A brief history

Father Dave Pivonka, TOR ’89, The Ministry of the Wild Goose, and Franciscan University of Steubenville have a singularly unique and powerful relationship. It all began in the early 2000’s, when Father Dave first met Jack and Jamie McAleer, and Dan Johnson ’07. At the time, Jack and Jamie’s daughter, Lauren, and Dan were students at Franciscan University. No one knew then what the next decades would hold, but while praying with Jack and Jamie, Father Dave once said, “It’s going to be fun watching where God takes us.” What a blessing it has been!

Jamie was elected to the Board of Trustees for Franciscan University in 2005, where she faithfully served for 12 years. She and Jack have been tremendously generous to so many projects at Franciscan ranging from new campus buildings to endowing the John N. and Jamie D. McAleer Chair in Bioethics, held by Dr. Patrick Lee.

Dan and Lauren married after they graduated from Franciscan University in 2007. Dan first ministered in a Catholic high school before moving into filmmaking to share stories of the faith—“the best stories in the world”—in a beautiful way. Jack, Jamie, and Dan would eventually create 4PM Media, a media company fully committed to beauty, faith, and the power of story.

In 2014, Father Dave, Jack, and Jamie hatched the vision for what would become the acclaimed series The Wild Goose, produced by Dan and the 4PM Media team. This series spawned The Ministry of the Wild Goose and led to further projects for the spiritual growth of the faithful, such as Sign of Contradiction.

In 2019, Father Dave was elected the president of Franciscan University, and the collaboration continued with 4PM Media with new series such as Metanoia, Letters to Myself from the End of the World with Emily Stimpson Chapman, and Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls with Dr. John Bergsma. Today, The Ministry of the Wild Goose has become 10th Hour Productions, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding and producing high-quality Catholic content to be made available for free.

Father Dave and 10th Hour Productions are so excited for their newest project, My father’s Father (2024). Franciscan University is deeply grateful to 10th Hour Productions for the work, creativity, and passion they put into producing this series but more particularly for their generosity in allowing the University streaming rights to offer My father’s Father on Franciscan’s faithandreason.com. This recent collaboration speaks to the rich history of Father Dave, Jack, Jamie, Dan, and Franciscan University as well as their excitement about future projects.

If you are moved by My father’s Father and would like to see other works by 10th Hour Productions, please visit Wild Goose TV.

If you would like to collaborate with Father Dave and 10th Hour Productions by donating to future projects, we invite you to make a contribution here. Your donation will be used exclusively to help more people encounter Jesus Christ through new productions featuring Father Dave.