Holy Cross President Welcomes Incoming Students

As 740 first-year students began their Holy Cross journey, they were formally welcomed by Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., president of the College, who delivered two traditional addresses to the incoming class.

With faculty attending in full academic regalia, the new year was inaugurated at the Mass of the Holy Spirit on Aug. 30. Fr. McFarland gave the homily, in which he told first-year students he hopes they get captured — “captured by an idea, an activity, a community, an ideal, something that draws you out of your own familiar world, challenges your assumptions, expands your mind and your heart and becomes a focus of your energy and passion.” Being “captured” doesn’t always mean the safest or most convenient route, he said, but it inevitably leads to finding the real meaning and purpose in life.

At Fall Convocation in St. Joseph Chapel on Sept. 1, Fr. McFarland urged students to develop the understanding and practice of discernment — a process central to Jesuit tradition. Essential to discernment, he said, is to regularly ask — and reflect upon — important questions. He emphasized that all students, whatever their faith tradition, see this “as an invitation to understand and articulate what your ideal is, what gives your life meaning and purpose, what you find most worthy of your generosity and commitment.”

Fr. McFarland’s talks brought together many of the themes found in the students’ summer reading, A Pilgrim’s Journey: The Autobiography of Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits.

Ronald Jarret, dean for the class of 2012 and professor of chemistry, selected the autobiography to mark the first year of Montserrat, the College’s new universal program for first-year students designed to integrate more effectively academic, co-curricular and residential experiences.

Read the essays on the president’s site.

Related Information:

• Audio Slideshow: Holy Cross Admissions Director Talks About First-Year Class