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College of the Holy Cross

REPORT ON MISSION AND IDENTITY 2010

Contact: Paul F. Harman, S.J.
 Special Assistant to the President
Chair of Mission and Identity Committee
pharman@holycross.edu

Mission Statement

The College's mission statement, adopted in 1992, affirms that:
"The College of the Holy Cross is, by tradition and choice, a Jesuit liberal arts college...The faculty and staff of Holy Cross...affirm the mission of Holy Cross as a Jesuit college. As such, Holy Cross seeks to exemplify the longstanding dedication of the Society of Jesus to the intellectual life and its commitment to the service of faith and the promotion of justice. The college is dedicated to [offering all its members] opportunities for spiritual and moral development. In a special way the College must enable all who choose to do so to encounter the intellectual heritage of Catholicism, to form an active worshipping community, and to become engaged in the life and work of the contemporary church."

Structure

 The Board of Trustees  has a Mission and Identity Task Committee.  Since its formation, the Committee has met with several College constituencies (e.g., the Director of the Center for Religion, Ethics, and culture; members of the Depart-ment of Religious Studies, representatives of the Chaplain's Office) and developed a list of performance indicators to try to assess how and to what extent the College implements its Jesuit and Catholic Mission.  In 2009-2010 the Trustee Committee met in conjunction with the Trustee Committee on Academic Affairs to discuss how the College can best assist its students and faculty in appreciating that the Catholic intellectual tradition has something to say about contemporary issues of faith and reason;  it proposed to the full Board a number of revisions in the 1969 Agreement between the College and the Jesuit Community;  it received the preliminary report on  Assessment of some of the goals of Mission and Identity; it discussed at length the self-study on Mission prepared for the accreditation team of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

The College also has a Mission and Identity Committee.  Paul F. Harman, S.J., Special Assistant to the President, has succeeded James Hayes, S.J., as Chair of the Committee. The Committee has 30 members from all sectors of the College Community (e.g., administration, faculty, staff and students).  The mandate of the Committee is to examine, enhance, promote, and celebrate the Catholic identity and Jesuit mission in all the various sectors of the College.  The Committee has four sub-committees: (1) Goals and Outcomes; (2) Faculty Development, (3) Administration and Staff Development; (4) Jesuit heritage Program.  The full Committee meets monthly throughout the academic year and the sub-committees meet more frequently., In 2010 the Committee contributed to the preparation of the NEASC self-study report;  sponsored a Fall Jesuit Heritage Program (“Faith-Life-Sacrifice”) in commemoration of the 20th Anniversary of the Martyrs of El Salvador; hosted a visit to the College by Sean Cardinal O’Malley, OFM Cap., Archbishop of Boston,  offered a six-week Lenten Retreat-in-Every-day-Life for 25 faculty and staff; read and discussed recent documents from GC 35; made initial preparations for a College-wide introduction to the Examen.

While the College does not have an "office" of Mission and Identity, because it recognizes that the responsibility for mission and identity is distributed throughout the entirety of the College Community,  the job description for the recent (2009) appointment of Paul F. Harman, S.J., as Special Assistant to the President includes specific responsibility for working with other segments of the institution in advancing the mission and identity of the College.  In his new role, Fr. Harman meets bi-weekly with the President, is Chair of the College Committee on Mission and Identity and liaison with the Trustee Committee on Mission and Identity; he is a member of the President’s Extended Cabinet, the Strategic Planning Steering Committee (as well as chair of the sub-committee on the Jesuit/Catholic nature of the College), he will interview candidates for faculty positions with regard to mission,  and he will chair the Search Committee  for the  new Director of Campus Ministry.

Orientation Programs
The Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College has requested that all academic departments send to all candidates for faculty positions a copy of the College's Mission Statement. Often the Statement becomes a matter of discussion in the hiring process. In addition, he has requested that each department draw up its own Mission Statement.  The departmental Mission Statements make reference to the College’s Mission Statement either explicitly or implicitly.

The recently created position of Associate Dean for Faculty Development has made it possible for the College to have an orientation program for new faculty which includes one or more segments on the College’s Mission Statement.  In the 2009-10 academic year, the Associate Dean for Faculty Development also arranged an afternoon discussion for 20-25 faculty members on the book: The American University in a Postsecular Age (Ed. By D. Jacobsen and R. Jacobsen). 

The Vice President and Dean of Student Affairs provides an Orientation for new middle-level administrators that includes an introduction to the College's Jesuit and Catholic identity. Student Affairs has been very proactive in its efforts to bring awareness of the Jesuit/Catholic mission of the College to a new level with students. Both Student Affairs and Human Resources have representatives on the College Committee on Mission and Identity and have been active in assessing what the programs and materials currently in place.

The Director of Human Resources includes in the orientation of new employees an introduction to the College's Jesuit and Catholic identity.
Ongoing Educational Programs

Several programs emanate from the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, including the Deitchman Family Lectures in Religion and Modernity, the Kraft-Hiatt Lectures on Jewish Christian Understanding, The Bishop Flanagan Lectures on Religion and Public Affairs, the Con Lectures on Media, Ethics, and Values, the Spirituality of Aging and the Thomas More Lectures on Faith, Work and Civil Life.   Again, the Director of CREC is a member of the College Committee on Mission and Identity and reports regularly to the Trustee Committee.

Several programs emanate from the Chaplain's Office: a five-day adaptation of the Spiritual Exercises is offered four times a year, a First-Year Escape, a weekend retreat designed for first-year students; a Manresa retreat, a weekend retreat for students offered four times a year, a retreat for liturgical ministers, a Pax Christi retreat, and a Magis retreat for those accepted into the Church leadership training program for selected students.  The Chaplain’s Office also sponsors a wide variety of service immersion experiences both nationally and globally.

Several years ago, the College, in conjunction with the Jesuit Community, inaugurated an International Visiting Scholar Program that allows the College to invite a Jesuit to campus for a semester or an academic year. The program allows the College to benefit from the academic expertise of a visiting scholar while at the same time adding an additional Jesuit presence on campus and providing an opportunity for the college community to experience the international character of the Society of Jesus. In the last several years fellows have come from Indonesia, England, Australia, Zimbabwe, Italy, Ireland, and Germany .

Each year the College, in conjunction with the Jesuit Community,  celebrates its Jesuit Heritage, with special prayer services, lectures, fireside chats, and other opportunities to learn about the Society of Jesus and its mission to the world. In 2009-10 the duration of the program was increased from one week to a full semester.  The plan for 1010-11 is to schedule special events celebrating Jesuit Heritage throughout the academic year.
The College also offers faculty a funded opportunity to make an Ignatian Pilgrimage, a ten-day trip to major sites in Spain and Italy, significant in the life of St. Ignatius.

Other Initiatives
In addition to the obvious courses in Catholic theology offered by the Department of Religious Studies, there are courses in Jesuit Spirituality and Jesuit History. Many of the courses that include a community-based learning component are consistent with the "promotion of faith and the service of justice." In recent years there has provision for a Catholic Studies Concentration.

The Jesuits at the College provide a special Vocation Discernment Group to provide support for male students who may be discerning whether they may have a vocation to religious life and the priesthood.

The Lilly Vocations Discernment Initiative provides support for student vocational support in general, for a first-year Convocation and a Senior Convocation, and for summer internships in ministry and at non-profits. The Initiative insures that important elements of the College's Jesuit and Catholic heritage more deeply enrich the faculty, staff and students.

Recognition Awards
Every year a graduating senior whose faith has been made visible through work for justice is awarded the Arrupe Medal.
 
Graduating seniors who have completed a program of lay leadership for the Church receive the Magis Award, at a special dinner, in recognition of the integration of their intellectual lives with service, prayer, and ministry.

Posted 7/26/2010