FROM THE PRESIDENT
PASSING THE TORCH
I
T IS HARD TO BELIEVE that , now in my ninth year , I am writing my final Ramview letter . But I ’ m more than pleased that both Ramview ’ s theme and the theme for my letter is our mission of campus ministry and Christian service . This theme describes the very purpose and foundation of Jesuit education dating back to the 16th century .
Let ’ s recall that the Society of Jesus was not founded as a teaching order . In fact , Ignatius Loyola was deeply suspicious that such a priority would create attachments for Jesuits and his Society to places and structures and threaten the mobility of his nascent religious community dedicated to missionary work . The first Jesuit school in Messina , Sicily was the product of a lobbying campaign by townspeople there who petitioned the Jesuit Curia to open a school for laypeople after witnessing the extraordinary schools that Jesuits operated to train their own men .
VOLUME 42 , ISSUE 2
Christopher J . Devron , SJ President
Joseph Petriello , PhD ’ 98 Principal
Brian Carney Vice President for Mission Integration and Planning
Jose R . Gonzalez Vice President for Engagement , Development and Communications
EDITORS
Bradley Serton ’ 95 Director of Enrollment and Marketing
Dana Gibbs Communications Officer
QUESTIONS , COMMENTS , AND CHANGE OF ADDRESS :
Engagement , Development and Communications Office
441 East Fordham Road Bronx , NY 10458
ramview @ fordhamprep . org
718.367.7500 tel 718.367.7598 fax
DESIGNED BY
Adler Branding & Marketing New York , NY
Ignatius eventually granted this request , but not before a prayerful discernment . According to Jesuit historian John O ’ Malley , SJ , what eventually led him to this approval was his belief that graduates of our schools would form a unique and powerful vanguard within society .
He wanted the schools to be a means by which young people could discover the same graces he did . First , the schools would give them opportunities to develop their interior lives and gain inward freedom . Second , they would allow students to understand the world not as something primarily to be feared , but as the context and field in which God can be discerned and found in all things . Third , the schools would develop graduates committed to the “ help of souls ” who contribute to the common good of society at large . He also insisted that Jesuit schools be accessible to students from every social class : to be elite without being elitist .
As I have come to know Fordham Prep — our students , faculty , staff , board members , and alumni — I ’ m absolutely convinced that Ignatius ’ original conditions for the founding of our schools live on in the mission that animates our work here today .
Indeed , these pages tell the story of these conditions and this mission , which are alive and well on the Rose Hill Campus . You hear it in the prayers and reflections that students share in small groups during the Freshman or Emmaus Retreats . You feel it when students travel to Quito , Ecuador to serve in the Working Boys Center , or to Tennessee to build homes for those in need of shelter . You see it when young men like senior Charles Reilly organize a campaign to support St . Jude ’ s Hospital , or our Hunger Awareness Committee leads the community in collecting 33 tons of food for our neighbors who experience hunger insecurity .
As I prepare to leave Fordham Prep , I pray that this community continues to advance this extraordinary mission of Catholic Jesuit education . For in so doing , our graduates — now the ninth generation of young men educated here — will continue to go forth and set the world on fire . For this , and for so much more , thank you . My gratitude for your faithfulness to our mission knows no bounds .
Rev . Christopher J . Devron , SJ President