Happy New Year and welcome back! I hope you had a restful winter break and are returning refreshed and looking forward to a rewarding spring semester.
During the Mendoza Advent Christmas Reception on December 17, I repeated a prayer from the Notre Dame Book of Prayer that included these lines:
Knit us in harmony and love, we who are flesh of His flesh.
Fill the coming year with good gifts for all the world
Fill the coming year with good gifts for all the world
Now, at the start of a new year, the prayer to be knitted in harmony and love and to share our gifts for the benefit of the world seems like an appropriate theme for the College in 2022. It speaks to our charge as a College as presented in the three Cs: to contribute to human flourishing, serving others in response to all the gifts we have received; to cooperate in solidarity through teamwork as part of a community and prioritize those with the greatest needs; and to compete with excellence by becoming the best version of oneself, by the grace of God and with the help of (and helping) others.
This is not an easy charge. At the New Year's Day Angelus, Pope Francis encouraged us to "roll up our sleeves to build peace." We don’t naturally associate “peace” with the persistent labor suggested by rolling up our sleeves. It takes hard work and enduring faith to be knitted in harmony and love, and even more so to invest this work in order to benefit others. Yet this is the basis of what we do at Mendoza and it is in evidence every day.
I’m very grateful to the many faculty and staff members who constantly go above and beyond to serve our students. I hope you will take a few minutes to read over the kudos that we gathered at the end of the fall semester to recognize the extraordinary efforts of our faculty and staff. It’s an amazing list of accomplishments.
I also want to pass along a message provided by Ann Tenbrunsel that was sent by a student to one of our M&O professors. It serves as a reminder of how important your work is and its impact on lives for years to come:
"I will never forget how in times of desperation and anxiety you showed empathy and gave me a second chance. Thank you. You have taught me so much, you have changed my perspective of management, but most importantly, you have changed the way I view leadership and the way I view life. It is all about giving, serving, and growing along the way. You are a very inspiring person, there were multiple times I entered your class with no motivation and a large amount of fear and uncertainty but left with great courage and a new desire to keep on fighting despite my struggles. You have turned me into a more caring and compassionate person, you have taught me to lead by example and inspire me to make a change, not a living."
My best wishes for a blessed 2022.
In Notre Dame,
Martijn