From the President

“Popular culture would have us believe that our problems stem from faith being forced on others. But the opposite is true.”

Our Unique Role in the Church’s Mission

FROM THE DESK OF PRESIDENT DR. TIMOTHY O’DONNELL

Obviously, we are facing some

serious challenges in our beloved country. Our second president, John Adams, stated: “We have no government armed with the power which is capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.” There is definitely a fierce assault on religious faith in many sectors of our society. This concerted effort to destroy faith can be seen in mass media, social media, big tech, and the popular culture. In many ways, religious faith is being undermined with smartphones and other devices, by offering an unprecedented degree of distractions. Intrusive technology is everywhere, as seen in the disturbing documentary The Social Dilemma.

Popular culture would have us believe that our problems stem from faith being forced on others. But the opposite is true. An increasingly hostile and intolerant secularism is being forced on people of faith. The Catholic faith and liberal arts education that we offer help us to form men and women of character who are free of ideological falsehoods. It empowers them with the courage to swim against the toxic secular tide. Our education allows us to cultivate—in this age of the “emotive will”—a philosophical habit of mind and ultimately to have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

I encourage our students here to not be distracted by the winds and the waves of our turbulent culture; to keep their eyes fixed on Christ and their duty, their vocation as students. God is truth, and any education or anything which denies or ignores Him is not worthy of man. I urge our students and all of us to build out time to sit quietly in your room, the chapel, the woods… or just find a quiet spot. Take time to clear all the clutter away. Then as faith-filled Catholic men and women we can sit and be enfolded with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and realize how much He loves us! If we do that, we can renew the face of the earth.

Although iniquity abounds, we must not let charity grow cold.

I know we are all works in progress, but in our students, alumni, benefactors, faculty, and staff I have seen so much goodness, despite the cynical voices of the world telling us to ignore the love of our Father. We are called to greatness—to holiness, self-sacrifice, heroic virtue, chastity, and love. All of us have a unique role to play in fulfilling the Church’s mission for the salvation of others in our troubled world. Let us open our hearts and minds to Him who came to cast fire on the earth. Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Burning Furnace of Love, pray for us!