“My idea of university” | Interview with Fr. Mark A. Lewis, S.J

“My idea of university”

Interview with Fr. Mark A. Lewis, S.J.

BY GERARD O’CONNELL America’s Vatican correspondent

Mark Lewis, S.J., 62, is a historian and only the second Jesuit from the United States to be rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Pope Francis appointed him on June 14, 2022. Soon after taking up his new mission on Sept. 1, he granted a long, exclusive interview, his first as rector, to Gerard O’Connell, America’s Vatican correspondent. Here are some passages from the interview; the full version can be read at americamagazine.org How a passion for history prepared him for his role at the Gregoriana

Father Lewis has studied and taught history most of his life, so I asked him to explain the reason for this. His answer: “From high school I have had a passion for history because I find two things there. It allows you to look at values. It’s an ethics kind of course, but more dispassionately, because it’s so far away, and usually you don’t have to pick sides.” Whereas, “In the midst of the church today, there are all these controversies and you’re either for this or for that.”

When I asked how his history studies may have prepared him to be rector of the Gregoriana, he replied: “My a itude towards church history, especially, is that in the worst of times there have been saints, and in the best of times there have been people doing very bad things. And so it’s useless to say—as I’ve heard people say so many times today—”this has to be the worst time in the history of the church’. As a historian I say, ‘No, I don’t think so. Persecutions in the early Church may top this.”

Father Lewis said, “I think the historical context frees us and gives us a chance to say, ‘Well, this is our time, and we will make our mistakes, and we will have our saints, so we can be patient with that.’ We don’t have to get it right completely. And we won’t. But we have to do our best.” He added, “I think that the people who are generally heroes in history are the people who have done their best, not always succeeded, at times wonderful failures, as the history of the Jesuits shows.”

An international school inspired by the saints

Father Lewis recalled that among the Gregorian’s alumni, 28 have been declared saints and 55 blessed. He considers them “an inspiration” to the 2,844 students from 125 countries who are currently enrolled at the Gregoriana.

Today, while 45 percent of the Gregorian’s students are from Europe, with 22 percent from the American continent and less than 1 percent from Oceania, there has been a significant increase in the number of students from Africa (now 16 percent of the student body) and Asia (17 percent) in recent years. While in the past, the Gregoriana was largely a ended by seminarians from around the world, today only 19 percent of the students are seminarians, while more than 28 percent are ordained diocesan priests. Another 17 percent of the students come from religious orders, and 15 percent are consecrated persons. The percentage of lay people and women studying at the university has also increased: “Today, 22 percent of the students are lay people, and 21 percent are women, both religious and lay”. Father Lewis notes that most are studying for higher degrees like the licentiate or doctorate; more than a third are in theology, but many also in philosophy, canon law, so-

cial sciences, missiology, spirituality, history and the cultural heritage of the church, psychology and anthropology. Almost all these students will return to their home dioceses or religious orders to teach or take other posts of responsibility.

The students at the Gregoriana are taught by some 334 professors from many countries, including 188 from Italy and 18 from the United States. Father Lewis said this means the university has a professor-student ratio of 1 to 10, which is exceptionally high by American standards. Furthermore, over 80 of the professors are Jesuits, which makes this “the largest investment of the Society [of Jesus] anywhere in the world”; it also helps to contain costs and strongly influences the identity of the university.

History really wants to explore the context of decisions and “ actions. And that gives us an insight into why we do what we do in the present”

Ensuring a quality education

One of Father Lewis’s main goals as rector is to insist on quality. “I think the goal of quality here is so important because most people teach the way they were taught,” he said. “So if we can improve the pedagogy here, we also have an impact on university and seminary pedagogy around the world.” Prior to becoming rector, he served as academic vice rector, where his principal responsibility was “safeguarding the quality

From left to right: Fr Michael F. Kolarcik, S.J. Rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute; Fr Mark A. Lewis, S.J. Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University; Fr David Nazar, S.J. Rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute

Photos F. PIGNATA of the academic side of things”; and to this end he headed a commission on quality. He sees the question of quality in education as “primarily about pedagogy, making sure that we’re delivering material in a way that students can absorb.” He explained, “It’s not so much about the high quality of the student [that we receive] because, in a sense, you want students who will learn something, and if we find students who already know everything, then we’re not doing much teaching. I think that sometimes is the challenge. When you have really bright students who’ve come having read things, they already have very formed opinions. So ge ing them to be open to other views of their ideas is a challenge, and that is the responsibility also of the university, to create an atmosphere where they can examine what they’ve already learned and continue to grow”.

Father Lewis said, “My idea of university is a place where those kinds of exchanges can happen, with respect, with solid, intellectual underpinning, not just sort of emotional opinion.” He said one important part of ensuring quality is to ask: “Can a professor elicit that kind of growth which is not easy? Can the student body examine things in a new way?” He recognized that this also means the professors themselves must be open to growth. Integrating the Biblicum and the Orientale with the Gregorian University

Father Lewis was the last provincial superior of the New Orleans Province of the Jesuits before it merged with the Missouri Province to become part of what is now called the Central and Southern Province. The Jesuits of Puerto Rico joined the new province a few months later. I asked whether that role had prepared him in some way for his new mission. He responded affirmatively: “There are two things that come to mind. First, any superior in the Jesuits, but especially the provincial, has a unique care for the people under him. And so I think I bring to the Gregoriana a desire to have that same kind of care for the faculty, the staff and the students.

“The second thing is, when I was provincial in New Orleans, it had already been decided that we would combine with another province, with the Missouri Province, so my task was to implement something that had already been decided. As you probably know, the Biblicum and the Orientale [which are both also Jesuit institutions] will be integrated into the Gregorian University”.

Today the Gregoriana has almost 3,000 students, the Biblicum has around 300, and the Orientale also around 300; consequently, the new body will have under 4,000 students. Father Lewis believes the integration will bring advantages. There will be a need for only one rector compared with three at present, “So you don’t have to spend as much time looking for eligible Jesuits.” Secondly, he foresees financial advantages from having a single administration, a single computer system, coordinated purchasing and other things that will create an economy of scale.

On the path to integration, Father Lewis said, “There are statutes to be done and financial aspects to be worked out. It takes time to do the detail work.” But, he said, the process has begun and is moving forward. “It’s a work in progress. It is important to get it right and do it well.”

Once you’ve studied enough history, you’re very free... You don’t “ say, ‘Oh, well we’ve always done it this way, or we have to do it this way’”