By the time you receive this issue of Holy Cross Magazine, we hope the 2000 presidential race will have been decided. Here on Mount St. James, the autumn has been filled with presidential activities of a different kind. On Sept. 15, after months of planning, the Holy Cross community gathered in the Hart Center to witness the installation of Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., as the 31st president of the College. 

An inauguration ceremony is a ritual that signifies new possibilities. And the notion of new possibilities brings a sense of excitement, of re-commitment. On the day before his installation, in his homily on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Fr. McFarland spoke eloquently to that sense of possibility and commitment. "People come out of Holy Cross . with a deeper and more reverent grasp of their own humanity," said our new president, "better able to appreciate and relate to others, especially those who are different, and more attuned to the spiritual realities that give life its direction and meaning."

Those words belie a vision and a mission. They help to define why Holy Cross continues to thrive as the College moves into a new century. They help us to understand the crucial role the College has to play in the formation of our communal future. 

Please join us in welcoming Fr. McFarland and wishing him strength, wisdom and happiness throughout his presidency.