Assumptionists' Sponsorship
by Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A., Vice President of Mission
A Presentation to the Board of Trustees, Assumption College
October, 2001

The Assumptionists, ably supported by the Religious of the Assumption, are the sponsors of Assumption College. What difference does this make in the day to day life of the college community? Fr. Dennis Gallagher, Vice President for Mission, addressed himself to this question at a recent orientation session for new Trustees. His remarks are summarized under five headings:

1. The witness and power of daily, public prayer
Our communities pray together in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at least twice a day, every day of the year. This is a prayer open to the college community and focused on the needs of those whom we serve. We pray for our students, in and outside of the classroom, as well as for our faculty, staff, and administration. Who can measure the benefits of that persistent prayer for the well being of the college?

2. The witness of community
Our common religious garb serves to underscore the presence of a corporate witness on campus. Our work arises in the first place out of a common mission. Given the effects of an exalted and often corrosive individualism in the culture at large, we continue to offer up the possibility and challenge of a life together. In addition, the close collaboration of men and women religious in work and prayer is a rare phenomenon in Catholic higher education.

3. Mentoring
The full time presence of religious communities on campus makes possible a special kind of attentiveness to students. Based on the testimony of an impressive number of alumni/ae, the face of Assumption has often been revealed in the person of one or another religious who showed interest in them and guided them along the way. The return in recent years of religious living in the student residence halls, the chaplaincies among student leaders, and the direction of discussion groups on campus, among other efforts, help to assure the continuation of this mentoring.

4. Internationality
The international character of both of our communities has advantages for the college. For example, we have at present seven students from foreign countries living with us, enriching by their presence both our communities and the college. Contacts with our communities both inside and outside the country have made possible a number of our mission programs. The d'Alzon Chair, a signal contribution to strengthening the liberal arts character of the college, was made possible by a gift from the Assumptionist Congregation. The recent inroads made by Bayard Presse, the Assumptionist publishing house in Paris, into the North American market open up possibilities for connections and collaboration between the college and the world of Catholic publishing in this country.

5. Keeping watch over the soul of the College
During this time of the college's expansion, the religious communities take as their responsibility a special regard for the animating mission of the college. The institution of the Office for Mission is an important step in that direction, helping to coordinate and support many different efforts, by many different constituencies, to sustain and strengthen the mission of the college. The continuing presence of religious on the Board of Trustees, and the particular oversight of the Theology Department and Campus Ministry have a similar aim.