亚色影库

What was it like for you when you received the news that you would be 亚色影库鈥檚 next president?

I found it exciting and humbling. The idea of presiding over a family, a community that I have worked in for twenty-three years and that I love and want to care for, was a bit daunting. It is a great deal of responsibility, but I am honored to have been chosen. In my prayers, I have always drawn great comfort from God in the idea that I am supposed to do what I have always done. And I really do see my job as caring for this University and, therefore, caring for the individuals who comprise it. Yes, I want Boston College to be a top-flight academic institution. I want us to be leaders in formative education. I want us to have a great athletics program. But ultimately, my job is to love this family that God has given me, and if I do that well, hopefully it will be inspiring and enable us to continue on our upward trajectory.

What are 亚色影库鈥檚 greatest strengths?

Our greatest strength by far is the 亚色影库 community itself. We have a remarkable Boston College family, from our alumni right through to our employees and, of course, our students. The faculty is at the heart of the University. I am proud of them and what they do for our students. We also have a beautiful campus in a vibrant city. But the best thing about Boston College is our commitment to formative education. It is a distinctive kind of education, and that is one of our greatest strengths for sure.

And 亚色影库鈥檚 biggest challenges?

Right now, higher education is under assault from many different directions. There are concerns with funding from the federal government for research and financial grants and loans for students. College athletics is also changing right before our eyes. How is that going to be resolved and funded? Also, the number of college-age children is decreasing, and Catholic higher education is in a period of transformation. Many of our smaller Catholic schools are going out of business. So, there is a lot of flux within higher education, and these are major challenges for us right now.

Boston College has emerged as a national leader in formative education, and you are one of its main architects. How has formative education transformed the 亚色影库 student experience?

Formative education comes out of the Jesuit tradition. It is an education with a heart, a soul, and an imagination, meaning you become educated not for an end in and of itself, but to learn how to live life, to enjoy life, to find joy. It is an education that helps you learn how to handle disappointment and frustration. One that makes you more resilient. It teaches you to take responsibility for the world around you, your life, and the lives of the people with whom you are going to engage. And lastly, formative education is an education with an imagination. How can you envision a future? How can you envision yourself? How can you see new things, and new possibilities? I tell students, I want you to be a great scholar, engineer, businessperson, nurse, or teacher, but if you don鈥檛 know how to wipe away tears, or to give a hug, or to give encouragement to your child, then you haven鈥檛 learned what a 亚色影库 education is all about.

How did your family shape you and help you to become the person you are today?

As proud as I am to be a Jesuit, and as much as being a Jesuit has become the prism through which I understand and live my life, the most important part of my formative education was through my parents, and the family and friends who have been woven into my life. I learned how to love in that nuclear family. My mom and dad taught me about faith without ever reading the Bible to me. They taught me what it meant to make decisions, to be committed to each other, which is the foundation of love. Growing up, we had some difficult times in our lives, but I never knew they were difficult. And looking back on them, I can see how hard they were for my parents, and maybe even how it had some effect on me, but I never felt that I wasn鈥檛 cared for or loved, and I never had a time in my life where I felt hopeless. That was all because of them. I think that was the very beginning of my vocation, which allowed me to seek in my heart a deeper way of taking what they gave me and expressing it and living it, and I found that in the Society of Jesus.

You attended Marist High School in Atlanta, played linebacker on the football team, and planned to play college football before injuries shortened your career and forced you to change your plans. What did you learn from that setback?

If I hadn鈥檛 been injured, if I hadn鈥檛 had parents and friends who challenged me to find a different way to be me, then I don鈥檛 know how things would have gone. I am fortunate that I went to an Augustinian school, and they were the ones who said, 鈥淚t is time to learn how to use your mind and engage your brain.鈥� There is more to life than one path and you need to explore other paths. It was my injuries and not being able to fulfill what I had hoped to do that opened up new horizons, which allowed me to see myself in a different way, to end up doing things I would never even have imagined doing. And so, having the road altered on me showed me how resilient we are, how much God鈥檚 love allows us to grow.

What was college like for you?

I didn鈥檛 have a clue what I was going to do. I came from a family of faith, so when they asked me what I wanted to study, I told them theology, because I figured God had to be part of the answer and I could probably get through that. The Augustinians and my lay professors helped me understand that I could be more than I imagined. They pushed me to go beyond what I thought my limits were, when in fact there weren鈥檛 any limits at all. Through that experience, I saw how important faculty are in forming students. Because it was the faculty there that allowed me to dream bigger than I had ever dreamed in my life. Even now, at sixty-two, I can still dream big dreams and maybe I haven鈥檛 even dreamed big enough yet.

A vocation is an intensely personal experience. Can you describe your calling and what attracted you to religious life?

As a young man, I was surrounded by lots of people who were religious, and priests, all of whom had a great effect on me. But I really wanted to play football, I really wanted to be married, I really wanted to have children. At a very young age, I wrestled with this idea of religious life and priesthood, and it scared me. So, I ran from it. And anytime I thought that I was being pulled to it, I ran in the opposite direction. It was at St. Thomas where I saw these Augustinians who could engage young people that I started to feel even more intensely about it. Then, when I was in grad school, somebody challenged me and said, 鈥淲hen are you going to be brave enough to really explore things you are supposed to explore?鈥� So, I went back to see the Augustinians. They said, 鈥淲e thought this would happen, we thought you might be back. But you need to go and talk to the Jesuits because we think you have a lot of qualities of a Jesuit.鈥� I talked to the Jesuits, and I fell in love with their vision. It took me until I was twenty-eight to be secure enough and brave enough to be able to say that I wanted to become a priest. And so, I have freely chosen Jesus, and I haven鈥檛 looked back once in thirty-four years.

When you entered the Society of Jesus, you were assigned to social justice ministry, including working with the incarcerated. What did you learn from that experience?

My work with people on the margins, and particularly in prison, taught me that God鈥檚 love is all-encompassing. That His love is freely given, and you either receive it or you don鈥檛. I also learned from people in prison how to endure real hardship. How to get up every day and live life to the fullest