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From the President
A Vehicle for God’s Grace
Dear Parents, Friends and Sons of Xavier:
I am delighted to share with you the 175th Anniversary Commemorative Issue of Xavier Magazine. I do so with deep gratitude to Shawna Gallagher Vega who worked tirelessly to produce a magazine that fittingly celebrates our history, grounds our present and inspires our future. The contributors to this edition—Nick Barone ’16, Ralph Dinielli, Dan Gatti, S.J. ’59, Bob Grimes, S.J. ’70, Mary Kinahan-Ockay, Eric Krebs ’17, Zane Massey ’96 P’22, Maggie Murphy Stockson, Tom O’Hara ’69 P’04 ’06, and Jim Tierney ’68; our photographer Michael Marmora and all the unnamed photographers whose work is represented here; and our designer, Erbach Communications Group—were important collaborators in bringing this magazine to print. This magazine comes to you a few weeks after the opening of our 175th Anniversary Exhibition which was lovingly curated by Maggie Murphy Stockson and Evan Levy and made possible by hundreds of donations of Xavier memorabilia from our alumni and their families: memorabilia representing important parts of Xavier life for our donors and calling forth important memories from all who experience the exhibit. Throughout the anniversary year our archivist, Mary Kinahan-Ockay, has been an instrumental partner in helping us access, catalogue, appreciate and understand our history. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the important work done by my predecessors Ken Boller, S.J. and Dan Gatti, S.J. in establishing and developing our modernday archives, and the benefaction of Milton Lewis ’30 P’62 and his wife, Rita P’62, in making that possible during our 150th anniversary celebration. Important work has been done in recent years building on the work of the past 25 years.
The anniversary year has presented a wonderful opportunity to enter into Xavier’s history—a history filled with stories, and with each of these stories lots of smiles and laughter. It has also presented an invitation to continue to document our history. It always brings a smile to my face when two alumni have totally different and often conflicting memories of the same event. I am sure as some read this magazine they will do so with raised eyebrows in spots thinking, “That’s not how I remember it!” While stories are stories and memories often incomplete, Shawna, Nick, Maggie and Mary have worked diligently to fact-check and confirm what has made it to print. If you come upon things that are incomplete and have newspapers, programs, letters, magazines or photos that would add to our records, please share them with us.
When the time comes for your Xavier memorabilia to find a new home, we stand ready to receive it. When you have the time to put pen to paper I encourage you to share your stories and memories, however incomplete, of the people, places and events that shaped your time at Xavier and shaped your life beyond. Those reflections are ultimately gifts to the writer and the reader, and reminders of God’s presence in our lives. One thing the anniversary has made clear is that caring for our legacy is an ongoing project in which we all share. Caring for that legacy will allow us to understand and celebrate our past, to live fully in the present and lead us into the future with courage and hope. We will count on your help as we continue to document our history.
More than anything else, our journey through this anniversary year has been a powerful reminder of God’s grace—of God’s presence with us each and every day since our founding in 1847— and the movement of God’s spirit in the lives of all those who have walked our halls and those who have made those walks possible. No one has captured this understanding for me better than the late Peter McCord ’49 in his 50th reunion essay, “One Parting Shot (A Buzzer Beater?).” McCord writes:
Why was I so filled with joy in anticipation of seeing my classmates? Why did I feel so much love for them beyond any ability to express it, when I was with them? Why did I feel so confident that the essence of Xavier was still there, despite so many changes in a half-century of monumental change? Why was I so grateful for what I had received during those pivotal years in my life?
And so it came to me: Xavier more than any other place in my life to that point, introduced me to the world of grace…
It was the world of grace, a world of the consciousness filled with the presence of a loving God, whose love was unmerited, unconditional, unselfish, purely gratuitous. It was love for the sake of love. And that was what they were about and what they tried to communicate to us pubescent young men.
At our best, this is what Xavier has been about for 175 years, witnessing to the goodness of God, providing opportunities to young men and their teachers for the grace of God to enter into their lives and providing them with opportunities to respond to that grace. In his own way, Peter McCord captures what Gerard Manley Hopkins came to discover through his own struggles and pain. In “As Kingfishers Catch Fire,” Hopkins writes:
I say more: the just man justices; Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces; Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is— Christ—for Christ plays in ten thousand places, Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his To the Father through the features of men’s faces.
May Xavier and her Sons always be a vehicle for God’s grace, and act in God’s eye what in God’s eye they are, Christ—Christ playing in ten thousand places, lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his to the Father through the features of men’s faces. There will be no better tribute to the past 175 years, or the next.
Happy Anniversary, Sons of Xavier. Keep marching.
Sincerely,
Jack Raslowsky President
Raslowsky teaching a class in 2016
