By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
Crucifixes are once again adorning the walls of every classroom at Boston College but as the school tries to return to its Catholic roots, some professors and students claim the move is “offensive” and a break from the Jesuit tradition of “tolerance.”
The new addition to the classrooms took place while students were away on Christmas break, said Boston College president Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J. After making a decision to strengthen the university’s Catholic identity, he directed employees to hang crucifixes and icons in classrooms around campus.
Not everyone is happy about the move.
“There is no choice if you don’t think it’s appropriate. You can’t turn it around,” said Dan Kirschner, a biology professor and adviser for the school’s Jewish student group, to the Boston Herald. “I think it is being insensitive to the people of other faith traditions here.”
Amir Hoveyda, head of the university’s chemistry department, told the college newspaper, The Observer, that he thought the crucifixes were “offensive” and the university’s actions were “anti-intellectual.”
“I can hardly imagine a more effective way to denigrate the faculty of an educational institution,” he said. “The insult is particularly scathing, since such symbols were installed without discussion . . . in a disturbingly surreptitious manner.”
At least one professor has gone so far as to refuse to teach in a classroom with a crucifix and is willing to move to a different room at his own expense.
But Fr. Leahy is refusing to budge. During a “State of the Heights” address two weeks ago, he responded to faculty and student complaints about the move by asserting that the administration did not need to consult professors about this decision and that the crucifixes are to remain where they are.
Many are pleased with his courage. “Some classrooms always had crucifixes in them,” Donato Infante, executive editor of The Observer, told the Cardinal Newman Society. “I always found it nice to be able to look up at our Lord during class and to take moments during the day to call to mind God’s presence. Now, at the request of our president, Father Leahy, we have such reminders in every room…. Father Leahy, please keep the beauty coming.”
“As for the… professors who are opposed, I ask them to understand what these symbols mean to us,” continued Infante. “The hanging of the sacred art had nothing to do with asserting power. It had everything to do with honoring our God and being constantly reminded of His love.”
The Observer quotes sophomore student Billy Cody arguing that having a crucifix or icon in the classroom “fits perfectly with the Jesuit motto ‘Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam’ (For the Greater Glory of God) because its presence reminds us that even in the classroom, we act for His greater glory.”
Junior student Michael Williams said, “Although seemingly a small gesture, rest assured that these symbols give great joy and confidence to me and many of my friends for the direction the school is taking as becoming, as Father Leahy has put it, the nation’s leading Catholic university.”
Patrick Reilly, head of The Cardinal Newman Society, said he was “thrilled” by the action of Boston College, which too often “seemed to shy away from any overt affiliation as Catholic.”
“Catholic colleges across the country will be grateful for Boston College’s taking such a clear stand in support of its Catholic identity,” he said.
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