2011 Honorary Degree Citation
Francis Xavier Clooney, S.J.
Doctor of Ministry
Outstanding priest, scholar and spiritual leader, you have followed your namesake, not only as a companion of Ignatius of Loyola, but also by devoting your life to deepening discourse with the wider world as Xavier did, 500 years ago, as the first Jesuit in India.
And in the spirit of St. Francis, you explore the ways our theological understanding can be deepened by engaging traditions other than our own. At Harvard Divinity School, you are a renowned professor and scholar in the field of comparative theology and director of Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions.
Your scholarship, research, ideas and perspectives constitute a monumental gift to the academy.
You were the first president of the International Society for Hindu-Christian Studies, and you served as coordinator for interreligious dialogue for the Jesuits in the United States.
With all of these efforts and more, you follow what Superior General Adolfo Nicolas has called a distinguishing mark of Jesuit ministry: that is, a commitment to “the integration of faith and justice in dialogue among religions and cultures.”
At its heart, your work opens doors to understanding and respect, celebrating the diversity, beliefs and traditions of people everywhere. You study the nature of God through the prism of the world’s religions. You seek the similarities among the differences to find answers to our most essential questions. You aim to find and to share what draws us together as people of faith, no matter where we start that journey. You are a Sherpa, showing us the path toward mutual understanding, inclusiveness and respect.
After welcoming people to a lecture given by an Indian teacher, you once remarked, “I know that we all travel by so many personal paths, yet by a singular invitation we are here together for a time.”
That all may know of our high regard for your achievements as a scholar and your labors as a priest of the Society of Jesus, for helping us to reach across divisions and embrace that singular invitation that brings us ever closer to God, the College of the Holy Cross confers upon you this day the degree of Doctor of Ministry, honoris causa.