Gregorian University Foundation: Report From Rome Newsletter, October 2001 Issue

Report from Rome is a publication sent to friends, benefactors and alumni/ae of the Gregorian University, the Biblical Institute and the Oriental Institute. Here are a few highlights from our most recent issue. If you'd like to see highlights from previous issues, please click here.

October 2001: Contents

The Gregorian University Celebrates Its 450th Anniversary

Photo right: Pope John Paul II holds a special audience for the Gregorian University. To his right (sitting) is Very Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus. They are surrounded by students and faculty of the university.

Pope John Paul II at the Gregorian's 450th Anniversary

Cardinal Martini Chair Established at The Biblical Institute — The first endowed chair at the Biblicum.

Notes from the Gregorian University Consortium — The McCarthy lectures, Dr. Donna Orsuto speaks in Manhatten, High Tech at the Oriental Institute, and Father Gerald O'Collins, S.J., is feted on his birthday

Gregorian University Celebrates 450 Years

This year the Pontifical Gregorian University celebrated the 450th anniversary of its founding by St. Ignatius Loyola. It is the oldest Jesuit university in the world, eighty-five years older than Harvard.

The April celebration included a special papal audience, during which Pope John Paul II told the Gregorian community, "Your university family can count on a long history marked by a great wealth of culture and spirituality. It can also count on teachers and students who, coming from every part of the world, bring with them a variety of experiences. When all this is put at the service of the Gospel and accompanied by constant recourse to prayer, it can only bear the desired apostolic fruits for the benefit of the People of God."

President Fernando de la Rúa of Argentina, Rev. Franco Imoda,S.J., Rector of the Gregorian, and Archbishop Joseph Pittau, S.J., Secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education, enjoy a moment at the Academic Convocation celebrating the Gregorian University's 450th anniversary.

A special meeting of the Gregorian University Foundation's Board of Trustees also marked the 450th anniversary. Foundation Chairman Peter Mullen and led a group of more than 20 trustees and their spouses to Rome for this historic occasion.

An additional highlight of the anniversary was an Academic Convocation with an extraordinary array of speakers, including President Fernando de la Rúa of Argentina, Cardinals Angelo Sodano (Secretary of State), Roger Etchegaray, Zenon Grocholewski, and Camillo Ruini; Archbishop Joseph Pittau, S.J., Bishop Michael L. Fitzgerald, and Very Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus.

Other distinguished speakers and guests included Dr. Jane Dammen McAuliffe, an authority on Islam and the Dean of the College at Georgetown University, various United Nations and Vatican officials, Mr. Antonio Fazio, the governor of the Bank of Italy and Most Rev. Jean-Louis Tauran, Foreign Minister of the Holy See. The University itself was represented by Rev. Franco Imoda, S.J., Rector, as well as professors including Rev. Arij Roest Crollius, S.J. and Dr. Elena Barbieri Masini.

Cardinal Martini Chair Established at
The Biblical Institute

The Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, S.J., Chair in New Testament Studies was inaugurated at the Pontifical Biblical Institute on April 3rd of this year. Cardinal Martini, the Archbishop of Milan, has previously served as Rector of both the Biblical Institute and the Gregorian University.

Cardinal Martini, Rev. Robert O’Toole, S.J., Rector of the Biblical Institute, Foundation trustee Ellen Shafer and her husband Robert.

At the inaugural dinner, Very Rev. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, praised the Cardinal, saying, "Your dedication to the Word of God and to academic learning and your ability to translate that intellectual and biblical understanding into language that can be understood by the ordinary man makes you one of the most effective communicators of the Bible message alive today."

Rev. Robert O'Toole, S.J., Rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, explained the honor conferred by the Chair: "Obviously, not many biblical scholars have the impressive piety, enormous learning, powerful public presence, winning charm and great wit of His Eminence. Nor would most of us radiate the same degree of confidence in the Holy Spirit's activity in our world. Nonetheless, we all admire individuals who have these qualities and that is why the Gregorian University Foundation and the Pontifical Biblical Institute want to name the first chair at our Institute, The Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, S.J., Chair in New Testament Studies."

Donors to the chair are: Mr. & Mrs. James Buckman, Mr. & Mrs. John Costantino, Mr. & Mrs. William Grant, Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Guerrerio, Mr. & Mrs. Thomas Keaveney, Mr. & Mrs. Richard Marrin, Mr. & Mrs. John McCollum, Mr. & Mrs. Peter Mullen, Mr. & Mrs. Robert Shafer, Mr. & Mrs. Paul Soden, Mr. John Witmeyer, and the Walter Lantz Foundation.

The dinner honoring the Cardinal and celebrating the creation of the academic chair in his honor was held at the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj with 100 guests, including 23 trustees of the Gregorian University Foundation. The Cardinal Martini Chair becomes the eighth endowed chair at Gregorian Consortium schools. The others are:

The Rev. John E. Blewett, S.J., Chair in Theology at the Gregorian University
The Sir Daniel & Countess Bernardine Murphy Donohue Chair in Eastern Catholic Theology at the Oriental Institute
The Rev. Carl J. Peter Chair in Interreligious Dialogue at the Gregorian
The Most. Rev. Rembert G. Weakland Chair in the Social Teachings of the Church at the Gregorian
The Nippon Foundation Chair in Modern Philosophies at the Gregorian
The William E. Simon Chair in Christianity & a Free Economy at the Gregorian
The Rev. James R. Pollock, S.J. Chair in Moral Theology at the Gregorian

Notes From the Gregorian

The Joseph Gregory McCarthy Visiting Professor Lectures

On May 11, 2001 The Reverend Professor Oliver O'Donovan, FBA, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Philosophy, University of Oxford and Canon of Christ Church Oxford, delivered the Fourth Annual Joseph Gregory McCarthy Visiting Professor, Faculty of Philosophy lecture at the Gregorian University. Professor O'Donovan's lecture was entitled "Law, Moderation, and Forgiveness."

"Prayers in the Margin: From Richard III to Thomas More" was the title of the Thirteenth Annual Joseph Gregory McCarthy Visiting Professor, Faculty of Theology lecture, delivered on May 30th at the Gregorian. Professor Eamon Duffy, Senior Fellow of Magdalene College and Reader in Church History, Cambridge University, delivered the lecture.

At the Biblical Institute, the Twelfth Annual Joseph Gregory McCarthy Visiting Professor, Biblical Faculty lecture was given by Professor Alexander Rofé, emeritus professor at Hebrew University. His lecture, given on November 29, 2000, was titled "Reflections on the Historiography and on Historical Thought in the Hebrew Bible."

These three Visiting Professorships were created in memory of Joseph Gregory McCarthy by his family.

High-Tech at the Oriental

A team from the Center for the Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts at Brigham Young University visited the Oriental Institute and digitalized all of its Slavic manuscripts on CD-Rom. The Institute hopes to start a CD-ROM Library to provide computerized access to these manuscripts for our students and scholars.

Dr. Orsuto Speaks in Manhattan

Dr. Donna Orsuto, a professor of theology at the Gregorian University in Rome, spoke on "Contemplative Living in an Active World" on April 19 at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Manhattan.

Dr. Orsuto is the Director of Educational Parish Service (EPS) in Rome. The EPS program offers lay people courses in scripture and theology with the idea of building community and serving others. She is also director and co-founder of the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas Institute in Rome.

Gregorian Honors Father O'Collins

Three hundred people gathered at the Aula Magna of the Gregorian University on June l, 2001 to honor Gregorian theology professor Rev. Gerald O'Collins, S.J., on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Fr. O'Collins was presented with a festschrift of articles by twenty-one colleagues and former students entitled Convergence in Theology, edited by Professor Stephen Davis, professor of philosophy and religious studies at Claremont College and Rev. Daniel Kendall, S.J., professor of theology at the University of San Francisco, and published by Paulist Press.

His Eminence, Cardinal Edward Cassidy, the Most Reverend George Carey (Archbishop of Canterbury), Rev. Franco Imoda, S.J., and Rev. Gerald O’Collins, S.J. (far left) in the Aula Magna of the Gregorian.

Rev. Franco Imoda, S.J., Rector of the Gregorian University, welcomed the guests. There was also a special tribute by the Most Rev. and Right Honorable George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dr. Eugene McCarthy, M.D., who with his late wife Maureen, founded the Joseph Gregory McCarthy lectures (see story above), presented a scroll to commemorate the day.

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