The following message was sent to The Catholic University of America community by President Peter Kilpatrick on Aug. 28.
Dear Cardinals,
It was with great joy that I welcomed the arrival of our newest Cardinals on campus last week. My wife Nancy and I woke up bright and early Thursday to help first-year students move into their campus dorms. There were tears, but most were happy tears. A number of families expressed to me how touched they were by the warm welcome they received from the move-in crews made up of many dozens of volunteers of students, staff, and other members of our community.
I also attended the graduate student orientation, and the new faculty orientation. I am deeply grateful to the hundreds of faculty, staff, and students who helped to make orientation memorable for all new members of our community. Orientation is our first opportunity to show who we are as Cardinals—that we are a community that cares for each other. And as they say, “you never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
With the start of each new school year there is great anticipation, excitement, and maybe even a little anxiety. There are many new faces on campus this fall, and as we begin classes today I encourage all of us to make our newest Cardinals feel welcome as we continue to build our Catholic University community.
Today marks 60 years since the 1963 March on Washington, the largest civil rights gathering of its time and a pivotal moment in United States history. Our campus is also part of this history. University sociology professor, who later became Provost, C. Joseph Nuesse led a full-time office to coordinate national Catholic participation in the March. As part of the larger effort of the Archdiocese of Washington to provide accommodations for marchers in a city where few hotels would host Black attendees, the University set up a hostel and offered lodging.
The University’s chancellor at the time, Archbishop of Washington Patrick O’Boyle (for whom O’Boyle Hall is named), gave an invocation at the March, where he said:
“We ask special blessings for those men and women who in sincerity and honesty have been leaders in the struggle for justice and harmony among races. As Moses of old, they have gone before their people to a land of promise. Let that promise quickly become a reality, so that the ideals of freedom, blessed alike by our religious faith and our heritage of democracy, will prevail in our land.”
On this day, we honor all those who made countless sacrifices to advance equal rights, and pray that we continue to progress toward being a society that respects and protects the dignity of each and every human person.
Whether you are a new student, upperclassperson, a masters or doctoral student, member of the faculty, or a member of the staff, I invite you to attend the annual Mass of the Holy Spirit to pray for wisdom and guidance for the new academic year. This event is intended for us to properly open the new academic year as a community of faith by celebrating and praying together.
The Mass of the Holy Spirit
Thursday, August 31, 2023 at 12:10 p.m.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
To ensure that all those who wish to come can indeed come, no classes will be held between 11:50 am and 2:10 pm.
The Mass can be watched live on EWTN, YouTube, and Facebook for those who cannot attend in person.
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the Archbishop of Washington and our University Chancellor will be this year’s celebrant and homilist. The liturgy will also be an opportunity to welcome some of the newest members of our community, including Campus Ministry’s Father Bernard Knapke, O.P.
The Mass will include the conferral of canonical mission to teach in the name of the Church to three new members of our ecclesiastical faculties: Steven Waldorf and Father Bonaventure Chapman, O.P., both of the School of Philosophy, and Msgr. William King of the School of Canon Law.
Again, welcome back to campus. I wish everyone a successful and joyful new academic year.
Sincerely,
Peter Kilpatrick
President