September 2004: Contents

Barrena Chair Established

Barrena Chair Established

Dr. Gerardo Cortina Barrena has shared with us his reflections on the establishment of the Fernando Bustos Barrena, S.J. Chair in Old Testament Studies at the Pontifical Biblical Institute.

The Fideicomiso Fernando Bustos Barrena, S.J., a Foundation set up by his brother Javier Bustos Barrena, wanted to honor its namesake. Ever since elementary school, Fernando received a Jesuit education. In the United States he attended both Fordham Preparatory School and then Fordham University in the Bronx. After he had returned with his mother to Mexico in 1940, he decided to enter the Society of Jesus and did so at Ysleta College in Texas. After some studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University Fernando was ordained a Jesuit priest at St. Ignatius Church, Rome, in 1954 and continued his studies at the Gregorian and then at the Pontifical Biblical Institute. In 1960 his superiors called him back to Mexico to be Professor at the Jesuit Theological College in Mexico City. There he distinguished himself as an excellent teacher and scholar but, unfortunately, passed away at only 48 years of age.

Javier Bustos Barrena was Fernando’s older brother and only sibling. Javier never married and had become a very successful and leading banker in Mexico. He built his home near the Jesuit Theological College in Mexico City to be close to Fernando. From the time his brother entered the Jesuits, Javier generously supported the Jesuit colleges in Mexico; and a few years after Fernando passed away, he established a foundation in his honor.

Javier wanted the Foundation to focus on education, especially, to provide Mexicans with the opportunity of preparing themselves to be professors of higher education in the Catholic Church. Javier’s first cousin, Dr. Gerardo Cortina Barrena, was honored to be asked to be a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fideicomiso Fernando Bustos Barrena, S.J and in 1997 was named President. Gerardo and the other trustees felt the Foundation had to endow a Chair at the Pontifical Biblical Institute to commemorate the years that Fernando spent in Rome studying Sacred Scripture. Their gift is a response to Javier’s will in which he directed that more opportunities for higher education be created within the Church.

New Trustees Join Gregorian University Foundation Board

Foundation president Fr. Robert O’Toole, S.J., welcomes new board members Peggy Hassett, Regina Cortina and Thomas McDermott. Behind them are trustee James Peter and chairman Peter Mullen.

In December 2003, The Gregorian University Foundation was blessed to add four new members to its Board of Trustees: Regina Cortina is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She has a Ph.D. in Education from Stanford University. Her research focuses on the training and employment of teachers and on issues of equity and politics in education. In addition to Immigrants and Schooling: Mexicans in New York (2003), she has recently published two books related to issues of education in Latin America: Líderes y construcción de poder: Las maestras y el SNTE (2003), and Distant Alliances: Promoting Girls’ and Women’s Education in Latin America (2000).

Among Cortina’s social service activities, she collaborated in the creation of the Cristo Rey High School in New York City and is a member of the Planning Committee for United Way of New York City’s Community Action Area in Education.

Michael G. Rauenhorst serves as Senior Consultant to the Deutsche Bank Microcredit Development Fund, where he coordinates operations leveraging more than $45 million in commercial financing to socially responsible microfinance institutions worldwide. Michael has an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, a J.D. from William Mitchell Law School and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

Rauenhorst was Burma Program Coordinator for the International Rescue Committee in Thailand from 1989-1992, where his 6-member team managed food, medical supplies and education programs for over 28,000 refugees. He currently serves on the board of the Institute for Nonprofit Management at the University of St. Thomas and is Treasurer of the FADICA charitable network.

Tom McDermott grew up in the shadow of Fordham University, which he later attended. After college, he was in the U.S. Army, and was discharged as First Lieutenant. He was part of Arthur Young & Company (now Ernst & Young) for 39 years, finishing his career there as Managing Partner of the New England Area and the Boston Office.

He serves on the boards of Acciòn International, The Endeavor Global Initiative, Babson College and its Institute for Latin American Business, LASPAU Harvard, Rostro de Cristo, The Immigrant Learning Center and various charter school initiatives in the Boston Area.

On joining the board, McDermott says, “It is clear this university’s work is central and crucial to the teaching role of the Church, and I’m honored if I can in some small way be helpful.”

Peggy Hassett joins the board having served (or still serving) on the boards of Hazelden (national board and co-chair of the New York board), the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (Florida board) among others.

She received her bachelor’s degree at Newton College of the Sacred Heart (which is now part of Boston College).

“The Church is changing, and I’d like to support the education of the Church’s future leaders,” says Hassett. “The Gregorian Foundation Board is a forward-thinking board — a board that really makes a difference.”

A Word from the President

Of course, my first word to all of you has to be one of thanks for your generosity and concerned interest for the Gregorian University Foundation and for the Gregorian University Consortium, which represents the Pontifical Gregorian University (the Greg), the Pontifical Biblical Institute (the Biblicum) and the Pontifical Oriental Institute (the Oriental). It would be no easy task to find three other academic institutions of higher Catholic education more deserving of your financial assistance. Your concern for these schools of “the Greg” has not only been expressed financially but also in terms of service and prayers. The last of which is surely the most important since the grace to share the gifts that one has received comes from God.

“The Greg”, founded in 1551, literally represents centuries of achievement; among her alumni are 67 saints and blessed, 16 Popes (7 of the last 10), more than a third of the current College of Cardinals, about 900 of the Church’s bishops, 12,000 of today’s priests and countless scholars and professors in seminaries and universities. Some of these ministries are shared by many religious and lay men and women who have likewise graduated from the Greg and serve the Church. They are particularly active in religious education, communications, spiritual direction and psychology. One has to grant that any university that has existed for more than 450 years and has had such outstanding graduates must be doing something right.

St. Ignatius’ founding of this university in Rome was a crucial decision in terms of the good that could be done; anyone who has had a Jesuit formation can immediately recognize it as putting into practice his directive, Ad majorem Dei gloriam (“For the greater glory of God”). If one wants to be at the center of the Catholic world and to be at the service of the Church, where better to do this than in Rome? However, more was required and accomplished by the school to be true to St. Ignatius’ vision of the Roman College, which later became the Gregorian University. St. Ignatius called for “a university for all nations, for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the training of wise and qualified leaders of Church and society.” Consequently, the Greg is open to qualified students from around the world who are looking for an excellent academic training — that is, open to the study of the whole reality of God’s creation, yet whose fidelity to the Church and its tradition is unquestionable.

St. Pius X founded the Biblicum in 1909 to provide in Rome a center dedicated to advanced studies in Sacred Scriptures and related disciplines. It is a unique institute and offers a wellintegrated and complete program in biblical studies. Most of its graduates are professors of Sacred Scriptures in seminaries and universities throughout the world or Church officials responsible for biblical studies and academic formation in a given diocese or country. Since 1976 the Biblicum has had a Jerusalem campus where students go for a semester to study at Hebrew University or the École Biblique. This semester is ideal for the study of the geography and archeology of the Holy Land.

The Oriental was founded in 1917 to study the theological, spiritual and liturgical patrimony and traditions of the Eastern churches united with Rome and to promote good ecumenical relations with the other Eastern Christian churches. In fact, the Oriental’s student body is a microcosm of these churches. It is actually a small university, for it offers courses and programs in beginning and advanced studies and promotes research in the history, theology, liturgy, canon law and spirituality of the Eastern Christian traditions.

When St. Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to give generously for the poor in Jerusalem, he writes, “You are well acquainted with the favor shown to you by our Lord Jesus Christ: how for your sake he made himself poor though he was rich, so that you might become rich by his poverty” (2 Cor 8:9). Giving is a spiritual experience; it actualizes the paschal mystery of dying and rising with Christ in our lives.

Again, we are truly grateful for your sharing in the paschal mystery through giving to the Gregorian University Foundation; the outstanding institutions we represent most definitely appreciate your continual concerned interest.

Affectionately and gratefully, in Him,

Last September, more than thirty students of the Biblicum were able to take part in a month-long study of archaeology in the Holy Land under the direction of the Franciscan professors at the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. A smaller number of students was able to attend the entire first semester of the Institute’s joint program with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. For both programs, the Institute’s Jerusalem house was the place of residence for the majority of students.

January of 2005 will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the beginning of this unique collaborative academic program between the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.

Rev. Ignacio Echarte, S.J. has been appointed Delegate to Father General. As Delegate he is the major superior of all the Jesuits who work for the Gregorian University Consortium. The thanks of all go to Rev. Guillermo Rodríguez- Izquierdo, S.J., the previous Delegate.

The Holy Father has named Rev. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J., Dean of Canon Law, Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University. Fr. Ghirlanda will take over on September 1st. To him our congratulations and best wishes, to Rev. Franco Imoda, S.J., retiring rector of the Greg, our deepest thanks. We’ll have more on these announcements, and other new appointments (below), in our next issue.

The Gregorian University:

If you're interested in highlights from our previous issues, please click here.