“Spiritual Exercise”
Thanks to Holy Cross Magazine for the article on the Spiritual Exercises
at Holy Cross. The Exercises were the formative experience for me at Holy
Cross—the friends I made, the prayers I learned, the faith I shared, all
these are the greatest fruit of those days. I was grateful for the photos and
recollections accompanying Ms. Murphy’s article—they brought back a
lot of good memories.
As the writer alludes, the Exercises were originally one-on-one
in nature and also were meant for people to undertake each
day as part of their “regular” life. St. Ignatius
would visit all kinds of people—the rich and the poor
alike—and serve as spiritual guide. He would arrive
in the morning, at night, or whenever the people could
make time. In my busy life, I take heart from this wisdom
and although I sometimes wish I had the time to take the
five-day retreat again, I find consolation in trying to
live the Exercises in my daily life.
Thanks again.
Ed Martin ’92
Washington, D.C.
“Of Scandal and Reform”
I eagerly read “Of Scandal and Reform: A Roundtable Discussion” (fall
2002), certain that the president and faculty of Holy Cross would enlighten
me on the meaning of the “clergy sexual abuse scandal.” Now, sadly,
I must flunk you all.
To this alumnus, the discussion was a lame exchange of
rationalizations, abstractions and detached ramblings.
The participants were remote from the problem. Absent was
any intellectual commitment to understand the “scandal” or
proposal of any solution. If the academic leaders of Holy
Cross do not step forward to address this issue then where
is their educational and moral leadership? They who continually
remind us of the sacredness of their mission have not lived
up to expectations.
The moral corruption of a significant number of Catholic
clergy boggles the mind and begs an explanation. The practice
of pedophilia by sexually dysfunctional priests undermines
the concept of the religious vocation. What is it about
celibacy, homosexuality and religious fervor among seminarians
that has produced a population of priests whose preferred
sexual outlet is with a male adolescent?
By hiding their Faith and academic detachment, the Holy
Cross clergy and faculty have forfeited the real value
of their educational mission, namely a commitment to the
truth above all.
Clinton Sornberger ’63
Lake Worth, Fla.
“Berrigan and Maguire”
It was with mixed emotions that I received the news last month of the deaths
of Fr. Philip Berrigan ’50 and Dean Joseph Maguire ’58. Both contributed
to the College in important ways, and each had a definite influence on my years
at and following Holy Cross.
Phil Berrigan and “Dean Joe” led very different
lives. Berrigan was a Josephite priest, whose conscience
led him to 50 years’ involvement in social movements
across the country, and frequently to prison. He married
and had children, was critical of Holy Cross and the Church,
and accumulated a hefty FBI file with his activity against
various U.S. domestic and foreign policies. In contrast,
Dean Joe was a quiet College administrator and professor,
whose equally justice-oriented views were expressed primarily
through direct service to the College. He received students
for nearly 35 years in his Mulledy apartment, incorporated
values of social and economic equality into his work, and
greatly expanded the College’s education department.
Phil Berrigan spent only four years at Holy Cross in contrast
to Dean Joe’s nearly 40 years on the Hill.
With Berrigan I had only a brief correspondence, while
like scores of other students, I met Dean Joe while living
in Mulledy and came to know him well. My loss, however—and
that of the College—is the same: two men who consistently
stood up and allowed themselves to be counted for the ideals
that Holy Cross itself, on a perfect day, also stands.
They personified the Jesuit identity, while Holy Cross,
responsible in part for forming them, owes them much for
its continued relevance in an increasingly selfish and
violent world.
I was introduced to Berrigan by Dean Joe himself, and
letters I received from each of them in 1998 are illuminating.
Berrigan, writing from prison for pouring blood on a nuclear
submarine, encouraged me to hold fast to the College’s
mission whatever the social or legal price. From Dean Joe
I received a letter of recommendation to several law schools
that—hospitalized in a condition not worthy of even
receiving mail—he had dictated to his secretary over
the telephone. Two years later, I remembered Berrigan’s
words upon being arrested myself for demonstrating against
the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas at Ft. Benning,
Ga. And thanks in part to Dean Joe, I was a student of
International Human Rights Law at the time. The purpose
and effect of their respective letters were not the same,
but the spirit was identical.
The proximity of their deaths—five days—led
to a feeling of resolve last month as well as sadness,
for Philip Berrigan and Dean Joe Maguire represent a generation
of standard-bearing people at Holy Cross that is getting
older and calls for replacement. As noted recently by David
J. O’Brien, Time Magazine once referred to
Holy Cross as the “cradle of the Catholic Left,” and
such was due largely to people like Berrigan, Dean Joe,
and O’Brien himself. For that distinction to remain,
however, there must be a younger wave of individuals to
take their place amid new measures of repression at home
and calls for war abroad. Berrigan and Dean Joe understood
this reality.
The passing of Philip Berrigan and Joseph Maguire was
a sad occasion for me and for Holy Cross. It was also an
occasion for realizing that if the ideals they shared with
the College are to survive, there can be no gap in those
willing to stand up and be counted for them.
Benjamin Zawacki ’97
Legal Officer, Jesuit Refugee Service
Bangkok, Thailand
