in the non-Catholic arena.”
Rulli mentioned that when he was in college, he assumed you had to choose between having a successful career in TV or radio, or being a good Catholic who was involved in the Church.
“I didn’t think you could do both,” he continued. “I thought that there was no mingling of the options.”
It was in this time period that Rulli was discerning his vocation and he was interested in television as a career.
“I always loved TV,” he went on. “Maybe God put that passion there. I think that most passions come from God, but they don’t necessarily have to be about God.”
What Rulli meant by this is that God can give someone a burning desire to be a journalist or a salesperson or a teacher in completely secular settings and still be a Catholic who is growing ever closer to God.
“I think that it can be even more meaningful if a Catholic decides to go into the secular world and, instead of maybe proclaiming their faith with words, to quietly live their faith in with action,” Rulli continued.
Rulli was very pleased to spend time on this campus interacting with the students and faculty and, while here, gave insight that students will carry with them throughout their lives.
“I think you need to be a master of your craft,” Rulli said. “Be the best teacher you can be, be the best doctor you can be, be the best salesperson you can be and you will be glorifying God. Do it for the glory of God.”