While at Penn State I began to think seriously about the Society
of Jesus. I had not spent time at Holy Cross addressing the idea,
but it now seemed to consume me. Why now and not earlier? I don't
know. Perhaps it was because I was now in a very different situation.
In any event, when I returned to Boston at Thanksgiving time,
I made an appointment to visit the provincial's offices on Commonwealth
Avenue. There I met with Brother Kilmartin, and was interviewed
by several priests.
I went to Rome to study theology, a move that turned out to be
one of the greatest gifts of my life. In 1962, my second year
there, the first session of the Vatican Council convened, bringing
immense excitement to the life in Rome. I enjoyed a number of
excellent professors in Rome, including teachers at both the Gregorian
University and the Biblical Institute.
We embarked with an interesting plan in mind. There were a number
of other undergraduate, liberal arts colleges introducing coeducation
around the same time, in particular Amherst and Bowdoin. I was
acquainted with the presidents of both schools, and each felt
that in moving to coeducation they should simply add women students
to the number of men enrolled. With Holy Cross being a bit larger
than either of these two colleges, we chose to keep our student
size the same. Hence, in a bold decision we chose to enroll 300
fewer men in the fall of 1972 than we did the previous year and
bring in 300 new women students, who would be academically equal
to or better than the top 300 men enrolled. This arrangement,
of course, vastly improved the academic quality of the first year
class. It was an overall plan that has worked very well and been
demonstrated to benefit the college's reputation.
Yes, definitely. God is always at work in our lives. There is
no way I could have survived twenty four years as President of
Holy Cross without God's presence every day. As for my personal
life, I have a much deeper understanding and gratitude towards
God than I ever had in my younger days. I don't find myself complaining
much these days. I'm very much aware of the fact that my life
has been a gift. There is nothing I've done entirely on my own.
While in the past I un-doubtedly took many of life's gifts for
granted, I've now reached a stage of life where I know more than
I once did of the importance of the role God plays in my life.
I've had a very happy life in the Society of Jesus, for which
I'm genuinely grateful.
