2014 LEADERSHIP ROUNDTABLE BEST PRACTICES AWARD

Honoring Rev. J. Donald Monan, S.J.

GEOFF BOISI

Founding Chair, The Leadership Roundtable

Father Monan became a Son of Ignatius 72 years ago, and he’s been a priest for over 60 years. And he’s been one of my closest friends for almost 37 years. I’ve had the great fortune to have some pretty interesting positions in my commercial life and not for profit endeavors. But there is no individual I’ve come in contact with who I admire more, and hold in higher esteem, than J. Donald Monan. Not just because he’s a terrific intellect, and not because he’s a priest (and I’ve met some great, great priests) but because: He is a true “gentle” and “holy” man of tremendous character. He is one of the smartest and wisest executives I’ve ever known, and I’ve literally worked with thousands of CEOs all across the world. He’s on my top 10 list in that regard. There would be no National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management without Don Monan. He’s had more influence on our thinking as we developed this organization than anybody else. And for that alone, I believe we owe him a great debt of gratitude.

For those of you who have never met him or don’t know his background, I’d like to reveal a few things. First of all, he’s a philosopher by training. A man of logic and deep insight. He taught at and led Le Moyne College in a variety of capacities for many years. He became President of Boston College in 1972. BC had fallen on hard times. Virtually bankrupt financially and very troubled from a morale standpoint, and if no change occurred probably would have been absorbed by Harvard University. The Jesuits had the wisdom to ask Father Monan to come down and take a look. He had the courage to accept the challenge and the insight to incorporate something (that we’ve been preaching at the Leadership Roundtable for the last 10 years, and which he had been preaching to me for a much longer period): the notion of marrying lay professional talent and leadership with the mission of the Church and the educational mission of the University. He and Father Ted Hesburgh, who was serving as President of Notre Dame at the same time, were communicating a lot during the late 60’s and early 70’s, and they both decided to bring lay leaders and their expertise into positions of leadership and re-charter their respective Universities by transferring their institution’s governance to boards of lay and religious trustees and empower them with real responsibility which inspired their commitment and investment toward a vision of “excellence” in Catholic higher education. That wasn’t just a courageous act, it was and Father Hesburgh and their followers in professionalizing the administration of these great institutions that their mission has blossomed to the fullest. revolutionary. It’s not by accident that Catholic higher education has been as strong as it’s been. It’s not by accident that the Catholic healthcare system has been as strong as it’s been. And it’s not by accident that many parts of the social welfare system in the Catholic Church have been so progressive. It is because of the visionary leadership of Father Monan them were killed in San Salvador. And it was Father Monan who went down to Washington on behalf of the Jesuit community and said that this wasn’t right, that the United States should stand up and find the perpetrators of this atrocity. And he, along with a group of others, basically cajoled the Congress of the United States and the Government of the United States to bring those people to justice. He did things like that, big things. He was a founder of the Big East Conference. He was President of the Jesuit Conference of Higher Education leading the 28 Jesuit Colleges and Universities in the United States. He was President of the National University Presidents’ Association. In fact, every position Father Monan ever held turned into a top leadership position. And I can’t tell you how thankful I am that he chose to help us think through what we have accomplished over the last 10 years.

The extraordinarily inspiring relationship between Brian Reynolds and Archbishop Kurtz, which was driven home in their presentation earlier today, is the kind of relationship that Father Monan and I have enjoyed for such a long time. For years we spoke every couple of days working through issues related to BC. But it didn’t stop there. He was my go-to person 25 years ago when we started Mentor, the National Mentoring Partnership. Father Monan was not only President of Boston College but a ‘major leader’ in the world of Higher Education and in Massachusetts at that time and he took a risk both personally and institutionally in being the first member organization and regional partner of the “mentoring movement” we started. At the time there were just 150,000 quality-mentoring relationships in the country. Today we’ve now grown to 4.5 million. He was the first person to believe in and see the vision of the program. He also rose to the occasion years ago when the judicial system of Massachusetts stopped functioning effectively from a bloated bureaucracy. “The powers that be in Boston” called on Father Monan, and he brought in professional help to successfully reorganize the entire system. Just one more example of his impact on society and his life of service.

The Jesuits have a motto -- Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam – For the greater glory of God – and Boston College has the motto -- Ever to Excel -- and there’s no human being who’s been associated with either of those institutions who better personifies those credos than Father Monan. When he retired as President and became Chancellor of BC, I publicly commented that “the spirit of J. Donald Monan will thunder through the halls of BC forever.” And I’m proud to say the same thing today: “The spirit of J. Donald Monan will thunder through the virtual and extended halls of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management forever.”

I can’t emphasize enough Father Monan’s immense courage. He has “spoken truth to power” in ways that most people haven’t. It’s been 28 years since six Jesuit priests and two women who worked with

With that, I’d like to ask Father Bryan Hehir to come forward to accept on Father Monan’s behalf the 2014 Leadership Roundtable Best Practices Award, honoring, and I quote, “His lifelong commitment to public service, higher education, and the Catholic Church, and his vision as a founding board member of the Leadership Roundtable.” It’s dated June 25th, 2014.

REV. BRYAN

HEHIR

on behalf of Rev. J. Donald Monan

Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Secretary for Health Care and Social Services, Archdiocese of Boston

It’s my privilege to read to you the remarks from Don Monan in response to this award:

“My deep commitment to the importance of the National Leadership Roundtable’s mission grew from my experience with the dramatic improvements that have taken place in Catholic higher education in the past 40 years. Suffering seriously from dangerous inadequacy in meeting their business needs, colleges at that time began to reach beyond their traditional source of leadership, among our ordained and religious, to seek out line officers and trustees possessed of formal business training and experience. The results were always positive, at times transformative. Parallels to the Church’s managerial situation are striking. God did not have to become Man. Christ did not have to found a human Church with all the weaknesses of a being human. But He in fact assumed a human body susceptible to weakness and wounds, and He established the Church to carry out His mission through the imperfect but perfectible judgment and acumen of its leaders. Given its place in today’s rapidly changing cultures, the Church itself has not only a widespread and compelling need, but a willing and available resource of business experience and expertise among its Catholic men and women laity. What an admirable mission to host the meeting of the two.” Signed, Donald Monan.

Kerry Robinson

Executive Director, The Leadership Roundtable

Thank you Father Bryan for accepting this award on behalf of Father Monan. And thank you Geoff for your extraordinary reflections, not only on behalf of someone so integral to the Leadership Roundtable, but on the long history of contributions and impact on everything he touched. Your personal testimony of friendship with him was also very poignant. You have a remarkable knack for deflecting attention away from yourself and bestowing it on others, which is a hallmark of excellent leadership. I’m so deeply grateful to you, and to Father Monan.