Sr. Mary McGlone Delivers Annual Dooley Lecture

the large mission of faith and service, she said.

She said it is important “to figure out why this college exists and to keep that ‘why’ going.”

It should not be “survival at any cost,” she said. “It’s ‘can we continue to do what we’re here to do?’ And if not, then sell the property.”

She said a small college is perfectly suited to appeal to students who would feel uncomfortable at a large school with classes of 500 or more. “It's here we've got the individual attention that helps each person figure out what their potential is, and go for their dreams.”

In her lecture, she spoke of NASA’s recent Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART rocket used to successfully nudge an asteroid deep in space, thereby forever altering its trajectory. Everyone you encounter, no matter how briefly, is changed, she said. It is essential for people to think of themselves as sort of DARTs and nudge the people they encounter on a trajectory of good.

In the context of a world that is increasingly divided, she said, “We can be those little DARTs that help it move toward greater peace, greater unity, greater appreciation of diversity.”

Now in her 70s and having celebrated her 50th year as a Sister of St. Joseph, Sister Mary said she remains incredibly hopeful. She said that some years ago she was moving things out of her parents’ home in Denver, and she found an old Catholic newspaper article about her joining the Sisters of St. Joseph.

“The interviewer said ‘Why are you doing this?’ and I said for the freedom,” Sister Mary said. “And when I read it, I said ‘Dang, that’s what I would say today!”

Elms hosts 6th annual Black Experience Summit

Elms College hosted its 6th annual Black Experiences Summit in February, and it was very well received. The focus was on the role of religion in fighting racism.

Opening keynote speaker Shannen Dee Williams, associate professor of History at the University of Dayton, delivered a powerful narrative of the discrimination and misrepresentation suffered by Black catholic sisters within the U.S. Catholic Church.