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By
Helen Whall, Speaker of the Faculty  In
the very few exchanges I have had with Michael McFarland while preparing for
this ceremony, it has become quite clear that if it were up to him alone,
yesterday's liturgy and tomorrow's "fun run" would be the sum of his installation
as the 31st president of the College of the Holy Cross. Those who have watched
Fr. McFarland in these last few weeks, those who worked with him at Gonzaga
University, or at Boston College, know how central the liturgy is to his life
and how important a good run is to his day. Those who have spoken with him
even briefly, moreover, sense the humility with which he shuns pomp and circumstance.
Yet now "Pomp and Circumstance" must become the very music which heralds the
end of one more successful sprint from the Mass of the Holy Spirit to the Commencement
field.
Instead of sitting here in ceremony, Michael McFarland, I suspect, would rather
have lingered at last night's barbecue among the students he so loves. There
he might have appreciated the lines Shakespeare wrote for his greatest King,
Henry V. On the night before battle, Henry berated Ceremony as a cruel god
and concluded:
'Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball.
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl
The farced title running 'fore the king,
The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp
That beats upon the high shore of this world-
No, not all these, thrice gorgeous ceremony,
Not all these, laid in a bed majestical,
Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave.
It is, however, precisely because the Rev. Michael McFarland now takes upon
himself the threat of sleepless nights with the weight of leading this fine
College that he deserves-and we need-a solemn ceremony of installation.
Ceremonies blend the ingredients which make up the world of "after ceremony." Today
we sit together as an emblematic unity far greater than any of its parts. We
breathe in strength from the ceremony of it all. Our guests from other universities
and learned societies remind those of us who teach at Holy Cross how expansive
and noble is the academy which we too often see shrunk to the day-in and day-out
of our labors. Our guests from other Jesuit institutions remind us that we
are not alone as we explore that "tension between commitment and inquiry" which
Father McFarland yesterday identified as the tightrope on which we must keep "our
delicate balance."
The complexity of the "we" I have been using-faculty from 18 different departments
who speak at least 18 different languages, student life personnel, academic
administrators, and academic staff-makes clear the challenge any college president
faces as he or she urges those forces "once more unto the breach," asks those
troops to make yet another assault on the only true enemy: ignorance. Nor will
the battle always be fought on high ground. When the guests go home and "we" settle
down to the particular work of this particular place, this College of the Holy
Cross, Michael McFarland must become a part of "us," a part of our struggle
to enhance faculty resources, improve student life, assess the role of technology,
strive towards excellence, keep our soul . and increase parking.
Let ceremony, therefore, let pomp and circumstance, make us linger for a while
in the realm of possibility, in the glow of all that yet might be. And when
the race finally begins, may it be a marathon. Stay the distance, Rev. President
Michael McFarland. May this be one heck of a run. May this be a "fun run."
"A Glimpse of
Transcendence” by Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. >
"Our Tradition:
Common Good, Common Ground" by Rev. John W. O’Malley,
S.J., Inauguration Speaker >
“The Gifts of Holy Cross” by Tarah
Auguste ’01 >
Back to "Rev.
Michael C. McFarland, S.J., inaugurated
as 31st president" Feature >
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