To grow as an Academic and Faith Community

This issue of La Gregoriana marks the beginning of a new Rector at the Gregorian University. It is with a great deal of joy and confidence in the competence of our academic community that I take up this role.  We are at an exciting moment of new beginnings, new initiatives and relationships to carry out our mission of providing “a good liberal education and the other skills required  for ministry” in the Church.

The Rector’s task, of course, is to care for and direct the mission of the university especially in its fidelity to the Magisterial Church and the inculturation of the Gospel to the particular circumstances of local churches.  This is principally done by creating an academic community of faith seeking understanding; of growing in competence in forming our students to be men and women for others; and in seeking and developing the resources and environment of the university so that each member of the academic community can contribute more effectively in that mission. 

To let you know a little about my background and the experiences I bring to this new mission I would note that I led the Jesuits of the New Orleans Province as Provincial to its successful unification with the Missouri Province between 2008 and 2013.  Before that I was Director of the I.H.S.I. here in Rome supporting a college of Jesuit historians in their research.  I was born in Miami, Florida just as it was beginning to grow into a cosmopolitan city closely tied to Latin America. Where I grew up in Florida was predominately Protestant (mostly Baptist), so I experienced a different way of living my Catholic faith than many of you. Each of these experiences provide me with a different way of looking at what we do here in Rome, and the tasks which are now confronting us.  In the same way each of you bring a variety of experiences of Church, formation, and leadership to help create a community enriched by diversity, but always faithful to the unity and universality so important to our identity and ministry.

Finally, I would like to note that we have finished our preparations, self-evaluations, and the external visit of experts from AVEPRO (the Vatican agency for monitoring the quality of Pontifical Institutions). With the external report now in hand, we will now begin a process of strategic planning for our proximate future. Part of this process will include our new relationships with the Pontifical Oriental Institute and Pontifical Biblical Institute, but will also include strengthening our own programs and offerings to greater profit from this unique experience of our time at the heart of the Church to better prepare us to serve her in the future.