Photo Blog

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.

Created and organized by Holy Cross student Jeff Reppucci ’14 (below, right), Working for Worcester is a citywide project that mobilized hundreds of student volunteers from across Worcester, as well as folks from sponsoring companies, including Unum and The Hanover Insurance Company. After registration and speeches at the morning kickoff event at the Hart Center, groups dispersed to about a dozen work sites to construct new and renovate outdated family spaces, play areas, libraries and more. With tens of thousands of dollars donated, along with supplies and skilled labor, Working for Worcester garnered regional media attention.

At the kick-off event at the Hart Center, College President Rev. Philip Boroughs, S.J., (above left) spoke to the gathered crowd. (Photo by Dan Vaillancourt)

Volunteers posed for a group shot at one of the work sites, the Goddard School of Science and Technology, which serves 586 students from Kindergarten to 6th grade. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

One of the Goddard projects was prepping community garden boxes with fresh soil. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

At the Elm Park Community School, volunteers painted murals and gave the library and cafeteria a lift. They also installed playground equipment. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

Artists like this Crusader seemed to be having a blast at their work site. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

At the Worcester Youth Center, the girls’ dance team and a variety of after-school dance programs used a large empty space with a cement floor as their “dance studio.” The cement floor, in particular, was very limiting and possibly harmful to dancers’ knees. Working for Worcester volunteers prepped the space to receive a new, professional-quality hardwood dance studio floor AND a surround-sound corner-mounted speaker system. Walls got fresh paint, mirrors were hung around the perimeter, and a ballet stretching bar was installed on the west side of the room. (Photo by Patrick O’Connor)

The NROTC battalion got its hands dirty at South High School, where a lot of debris and brush around the grounds needed to be cleared to make way for upgraded outdoor play spaces and new plantings. (Photo by Matthew Atanian)

Over at The Belmont Street School, volunteers chalked out and painted basketball, hopscotch and four-square courts to make better use of a paved outdoor area. (Photo by Dan Vaillancourt)

Cornelius B. Prior, Jr., ’56, left, receives applause from Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president, and a standing room only crowd in the Rehm Library. Prior is donating $25 million to the College, the largest single donation in the history of Holy Cross. Read more >>

Photograph by Dan Vaillancourt

Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president of Holy Cross, speaks at the Worcester County Community Breakfast honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at Quinsigamond Community College. William Wallace, left, presented the Eleanor Hawley Community Service Award to Holy Cross and Rev. John E. Brooks, the college’s longest-serving president, who died last year. Fr. Boroughs accepted the award on behalf of the College and Fr. Brooks. Read coverage in the Telegram & Gazette.

Photograph by Steve Ericson

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

Fr. Boroughs serves a student at Midnight Breakfast.

Members of the Jesuit community smile for a photo after a job well done! L-R: Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president; Rev. John Gavin, S.J., assistant professor of religious studies; Christopher Ryan, S.J., grants associate; Rev. Gregory Lynch, S.J., assistant chaplain; and Rev. James Hayes, S.J.,  associate chaplain.

Recognizing that students stay up late to study during finals period, administrators at the College of the Holy Cross volunteer each semester to serve the scholars breakfast late into the night. On Sunday May 13, Fr. Boroughs surprised students as he donned an apron and dining services cap and served them bacon and eggs!

Don’t miss out on the late night fun! The menu includes popular breakfast items, such as scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, assorted bagels, Belgian waffles and topping bar, assorted juices and nightly specials. See who is serving tonight.

Photography by Rev. John Savard, S.J.

The Holy Cross flag flies on the City Hall building in downtown Worcester in appreciation of the College’s support of the mobile library and in honor of Rev. Philip Boroughs, S.J., president, for creating partnerships with the city. Fr. Boroughs was recognized by the City Council on May 1 following the unveiling of the mobile library on the Holy Cross campus.

Photograph by Ed Augustus

Rev. Philip Boroughs, S.J., president, gives the keynote address at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon. The event was part of “Aptissimi: The Leadership Conference,” which invites student leaders to explore, develop and articulate their personal leadership styles, and one of a number of annual events sponsored by the “Hate: Not Here!” anti-bias committee. Aptissimi comes from a Jesuit philosophy of developing “as many as possible of the very best.”

Jacqueline Peterson, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, introduces Fr. Boroughs.

Kibbs Fortilus ’13 takes in the event.

Samantha Adams ’13 delivers remarks about King’s legacy.

Monaisia Livingston ’14 also spoke about King’s legacy.

Photography by Dan Vaillancourt