Document Type
Chapter 2: Global Voices and Why This Symposium Matters
Publication Date
1-2018
Publication Source
Proceedings: Global Voices on the University of Dayton Campus
Publisher
University of Dayton
Inclusive pages
18-20
Abstract
For the past ten or fifteen years, I have been waging a one-person stealth campaign—I guess I am going to uncloak it today. That campaign is to change the university’s motto from Pro Deo et Patria (For God and Country) to Pro Deo et Mundo (For God and the World). “For God and Country,” adopted in 1920, reflected the sense among many American Catholics right after the First World War that they were, in a new way, fully American. “For God and the World” reflects our deepening sense today that our commitments and our awareness need to extend beyond national borders, because our human connections already do. We sometimes speak (and therefore think?) as though the University’s Catholic and Marianist character are somehow distinct from the many things we mean when we say “diversity.” But, speaking from personal experience, I know that much of my awareness of the rest of the world stems from the global focus that is inherent in contemporary Catholicism.
Today, we are painfully aware that the gospel imperative—to “go out to all the world and tell the Good News”—helped to cause, or at least did very little to stem, some grave and lasting abuses for which we are (or should be) still seeking ways to repent and make reparations. We should not turn our eyes away from this history, either as scholars or as believers, since neither have any reason to be afraid of the truth. But today I am very glad that the symposium’s organizers decided to include this topic as part of their opening welcome. I’m glad because I believe our global religious connections, specifically religious congregations like the Marianists, offer a resource on which I hope we draw more and more fully as we seek to deepen and extend international awareness on our campus.
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Higher Education | International and Comparative Education
eCommons Citation
Cadegan, Una M., "Global Connections and the Marianists" (2018). Proceedings: 2018 Global Voices on the University of Dayton Campus. 9.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/global_voices/9
Included in
Arts and Humanities Commons, Higher Education Commons, International and Comparative Education Commons
Comments
Diversity and inclusion are core values at the University of Dayton, but bringing together people from different national, racial, and religious backgrounds sometimes can be difficult, even in a welcoming community.
At the symposium Global Voices on the University of Dayton Campus, held Jan. 23-25, 2018, the Alumni Chair in the Humanities invited students, faculty, and staff from all parts of the globe to share stories about their experiences at home and on campus in hopes of strengthening the University’s inclusive excellence.