Photo Blog

On the eve of her final semester, Roobvia Bernadin ’15, a premed music major from Boston, performs before classmates at Senior Convocation in St. Joseph Memorial Chapel. The tradition offers seniors an opportunity to reflect on their journey thus far and to consider how best to use their remaining time at the College to shape the life they want to lead beyond the Hill.

Photography by Caroline Cormier ’16

This holiday season, members of the Holy Cross Inter-House Council collected non-perishable food items for local families at the Nativity School of Worcester.

57 families received baskets for their Thanksgiving celebrations. Joel Kent, Director of Operations at the Nativity School shares that these were “some of the happiest moments we’ve ever had at Nativity Worcester.”

Photos provided by the Nativity School of Worcester.

For the first time, the Vatican held a conference on autism, “The Person with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Animating Hope,”  Nov. 21-22. Among the attendees and speakers was Autism Speaks co-founders, Bob Wright ’65 and his wife Suzanne Wright. To close the conference, Pope Francis held a special mass for attendees and families.

Pope Francis greets Bob and Suzanne Wright at the Vatican.

Wright participates in a panel during the conference.

Bob Wright and his wife Suzanne receive a standing ovation after delivering remarks at the conference panel.

Photography by Autism Speaks.

Speaking to a large crowd of students, Holy Cross employees and visitors from the Worcester and Boston communities, Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland, presented a lecture titled “Shared Responsibility: Re-imagining the Future of Governance in the Church” in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. The event was sponsored by the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture and was followed by a book signing.

McAleese, the first Northern Irish native to be elected president, took office in 1997, a role which she would hold for two terms through 2011. She successfully brokered the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, a three-part agreement that addressed institutional changes in the government structure of Northern Ireland, the relationship between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the relationship of the Republic of Ireland with the United Kingdom.  During her lecture to the Holy Cross crowd, McAleese drew comparisons between finding ways to broker change and dialog with the paramilitary in Ireland and how the Catholic church should proceed in a direction of change.

“If there is a rightness in what you are saying, you can effect change,” she said. “I really want our good priests to be energized by a church that listens up and not talks down. But how do we get a listening up church?” she asked.

McAleese, who is currently pursuing a licentiate in canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, signed copies of her latest book, “Quo Vadis? Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law.”

The campus community gathered on the Hart Lawn Saturday afternoon for the annual (and much-loved) Mass of the Holy Spirit, during which faculty, staff and parents are invited to bless the incoming first-year students as they begin their journey at Holy Cross.

Faculty and Jesuits lined up behind student altar servers carrying the crucifix and colorful, streaming banners. They processed down from the Hart Center lobby to the Hart Lawn, where the outdoor service takes place.

Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., President of the College, led the procession and welcomed families to the Mass.

Gorgeous blue skies, anyone?

Fathers Harman, Hayes, Boroughs, Lynch and Savard (from left), at the altar in front of the colorful cross that reminds some of a homemade quilt. This scene will be repeated at the Baccalaureate Mass four years from now, when the Class of 2017 graduates and offers a blessing to their parents as they leave campus to enter “the real world.”

There was a lot of purple in the audience, and…

…a lot of hugs as parents wished their students well and said good bye.

Tom Cecil, professor of mathematics and a member of the Class of 1968, shared two photos taken by Tom Andruskevich ’68 and this weekend’s reunion. At the 11 a.m. Class of 1968 Mass on Saturday in Mary Chapel (below), Holy Cross President Rev. Philip Boroughs, S.J., was joined by concelebrants Rev. John Endres, S.J., ’68 (left) and Rev. John Michalowski, S.J., ’68 (right).

Cecil (left) and his classmates Linnie Regan, Mike Ball and Rich Regan provided the music for the Mass. “We had a great reunion,” Cecil notes.

Todd Lewis, professor of religious studies, conducts his Introduction to Comparative Study of Religion course on a sun-splashed Stein Quad. Students were sharing their capstone course research: a “spiritual encounter” with (according to their own choice) ritual and discussions with worshipers in Jewish synagogues, a Hindu temple, Jain temple, or several Buddhist Zen centers. “Their analytical work and their excitement in sharing their experiences makes this one of the best single classes I teach at Holy Cross,” says Lewis.

Photography by John Morton ’15

Scores of students, faculty and staff gather at St. Joseph Memorial Plaza for an Interfaith Prayer of Lament two days after the Boston Marathon tragedy. The gathering offered an opportunity to voice grief, offer prayers for the victims, and lift up desires for a more peaceful world in the face of the bombings at the marathon.

Photography by John Morton ’15

The Holy Cross men’s and women’s rowing teams dedicate a new boat in honor of Rev. Anthony Kuzniewski, S.J., professor of history and athletics chaplain, at a ceremony at the Donahue Rowing Center at Lake Quinsigamond. The teams recognized his long service as athletics chaplain, his devotion to Holy Cross and its student-athletes.

Rev. John Savard, S.J., rector of the Jesuit community, and Rev. James Hayes, S.J., associate chaplain for mission (not pictured), bless the boat.

Fr. K, as he is affectionately called by members of the Holy Cross community, christened the boat with holy water.

Fr. K stands next to the boat that bears his name. Alumni and friends of the team were in attendance.

Photography by Ed O’Donnell

A holiday tradition since 1978, the Office of the College Chaplains and the College Choir at Holy Cross host an annual Festival of Lessons and Carols for Advent in St. Joseph Chapel.

Rev. Paul Harman, S.J., vice president for mission, gives a reading.

Michelizabeth Sainvill ’14 delivers a reading.

Guest conductor Christopher Shepard leads the College Choir.

Michelle Sterk Barrett, director of Community-Based Learning, gives a reading.

Paul Melley, assistant chaplain and director of liturgical music, delivers a reading.

Marybeth Kearns-Barrett, director of the Office of the College Chaplains, presides at the event. Servers are, from left, Matthew Boni ’15 and Joseph Seebode ’15.

From left, Suzanne Crifo ’13, Ariel Jiminez ’13, Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president, Tracy Barlok, vice president for development and alumni relations, and Eileen Dombrowski, receptionist in the Office of the College Chaplains.

Fr. Boroughs gives a reading.
Photography by John Buckingham