I am writing this on the afternoon of Friday, May 24, a beautiful spring day in Worcester. I have just returned from the College’s 156th Commencement exercises (which we will cover in the summer issue of HCM). Graduation Day never gets old. From the moment one hears the band play the first notes of “Pomp and Circumstance,” through the recessional and the shower of mortar boards, it’s a festive, joyful occasion. No matter how many times you watch, it’s hard not to be moved by the sight of parents and children, embracing or examining diplomas, overwhelmed by pride and thankfulness.

Commencement also marks the end of the academic year. In a matter of hours, the campus transforms from a circus to a ghost town. And pulling out of the deserted parking lot at the end of the day, it’s not unusual to reflect upon the high- and low-points of the year that has just concluded. The 2001-02 year on the Hill brought both success and tragedy. When we dedicated Smith Hall on Sept. 7, we had no forewarning of the terror that would follow just four days later.

From the “Lift High the Cross” campaign kickoff on Nov. 10 to the Kentucky game on March 21, from inaugural conference of the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture to the return to campus of our own U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins ’63, from the success of our Watson and Fulbright recipients to the tragedy of a student death, these last nine months were a roller coaster ride. But, as has been the case throughout Holy Cross’ history, two things make all the joys and sorrows, the triumphs and disappointments bearable: the College’s sense of community and tradition.

That sense of community and tradition is evident in the men pictured on the cover of this issue. These are the “new” Jesuits on campus and, as you will read in their profiles, they encompass both the past and the future. They are bringing the Society of Jesus into the next millennium while remaining fully conscious of, and enmeshed in the unique spirituality of the Jesuit Order.

As our newest alumni begin their postgraduate lives, and as our faculty and students prepare for a season of research, work, travel and revitalization, Holy Cross Magazine wishes all our readers a safe and restful summer.