February 2025

Dear Canisius family,

I write to you today, at the start of Black History Month, from our nation’s capital—Washington, D.C. It is here in this city that one of the most pivotal moments in Black history and the fight for civil rights, justice and equality unfolded. The contributions, resilience, and sacrifices of Black Americans, and their allies in the fight for justice, are woven into the very fabric of our country and can never be erased. That context is important because at this moment in time we must recall one of the core values of our Jesuit tradition—finding God in all things.

Although there is a temptation toward despair and desolation in these days, our faith teaches us that we are created in the image of God, and our God is a God of love. When divisiveness and hatred are sown willingly, we are called to hope because as Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., 29th Superior General of the Society of Jesus taught us: ours is a faith that does justice. In the same way that we know not light without darkness, and joy without pain, so it is that we must endure injustice to attain what is right and just.

The readings for Mass on the final day of January 2025, offered me great consolation in this moment, which I feel called to share with you in this installment of my monthly message. The first reading was from Hebrews 10:32-39, which I have excerpted in part here:

“Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering. At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated. You even joined in the suffering of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.”

Consistent with our Jesuit way of proceeding and the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, Canisius University will remain committed to respecting the human dignity of every person we encounter; we will walk with the poor, the marginalized and those forgotten by our society; we will accompany young people on the path to create a hope-filled future; and we will continue to care for our common home. We will brave the hardships that come our way and shine a light in the darkness. We will remember those who have gone before us who sacrificed so much to achieve some modicum of progress in our country. We will rise to meet this moment with confidence and even with joy, because we have the requisite endurance, and we know our great reward awaits.

Canisius University, ours is a faith that does justice, and this is our time to rise!

January 2025

Happy New Year! I pray the holiday season was joyous and restorative, and that, like me, you are looking forward with excitement to the year ahead.

As we begin this new year at Canisius University, I wanted to share a reflection inspired by Pope Francis and his homily to celebrate the Epiphany. In his homily, Pope Francis said:

A journey always involves a transformation, a change. After a journey we are no longer the same. There is always something new about those who have made a journey: they have learned new things, encountered new people and situations, and found inner strength amid the hardships and risks they met along the way.

In our Jesuit tradition journeys are a central theme to the story. St. Ignatius had what some would call an epic journey from a man born into nobility to the pilgrim founder of the Society of Jesus. His moment of transformation came as he lay shattered, scarred and wounded from battle; there he found his true calling, emerging transformed and with a fire and passion to glorify God.

In a similar way our beloved Canisius is on a journey, one that started one hundred and fifty-four years ago. As with any journey, ours will require enduring hardships, encountering novel situations, learning new things, and ultimately transformation and change.  

St. Ignatius famously said, “go forth and set the world on fire.” That phrase is repeated countless times on campuses of Jesuit institutions and beyond, and by Jesuit alumni who embrace its call in their lives and use it to inspire others. The way I interpret that famous Ignatian phrase, is by reflecting on fire as a light in the darkness, as a source of warmth to brave the cold, as a way to clear what is old to make room for the new, and as a burning desire for more.

As we continue our journey together, I pray we find the inner strength to embrace the change that will ignite the fire which will transform our beloved Canisius University into something new: a university that is a light in our tattered society, nurtured by a culture of warmth and collaboration, and fueled by a burning desire to innovate, take risks and to change.

December 2024

Dear Canisius family,

In our faith tradition Advent is a time of hope and preparation, where we are called to pause and hold a sacred silence as we look forward to the birth of Jesus Christ. As we begin this Advent season, I want to take this opportunity to offer a reflection—in the form of an Examen—that I pray will help foster our collective preparation for the dawn of a new way of proceeding at Canisius University, one grounded in hope and not despair.

Gratitude

I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of the Canisius University community and to contribute to our mission of forming and transforming the leaders who will solve the most pressing challenges of our time. This is the work that was started by Jesuits in Buffalo in 1870, and it is the gift we are called upon to steward today, not for ourselves but for the greater glory of God.

Reflection

As the leader of this institution over the last 30 months, I feel a sense of desolation that as a university community we have not been able to foster the sense of shared purpose, respect, and trust that St. Ignatius Loyola and his companions enshrined when they founded the Society of Jesus almost 500 years ago. It was the unity of spirit that sustained our forebears as the mission of the Society spread across the world, and it is the fact that such oneness has eluded us which troubles me deeply.

Hope

I am hopeful, however, in the stillness of this season, that Canisius University will engender the leadership that is necessary to perpetuate its mission for the next 150 years. Our Ignatian values are clear and I believe that those core values will be the light that leads us to a familial place, one where we can rest in the knowledge that all things work for good for those who love the Lord. 

In closing, my Advent prayer for each and every member of our Canisius University community is that the days, weeks and months ahead are filled with hope—the type of hope that lifts spirits, deepens faith and inspires love. Whether through acts of kindness, moments of grace, or a selfless dedication to our shared mission, may we be united in purpose as one Canisius University family, with renewed hope in our future.

November 2024

Dear Canisius family,

Each month, as I reflect on the content of the message I share with you, I turn to our Jesuit tradition for guidance. This month is no different, although more than at other times during my tenure as president of our beloved Canisius, it feels like there is so much I could and should share with you in this note. Today, I feel compelled to offer a few words on what St. Ignatius Loyola called indifference, which we today refer to as Ignatian indifference.

St. Ignatius articulated in the Spiritual Exercises that we are all created for a purpose—to love, reverence and serve God—and to fulfill that purpose we must be indifferent to all human things, as much as possible. Ignatius believed that indifference would set us free from disordered attachments—the earthly things that distract us—and empower us to be the light we were created to be in the world.

Our university community is in many ways a microcosm of the broader society. We do not exist in a vacuum, and we are not immune from the things that shape the very context within which we live, work, play and learn. However, as a Jesuit university, our values dictate that we resist the temptation to be subsumed into the culture around us, as pervasive as it may be at times. In this moment we must put aside ambition, wealth, success, enmity, jealousy, anger, anxiety, fear, and every other human thing, to be more fully what we were created to be. As a university community grounded in an almost 500-year-old tradition, we are called, perhaps required, to leave those earthly things behind in pursuit of our purpose.

I pray that we can recognize the raging waters of the culture around us as an opportunity to practice indifference, to free ourselves from the burdens of the past, to relinquish the desire to act in ways modeled in broader society, and rather embrace our purpose as one community, one family, grounded in love. Canisius University is a bright light, and I hope we will let it shine for all to see.