Letter from the President
Dear Friends,
At our Commencement Exercises on
May 12, we were honored by the
presence of two very special guests: the
Apostolic Nuncio to the United States,
His Excellency, Archbishop Christophe
Pierre, who presided at Vespers, and
Justice Samuel Alito, who was the
Commencement Speaker. Both spoke to
the important work being accomplished
here in preparing our graduates to
engage contemporary culture with a
message of hope, the hope of the Gospel!
Since there is an article in this issue
of Faith & Reason relating the
substance of Justice Alito’s comments,
I would like to share with you here a
few noteworthy comments made by
the nuncio. In formal remarks at the
conclusion of the ceremony, Archbishop
Pierre congratulated the Pontifical
Faculty on its 75th anniversary this past
November and observed to our graduates:
“Over the years, this strong theological
formation has had a great impact in the
life of the Church in the United States and
throughout the world. These academic
degrees are not only an educational
achievement. They are also preparation for
your service to the ecclesial community.”
The nuncio then went on to quote from
Pope Francis’ homily for the closing of
the 800th anniversary Jubilee Year of the
Dominican Order this past January where
the Holy Father said, “we give thanks to
the Father for the work that St. Dominic,
full of the light and the salt of Christ,
accomplished 800 years ago; a work at the
service of the Gospel…a work that, with
Faith & Reason - Volume IV, Issue II
the grace of the Holy Spirit, has helped
so many men and women to not lose
themselves in the midst of the ‘carnival’
of worldly curiosity, but rather sense
the taste of sound doctrine, the taste of
the Gospel.”
The Holy Father captures well here the
mission of the Dominican Order, a mission
that we strive to impart to our students.
We seek to form students intellectually,
spiritually, and pastorally, in the spirit
of St. Dominic so that they too might go
out and whet others’ appetites for the
“taste of the Gospel and sound doctrine.”
The solid theological education we
provide is thus not an end in itself—it is
ordered to the work of evangelization and
the salvation of souls.
As the nuncio noted, the completion of
an academic degree is certainly a cause
for recognition and celebration. But the
more significant cause for rejoicing and
hope lies in the fact that our graduates
will soon take their place in the mission of
the Church, to go out and be salt and light
for a world in need of the Truth that sets
all free!
Thank you for your continued support of
our mission, and for being partners with
us in the New Evangelization!
Fr. John Langlois, O.P.
President
Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception
3