Hope and Gratitude
Dear Alumni and Friends:
I have concluded my first year as rector of this wonderful seminary community and I would like to take this opportunity to share some reflections about our perspective for the 2024-2025 formation year.
Recently, our Holy Father Pope Francis declared that 2025 will be a “Holy Year of Hope.” All Catholic Christians are encouraged to foster this theological virtue and be signs of hope, whatever their state of life. This is a timely call and it captures perfectly my frame of approach to my second year as rector.
Father Jean Danielou once remarked that hope is the fundamental Christian state of mind. He contends, however, that it is important that we distinguish it from optimism. Optimism is, in Danielou’s estimation, a flight from reality. It is based on a naïve sense of self-confidence and tends to ignore the hardships and struggles of actual existence. Hope, by contrast, is based on loving trust in God and confidence in his promises and power. This in turn gives us a foretaste of the new world to come and thus a foundation for evaluating the here-and-now.
To be sure, the challenges facing us as a Church and nation are real. Division, poverty, and violence are all too apparent and they leave no one unaffected. However, our reasons for hope far outweigh the darkness that surrounds us. Our Lord conquered death and obtained our salvation definitively and no power in the cosmos can undo his mighty work. Jesus also sent the Holy Spirit as a living reminder of his victory and as the means by which we can abide in it always.
This seminary has offered me countless signs of hope. The men here are among the best I have ever served. Their intelligence, zeal for mission, love of others, and fidelity to the Gospel gives me tremendous hope for the future of the Church. I continue to be inspired by the faculty and staff at Theological College. This is simply the best group of collaborators with whom I have ever worked .
Finally, I would like to thank the donors, alumni, patrons, my colleagues at The Catholic University of America, and all those who make it possible for Theological College to continue its mission of forming men into true shepherds of Christ’s people, pastors and teachers of the people of God. Your prayers, encouragement, and support are much appreciated and are clear signs of confidence in our work. Let us remember each other in prayer and commit ourselves to being living signs of hope to each other and the world.
Blessings,
Blessings,
Rev. Gladstone (Bud) Stevens, P.S.S.
Rector