Veritas Vos Liberabit: The Truth Shall Set You Free

The Truth Shall Set You Free

A Publication of the Office of the Provost

INTRODUCTION he spirit of the University of Portland is evident in its various academic occasions throughout the year, especially through the prayers, lectures, writings, and speeches that mark our milestone events.

This collection of works from events over the past several years provides evidence of the spirit that guides us. We hope that through reading and reflection they will further embolden that spirit within the community — a spirit drawn from the essence of the University’s founding and guiding religious order, the Congregation of Holy Cross, established during the French Revolution by Blessed Basil Moreau.

The University’s mission and motto inspire our work here on The Bluff. The pursuit of excellence in academics is driven by a persistent curiosity, capacious imagination, the unswerving drive of faculty and staff members, the goodness inherent in the typical UP student, and the inspiration of the beauty of the campus. These are all gifts from the Divine — gifts we celebrate in this collection.

Read. Reflect. Be. Provost Thomas G. Greene

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Orientation Excerpts from a Prayer at Orientation Mass Rev. Gary S. Chamberland, C.S.C., former director of Campus Ministry Faculty Speech at Orientation for First-years with Their Parents Andrew Guest, Ph.D., professor, psychological sciences

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Andrew Guest, Ph.D.

Address to the Faculty Retreat Rev. Charles B. Gordon, C.S.C., co-director of the Garaventa Center

Holy Cross Education

contents

Faculty Retreat

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Moreau on Teaching: Holy Cross Education A Publication for the Promotion of Heritage and Mission Office of the Provost

Rev. Charles B. Gordon, C.S.C.

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Zahm Lecture Excerpts Sr. Ilia Delio, O.S.F. Marilynne Robinson, Ph.D.

Marilynne Robinson, Ph.D.

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Spirit of Holy Cross Award Homily for the Feast of Blessed Basile Antoine-Marie Moreau and the Conferral of “The Spirit of Holy Cross Award” Rev. Charles B. Gordon, C.S.C., co-director of the Garaventa Center

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Commencement Charge to the Class Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., president Valedictory Address Christine Chen, valedictorian, Class of 2017

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Selected Campus Lecture Excerpts from a Paper for the Congregation of Holy Cross History Conference Brother Donald Stabrowski, C.S.C., provost emeritus

44 Visio Divina Refection on the Fulfillment of Creation Karen Eifler, Ph.D., co-director of the Garaventa Center

46 Last Lecture The Sacredness of the Ordinary Rev. Thomas E. Hosinski, C.S.C., professor emeritus, theology

62 Baccalaureate Homily at Baccalaureate Mass Rev. Patrick Hannon, C.S.C., instructor, English

Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C.

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Faculty Awards Gala Faculty Gala Prayer Rev. Gary S. Chamberland, C.S.C., former director of Campus Ministry

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Epilogue “How to be Good,” Excerpt from The Thorny Grace of It Brian Doyle

Excerpts from a Prayer at Orientation Mass Rev. Gary S. Chamberland, C.S.C., former director of Campus Ministry August 2013

s we gather to welcome the class of 2013 into their life of learning on The Bluff, let us give thanks for the gifts of life and love and learning so generously bestowed by God’s almighty hand. Loving father, you brought order from chaos and created all things; gazing upon the work of your creation, you proclaimed it good. …

Ultimately, in your love for fallen humanity, you sent your only son into the world to heal the rift that divided heaven and earth. He spoke your truth with His life — proclaiming the God of love and teaching the sublime reality that He Himself was light in the midst of darkness, that He Himself was the very way to you, that He Himself, Lord, today this new class of scholars Jesus Christ, was the truth that sets us free. begins its quest. They aim to break Lord, we gather today, open their minds and their hearts, fellow travelers on the way of life, seekers after truth. push themselves to new intellectual gather here on this bluff limits, defer to the common good, and We overlooking the beautiful become good citizens of our nation and river called Multnomah by native peoples of this our world while preparing to be ever- the place. We gather not far better citizens of heaven. from the spot where stood another seeker of knowledge and truth when he and his colleague, Meriwether Lewis, were charting the territory of the Louisiana Purchase at the turn of the 19th century. When Col. William Clark stood on our bluff he came to new understandings about his world; redefining his knowledge and awareness of God’s creation.

His way through this rugged and majestic land was eased and guided by others — men and women who had walked this way before, native peoples who knew where the waters eddied and silent pools ran deep.

Generations later, new explorers — students and scholars — mounted these same heights seeking to break open new passages through other

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uncharted lands, striving to address the most crying needs of their own communities and world. For over 100 years now their efforts have been gently guided by other teachers who have led these explorers not simply to the answers to life’s questions, but also to the processes and skills with which they might identify the needs around them and formulate effective responses that conform to truth. This place of learning boldly proclaims “veritas vos liberabit” — the truth shall set you free.

Secure in the knowledge that Christ is the way, the truth and the light, this circle of scholars shrinks in fear from no legitimate intellectual inquiry and wholeheartedly embraces the pursuit of knowledge. Faith has no fear of reason. Rather, as Pope John Paul II wrote, “Faith and reason are like two wings of the human spirit by which it soars to the truth.”

Lord, today this new class of scholars begins its quest. They aim to break open their minds and their hearts, push themselves to new intellectual limits, defer to the common good, and become good citizens of our nation and our world while preparing to be ever-better citizens of heaven.

Lord, bless these new Pilots as they begin their life on The Bluff. May they strive to use wisely and well the gifts they have been given. May they appreciate the sacrifices that others have made so that they might be here today — University benefactors, teachers, and especially their parents, who have given them life and learning and love. Bless these parents, comfort them in their apprehension as they leave their son or daughter in our care, and grant them the joy of watching their child grow in maturity, wisdom, and love.

Lord, bless all of us who live and work here on The Bluff, especially those charged with the task of forming young minds. Grant us the spirit of wisdom and good counsel in our role as guides. Deepen our own desire for truth so that we might be good and fitting witnesses, in both word and deed, of the lives to which we call others. May we continue to explore and develop our heads and our hearts, while committing the skills of our hands to right injustice, relieve human suffering, and restore God’s good and great creation. We ask all of this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Faculty Speech at Orientation for First-years with Their Parents Andrew Guest, Ph.D., professor, psychological sciences August 2015

As I’ve been thinking about welcoming you, and sharing some brief thoughts about what to expect from your faculty and your classes, it struck me that what I think most particularly characterizes University of Portland as an academic community is its really healthy balance of both intellectual engagement and personal engagement. There are a lot of smart people around UP, but more than that there are a lot of really nice people around UP. Of course, I wouldn’t be a good academic or a good psychologist if I didn’t suggest to you that being nice is probably a bit more complicated than it may first appear.

As just one example, when classes start I suspect you’ll find the vast majority of the faculty to be quite nice. In fact, the first few weeks of classes are often a rush of excitement and engagement and mutual admiration. You like us, and we like you. But as a developmental psychologist who studies change over time, I also feel obliged to warn you that this may change. It may turn out that your classes are harder than you thought. Or maybe for a lucky few they are too easy. Maybe other things happen in your life that make it really hard for you to focus on your classes. Or maybe you bomb the first paper or the first quiz. All of a sudden, you may start to question whether us faculty are really quite so nice.

First, let me reassure you that faculty here are pretty good at separating who you are as people from how you do in our classes. If you put in a genuine effort, or you have genuine reasons for not doing as well as you might hope, we are happy to work with you. One reason we’re here rather than at a larger more research-focused institution is because we really like to teach, and if you already get everything right it kind of leaves us without the job we love.

We sort of like it when you make mistakes, at least at the start, because that opens up all kinds of opportunities to learn.

In fact, I’m thinking we should just go ahead and get started. Are you ready for your first quiz question? Here’s a question I’ll ask my students on the very first day of a class I teach on lifespan development, and with nothing but the best intentions I kind of hope you get it wrong. Are you ready?

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What is the best age to be?

Of course, like most good questions in social science there are lots of ways to answer it, but psychologists tend to do it by using survey data comparing average reported levels of psychological well-being (or happiness) in huge samples of people at all different ages. I thought this might be a good question for today because my guess is a lot of you, parents and students, have heard people say something to the effect of “college is the best time of your life.” But this is actually an empirical question we can assess with data, so, what do you think? Is college likely to be the best time of your life? Or what is the age people tend to report the highest average levels of psychological well-being?

Let me give you a minute to think about that and mention one other thing you might expect from your faculty. We tend to be people who did pretty well in school, who are reasonably good at learning from our mistakes, and who chose to go into academia rather than other careers because we find our subjects really, really interesting. The degree to which we find things like theoretical physics or 18th century novels or linear equation modelling or the social history of Gregorian chant interesting will likely strike you as irrational. I once had a small cabal of students in one of my introductory courses who started surreptitiously tracking how often I used the term “interesting” in class and it averaged out to something like 21 times an hour. Now, part of me was embarrassed, part of me was proud of the students for their innovative application of research methods, but most of me just insisted this material really was that interesting.

So, I mention this to warn you that we faculty tend to think that our subjects have a value beyond just what will get you a job, even though we know well that getting a job does matter. And we really want students to share our excitement about our subjects, even though we know most of you won’t be quite as excited as us. So as one practical tip, even if you can’t quite understand why we faculty find our subjects so interesting, give us the benefit of the doubt that they just might be.

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COLLEGE, AT ITS BEST,

can be a rare time in your life when you can immerse yourself in interesting ideas just because they are interesting — and that experience by itself can help craft habits of thought and behavior that hold value for the rest of your lives.

College, at its best, can be a rare time in your life when you can immerse yourself in interesting ideas just because they are interesting — and that experience by itself can help craft habits of thought and behavior that hold value for the rest of your lives.

Ok, what did you say to my question about the best age to be? Is college likely to be the best time of your life?

The short answer is no. The data show pretty clearly that psychological wellbeing makes a slow but steady decline all the way through the 20s and 30s towards a nadir in the mid- to late-40s. Then, and this is the really interesting part, it tends to go straight up through old age — the “happiest” age bracket on average is actually those over 70.

Now, I would suggest there are a few meaningful lessons here. First, I’d ask you to keep in mind that there are some important people in your life who are likely to be right around the statistical low point of psychological well-being — namely, your faculty and your parents. Be nice to us.

Second, older people aren’t necessarily happier because the practical realities or the circumstances of their lives are so wonderful. In regard to things like physical health, adventure, opportunity, etc., older people don’t have it so great.

The explanation, instead, is that older people have often learned to lower their expectations, to stop worrying about what might be, and find happiness in what is.

So, what about all those people who say college is the best time of your life?

It can be. The research suggests that even in old age people have more memories from the years around college age than any other point in their lifespan. College is formative.

But the college students that tend to be the happiest are those who are able to do what older adults do: worry less about what you think you are supposed to do and engage more with what is. Engage with your classes, your residence halls, your friends, your spiritual journey, and your potential vocation without rigid expectations. My strong hypothesis is that all those happy seventy-somethings, despite their memories of being about your age, don’t actually remember much about the specific grades they got in school or whether they got invited to the right party. But I also suspect they do maintain many of the values and ideas that became important to them in those years, and that it was alright to have done at least some of their learning from making mistakes.

At the very least, I know my faculty colleagues and I are excited about the possibility of helping you all to do the same. We’re very happy to have you here, and we welcome you sincerely to a pretty nice place to learn and grow.

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Address to the Faculty Retreat Rev. Charles B. Gordon, C.S.C., co-director of the Garaventa Center September 2016

try to imagine what it must be like to be a lay collaborator with Holy Cross at our University, which was founded by the congregation more than a century ago, and which continues to be served by one of the largest communities of Holy Cross priests and brothers in the country.

One of the first challenges facing someone who wishes to collaborate with the Congregation of Holy Cross must be to figure out who we are and how we do things. This task is complicated by the fact that much about our way of life has never been systematized or written down. You see, Father Moreau founded our In sum, when Jesus says, “Take up congregation in the first half your cross and follow me,” it may mean of the 19th century to serve the traumatized Church for our lay collaborators, “Take up your of post-revolutionary France. It was a Church in Holy Cross and follow me.” What do crisis. It wasn’t a time to they receive in return? Well, for one compose elaborate mission statements or set out formal thing, to borrow the words of Saint or philosophies.

Paul, they are given ample opportunity spiritualities There were ruined parishes to “live in a manner worthy of the call to be restored and countless children to be taught. you have received, with all humility Moreau’s first followers were and gentleness and patience, bearing thrown in at the deep end with little formal training with one another through love.” and told to get to work.

Armed with little more than faith, hope, and zeal, they accomplished a great deal of good work.

Little wonder, then, that faith, hope, and zeal became the hallmarks of Holy Cross. Much else about who we are as a congregation had to be worked out on the fly as we responded to one crisis after another in one new culture after another. In exchange for papal recognition of our

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congregation, we were sent by the pope to evangelize some of the most dangerous and difficult places on earth. In at least one country all our guys died within a couple of years of their arrival. In others, we still serve.

In a sense, that original atmosphere of crisis has never really gone away. There never seemed to be enough of us to accomplish the great missions that Christ has set out for us. One consequence of this has been an impatience with process. We start to squirm whenever conversation about the mission seems to go on too long. Something inside us wants to shout, “Oh shut up and go do some work.”

Another consequence has been that from the beginning, sharing our mission with lay collaborators has been, not an act of generosity on our part, but a stone-cold necessity. We’ve never imagined that the mission could be accomplished any other way. So, we’ve always taken our lay collaborators to our hearts, and to the heart of our work. In a way, they are we. And perhaps, at times, in the great Holy Cross tradition, our collaborators, too, are dropped in at the deep end and expected to succeed by force of faith, hope, and zeal. It may not seem like much of a method but look at what has been accomplished as a result!

Part of what I mean when I say we take our lay collaborators to our hearts is that we don’t hold them at arm’s length. We don’t pretend with them to be something we’re not. We don’t put up a front. We learned at some point in our history that we don’t have to stand on our dignity in order to have dignity. Consequently, no one can work with us for long without noticing our flaws and foibles. I imagine that at the point when our various quirks become obvious, there is a danger of becoming disillusioned with us. Perhaps the danger is made greater by the position of privilege we appear to be in here.

The universal Church testifies that there have been members of the Congregation of Holy Cross whose lives were characterized by heroic sanctity. Right now, in other places, Holy Cross priests and brothers act heroically in circumstances of deprivation and danger for peace and justice — for Christ. I’ve seen a Holy Cross priest throw his body over a boy who was being kicked and beaten by an angry mob and cry out, “If you

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are going to kill him, you’ll have to kill me!” I’ve lived in an East African neighborhood where on Friday evenings the police would come and arrest a number of people who looked prosperous enough that their families were likely to pay a bribe for their release, and women whom they would sexually assault over the weekend. Those arrested would crouch in a circle in the dirt while the police collected the rest of their quota of victims. On one such occasion, I saw a Holy Cross priest join the circle in the dirt and cry out in Swahili, “Why are we being arrested? What have we done?” until the police became so flustered that they let everyone go. I’ve heard stories of Holy Cross political activists on another continent who were arrested and threatened with torture by a ruthless dictator.

So, what’s the story with our local Holy Cross community? Do we just happen to have the bad luck to have all the soft and pampered Holy Cross guys here? Our lay collaborators must sometimes have to work at seeing the good in us, often giving us the benefit of the doubt. And in time they may learn that the fellow complaining loudly that there’s too much fennel in his crab cakes has in fact done some remarkable things for the Kingdom of God. Because they work so closely with us, our collaborators will often need to forgive our clumsiness and the hurts we heedlessly inflict. We have to do this with each other. This is what comes of our having to undertake missions that are so much bigger than we are. We can’t manage them by just deploying a “Sunday best” version of ourselves. They demand that we invest everything we have, everything that we are — even the annoying bits. We’ll probably assume that you will do the same.

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Collaborating with us may mean not getting the credit you deserve.

We can take the extraordinary efforts of our collaborators for granted in much the same way as we take each other for granted. Of course, you’re working 14 hours a day. It’s what we do. Actually, failing to get credit for what you have accomplished may be the ultimate sign of being part of the mission of Holy Cross. After all, half the world seems to think that the University of Portland and Notre Dame are great Jesuit universities.

In sum, when Jesus says, “Take up your cross and follow me,” it may mean for our lay collaborators, “Take up your Holy Cross and follow me.” What do they receive in return? Well, for one thing, to borrow the words of Saint Paul, they are given ample opportunity to “live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with one another through love.” For another, the Gospels make it clear that our lives and talents are to be invested someplace where they will bear great fruit. This is such a place. History has shown that this University and the other great missions of Holy Cross are places where, by the grace of God, talents are multiplied many times over, so that astonishing things are achieved for Christ and His Church.

The constitutions of our congregation assure us that while our predecessors in Holy Cross were heavily burdened, they did not walk, they strode. If they strode, perhaps it was in order to keep up with the wonderful lay people who have collaborated with us from the beginning.

People like you. Thank you for walking with us. We’ll try to keep up.

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YOU TRULY EXIST

where you love and not merely where you live.

I think Pope Francis is calling us to awaken our lives to a new level of consciousness, a consciousness of interdependence, a consciousness of belonging to a whole‌

Zahm Lecture Excerpt Sr. Ilia Delio, O.S.F. September 2016 Ed. Note: The Zahm Lecture, which launches the academic year, addresses the important issues surrounding American Catholic education and honors Fr. John Zahm, C.S.C., an eminent Holy Cross priest and scientist of the late 19th and early 20th century.

might invite us this evening to begin thinking about educating to what I call deep catholicity. This is not only bridging science and religion, but that whatever we’re studying, we are seeing that area of study as a way to help make whole our lives and the world. Therefore, we need to educate in a way that is both contemplative and engaging. We need to slow down and we need to build soul, to build the inner soul.

I think we need something like a cyber fast or cyber Sabbath. Can we take one day a week and simply unplug all of our devices? Here’s a really novel idea, you might go talk to one other person or you might just take a walk in nature.

(You have beautiful nature here. I think Northwestern people are much more natureoriented than in the East.) Here’s what Pope Francis says in Laudato si’: “The external deserts of the world are growing because the internal deserts have become so vast. We are losing the sense of the interior life.”

We must realize we are part of a creative whole of unlimited potential — and both science and religion tell us that — whereby our self and our world are constantly being drawn into a new existence together. That is evolution. As Thomas Berry says, “We will go into the future as a single sacred community or we will all perish in the desert.” I think Pope Francis is sounding this alarm in Laudato si’. It cannot sustain itself. We have an unsustainable way of life and, therefore, we begin to realize that when I am addicted to my technologies, when I segregate myself from everything else, that I am then in sin, cosmic sin, ecological sin. Human sin is living in the exile of unrelatedness.

As Bonaventure said many centuries ago, you truly exist where you love and not merely where you live. I think Pope Francis is calling us to awaken our lives to a new level of consciousness, a consciousness of interdependence, a consciousness of belonging to a whole, but we will only have that consciousness if we love the whole because we are the sum of our loves. Teilhard said, “In the end, love alone can bring us to the threshold of another universe.”

May we love well, and may we love the whole. Thank you.

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AS ASTONISHING

as the universe is, much more astonishing is the creature that insists on knowing it.

Zahm Lecture Excerpt Marilynne Robinson, Ph.D. September 2019

isdom and knowledge stand in such a complex relationship to one another that they invite metaphors drawn from deep reality. They are a binary system, like stars trapped within the pull of each other’s gravity. … Religion and science are not at odds. They pose important questions to ask, re-evaluate, and ask again. … As astonishing as the universe is, much more astonishing is the creature that insists on knowing it.

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Moreau on Teaching: Holy Cross Education A Publication for the Promotion of Heritage and Mission Office of the Provost August 2008

Purpose of Education “To be true to our calling as complete Holy Cross educators we cannot excuse ourselves from matters of the heart. The heart does not know the Pythagorean theorem, the parts of speech, or plant phyla. The heart knows love and its loss, craves compassion, and responds to hospitality.

The heart struggles with ambiguity, weighs choices, and considers consequences. The heart, given space, learns to risk once it finds courage and hope. In the stillness of listening it is the heart that hears the gentle breeze. … To what end it serve students to Moreau reminds us that knowledge would know how to read, write, alone is not sufficient in acquiring calculate, and draw, or to possess some notions of an education. Judgment, ethics, history, geography, geometry, character, spirit, and action upon physics, and chemistry, if they are ignorant of their the knowledge of the head and the duties to God, to themselves, heart, are all critical elements. and to society, or if, while knowing them, they did not conform their conduct to that knowledge? Hurry then; take up this work of resurrection, never forgetting that the special end of your institute is, before all, to sanctify youth.”

Moreau reminds us that knowledge alone is not sufficient in acquiring an education. Judgment, ethics, character, spirit, and action upon the knowledge of the head and the heart, are all critical elements. Thus, the University of Portland encourages the development of the head (teaching/ learning), heart (faith), and hand (service) through the core curriculum and its fundamental questions and embedded essential elements. Our success in developing our students’ heads, hearts, and hands is closely associated with our ability to address these questions and elements in all aspects of University community life, from practices in our kitchens and residence halls to our classroom and administrative offices.

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Vocation “Christian educators really need a call from God in order to deal with all that they face in working with young people.”

In his book, The Call to Teach, Columbia University educational philosopher David Hansen encourages teachers to see their work as a vocation, a calling.

He reminds us that a calling can be secular or religious, but in either sense it is a “summons or bidding to be of service” and it is distinct from work, career, or profession. Further, he suggests vocation requires that the “person brings a sense of agency and commitment to the work that, in turn, embodies the belief that he or she has something to contribute to it.”

Teaching as vocation goes hand-in-hand with the love of even the drudgery of the work and its questions, doubts, and uncertainties. It is seeing the routine as something other than routine. “In addition, one regards the work as larger than fulfilling its discrete requirements, although the details of practice are also seen as worthy of attention.” Teaching is demanding. Youth need our commitment to them and this work of resurrection. Our founder, Moreau, challenges us to answer the call for the benefit of our students.

Knowledge “In order to succeed in acquiring a superior degree of knowledge, teachers must have a constant desire for self-improvement and lose no opportunity to satisfy this ambition when it is not detrimental to their other duties. To teach with success, teachers must know good methods, be skillful in applying these methods, have clear ideas, be able to define exactly, and possess language that is easily understood and correct.”

Content knowledge is essential in teaching, but success as a teacher is also dependent on excellent instructional practice and positive personal dispositions.

Moreau challenges us to strive to improve in all three aspects. Our success is measured in our students’ heads, hearts, and hands, so vigilance in reading, researching, publishing, and engaging in collegial interactions of all kinds ensures life-long learning.

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Zeal “Teachers who possess it fulfill the duties of their profession with enthusiasm, love, courage, and perseverance. … Since the zeal of these teachers is guided by love, they do everything with strength because they are courageous and unshakeable in the midst of any difficulties they face; with gentleness because they are tender and compassionate like Jesus Christ, the model for all teachers, who loved to be bothered by young people.”

The Christ the Teacher Sculpture Garden (Fr. Oddo Memorial) and the University Chapel strategically bookend the UP academic quad and buildings. These visible reminders of our teacher are designed to inspire us to seek and use the qualities of zeal as described by Father Moreau.

Each day, courageously and unshaken, faculty members set aside their personal concerns as they enter the classroom to demonstrate their enthusiasm, love, compassion, gentleness, and perseverance in the service of the heads, hands, and hearts of our students. This zeal is the essence of the University of Portland experience for students, staff, faculty, and administration.

Relationship “Never forget that good teaching lies in the best approach to an individual student, that all successes you find will be in direct proportion to the efforts you have made in this area.”

Rev. Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C., vice president for mission at Stonehill College, reminds us that the work of teaching and spiritual nurturing is best when it is particular. Knowing how and what to teach or counsel stems from knowledge of each student. Particularity has similarities to educational practices such as individual educational plans, differentiated instruction, or individualized instruction, but it really is about teacherstudent relationship, the zeal employed in cultivating teacher-student relationships, the sensitivities of the teacher, and the attitude about the work. Moreau reminds us that good teaching occurs when students find meaning in the content. Making content meaningful is best accomplished by understanding the individual student and employing excellent instructional practices.

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Gentleness, Firmness, and Vigilance “Gentleness is the filling of the soul with the Spirit so as to moderate the anger that arises when a person feels irritated towards those who have caused some injury. It is the result of a patience that never tires and of selfcontrol that keeps everything under the guardianship of reason and faith.

Gentleness is the only way in which they will succeed in the task of bringing out love in their students. You are aware of the statement ‘love causes love.’

The Bible, in speaking of the way in which God governs the world, says that Providence guides everything with ‘strength’ and with ‘gentleness.’ That is the model that teachers must follow if they wish to succeed in educating young people. Vigilant teachers forget nothing of what they ought to do and do not become distracted from what they ought to be thinking about, seeing, hearing, or doing. There is nothing more necessary for teachers than this constant watchfulness over themselves and their students.”

If the length of a passage is an indicator of importance, Moreau uses more inches on the page to describe the value of gentleness in teaching than any other attribute. His admonition on gentleness invokes all the other attributes (faithfulness, zeal, knowledge, vigilance, seriousness, patience, firmness, and prudence) as they are related to gentleness. Moreau reminds us that “teachers who are meek and follow the example of Jesus Christ lose none of their authority … they will be blessed and happy … they will be important people in their school, and they will cause Jesus Christ to be an important person there.”

Patience and Prudence “Patience is the shield against which all these difficulties are blunted.

Prudence is the virtue that helps us decide the best way of reaching our goals and that helps us work against obstacles standing in the way of reaching them.”

Teachers work with both the short- and the long-term view in mind, always considering the particulars of their work’s context. Consideration of the long term can bring the patience for daily interactions with our students and colleagues while still prudently guiding toward the end goal. Keeping the end in mind while maintaining a prudent zeal to move toward the goal allows the student or colleague the time and space to join on the path toward the goal.

Moreau admonishes us to be patient, an attribute he struggled with during his life, while also being prudent.

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OUR FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE

enter into league with theirs. We are inspired by one another’s virtues and are patient with each other’s quirks and flaws. The good we see in each other makes us better. When we feel disappointed or disillusioned, we manage not to walk away. Then, by the grace of God, with great rumbling and churning, something extraordinarily beautiful is created — a place where gifts and energies can be poured out in love to change the world.

Homily for the Feast of Blessed Basile-AntoineMarie Moreau and the Conferral of “The Spirit of Holy Cross Award” Rev. Charles B. Gordon, C.S.C., co-director of the Garaventa Center January 2016 Spirit of Holy Cross Awards Ed. Note: The award is given annually to lay collaborators who faithfully serve the Province in the United States and abroad. The Spirit of Holy Cross Award acknowledges the critical importance lay collaborators play in living out the vision and mission of Holy Cross founder Blessed Basil Moreau to make God known, loved, and served through education, parish, and mission settings.

omething happened 2,000 years ago in Palestine that caused something to happen 200 years ago in France that caused something to happen 100 years ago on this bluff overlooking the Willamette River that has caused us to gather together today to celebrate the spirit of Holy Cross.

The spirit of Holy Cross is difficult to express in words. It can’t be distilled into a set of propositions. It doesn’t boil down to seven habits of highly effective C.S.C.s. No, the spirit of Holy Cross isn’t something that can be adequately described. The spirit of Holy Cross is something that happens.

It happens when and where the Holy Cross religious are loosed on the world. When I was a young priest working in Kenya, I attended a social gathering of missionaries from a number of different religious orders.

I asked one of the oldest fellows there (I think he was a Comboni Father) what kind of reputation Holy Cross had in East Africa. He summed it up this way: “If you leave a Holy Cross guy out in the middle of the bush somewhere, when you come back in five years you’ll find a church and a school and a medical dispensary and an agricultural cooperative and every other darned thing you can think of. That’s Holy Cross for you.” That’s the kind of thing you get when the spirit of Holy Cross happens.

Sure, we build with brick and mortar, but fundamentally we bring everything we are and all we’ve known in order to engage with the history

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of a place and with the lived experience of a particular people. Our faith, hope, and love enter into league with theirs. We are inspired by one another’s virtues and are patient with each other’s quirks and flaws. The good we see in each other makes us better. When we feel disappointed or disillusioned, we manage not to walk away. Then, by the grace of God, with great rumbling and churning, something extraordinarily beautiful is created — a place where gifts and energies can be poured out in love to change the world. The spirit of Holy Cross has happened — in a way that could not have happened anywhere else with any other people — and, of course, its creation continues.

And so, in the words of our Scripture readings, we pick up our cross (even when that cross is each other) and strive to live in a manner worthy of the call we have received. Possessed of one hope, with all humility, gentleness, and patience, we bear with one another through love.

According to the measure of the particular gifts that God has given to each of us, we pour out our lives joyfully for those entrusted to our care, so that our community may be built up to attain the full stature of Christ.

And God alone knows what glorious things may happen in other times, in other places, because of what is happening here.

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Excerpts from a Paper for the Congregation of Holy Cross History Conference Br. Donald Stabrowski, C.S.C, provost emeritus June 2001

he Congregation of Holy Cross for 175 years has provided the Church with a unique model of religious life that incorporated a society of priests and a society of brothers into a single congregation that has become the particular hallmark of our religious community.

The Congregation came into existence in 1837 when Father Basil Moreau assumed leadership of the Brothers of St. Joseph and united these men with a group of auxiliary priests he had organized two years earlier to assist with missions in the Diocese of LeMans. Fr. Jacques Dujarie founded the Brothers of St. Joseph in 1820 to provide teachers for postrevolutionary France. By 1837, when the Fundamental Act was signed

by Fr. Dujarie and Fr. Moreau joining the brothers and the auxiliary priests, there were about 50 brothers and ten priests comprising this new community that would take for its name the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Fr. Moreau’s vision for this new community was indeed unique for the time in that he believed that these brothers and priests could work collaboratively. In his vision, he also included a group of religious sisters working with the two groups of men, and initially modeled his congregation after the Holy Family, which was not approved by 19th century Rome. His vision of a Brother of Holy Cross was different in that it was not exactly the model of the newly founded Christian Brothers who had no clerical membership, nor was it that of lay brothers who served primarily as assistants to priests. Fr. Moreau envisioned these men working collaboratively — each responding to his unique vocation and lending his unique talents to the Church and to Holy Cross. Br. Gérard Dionne, C.S.C., states that Fr. Moreau saw Holy Cross as a religious family where complementarities are called into play so that the unity of the people of God in the diversity of the gifts of the Spirit might be made evident. Holy Cross appears thus as a figure of the Church.1 Despite the founder’s vision of his new congregation, tensions between the two societies existed over finances and leadership almost from the very beginning, but they in no way deterred the missionary

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spirit of this new community. From the first mission to Algeria in 1840, to the United States in 1841, to Canada in 1847, and to Bengal in 1852, brothers and priests would work side-by-side in these new ventures despite these tensions that at times were sometimes serious. It wasn’t until the General Chapter in 1945, when the congregation created separate provinces for priests and brothers, that a “solution” to these tensions between societies appeared to be resolved. The Vatican gave its blessing to this separation into provinces of priests and brothers in 1946.2 The focus of this paper is to look at some of the lasting contributions of brothers at one of these Holy Cross institutions — the University of Portland — where since the spring of 1902 priests and brothers have worked side-by-side. Over these 110 years approximately 100 brothers have been assigned to this apostolate even though much of its history has been under the jurisdiction of a province of priests.

The Rough Years The first brother of Holy Cross to arrive in Portland was Br. Wilfred Schreiber. He arrived in August 1902 with Fr. John Thillman, joining Fr. Michael Quinlan, Fr. William J. Marr, and Fr. Patrick Carroll, who had arrived in May of the same year. These five men — four priests and one brother — were the first Holy Cross to staff this new apostolate.

Br. Wilfred supervised maintenance of the plant, and much of his time was spent heating the few buildings that formed the campus at the time. Initially there was no steam plant, so West Hall (presently Waldschmidt Hall) was heated by individual stoves and a few fireplaces until a more suitable central system was developed. For the next 31 years Br. Wilfred presided over the steam plant that used wood for its major source of fuel until 1928 when oil was finally brought to campus — and he took great pride each year in burning as little fuel as possible much to the chagrin of shivering students.3

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Brother Godfrey Vassallo building Pilot House When Br. Godfrey first arrived on campus in 1929, physics classes were non-existent. Armed with $100 and a couple vacant rooms in Christie Hall, he created the first physics classroom and lab, and eventually went on to develop the School of Engineering. But that wasn’t all he built in his 45-year tenure, as seen here helping to construct Pilot House.

Brother Charles Borromeo Harding When Irish native Br. Charles Borromeo Harding arrived at University of Portland in 1902 at the age of 64, he had already helped build some of the most notable halls of Notre Dame. A self-taught builder, he left his mark all over the UP campus for the next 20 years, including designing major buildings like St. Mary’s Convent in 1908 for the Presentation Sisters.

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Fields of Dreams From 1902 until the early 1930s, the majority of the University’s land was dedicated to a farm that grew produce — especially potatoes — and featured several out-buildings for chickens and milk cows. The farm was never very successful, owing partly to a lack of skill and a surplus of drama among the staff.

Brother David Martin Although he didn’t have a college degree when he came to University of Portland to serve as librarian in 1928, Br. David Martin would go on to earn two bachelor’s and two master’s degrees, design and develop the new University library in 1958, and became the University’s first archivist. His 56 years of service remain unparalleled in UP history.

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From 1902 until the early 1930s, a farm existed on campus that consisted of an orchard, several out-buildings for chickens and milk cows, a plot that grew produce, and enough potatoes to supply the kitchen for an entire year. The farm occupied the majority of the 80 acres the University had amassed by the time the farm ceased existence. All the land north of what is presently the main entrance on Willamette Boulevard was the farm, along with some land east of Christie and Kenna Halls that was planted in corn, according to Jim Covert, who wrote the history of the University for its 75th anniversary in 1977.4 When the farm closed there were about 20 milk cows, as well as chickens and seasonal produce under the supervision of the Presentation Sisters.

Br. Joseph Achatz was the first brother assigned to the farm.

A temperamental individual with a heavy German accent, he arrived sometime in 1902 and intermittently went from the farm to what might be considered maintenance and supervisor of housekeeping. For two decades he served in Portland. Depending on his run-ins with the sisters in the kitchen or other workers on campus, he was either in charge of the farm or assigned another task away from it and the incidents that caused the discontent between fellow workers.

One of Br. Joseph’s major run-ins involved an incident with the sisters, his dogs and the chickens. Fr. John T. Boland, who had been president of the University from 1914 until 1919, wrote a letter to Fr. Andrew Morrissey, the Provincial Superior, regarding the incident.

“Brother Joseph has given up the care of the farm and is now working in the main building sweeping, etc. The change came about in this way. He had three dogs which took a delight in chasing the chickens.

In fact, they killed a good number of them. Although I told Joseph to do away with two of the dogs, he was determined to keep them.

One morning the Mother (Mother Theodore was the Superior of the Presentation Sisters) gave Br. Joseph a piece of her mind about his dogs and chickens, etc., and at noon Joseph gave up the farm as he said for ‘two years,’ because in two years the farm would go to hell, and then everybody, including the Sisters, would be begging him to return. I am writing to you about this matter now for Joseph may ask you to give him a change.”5

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For two years Br. Joseph left the farm in other hands and flirted with a change to Texas, but that never materialized. By September 1917 Br. Joseph had assumed direction once again, just as he had predicted.

However, by April 1918 another incident occurred and is revealed in a letter from Fr. Boland to Fr. Morrissey.

“No doubt you have received Br. Joseph’s letter. I do not know what he may have written so I think it best to give you the facts.

Sister Martin left here on March 12 for Fargo, N.D., having requested a change of obedience as she was not happy in her work because of interference by Br. Joseph. Mother, however, requested me not to, but hoped that Brother would be changed in the summer. Sister Martin was not replaced, and her work fell to one of the kitchen sisters who undertook the care of the chickens and the work in the dairy in addition to her own work in the kitchen.

“Last Wednesday Joseph threw some hard substance at a chicken and killed it, accidently so at least he now claims. He took it into the kitchen and told the Sisters he intended to kill all the chickens.

I had to remove him from his work, at least for a time, or until he would realize in some way the barbarity of his behavior. I spent two days in town looking for a man to do this work but could find none although I offered $4.50 per day. This idiot Alpheus (Br. Alpheus apparently took charge of the farm in the absence of Joseph) can do nothing. I had to get a student to milk the few cows. If we don’t get the planting done now the farm will be of no value to us next year and you know what that would mean.”

Things did not improve on the farm under Br. Joseph’s direction. By September 2, 1918, Fr. Boland informs Fr. Morrissey that the sisters have given up care for the chickens, because they did not have a sister to do this chore. The chickens then became the responsibility of the farm rather than the kitchen. Given the temperament and lack of talent of some of the farm personnel, it is perhaps the reason why the farm never lived up to the expectations that the community placed on it.

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The Intrepid Builder Another pioneer who arrived among the first Holy Cross religious in 1902 was Br. Charles Borromeo Harding, who would leave his mark on this place for the next 20 years. Born in Ireland in 1838, the son of a carpenter, he came to Holy Cross in 1862. He was a self-taught institutional builder and construction manager involved in almost every addition to the physical plant at Notre Dame from 1868 until coming to Portland sometime in 1902. Br. Charles along with Fr. Edward Sorin and Fr. Alexis Granger formed what Thomas Schlereth refers to as an ad hoc committee of Holy Cross religious who designed and redesigned Sacred Heart Church at Notre Dame, which is today Sacred Heart Basilica.6 St. Edward’s Hall at Notre Dame as well as Corby Hall and then Dujarie Hall (now Carroll Hall) were designed and the actual construction of these buildings was supervised by Br. Charles.

For 20 years Br. Charles served as carpenter, sometimes groundsworker, and even a farmhand from time to time here in Portland. Not a young man upon arriving here at the age of 64, he would undertake major building projects. In 1908 he designed St. Mary’s Convent, a four-story wooden structure to house the Presentation Sisters. After the sisters left it was used to house Holy Cross religious, bachelor members of the lay staff and maintenance crew.7 Later he would be instrumental in providing a comparable building named St. Joseph Hall, build a wooden addition to West Hall that would serve as a kitchen for the students and religious community, and, when needed, provide buildings for the farm, grounds, and maintenance crews.

The Columbia, the University’s paper, makes several mentions of Br. Charles’ work. In 1916 he was shingling the roof of West Hall, and at the age of 78 he was seen on the roof actually doing the roofing.8 In 1919, mention is made of his building a wooden sidewalk from West Hall to the infirmary that would serve as sort of a Noah’s Ark when the rain comes and it floods.9 Finally in November 1922, there is mention of his death calling to mind his friendly demeanor, holiness, and generous spirit in all that he did.10

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Prep School Roots Like most Catholic colleges and universities, the University of Portland did not open its doors offering the four-year degrees that have become the standard today. The four-year University of Portland that we see today didn’t take shape until the late 1920s. In the first two decades, what was then called Columbia University was primarily a prep school educating what today would be considered middle school and high school age boys, preparing them to go on to college and University level programs. During the 1920s, the University awarded what was then a very popular two-year business degree, and there were several options in Portland where young men could study commerce for two years and then go on to a professional career.

In 1927, the decision was made to expand the academic program to a four-year degree, and in 1929 the University graduated six men with four-year degrees. As the University moved toward a four-year program, it was necessary that it receive regional accreditation. In 1934 the Northwest Association of Colleges and Universities gave regional accreditation to the University, and the following year the name of the University was changed from Columbia University to the University of Portland. By 1935 the University of Portland became an accredited four-year institution. It had phased out the elementary school and modified the prep school with more professional courses, completely separating it from the University. It would be named Columbia Prep and eventually move off campus until it ceased operation in 1955.

During its existence, Columbia Prep was recognized as the best Catholic high school program in the area with a superb faculty — many of them teaching both in the high school program and in the University.

From its first days until its closing in 1955, over 30 brothers of Holy Cross were assigned to teach at Columbia Prep as well as at the University of Portland, and sometimes at both places at the same time.

Several brothers who taught mathematics, science, commerce classes, and music were assigned to Columbia Prep. Br. Norbert Henske, a math and science teacher by training, relates an interesting explanation of his

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days at Columbia Prep that were not that different from brothers teaching anywhere — who were teaching almost anything depending on the need for faculty at any given time. He recalls that when he got to Portland in 1934 he expected to teach mathematics. However, Fr. Michael Early, the principal, called him in and asked him to teach classes in English, Latin, economics, and government for at least a year. He did that for two years and never taught mathematics, which was his major area of preparation.

In a later stint, then-president Fr. Charles Miltner noted that Br. Norbert was working on a master’s degree in Spanish during the summers at the University of Portland and asked him to teach sisters attending summer school Spanish. He did this, and the next year was given five Spanish classes at the University from introductory level to the intermediate level.

This serves as an example of the resilience of many religious of those days. With little preparation they were frequently asked to fill in wherever needed, and much of what was needed for course preparation was done on their own.11 A Physics Pioneer Br. Godfrey Vassallo is another one of the many dozens of Holy Cross Brothers who devoted many years to the University, leaving an impressive list of accomplishments. Br. Godfrey is best remembered for his development of the University’s School of Engineering. He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in physics before being assigned to Portland in 1929. For the next 45 years B.G., as he was known on campus, taught mathematics and physics, and within a few years after his arrival he was head of the physics department. He recalled years later in an interview that when he came to the University there was no physics class or lab. Fr. Louis Kelley, then president of the University, asked him to proceed with classes in physics and to build a lab, and provided him $100 to fund the project. He found a vacant room in the basement of Christie Hall, cleaned it out, and added another room to provide the first physics classroom and lab in a matter of weeks before the semester began.12 Disinclined to pursue his doctorate (he claimed he

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never had the time to study, and that “everybody knows everything today except the Ph.D.s”) he got one anyway when the University presented him with an honorary doctor of science degree on the 50th anniversary of his religious profession in 1963.

His reputation as a teacher is what made him a legend on campus.

Careful, generous, and respectful of his charges, he took time to know his students, never embarrassing them in class because of their lack of preparation or inattention — although he seized every opportunity to admonish students in private. He believed students came to the University to be challenged and encouraged, and didn’t expect them to have “too much background” when they came to his classes. John C. Beckman, Ph.D., class of 1942, a former student, and life-long friend of Br. Godfrey commented: “In the classroom B.G. was an unparalleled master. He always reached each of us as individuals. He showed a continuity of interest in each of us and all of us. His irrepressible good humor burst out often and in frequent anecdotes, and an imaginative pun could drop without warning — turning his class into one loud groan. His pleasure was measured by the intensity of the groan. Moments later B.G. would change pace and get down to business. He had the rare gift of awareness of an individual’s problems, even in a large class.

He could help those who were having difficulties while challenging those who were quick and bright. He was a pro — but most of all a rich and inspiring personality with abundant vitality. On occasion he turned his talents to fundraising for the University and with considerable success.” 13 Occasionally he found it necessary to fund students on the verge of dropping out of school because they couldn’t find money to pay their tuition. He always managed to find someone who could support these causes, and eventually he gained the reputation of being able to help when students had nowhere else to turn. He was fortunate to live long enough to see the establishment of a memorial to himself to carry on this work.

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The Arrival of the Sisters The Sisters of St. Mary of the Presentation came to The Bluff in 1903, after being exiled by France’s anticlerical government. They resided in West Hall until Br. Charles and his crew finished building St. Mary’s Convent in 1908. They worked tirelessly in the kitchen, dining room, laundry, infirmary, and poultry yard, and the order remained on campus until 1940, when their religious community called them back home.

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West Hall In its earliest years as a prep school for middle school and high school age boys, University of Portland was called Columbia University, and Waldschmidt Hall was called West Hall, where students and teachers alike ate, slept, and studied. Constructed in 1891 by members of the Methodist Episcopal church as Portland University, it was purchased by Archbishop Alexander Christie in 1901. Since then, this historic building has undergone a multitude of changes and now serves as UP’s main administrative building.

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Beckman instituted the Br. Godfrey Student Aid Fund in 1970 to honor his former teacher.

Br. Godfrey coached football and hockey in his younger years, umpired baseball games, skated beautifully (he learned the art as a boy in Nova Scotia), took photographs for The Beacon, the LOG and the campus directory, rigged sound systems, repaired students’ radios, directed the Parents Club, and served as the University Marshall for many years. He tried retirement several times but it didn’t take, and in his last years he taught a class or two every year and took up stamp and rock collecting. He never did really retire until September 12, 1974, the day he died. Fr. James Anderson, the eulogist at Br. Godfrey’s funeral Mass put it very well: “He was the University. To think of the University was to think of him.” 14 A Man of Letters Br. David Martin came to the University in 1928 to serve as librarian, which was then housed in the basement of Christie Hall alongside the bowling allies. He spent the next 38 years developing the library to the growing needs of the University. When he arrived on campus he did not have a college degree, but he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees here at the University of Portland, and then went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in library science at the University of Washington and a master’s in library science from the University of Chicago.

In the early 1950s he inaugurated a graduate program in library science, which in its first years was associated with Rosary College in Illinois. Several Dominican Sisters from Rosary would come to Portland to teach summer classes along with the library faculty to prepare librarians, and over its 20-year existence awarded over 200 graduate degrees in library science. His other major accomplishment was in designing and developing a new University library. This new building was dedicated on November 30, 1958, and it reflected not only Br. David’s understanding of the function of a modern University library, it incorporated his sense as an artist, as a student conscious of Catholic scholarly tradition, and, among other things, as a fancier of exotic fish. 15

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After retiring as director of the library, then-president Fr. Waldschmidt 15 appointed him the first University Archivist, a position he held and worked arduously at to set up archives even after a debilitating stroke in 1981. In his last years he took up the guitar and painted scores of scenes that are still found in various offices and in the library. Br. David possessed robust health, a strong determination, and longevity, and his 56 years of service remain unparalleled in service at the University. This man, although comparatively unlettered in 1928, would profoundly affect the future of this institution. 16

Sowing the Seeds Another long-serving individual was Br. Ferdinand Moser, who came to the University in 1933 to teach mathematics. Br. Ferdinand had received two bachelor’s degrees, one from the University of Illinois in engineering in 1912, and the second from the University of Notre Dame in 1921 in mathematics. He had taught math classes at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis before coming to the University, and he would spend the next 31 years teaching mathematics to University of Portland students, especially those studying engineering in later years. However, teaching was only part of what this man spent his days accomplishing. His real love was gardening, and when he wasn’t in the classroom, he would be found somewhere on the campus planting, pruning, or sprucing up the grounds.

University historian Jim Covert describes Br. Ferdinand as “a gentle man with a green thumb, and is remembered principally for his interest in the grounds to which he subsequently devoted all of his time after retiring from teaching.” 17 From his first days on campus he planted the many rhododendron and camellia bushes we enjoy today. But perhaps he is most remembered for the dozens of sequoia trees he planted from seeds and cuttings. Fr. Glenn Boarman in the development office remarked in the middle 1960s that “Brother Ferdinand worked without two nickels to rub together and with nothing more than a spade and a pocketknife.” 18 The listing of individuals among almost 100 brothers of Holy Cross could go on, but this has been an attempt to look at this group of individuals who have worked closely with their community members of

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MANY OF THESE MEN

spent 20, 30, 40, and even 50-plus years here in Portland, where the spirit of collaboration developed between two societies as our Founder Basil Moreau intended. Equality and fraternity, two hallmarks of the congregation, continue to mark these experiences of lived religious life in the Congregation of Holy Cross.

the Priests Society to further one of its apostolates. Many of these men spent 20, 30, 40, and even 50-plus years here in Portland, where the spirit of collaboration developed between two societies as our Founder Basil Moreau intended. Equality and fraternity, two hallmarks of the congregation, continue to mark these experiences of lived religious life in the Congregation of Holy Cross. “Worthy of praise is this institute made up of priests and laymen so joined together in friendly alliance that, while the nature of each society is preserved, neither prevails over the other, but both cooperate in the best possible way in realizing their respective ends,” wrote Thomas Barrosse, the Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross, in his report on the congregation to the 312th Meeting of the Union of Superiors General in 1985. It’s a fitting summation to what has been the relationship of priests and brothers in the congregation here at the University of Portland.

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Visio Divina Reflection on the Fulfillment of Creation Karen Eifler, Ph.D., co-director of the Garaventa Center March 2016 Ed. Note: Visio Divina — “sacred seeing” — is an ancient form of Christian prayer in which we allow our hearts and imaginations to enter into a sacred image, in silence, to see what God might have to say to us.

This illumination from The Saint John’s Bible highlights St. Paul’s audacious proclamation to the Church in Rome undergoing trials: “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39 Thomas Ingmire, the artist here, is interested in the idea that in some ways, we can imagine God’s creative, lifegiving love as pure energy. In this illumination, he begins with an image of a star seen through the Hubble telescope, in the shape of a cross. From that flows cobalt blue, the color of infinity in Ingmire’s imagination, and images of other creations that are pure energy —the zeroes and ones of computer code, atoms engaged in their dance, graphs, equations, and plot points. His image of chaotic human creation is posed above a portion of the illumination from Genesis of the six orderly days of God’s creation of the universe. We’re reminded of the humbling truth that while we are created in God’s own image, and are creators ourselves, we are limited in what we are able to imagine into being, in a way that our all-knowing, all-powerful and allloving God is not.

In this illumination, the stars, the cosmos, human endeavors, and the echoes of creation, all proclaim that from the chaos of Christ’s death and the glory of His resurrection, new eternal life becomes the new norm.

It is a new order that unites us to God so thoroughly, so seamlessly, that there can be no more separation.

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Last Lecture The Sacredness of the Ordinary Rev. Thomas E. Hosinski, C.S.C., professor emeritus, theology April 2016

There is a sense in which this theme of the sacredness of the ordinary has been with me for much of my life. I will tell you a story that I myself find hard to believe. One evening when I was five years old, my mother asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said that I wanted to be a priest. My mother responded, “Tommy, that’s wonderful, but why do you want to be a priest?” I shocked her by saying that I wanted to hold God in my hands. The sacred in the ordinary. I was thinking, of course, of the consecrated host, which in my childhood could be held only by a priest.

It would be many years before I came to understand that we all hold God in our hands, and that the sacred dwells in the ordinary at every instant.

We usually make a strong distinction between the sacred and the ordinary. The notion of the sacred that I have in mind is captured well in one of Webster’s definitions of the word: “sacred: holy; hallowed by association with the divine or the consecrated; hence entitled to reverence and respect.” We humans create sacred places: churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples. Temple Mount in Jerusalem, for example, is sacred to both Jews and Muslims, and people of all religions have built shrines of various sorts throughout the world. We create sacred times: Ramadan, Passover, the Day of Atonement, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, and so forth.

And we create sacred rituals: the Mass; Holy Week rituals such as the washing of feet, the veneration of the Cross on Good Friday; Pilgrimage to Mecca with all its rituals. Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Daoism, and Shinto all have their rituals. And indigenous people throughout the world worship and celebrate in rituals, such as the very beautiful Shalako rituals among the A’shiwi people, commonly known as the Zuni Indians of New Mexico, and the various nine-day healing ceremonies conducted by Navajo hatali or “singers.”

Yet the older I get, the more I am convinced that we humans make this distinction between the sacred and the ordinary only because we take our ordinary daily lives for granted, and we have to create these sacred places, times, and rituals to remind ourselves that our lives have to do with the sacred, to remind ourselves of how sacred ordinary life really is.

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I learned the sacredness of the ordinary gradually through life experiences. Although I had always felt the presence of the divine in the beauty of nature and in the love of my mother and some family and friends, I learned the sacredness of life and the ordinary world most strongly when I went through chemotherapy for cancer, and again when I cared for my ordination classmate, Fr. Jeff Sobosan, Yet the older I get, the more I am as he died. During my convinced that we humans make this chemotherapy, simply watching the birds and squirrels in my distinction between the sacred and garden, enjoying the beauty of the ordinary only because we take our flowers, and walking outside filled me with a deep sense of ordinary daily lives for granted, and how beautiful and sacred life we have to create these sacred places, and the world are. The concern my community and friends, times, and rituals to remind ourselves of even the gentle touch of my that our lives have to do with the cats’ paws, communicated to me the presence and love of God. sacred, to remind ourselves of how And in the suffering and death sacred ordinary life really is. of my ordination classmate, I sensed very deeply the presence of God and the sacredness of the dying process and grieving. The theology I had been studying all of my adult life illuminated and validated these feelings.

This idea of the sacredness of the ordinary can be traced back to Jesus himself, I believe. I will give you only one example from his teaching, the parable of the yeast or leaven. This is a very brief parable that reads this way in the version in Luke’s Gospel: “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”1 This parable would have shocked Jesus’ Jewish listeners for several reasons, including that

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Jesus compared the kingdom of God to the action of a woman — a challenge to a very patriarchal culture. But the shock I am interested in this evening is this: leavened bread was the ordinary everyday bread, not the sacred bread. Matza, the sacred bread, was (and is) unleavened. In fact, because of how women in Jesus’ time obtained the yeast to make leavened bread, Jewish regulation stipulated that during the sacred times — specifically the observance of Passover — all yeast or leaven had to be removed from the house. How did women obtain yeast? You couldn’t run down to your local Safeway or Fred Meyer to buy a cube of Fleischmann’s yeast. They got yeast by taking a piece of leavened bread, putting it in a bowl, covering it with a damp cloth and placing it in a dark corner of the kitchen. The yeast would then grow on the bread and they could harvest it as they needed it. This process seemed, well, unclean, not fit for sacred times and observances. Yet Jesus compares the kingdom of God — the sacred, a euphemism really for the very presence and action of God — to yeast in this ordinary, everyday bread.

The Christian tradition subsequent to Jesus teaches us of the sacredness of the ordinary in many different ways. There is, for example, the implication of the divine attribute of omnipresence: God is everywhere. Metaphysically this attribute is trying to say that one cannot confine the infinite God to any finite location. But surely to say that God is everywhere also implies that the ordinary world is God’s dwelling place.

And by association at least, this ought to teach us that the ordinary world and our ordinary daily lives are sacred because God dwells in them.

There is also the much-neglected doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Christian tradition teaches us that the Holy Spirit, the third entity of the triune God, is poured out on the world, so that the Spirit is working within every person, active within the ordinary world, unseen, felt only in extraordinary moments of religious awareness. The work of the Spirit

But surely to say that God is everywhere also implies that the ordinary world is God’s dwelling place.

And by association at least, this ought to teach us that the ordinary world and our ordinary daily lives are sacred because God dwells in them.

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is traditionally called “sanctification,” the making holy of all of us and the world itself. The sacred, the divine in the ordinary, confers sacredness upon the ordinary.

Moreover, many of the great theologians of the Christian tradition have understood the doctrine of creation to imply that the creatures of the world and the world itself exist by participating in the divine being or the divine life. This is a profoundly important idea: to exist is to participate in the divine life. If we reflect on this and grasp what this means, we cannot help but see the sacredness of what we take to be ordinary. I do not have the time this evening to enter into all the details of these various theologies of creation and existence, but I can give quick indications of how some great theologians tried to express this insight.

The Augustinian tradition is represented well by Anselm of Canterbury, the 11th century theologian who formulated an analysis one can trace back to Augustine. Anselm argued that when we say someone is good or wise or holy, we are implying that to one degree or another, that person participates in that good quality or virtue. But when we say that God is good or wise or holy, we are not describing how God participates in that quality or virtue. Instead, we are actually stating what the divine nature is. Since God does not owe God’s existence or being to anything other than God Godself, since whatever God is God must be through Godself and not through another, and since God is perfect, then God’s very nature is the infinite fullness of all perfections, virtues or good qualities. God’s nature is infinite goodness; God’s nature is infinite wisdom; God’s nature is infinite holiness; and so on. Without the prior existence of this infinite fullness of the perfection, there could be no lesser manifestation of it, because all limited or finite examples of that quality occur by participation to one degree or another in that quality. This analysis may seem rather abstruse to us today, but what it is implying is very beautiful. It is saying that all finite examples of any good quality, any virtue, exist by participating in the divine nature itself: God’s infinite and perfect being enables all finite manifestations of virtue or goodness to be.

God’s infinite beauty and goodness, in short, gives life to all beauty and goodness in the world.

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Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century also taught that finite creatures exist by participating in God’s unrestricted act of being.2 All creatures subsist, exist under or within or by participation, in the being of God. He also argued in another context that secondary causes — that is, the causal agencies in the created universe — have true causal power and thus participate to a limited degree in the creative, causal power of God, the First and Uncaused Cause. In short, the creativity we observe in the ordinary processes of the universe Once again, the ordinary is understood participates to a limited degree in the infinite creativity that is the divine life. as existing by participating in Nicholas of Cusa, in the 15th century, focused on the infinity of God and the infinite being of God. And by developed a beautiful theology of God and implication, if all things unfold from the world. He says: “…God is the enfolding God and God is present in them, and (complicans) of all things in that all things in [God]; and [God] is the unfolding if God enfolds all things and all things are (explicans) of all things in that [God] is in all are in God, then clearly all things are things.”3 God includes all things, enfolds all things in Godself; and God is present in all sacred both by their origin and their things, all things unfold from God. This is end in the divine, in God. not pantheism, because the universe of finite beings can in no way exhaust or be identical with the infinite being that is God. But it is a doctrine that will later come to be called panentheism, the position that all things are in God and God is in all things. Once again, the ordinary is understood as existing by participating in the infinite being of God. And by implication, if all things unfold from God and God is present in them, and if God enfolds all things and all things are in God, then clearly all things are sacred both by their origin and their end in the divine, in God. The great Protestant theologian of the late 18th and 19th centuries, Friedrich Schleiermacher, also interpreted the doctrine of creation to imply this participation of the creature in the infinite being of God. In the following quotation he is speaking of religious feeling or affection, but what he says has profound implications for understanding God and the world:

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“The contemplation of the pious is the immediate consciousness of the universal existence of all finite things, in and through the Infinite, and of all temporal things in and through the Eternal.

Religion is to seek this and find it in all that lives and moves, in all growth and change, in all doing and suffering. …[I]t is a life in the infinite nature of the Whole, in the One and in the All, in God, having and possessing all things in God, and God in all. …

[I]t is a revelation of the Infinite in the finite, God being seen in it and it in God.”4 So, according to Schleiermacher, to have religious feeling is to be aware of the existence of all things in and through the infinite, to feel and thus know the presence of all things in God and God in all. In short, religious feeling is to sense the sacredness of the ordinary despite any and all appearances to the contrary.

Interestingly, the notion that the universe exists by participating in God’s own life can also arise from comparing contemporary cosmological theories of the origin of the universe with the classical arguments for the existence of God. Contemporary scientific cosmology has two main ways of thinking about the origin of the universe. In the standard model, the universe begins in a “big bang” from a cosmic singularity. The singularity is an implication of Einstein’s general theory of relativity and results mathematically when an equation requires division by zero. Einstein’s equations show that when enough matter-energy is compressed in a small enough volume, everything goes infinite. Think of the entire massenergy of the universe compressed into a point with a diameter smaller than that of a proton: this is virtually incomprehensible! The singularity is inexplicable by physics, since all the laws of physics break down at that point. Physicists believe that eventually they will be able to explain the history of the universe from 10 to 43 seconds after the “big bang,” once they can integrate the gravitational force with the strong and weak nuclear forces and the electromagnetic force. But the singularity itself, which contains the entire energy of the universe, is not explainable — it must simply be assumed.

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Needless to say, the fact that they cannot explain absolutely everything bothers some physicists, since they operate under the ideal of complete explanation. And so there have been several attempts to develop theories of the origin of the universe as a fluctuation in the quantum vacuum.

The quantum vacuum is a well-established fact; it is an energy field — all around us, actually — that can give rise to “virtual particles” that suddenly pop into existence from the vacuum and disappear back into it without violating the law of conservation of energy. None of the quantum fluctuation theories of the origin of the universe proposed to this point work, but it is possible that eventually one might. Yet none of the theories even attempts to explain why or how there is a quantum vacuum; they simply presume it. Alexander Vilenkin, a cosmologist who developed one of these theories, has called his theory a naturalistic “creation out of nothing,” but this is disingenuous because the quantum vacuum is not nothing; it is an energy field of unimaginable power. My point is that none of the current cosmological theories can explain the energy that is our universe. Give physicists and cosmologists the energy, either in the form of the singularity or the quantum vacuum, and they can explain everything.

But they cannot explain the energy itself; they must simply assume it.

It is interesting to me that the classical arguments seeking to prove the existence of God arrive at a very similar position. As any philosopher will tell you, none of the classical arguments for God’s existence — the cosmological and teleological arguments — are actual proofs in the strict sense of the word; they each have flaws or leaps that render them failures as strict proofs. But in a sense they are saying much the same thing as current cosmological theories of the origin of the universe. I mean that these classical arguments say, in effect, give us God and the whole world becomes intelligible. Without God we cannot find answers to our questions of origin and cause; the only way to make sense of the universe is to assume the fact of God as its cause. No one can explain God; but give us God and we can explain everything.

Now surely these examples show that in physics, as well as in philosophy and theology, the human intellect runs into its ultimate limits, where we must assume when we cannot explain or prove. But what interests me is the possibility that what we run into in these two 52

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cases might actually be related. Perhaps, in some fundamental sense, God and the energy constituting our universe are deeply related. Perhaps it is possible that the energy constituting the universe is properly interpreted theologically as a participation or sharing in the divine life. In other words, perhaps it is possible to think of the energy constituting our universe, which has evolved in so many wonderful and beautiful ways, as the universe living by incarnating a share in the very life of God. As some of you know, my own reflections on God have been deeply influenced by the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, the great English mathematician and philosopher who moved to the United States in his mid-sixties and ended his teaching career at Harvard University.

In one of his books, Religion in the Making, Whitehead wrote a sentence that has haunted me since I first read it in 1972. He wrote: “The world lives by its incarnation of God in itself.”5 I don’t think you could have a more striking expression of the idea that the ordinary created world exists by participating in and including the sacred. And if something becomes sacred by its association with the divine, then surely we must understand and feel the sacredness of the ordinary.

Whitehead’s philosophy is not easy to summarize because he had a fondness for abstract thought and he developed an unusual technical vocabulary. But I will try to summarize for you in more simple language the heart of his philosophy of God’s relation to the world. For the sake of simplicity and clarity I will be speaking of how God relates to human persons. There are many technical questions involved in Whitehead’s analysis of reality that I cannot address tonight without losing myself in the complexity and abstractions that make him so difficult for most people to understand. I only hope that I can communicate to you some of the beauty of his vision of the God-world relationship.

Whitehead conceives of God and the world in a dynamic relationship in which they interact in each moment and give something of value to each other. His vision is very similar in some ways to that of Nicholas of Cusa and, I would argue, it is quite compatible with Christianity’s triune understanding of God as creator, redeemer, and sanctifier.

Whitehead affirms God’s role as creator and defines it as the eternal and unconditioned grasping and valuation of all possibilities. This role of L AS T L EC T UR E

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God is foundational since God’s grasping and valuation of all possibilities organizes them and relates them to each other, thus forming the basis of order for all possible worlds. Without order there can be no universe.

God’s valuation of all possibilities invests them with value relative to God’s own aim. This implies that the general order of the universe is an aesthetic order, an order of potential beauty and goodness. God’s “vision” of possibility is thus the ultimate actual ground of order and novelty, the ultimate source of the general potentiality of the universe and of all value.

This aspect of God is absolutely necessary for there to be any course of events at all.

God acts as creator by endowing us in each moment of our lives with all the possibilities open to us in that moment, and with freedom, our share in the divine life. God creates us not by determining what we must be or do or God is present in every single or what events must occur, but rather agent in the universe, empowering say, by providing all that we need to create ourselves in each moment and leaving us free it and seeking to attract it and to complete our own creation. God seeks the universe as a whole toward to attract us toward the best possibility as actualizing the best possibilities.

God has valuated it. But each of us, and every other agent in the universe, is free to actualize any of the possibilities open to that moment. God is present in every single agent in the universe, empowering it and seeking to attract it and the universe as a whole toward actualizing the best possibilities. But all agents in the universe enjoy freedom; they may be influenced by many other things besides God’s aim or will and they may actualize even the possibilities God values least or abhors. The world lives by its incarnation of God in itself, and it is free — it incarnates a finite share of God’s own freedom, but there is no guarantee that freedom will always be used in the best or even a good way.

This view of creation goes a long way to helping us understand the ambiguity of our experience. If the world lives by the incarnation of God in itself, if the sacred dwells within the ordinary, how can it be that our

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experience of life is so ambiguous, so filled with suffering, evil, and pain, as well as beauty and joy? Whitehead’s answer is that God creates not by determining outcomes but by empowering the agents of the universe, who in their freedom determine what occurs and are therefore co-creators of the universe. Hence the evils and sufferings in the world are due to how the agents of the universe exercise their freedom. Traditional theology has long recognized that God gives humans free will and does not determine their actions and decisions. Whitehead, recognizing that we are part of nature, argues that freedom to some degree characterizes all agents in the universe. The Anglican scientist and theologian John Polkinghorne has called this “free process,” an extension of the “free will” defense of God’s goodness in the face of evil.

But there is another aspect of God’s relation to the universe, Whitehead holds. Once we decide to actualize one of the possibilities open to us, God must receive into God’s own experience what we have made of ourselves in that moment. This is God saving the world as God takes it into Godself. God then transforms, unifies, harmonizes, and heals all the agents of the universe in the unity and harmony of God’s own experience. God redeems the world as it passes into God’s own experience.

In a major difference from traditional philosophical theology, Whitehead recognizes that in this aspect of God’s relation to the universe, God must be affected by what the agents of the universe have made of themselves, what possibilities they have actualized. Among many implications of this view, one of the most important is that God suffers in two distinct ways. First, God suffers with all the suffering persons and creaturely agents in the universe. Whitehead states that God’s reception of each occurs with perfect sympathy: God feels the sufferings of all suffering creatures directly and completely, with a perfection of sympathy infinitely greater than we are capable of. But secondly God also suffers in God’s own right because of the difference between what has in fact occurred and what might have been: the beautiful possibilities of God’s eternal vision, the “Kingdom of God” if you will, are not always actualized.

We might have loved and cared for each other, but so very often we do

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not. The power of the cross of Jesus Christ is that it reveals to us how deeply God suffers with and for us, and because of us. Whitehead’s philosophical theology honors and expresses this revelation.

There is much more that could be said about Whitehead’s philosophical theology, but I will content myself with only one more point. In Whitehead’s cosmological vision, God and the world are related in a dynamic interaction of complementarity. God is the infinite and eternal ground of possibility, order, novelty, and value that is necessary for there to be any actual course of events at all. This aspect of God makes the universe possible but, we should note, is an eternal vision of merely possible beauty and value. The temporal agents of the universe, finite and passing, incorporate this creative aspect of God in their own becoming.

In turn, these temporal agents give to God something God cannot otherwise acquire — actualized beauty and value. It is only through the agency of the creatures of the universe that the possibilities of God’s eternal vision of beauty are gradually actualized. An analogy may help to show the importance of this. When we are hungry, we can imagine all sorts of possible foods and relish the idea of them, but until we obtain some actual food our hunger is never satisfied. Analogously, God “hungers” for the actualization of the possible beauty and values God envisions and presents to us, but only through the actualization of these possibilities can God’s “hunger” be satisfied. This is what we and all the agents of the universe give to God: actualized beauty and value; or the suffering of failing to actualize those possibilities. The growth of God’s Kingdom is always at God’s initiative, but its actualization depends on how we and all agents exercise our freedom.

Traditional theology tells us that God loves the world, but that the world adds nothing to God. I could never understand this, and I do not believe that it is true. The beloved always adds something to the one who loves.

This is another way in which Whitehead’s philosophical theology shows the sacredness of the world: only through the actual world does God experience

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the actuality of God’s “Kingdom.” What happens in the world is of ultimate value not only to us, but also to God. But the temporal world and all persons and agents within it lack permanence. They constantly “perish,” fading into the past. Some beauties and values endure over time, but eventually all things decay. The problem of death faced by human beings is merely our particular experience of a larger cosmic truth: above a certain level of complexity, all things perish and their accomplishments do not long endure. Moreover, the competing aims of persons, societies, and agents of the universe produce discord, suffering, evil, tragedy, and brokenness. Here, God provides what the passing world cannot otherwise achieve: permanence, harmony, unity, healing, and peace. God receives into God’s everlasting becoming every person and every agent of the universe and unifies, harmonizes, and heals them in the unity and harmony of God’s own everlasting life. This is God saving the world as God takes it into God’s own life. It is God’s love for the world and God’s compassionate healing of it. And in response to what has been done in the world, God seeks to lead the world beyond the tragedies and evils of the past toward new healing possibilities and new life. God’s redemptive love flows back into the world: the Spirit of God sanctifies our torn and broken world.

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Whitehead once said, “The concept of ‘God’ is the way in which we understand this incredible fact — that what cannot be, yet is.”6 The Sacred is in the ordinary and the ordinary is in the Sacred — an incredible fact.

Yet the Christian religious tradition, as I have briefly tried to indicate, has been teaching us this truth from the beginning. The little boy who wanted to hold God in his hands stands before you tonight at the beginning of his old age telling you that we all hold God in our hands at every moment.

It is because we take our ordinary daily lives for granted that we so often fail to remember how sacred our ordinary daily lives are, how filled with the divine, how precious to God, how important to God in what we say and do to each other, to our fellow creatures, and to our world. We live and dwell in God and God lives and dwells in us. To feel this is to know in our hearts the true depths of our lives, the true depths of our cosmos, and the ultimate purpose and significance of our existence.

I thought to conclude my talk this evening with one of the prayers with which Pope Francis concluded his encyclical Laudato Sí, because I think both of those prayers are very beautiful and communicate a profound spirituality in their simplicity. But instead, if you will indulge me, I will conclude with a short Navajo prayer that seems more fitting for a person approaching the last portion of his life. The word in this prayer translated as “beauty” is the Navajo word “hozho,” which is very important in Navajo theology and has the connotations not only of beauty, but also of goodness, well-being, blessedness, and peace. But perhaps its strongest connotation is harmony, harmony with the Sacred and harmony with the processes of the universe. The prayer goes this way:

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With beauty may I walk.

With beauty before me, may I walk.

With beauty behind me, may I walk.

With beauty above me, may I walk.

With beauty below me, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk.

In old age wandering on a trail of beauty, living again, may I walk.

It is finished in beauty.

It is finished in beauty.7

Homily at Baccalaureate Mass Rev. Patrick Hannon, C.S.C., instructor, English May 2017

My Brothers and Sisters …

This past Monday night at our last Christie Hall mass, during the faith-sharing portion after the homily, all of us gathered there were ruminating on the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, and how Stephen, in the face of hostility and recrimination and impending martyrdom, could be so sanguine, so seemingly unaffected by the looming darkness enfolding him. Acts tells us that right before his detractors began to pick up rocks to stone him, Stephen’s face appeared to be that of an angel. What faith he must have had, one student in the back said. He had guts, said another. A number of heads nodded. Indeed, I thought, as we sat there in studied silence, transfixed for a moment. We were, I suppose, trying to wrap our minds around such a remarkable idea: a faith stronger than fear, stronger than death.

Then one of the seniors in attendance spoke up. I’m going to paraphrase: “You know,” he said, “I think I know a little about how Stephen must have felt. Tomorrow I have a final exam that’s going to kick my butt, but you know what? I’ve got faith!” A few around him chuckled. “Probably too much faith,” he said. At this admission, any number of the students in the chapel that night laughed, warmly, knowingly. The senior continued: “Yes, I’ve got so much faith right now, my faith has faith!” And there it was — Psalm 23 in a nutshell. “Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil; for you are at my side/ With your rod and your staff that give me courage.” For some good reason, this senior — in a moment when he might have despaired — knew he was not alone. Good for him, I thought, a faith stronger than fear.

In light of this revelation, it seems clear why Jesus in John’s Gospel readily accepted this idea of being the Good Shepherd, given that good shepherds protect and defend their easily spooked flocks against the thief ’s grubby hands with a fierceness that strikes me as maternal.

I’m reminded now of Gretel Ehrlich’s remarkable essay, “From a Sheepherder’s Notebook,” in which she recounts the three days she spent being a shepherd in Wyoming. “(Do I) move them slow or fast? Which

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crossing at the river? … It’s like being a first-time mother,” she writes, “but mother now to two thousand sheep who give me the kind of disdainful look a teenager would his parent and, with my back turned, can get into as much trouble.”

Jesus, an astute judge of human character, understood our predilection for getting into trouble of varying degrees and sought to remedy it. But he did not snap his fingers and fix whatever may be broken in that part of the prefrontal cortex of the human brain that weighs the risks and rewards of every decision we make. Thankfully, he left our free will, compromised though it may be, intact. Instead, he chose to become the remedy himself: fierce faith in the flesh, stronger than death. As we heard in Peter’s first letter: “He himself bore our sins in his body upon the cross, so that, free from sin, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

Jesus walked the dark valley himself, believing his Abba walked with him. He faced death and did not blink. And the last words he spoke on the cross in the Gospel of John — rich in their ambiguity — were, “It is finished.” Perhaps, at this Baccalaureate Mass celebrated in the Easter season — filled as we all are with joy and gratitude and courage and maybe even a bit of relief, and itching to celebrate the accomplishments of the past four years and the victory won for us by the death and resurrection of Jesus — we might make clear what exactly was finished the moment Jesus breathed his last. You, the prince of darkness, you are finished. You, the purveyor of lies and deceit, you are finished. You, who only seek to divide and destroy, you are finished. You, lasting death, you unattended suffering, you are finished.

Unencumbered, then, by a crippling fear that keeps too many in this world shivering alone in the shadows, awash as we are now in the light of a new dawn and a new day, we see ourselves as we always hoped we would — as men and women with hope to bring to our world. For, if it is true that the Good Shepherd walks before us into whatever future we imagine for ourselves, then we walk with a fierce faith that will stare down any darkness.

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BECAUSE YOU KNOW,

in your gut, that you do not go into that future alone. God — the source of all hope — walks with you, reminding you every step of the way of who you are: you are hope catchers, fierce faith in the flesh.

And as for you, the Class of 2017, to classrooms and courtrooms and emergency rooms you will bring a gritty, graceful hope. To theatre stages and symphony halls and art galleries you will bring a gritty, graceful hope.

To design studios in New York and trading floors in Chicago and startups in San Francisco you will bring a gritty, graceful hope. To army bases and air force bases and field hospitals you will bring a gritty, graceful hope. To soup kitchens and food pantries and mental health clinics, you will bring a gritty, graceful hope. Wherever you find yourself tomorrow and the next day and the next day after that, you will bring a gritty, graceful hope. To the orphan and the widow, to the refugee and the migrant worker, to the addict and to the beggar at the corner, you will bring a gritty, graceful hope. Because you know, in your gut, that you do not go into that future alone. God — the source of all hope — walks with you, reminding you every step of the way of who you are: you are hope catchers, fierce faith in the flesh.

Recently, in a TED talk of all things, Pope Francis reminded us of the power of this fierce faith, this fleshy, eternal hope. He said, “Many of us, nowadays, seem to believe that a happy future is something impossible to achieve. … The future does have a name, and its name is hope. A single individual is enough for hope to exist, and that individual can be you. And then there will be another ‘you,’ and another ‘you,’ and it turns into an ‘us.’ ” Emily Dickinson put it this way: “Hope” is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops - at all Recognizing the power of every good gift given to us — the gift of a daring intellect and a compassionate heart, the gift of arms linked in solidarity and imaginations that can see beyond the fog and smoke of human complacency and indifference, the gift of sweat and tears and laughter poured out as healing waters in parched places — beyond all these gifts, perhaps the greatest gift we offer is this soulful thing with feathers that sings a song that will last forever.

It is time to clear our throats. It’s time to get singing. I’ve got faith. I’ve got so much faith right now, my faith has faith.

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EDUCATION OF THE MIND

and the heart and the character will do that to you.

It leads to humility about one’s life, which in turn leads to gratitude, which in turn leads to generosity.

So there is only one apt response to the gift of a UP education: generosity. Go spend yourself and consider it sheer privilege.

Commencement Charge to the Class Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., president May 2016

According to our custom here at UP, I am to offer as final words a “Charge to the Class,” which I take to be one brief proclamation of commencement-like wisdom to send you on your way. I hope you’ll let me mention not one, but two modest charges as you leave here: Step up.

And slow down.

Step up. As of today, you’ll add the testimony of this University to an impressive array of sources who have already told you that you are by almost any standard, some of the most accomplished people of your age.

As you leave here, you are remarkably well situated with an abundance of talent, a trained intellect, and a social network that will serve you often and well.

Poised as you are to go make your mark, something will be seriously awry if you leave believing that you’ve done it all by yourself and the future is all about you. It should be different with University of Portland graduates. If you’ve been engaged by the faculty; if you’ve witnessed the premium we place on extending ourselves to others in need; if you’ve listened to the testimonies and the talks and the homilies around here; if you’ve managed to linger into the night with discussions among friends who really care, then you already know: People from this community take a dim view of those who manage to recount an accomplishment or tell a life story with no mention of debts of gratitude to others.

Education of the mind and the heart and the character will do that to you. It leads to humility about one’s life, which in turn leads to gratitude, which in turn leads to generosity. So there is only one apt response to the gift of a UP education: generosity. Go spend yourself and consider it sheer privilege. Don’t just offer to help, go the extra mile. Don’t just organize the effort, initiate the project and make it happen. Don’t just be a leader, lead with grace and humility. Get things done, but complete the tasks as acts of love. Serve and serve and serve again. In response to all that is needed, and in thanksgiving for all that you’ve learned, step up.

And slow down. So much in our lives these days conspires against taking the time to reflect on what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, how

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We gather today to mark your amazing achievements, and to celebrate the mission of this wonderful place. But in the middle of it all, we pray that we might always embody generosity, and take time to ponder God’s goodness. In short, that we might step up and slow down.

we’re doing it, and whom we’re affecting along the way. The pace of our lives is sometimes dizzying, and it’s not always easy to retreat from demands. But one of the temptations of our culture is to believe that busyness is the same as fulfillment. It’s not. And one of the great fallacies of our time is that the success of everything depends on us, that unless we are personally moving and shaking, meeting and planning, executing, measuring, assessing, and revising, in a frenzy of activity, it will all cave in.

For those who would call themselves Christians, this self-important attitude has a special name: heresy. The Gospel handles the whole matter quite succinctly. After telling the disciples that they must bear fruit, Christ also reminds them that they need quiet prayerful confidence that God will provide. For all of our crammed schedules and calendar gridlock and endless activity, if we labor only for the sake of sheer busyness and self-importance, and the momentary satisfaction of checking things off lists, we labor in vain. Slow down. Spend time with a friend. Read a good book. Take a walk. Listen to a child. Whisper a quiet prayer. Contemplate a sunset. Unplug the steady beat of the headphones and listen to the natural soundtrack of life. If the point is not to simply accrue experiences and post them somewhere online, but to actually have the experiences, we all need to slow down — to listen, to understand, to appreciate, to pray, to believe — in order to realize the fullness of life.

We gather today to mark your amazing achievements, and to celebrate the mission of this wonderful place. But in the middle of it all, we pray that we might always embody generosity, and take time to ponder God’s goodness. In short, that we might step up and slow down. Thank you for your splendid contributions to UP — your intelligence, your humor, your goodness, and your faithfulness. God bless you and keep you. Please come home to The Bluff often, and once again, congratulations to all of you, the treasured Class of 2016!

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Valedictory Address Christine Chen, valedictorian, Class of 2017 May 2017

amily, Friends, and Faculty …

On behalf of the Class of 2017, I want to thank you for being here to celebrate this milestone with us.

To family and friends — you have been the steady, dependable anchor of support for all our lives, and we could not have gotten here without you.

Faculty — you have given us such a unique and wonderful gift of this training of the mind, the heart, and the hands. We cannot thank you enough for your care and generosity.

To my fellow graduates — congratulations! What an absolute privilege it has been to spend four years on The Bluff here with you. I am so beyond excited for you.

As I pondered what to say, the phrase that kept coming back to me was, “Don’t grow weary, don’t lose heart in doing good, excel still more.”

We all know that we are living in a As I pondered what to say, the time when we are constantly bombarded with images and words and numbers that phrase that kept coming back depict great suffering around the world to me was, “Don’t grow weary, and here at home. As this has been on my heart, I read this quote in the Boston don’t lose heart in doing good, Globe in response to the recent horrific excel still more.” events in Syria and the resulting images: “The images cut through the noise, but they’re also in danger of becoming the noise … part of our daily tsunami of digital information. …How do they pierce our bubbles without causing us to grow tougher hides?”

This convicted me and opened my eyes to how numb and discouraged I had become and, at the same time, it made me all the more aware of those who decide to go against the grain. You may have heard of the White Helmets in Syria. These are people like you and me (nurses, engineers, and business professionals) who have made it their mission that

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every Syrian has the assurance, the hope, that if a building comes down someone will come to the rescue.

Friends, this is not just one-time activism that I want to briefly talk about today. I know we’re all weary of seeing things just come and go with no lasting change. This is not me “We can all do something, so go As we go through life, pursuing saying, out there and do it so you’ll feel better our goals and dreams, what about yourself.” Like the White Helmets this is truly a way of life because would happen if we really looked show, we believe that the people around us and and really listened to what is on the other side of the globe have been happening all around us? And created in the image of God, and thus each person has infinite worth. then if we let what we see and While we may not be in the same situation as the Syrian White Helmets, hear move our minds, and every day we have a choice to open our hearts, and hands into action? eyes and hearts to those around us. Case in point: Fall semester last year, Global Emancipation Network came to speak to the computer science club on campus about using data analytics to fight human trafficking.

I was beyond mind-blown. I knew that this was still an issue but I didn’t realize the sheer extent, and that men, women, boys, and girls were being exploited around the world as well as here at home in the Pacific Northwest.

One of the most wonderful, hopeful stories I have encountered as I have been learning more in this space, was about an Alaska Airlines flight attendant, Shelia Frederick, who was working a flight from Seattle to San Francisco in 2011. Talk about close to home. On this particular flight, she recognized a situation that seemed wrong — a girl who was disheveled and disoriented, afraid to speak, accompanied by a man who was extremely controlling and answered everything for her. Shelia knew that something was wrong and cared enough to take action and ended up

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saving this girl. The beautiful thing is that this girl still keeps in touch with Shelia, and today she is attending college.

This is the central question I want to ask today. As we go through life, pursuing our goals and dreams, what would happen if we really looked and really listened to what is happening all around us? And then if we let what we see and hear move our minds, and hearts, and hands into action?

There are many ways this might show up in our day-to-day living.

Even though it might be inconvenient, we’d be generous with our resources and make time to take care of that family need, truly listen to the homeless person we are serving at the shelter, and take the initiative to strike up a conversation with that coworker who always sits alone in the lunch room. We would stand firm against unfairness and dishonesty, speaking the truth with grace. We would spur each other on, fan each other’s flames, instead of pushing and shoving for first place. In short, we’d refuse to go through life with blinders on, to fall into a self-absorbed routine of life.

In closing, our motivation in this way of living is to honor Christ: 1 John 4:19 says, “We love, because He first loved us.” He is the one who has shown us amazing mercy and grace, and has given us these abilities and the desire to lead meaningful lives. As we surrender our lives back to Him, He grants the power and strength to do these things. This is also honoring to all those who have mentored and supported and invested and given so generously, and a testament to the vibrant Pilot spirit.

I know you. You don’t just stand by. You refuse to hide from those in need. Keep that bright and deep compassion going strong, a beacon in this world. Don’t lose heart in doing good, excel still more.

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WE WOULD STAND FIRM against unfairness and dishonesty, speaking the truth with grace. We would spur each other on, fan each other’s flames, instead of pushing and shoving for first place.

YET THE WORD IS STILL WORD, bringing passions to reason and reason to our passions, providing us the means to seek truth, educate ignorance, parse distinctions, enflame consciences, confront injustices, enact forgiveness, and speak of peace. Words enflesh the power within each person.

Words embody hope.

Faculty Gala Prayer Rev. Gary S. Chamberland, C.S.C., former director of Campus Ministry May 2013

et us pray.

We weary you, Lord, with words (admittedly perhaps me most of all), overwhelming your sensibilities with sonorous sentences, sometimes serious and sometimes silly-sounding sentiments of seeming surrender, or seeking satisfaction for some source of shrieking sorrow or silent, still sadness.

Words are the tools of our trade in this place, the building blocks of meaning and nuance that give shape to our thoughts, and bear with their utterance the capacity to create the communion that is the calling and will be the crowning capstone of all humanity. Yet words overwhelm us, too, in seemingly ceaseless torrents of letters, lectures, papers, e-mails, and texts (some of which may well be written even as I speak). The babble becomes a din and Word’s potential gets subsumed in a wash of meaningless unintelligibility.

Yet the word is still Word, bringing passions to reason and reason to our passions, providing us the means to seek truth, educate ignorance, parse distinctions, enflame consciences, confront injustices, enact forgiveness, and speak of peace. Words enflesh the power within each person. Words embody hope.

And so, Lord, we staunch the endless outpouring of words for perhaps just a moment to simply give thanks — thanks for our colleagues and students, family and friends, thanks for the opportunity to live and love and learn, thanks for the ideas that challenge our grasp of truth, set our souls on fire, and send our minds reeling with unforeseen possibilities. Bless us and bless this food we are about to receive. May our thanksgiving this evening be truly Eucharistic so that in the breaking of bread and sharing of wine we may come to renewed appreciation of the gifts each here brings to this tribe, and establish a deeper unity among us for all that lies ahead.

So, this evening, Lord, as the babble increases and the din crescendos, find our merriment an act of praise and a fitting celebration of the Word, the tool of our trade and the source of our life.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

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“How to be Good�

Excerpt from The Thorny Grace of It Brian Doyle Rise to what you dream. Do not cease with joy. That is the nature of the gift we were given. It is the most amazing and extraordinary and confusing and complicated gift that ever was. Never take it for granted, not for an instant, not for the seventh of a second. The price for it is your attentiveness and generosity and kindness and mercy. Also humor. Humor will destroy the brooding castles of the murderers and chase their armies wailing into the darkness. What you do now, today, in these next few minutes, matters more than I can tell you. It advances the universe two inches. If we are our best selves, there will come a world where children do not weep and war is a memory and violence is a joke no one tells, having forgotten the words. You and I know this is possible.

It is what He said could happen if we loved well. He did not mean loving only the people you know. He meant every idiot and liar and thief and blowhard and even your cousin. I do not know how that could be so, but I know it is so. So do you. Let us begin again, you and me, this afternoon. Ready?

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References Moreau on Teaching: Holy Cross Education A Publication for the Promotion of Heritage and Mission Office of the Provost Fall 2008 Quotes are from Christian Education by Blessed Basil Moreau, as published by the Holy Cross Institute, edited by Br. Stephen Walsh, C.S.C., 2006.

David Hansen quotes are from The Call to Teach by David Hansen, published by Teachers College Press, 1995.

Selected Campus Lecture A Paper for the Congregation of Holy Cross History Conference Br. Donald Stabrowski, C.S.C, provost emeritus June 2001 1 Gerard Dionne, C.S.C., Brothers and Priests in Holy Cross (1994), as quoted in “A Brief History of Holy Cross Brothers,” Pillars, no. 23 (Spring 2012): 3.

2 “A Brief History,” 3.

3 For exact numbers of religious of Holy Cross and institutions sponsored by Holy Cross, consult the United States Catholic Directory for a particular year.

4 See Robert Epping, C.S.C., “Statistics on Congregational Membership in the United States,” prepared for the Congregational Committee on Restructuring (September 2009).

5 James T. Covert, A Point of Pride: The University of Portland Story (University of Portland Press, 1977), 69.

6 Ibid., 68.

7 Fr. Boland to Fr. Morrissey, March 16, 1915, as quoted by Mary Blanche Boland, “The Greening of the Memory of John T. Boland, C.S.C., 1867-1924,” a paper presented at the Holy Cross History Conference ( June 13-15, 1986, at St. Edward’s University, Austin Texas), 12.

8 Ibid., 13-14.

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References 9 Br. Christopher Bauer, C.S.C., to Br. David Martin, C.S.C., University archivist (date unknown).

10 Covert, Point of Pride, 69.

11 Thomas J. Schlereth, A Spire of Faith: The University of Notre Dame’s Sacred Heart Church, (Notre Dame Alumni Association, 1991), 17.

12 The University of Portland, Alumni Edition (August 1959), 3.

13 Columbiad, XV, no. 2 (November 1916): 56.

14 Ibid., XVIII, no. 2 (November 1919): 54.

15 Ibid., XXI, no. 1 (October 1922): 25.

16 Br. Gerald Muller, C.S.C., “A Man of his Word: A Biography of Brother Ernest Ryan, C.S.C.” (unpublished manuscript, 1999), 19.

17 Ibid., 20.

18 Br. Norbert Henske, C.S.C., interview by Br. David Martin, C.S.C., (date unknown), 40-42.

19 Br. Godfrey Vassallo, C.S.C., interview by Br. David Martin, C.S.C., (date unknown), 309.

20 Br. Donald Stabrowski, C.S.C., “Brother Godfrey and His Brothers,” Portland Magazine, 11, no. 3 (Autumn 1992): 7-8.

21 John Coyle Beckman, Friendship and Faith (2012), 95.

22 Fr. James Anderson, C.S.C., as quoted in “Brother Godfrey and His Brothers,” Portland Magazine, 11, no. 3, (Autumn 1992): 8.

23 Beckman, Friendship and Faith, 272.

24 Fr. George Bernard, C.S.C., “A Memo to Members of the University on Br. David’s Death,” August 18, 1986.

25 Fr. Barry Hagan, C.S.C., “Brother David Martin, C.S.C., 19011986,” (unpublished manuscript, July 1993), 1.

26 Covert, Point of Pride, 69.

27 Ibid., 186.

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References Last Lecture The Sacredness of the Ordinary Rev. Thomas E. Hosinski, C.S.C. April 2016 1 Luke 13:20-21 NRSV. 2 Esse; see Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, Ia, Q. 44, a. 1.

3 Nicholas of Cusa, De Docta Ignorantia, II, 3.

4 Friedrich Schleiermacher, On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers, trans. John Oman, from 3rd German ed., (New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1958), 35-36.

5 Alfred North Whitehead, Religion in the Making (Cleveland: Meridian Books, 1967), 149.

6 Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, Corrected Edition, David Ray Griffin and Donald W. Sherburne, eds., (New York: The Free Press, 1978 [1929]), 350.

7 Excerpt from “A Prayer of the Second Day of the Night Chant,” trans.

Washington Matthews, lines 64-73.

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Image Credits Page 27 Image of Basil Moreau, C.S.C., founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross.

Source: Congregation of Holy Cross.

Page 45 Fulfillment of Creation, Thomas Ingmire, Copyright 2011, The Saint John’s Bible, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota USA. Used by permission.

All rights reserved.

The Saint John’s Bible, the first fully hand-calligraphed, hand-illuminated Bible crafted since the invention of the printing press five centuries ago, was an audacious project commissioned by the Benedictine monks at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN, to mark the new millennium. Through the benefaction of Allen and Kathleen Lund, the University of Portland has all seven volumes, which are on perpetual display in Clark Library and used for worship, prayer, and study by the entire campus community.

Page 56 The Creation of Adam; by Michelangelo; 1508–1512; fresco; 15.7 × 7.5 ft; Sistine Chapel (Vatican City).

Page 59 Alfred North Whitehead, OM FRS[1] (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947), English mathematician and philosopher. Photo by Richard Carver Wood taken in 1936 for Harvard University.

Page 64 Commencement, 2019, by Bob Kerns.

Page 71 Photo of Rev. Mark L. Poorman, C.S.C., 2016, by Adam Guggenheim.

Page 79 Photo of Brian Doyle, 2012, by Tim LaBarge.

Page 85 Christ the Teacher, Artist unknown, oil on canvas, 2003, 16 x 22 inches.

This beautiful illustration, commissioned by Chito Santos ’03, was a gift from the Class of 2003 Guam Cohorts 4 and 5. It currently hangs outside the School of Education in Franz Hall. The University’s motto, from the Gospel of St. John, is inscribed on the book, and the names of the graduates are written around the edges of the painting.

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WHAT WE DO HERE IS HOLY WORK, work that matters immensely to the future of this country and our world. We do this work with all our hearts, with quiet prayers, and with searing honesty so that we may rise to the best possibilities of the University of Portland’s mission.

Rev. E. William Beauchamp, Former President of the University

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Office of the Provost would like to thank the faculty members, guest lecturers, and members of the Congregation of Holy Cross who generously shared their expertise and insights with the University of Portland community over the years.

While only a fraction of their work could be included in these pages, their wise words live on through everyone they touched.

Designer: Pat McDonald; Illustrator: Frances Pimentel; Editor: Danielle Centoni; Copy Editors: Karen Bridges, Celeste Robertson