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From the President
In the spirit of our founding Sisters, the questions often in our minds are twofold: “What do the people around us need?” and, “How can we help?”
These questions require a wakefulness on our part, as we know how our culture of intense individualism offers false and fleeting solutions to the deep wounds and poverties that we carry with us. The true help that people need — that all of us need — isn’t having individual problems fixed, as if we’re just machines with broken parts that need repairing. As our Sisters know, and the history of Christianity attests, true help and healing is given in the context of stable and meaningful community, where we are welcomed into something greater than ourselves, where we are brought into relationship with the One who makes all things — our whole selves — new. All things new … including our wounds and our poverty.
The Sisters of Annunciation Monastery did this by bringing their community here, to the wind-swept Dakota prairie, and, from the stability of a life of prayer and friendship — seeking God in all things — gave themselves to the work of service. As our founders and sponsors, their pioneering courage and apostolic impulse continue to shape our lives at the University of Mary. What do the people around us need, and how can we help? This spring, we had many answers to both questions.
We noticed a serious need for school counselors in our rural and tribal communities, we noticed student mothers wanting to finish their degrees without the resources to do so, we noticed a whole region of our state with rapid-fire population growth and no four-year institution for higher education. And, as you’ll read in these pages, we’ve been blessed with ample opportunity to respond. Our faculty, staff, and students have rallied around these various needs with energy and joy, inviting others into our vibrant university community — and even bringing our community to them — to receive our friendship, our resources, and our support.
Yet, deeply committed to our mission, we want to awaken in our students a discerning attentiveness to the needs around them that lasts well beyond their time here. And we want to expand their capacities to respond. Through the formation and education of the whole person, we give our students a vision of their lives whereby they become integrated into a community, see the needs of others, and respond with generosity and greatness of heart. And we’ve seen our graduates bring radiance and life to all corners of our region and beyond. We’re so proud of our alumni who, bursting with desire to give back, are making a profound impact in the lives of others.
We also know that there’s a lot more work to be done, and we cannot do it alone.
As we continue to impart this vision to our students, equipping them with the professional training and character formation to face the current culture with awakened hearts and minds, we are profoundly humbled by the support of so many people. I give thanks to God for His goodness to us, to the Sisters of Annunciation Monastery for their witness and prayers, and to you, our alumni and friends, who continue to pray for us and support us in so many incredible ways. In this issue, you’ll also find the names of people who have helped us make this vision into a reality, and for them we owe a special debt of gratitude. On behalf of our students, thank you for supporting the University of Mary, and know of my prayers for you as we continue in this Easter season.
Monsignor James P. Shea, President
