I read with great interest the feature article, "A
Sea Change on the Hill," in the summer 2001 issue
of Holy Cross Magazine. In view of the enormous collective
contribution of the 22 retiring faculty profiled in the
article, references to a "sea change" and "the
end of an era at Holy Cross" seem particularly fitting.
At the same time though, their legacy of superb undergraduate
teaching and counsel remains at the heart of the College's
identity and mission.
As a freshman in 1966, I was lucky enough to participate
in B. Eugene McCarthy's English Seminar, where he skillfully
led us 10 students through discussions of great literature.
I followed up this two-semester seminar with courses in
Restoration and 18th Century Drama and Criticism from Aristotle
to Johnson. Each was a delight. In the fall of 1967, I
took Shakespeare Survey with Tom Lawler. With his guidance,
we learned lessons of the great bard about growing up,
growing old, and being human. The following year, I took
Dr. Lawler's Readings in Renaissance Prose, an examination
of the writings of brave and brilliant authors. I didn't
take a course with Dr. Lawler my senior year, but I did
attend a talk he gave on "Christian perspectives on
choosing a profession." His views on the importance
of the intrinsic rewards of one's work stay with me to
this day.
The retirements of Professors McCarthy, Lawler, and the
other distinguished faculty surely are a watershed event
in the history of the College. During their tenure, the
College has prospered enormously and is now, I'm sure,
better than ever. Their era may have ended, but their legacy
endures.
Michael Addonizio '70
East Lansing, Mich.
It was a great pleasure to see the Holy Cross Mexico
Program featured in the fall issue of Holy Cross Magazine.
I can personally attest to the fact that the experience
of encountering the poor of Mexico stays with students
throughout their lives. A week or so before I read "The
Lessons of Cuernavaca," I was using my time there
in 1989 as an example to students in my Freshman Seminar
class at William Paterson University of how privilege can
be made visible.
The white students in my class were having a difficult
time recognizing the benefits their white skin gives to
them. They thought that, surely, if they were privileged
over other members of society they would be aware of it.
I shared with them how I never had a true grasp of the
advantages I had as an American until I spent time with
Mexicans in and around Cuernavaca, people whose neighborhoods
were like continual UNICEF commercials. Many had dirt floor
shacks, not enough food, and shared one pipe of running
water with hundreds of other families. Unlike television
viewers, however, we Holy Cross students could not feel
better at the end of our visits there by writing a check.
Instead, we left with the calling to take what we had learned
and unmask the privileges we, as Americans, share so that
we can make the world a more just place.
Before we can start to answer God's call to build the
Kingdom on Earth, we must recognize that injustice exists.
The Mexico Program gives Holy Cross students a tremendous
advantage over most other undergraduates. Having had a
glimpse into the world as it truly is, they can begin to
create the world as it should be.
Kathleen Odell Korgen '89
Newburgh, N.Y.
I was very surprised to read a letter from a fellow alumnus
in our summer 2001 issue questioning the role that the
College plays in the future concerning its support for
our political and military system manifested in the ROTC
units on campus. Mr. Michael O. Duane sees the support
for our military at odds with the College's fundamental
values. The fact that you printed the letter and have made
the magazine a forum for the exchange of ideas belies Mr.
Duane's belief that the College's fundamental values are
not supported.
It is critically important to have men and women from
all of our country's very best institutions leading and
being led in our Armed Forces. It is in the formative years
at schools like Holy Cross that those leaders build the
foundations of honor, courage and commitment that are critical
in the task of defending freedom here in the United States
and far from home in wastelands like Afghanistan.
If we lose the input of great minds and character that
come from our Catholic, liberal arts institutions we lose
an integral part of our national military spirit—one
that guides us to do good in the defense of our country.
Holy Cross should be proud to be the home of a Navy ROTC
unit that can celebrate 60 years of continuity. The other
liberal arts universities have lost their way—their
graduates will not have the opportunity to celebrate the
great spirit of service to country— freely given—that
many of my Holy Cross classmates and other fellow graduates
have had.
It is by ensuring that young men and women, graduating
from great institutions like Holy Cross—imbued with
the values so dearly cherished there—continue to flow
to our Armed Forces so that those values permeate that
great institution, that we ensure our future will be properly
protected by men and women of moral courage and the commitment
to doing the right thing because it is the right thing
to do.
America's military has been and will continue to be a
force of good. Make sure it is populated by people of good.
Continue to support the ROTC presence in our finest schools
and keep Holy Cross proud among them.
John B. Foley III '69
Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy
Norfolk, Va.
