Establishing a multifaith ministry at a Jesuit university is an important move, said Father Judge. It reflects the changing makeup of the University community.

“I think last spring’s protests on campus showed us the need for dialogue and the need to know one another better, and that’s not simply in a religious sense,” he said. “That’s also in a cultural sense and in looking at different worldviews and different issues that are important to us.” 

Father Judge comes to Fordham with years of on-campus experience: He first arrived at the Rose Hill campus in the mid-1980s as a Jesuit scholastic to study English and philosophy, and has since worked in leadership roles at a number of Jesuit secondary schools including Fordham Prep. We spoke to him about the work of Campus Ministry and why you don’t need to be religious to seek out the department’s services.

What does the director of Campus Ministry do?

The Office of Campus Ministry at Fordham exists to serve the religious and spiritual needs of our students and our faculty and staff. We have about 12 people on staff, and they range from the music director in the University Church; to the directors of religious life for Catholics, Jews, and Muslims; to people who do spiritual direction; to people who run service programs. And then we have a bunch of student interns who help them do all that. Our goal is to make a lot of things available to people so that they continue their religious observance while they’re away from home, but also we give them outlets for developing and deepening their spirituality and finding opportunities to learn through service work.

You have said you believe that Jesuit spirituality can animate everything we do at Fordham. Could you explain what you mean?

A keystone of Ignatian spirituality is…that God is to be found in all things. So I think that’s why Jesuits historically have been missionaries and historically why Ignatius was drawn to the big cities where there’s lots going on and lots of people coming together. There are opportunities for us to find God in new arrangements and new places and new ways. I think that’s at the heart of what we do as a university.

For a student at Fordham who is not religious, what does Campus Ministry offer?

For anybody, we offer a willing ear. There are always pastoral crises, whether or not you think you need a pastoral response to them. People have family members who’ll get ill…They have relationships that go sour, they have goals they’re trying to figure out. So we try always to be a willing ear, whether that’s from a religious perspective or just a listening perspective.

What programming are you most excited about this year?

I think what I’m really excited about is looking at how Jewish life and Muslim life start functioning on campus. It’s been fun finding non-Christian spaces for them to worship in and learning about those things ourselves. We just built our first sukkah on the Rose Hill campus for [the Jewish]Feast of Sukkot, so that’s been a lot of fun. The department itself is engaged in a strategic planning process to look at how this multifaith ministry changes us and how it changes … the programs we offer. I’m very grateful that Fordham has the resources and the will to make this kind of investment in our students. 

Campus Ministry Events and Service Opportunities:

For upcoming Campus Ministry events at Rose Hill and Lincoln Center, and to volunteer with community partners, visit the department website here. You can also follow Campus Ministry on Instagram and on LinkedIn for events and news.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

Dear President Tetlow; Father Rector; professors, staff, and students; dear friends,

The page of the  Gospel that has just been proclaimed is part of the itinerary of Jesus toward Jerusalem, which unfolds as a succession of teachings and recommendations.

The question posed by John: “We saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us,” describes well the rigid pattern within which they, like us, would like to imprison the freedom of the Spirit, who always blows where and how he wills.

It is interesting to note that in the previous passage the disciples divided themselves from each other in the name of their individual “I.” Here they separate from others in the name of their collective “we.” One’s own name, whether individual or collective, is the principle of division; only the “Name,” only the “Name,” which is the name of Jesus, is a source of unity among all.

We all know that he who loves enjoys the good of others, while the egoist does not enjoy the good, but only his own possession, and hurts the good of others. Egoism produces suffering proportional to suffering. Through it, death entered the world.

Selfishness, envy and pride can have both the personal and collective forms. The latter, much more harmful, can grow so vast and apparent that it turns invisible to the individual, who can continue to live by dedication, service, and humility towards his “we”—like a bandit remains loyal to the gang.

Our true unity is to go after Him, who leads us out of all fences and opens us to others, starting with the most distant and excluded. Being with Him, the Son, unites us to the Father and to our brothers and sisters, and forms a “we” that is not confined by a hedge of ownership, but driven by an internal drive of sympathy towards all.

In the name of Jesus, the church embraces everyone and excludes no one. This means that no one in the church can remain anonymous—that is, without, or even worse, not in Jesus’ name, and consequently without knowledge of him. In other names, personal or collective, ghettos, partisan spirits, sects and exclusions are born.

But he who excludes one, excludes Him who has made himself the last of all. In doing so, he fails to be Catholic, universal, and even Christian: He does not yet have the Spirit of the Son who, knowing the Father’s love, died for all brothers and sisters.

The stronger our union with Him, the stronger the unity among us. This unity in full freedom—our our own and that of others.

The disciples form a community, a “we,” which is the church. Yet, the church does not have its centre in itself. It does not take a census to feel strong, nor does it seek its own glory. It serves only the Lord, and is open to all, with willingness and humility.

As long as it seeks unity in Him, it is one and remains free, liberating and Catholic. However, it must always beware of collective pride, typical of the weak that becomes gregarious. This is how divisions arise among believers who consider themselves better and more faithful to the truth, thinking they have God with them.

We Christians are not the masters of salvation, given to us by Christ. Although we have different responsibilities or better vocations within the church, we Christians only have the task of making the person of Christ encounter, among ourselves and others, through our witness, our word, and our actions.

As Christians we are called to follow the example, the teaching and the generosity of Jesus, who assures at that the simplest deed done for Him or His Kingdom will not go unrewarded even if it is as simple and natural as giving a glass of water to someone who is thirsty.

Unfortunately, too often we behave like the Apostles in this passage—we are less generous than our Lord. We are less generous than our Lord. Even worse, our one concern becomes the hoarding of the grace of God, refusing to give freely what we received freely. Sometimes, we even envy the good done by others, as if their good deeds diminish our own or make us appear less virtuous. Our duty as Christians is to extend to others the grace we have received and to encourage the good that is being done, regardless of whether we receive credit for it.

There is a latin proverb that says: bonum diffusivum est sui, that is, goodness spreads itself. God, in His nature, shines with goodness, and spreads goodness. He is always surrounding us with signs of His love, always seeking to fill our hearts with wisdom, grace, mercy, and virtue.

But if Jesus is so generous, why do we so often fail to experience His generosity? If God’s goodness is like the sun, shining brightly and constantly all around us, why do we so often find ourselves in darkness, sadness, and difficulty?

Often, we fail to see God’s light shining in our lives, because we don’t bother to open the shutters. It can be a bright, beautiful day outside, but if we lock ourselves up in our room behind closed shutters and drawn curtains, we will not benefit from the light.

God is respectful of our freedom. He wants our friendship, not blind obedience. He gives us countless opportunities and instruments to receive His generous grace, but He does not force us to use them. He gives us the Sacred Scriptures, the gift of prayer, the sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession, each one of which is a flowing fountain of grace and spiritual strength—but it is up to us to come frequently and drink deeply from this spring.

Dear friends, God is generous, and His infinite generosity calls for openness and unity, including within the Fordham community. On your website, one can read that one of your core principles is to care for others. The Gospel reminds us not to hinder those who do good in His name and to stay vigilant over our own hearts. The Holy Spirit desires welcoming communities, and Fordham, as a Catholic university following the Jesuit traditions in this city of New York, is uniquely positioned to appreciate and foster the creativity with which God acts.

As we experience God’s generosity in this Holy Mass, let us therefore thank Him from the bottom of our hearts and seek the grace and courage to open the shutters of our souls, embracing openness and support.

Nothing would please Him more. Amen.

The fund dovetails with one of the key priorities of Fordham’s recent fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, with its emphasis on equity and inclusion as well as the wellness of every student. Here are five examples of the numerous activities it has made possible:

No. 1: Ignatian Q.

With support from the fund, 10 Fordham students traveled to St. Louis University in April for this annual conference organized by the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities to promote community and spirituality among LGBTQ students. (Fordham hosted Ignatian Q in 2023 with support from the wellbeing fund.) In the words of one Fordham graduate student who attended, Tatum Allen, FCLC ’24, “it offered me a space to feel less alone as a queer person of faith.”

No. 2: Students Together for Acceptance, Respect, and Support (STARS).

Piloted last year by professors and students in the psychology department and the Graduate School of Social Service, this network brings Fordham students together with local high school students seeking to engage with LGBTQ peers, find support, and build community. Two of the high schoolers also took part in a year-long research project on LGBTQ experiences in school and presented their research at the Eastern Psychological Association Conference in Philadelphia.

No. 3: Oral History Project with SAGE Center Bronx.

Last year, undergraduate students in a communications class—titled Photography, Identity, Power—worked with residents of the SAGE center, a community center for LGBTQ seniors, to produce a digital exhibition of their photography that includes an oral history element. Students in an art class, Visual Justice, later met with the seniors and made portrait photographs of them.

No. 4: Queer Prayer Book.

The book Queer Prayer at Fordham was developed in 2023 and distributed at Ignatian Q when it was held at the University. 

No. 5: NYC Interfaith Pilgrimage/Retreat

This daylong retreat at the Lincoln Center campus, held in February, centered on art as a way to explore the intersection between spirituality and queerness. About two dozen students and alumni gathered for morning presentations, toured sites important to the LGBTQ community in Greenwich Village, and reconvened on campus to produce their own art. 

No. 6: Urban Plunge and Global Outreach Scholarships.

With support from the wellbeing fund, LGBTQ students received scholarships to take part in Urban Plunge and Global Outreach, two programs of the Center for Community Engaged Learning.

Sources: Fordham Campus Ministry, Center for Community Engaged Learning 

And then, of course, there’s the honor of being first. This new role is part of a multi-faith expansion in Campus Ministry, which is also welcoming its first campus imam and director of Muslim life, Imam Ammar Abdul Rahman, this year. “I feel privileged that I can be part of this,” Vehlow said.

A native of Germany, Vehlow earned master’s degrees in divinity and Jewish civilization before immigrating to the United States, where she earned her doctorate in medieval Jewish history from New York University in 2006. She spent nine years as an associate professor of religious studies at the University of South Carolina before returning to New York to join the man who is now her husband.

Vehlow knows something about crossing faith boundaries. She grew up Protestant but converted to Judaism in 2001—“I felt very at home in Judaism when I encountered it,” she said—and was ordained in 2022. At Fordham, she looks forward to fostering interfaith dialogue, among many other things.

Why is this role at Fordham well matched with your experience?

On the one hand, because of my love for Judaism, and different ways of being Jewish, and different ways of integrating religious identities. And then there’s the chaplaincy aspect. I anticipate I’ll be with students in their joys but also in things that are difficult as they’re figuring out who they are, who they want to be. And the third reason is my love for being on a university campus and working with young people.

What kinds of activities are you planning?

I plan to observe and support what’s happening already—the regular Shabbat dinners on both campuses and the programming around the fall High Holidays. We’ll have cultural events, some excursions, and art workshops in the spring. For the new academic year, we’re starting out with a series of weekly conversations in Judaism at both campuses. All events for our Jewish community are also open to everybody; when we build a sukkah—or ceremonial hut—at Rose Hill in October to mark the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, that’s going to be a multi-faith event.

In the future, I hope to have, together with Imam Ammar and a Christian colleague, a seminar for emerging faith leaders involving Jewish, Muslim, and Christian students who would meet regularly and build relationships.

Why is it important for young people—or anyone—to encounter people of different faiths?

Because in doing so, we learn more about ourselves and appreciate our own traditions more. After hanging out for the first time with Muslims, some of my friends deeply admire the discipline of praying five times a day. And it gets them to think about their own prayer life and what, maybe, they could take from that. But also, knowing more about other people who are not like us can be a great antidote against conflict and violence.

How can we maintain a peaceful, respectful atmosphere on campus even as passions are stirred by things like the war in Gaza or the upcoming presidential election?

The most important thing is building, strengthening, and maintaining relationships, which I think have been fraying since COVID and maybe before. I know this is going on among students, faculty, and staff. I see it in little things, like faculty talking to me about their need to talk to each other in person and have thicker relationships. There’s also the new FitzSimons Fellow in the Office of the President, Anthony Barry, and the civics initiative he’s leading.

I think when people feel that they belong and that we all have a place here, then it is perhaps more possible to talk very openly about the difficult things, the things that pain us. It means for everybody on campus to know that they’re heard.

Jewish Life Events:

Shabbat Dinners, 6 – 8 p.m.
Sept. 6, Lincoln Center campus, Sept. 13, Rose Hill campus. Sign up.

Lunch and Learn—Tshuva: Getting Ready for the New Year Enjoy a light lunch and explore your life and your relationships through a Jewish lens as the Jewish new year approaches. No prior knowledge is necessary. All are welcome. Tuesdays at 1 p.m., Lincoln Center campus; Wednesdays at noon, Rose Hill campus.

Rosh Hashanah Dinner, Oct. 2, 6 p.m., Lincoln Center campus.

Please contact Rabbi Vehlow at [email protected] with any questions. Follow her on Instagram: rabbiAtFordham. Sign up to receive the Fordham Jewish Life Newsletter.

Abdul Rahman has deep ties to the Bronx. He serves as deputy imam at Masjid Al-Haram USA, a mosque in the borough’s Bedford Park neighborhood. He’s also affiliated with the Gambian Youth Organization, which was how he came to attend the Fordham Center for Community Engaged Learning’s annual back-to-school festival on Fordham Road last year. When he learned that Fordham was creating a role for a Muslim chaplain, the University’s commitment to the Bronx played a major role in his decision to apply.

“But what really made me want to join Fordham is the fact that it’s a Jesuit institution that focuses on faith and spirituality,” he said.

“The commitment to community service and creating a diverse faith community for students was very important to me.” 

What are your hopes for your first year?

I’d like to build a community where Muslims and non-Muslims alike feel comfortable and empowered to explore different faiths and ask questions. One of my immediate goals is to answer questions and dismantle stereotypes about Muslims. 

There’s so much that needs to take place to educate people about what Islam is. Islam is not something that one person gets to define; it’s a holistic way of life that is defined in the Quran and through the Hadeeth, which is a collection of traditions containing the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad with accounts of his daily practice. While different schools of thought will give different interpretations, at the end of the day, God has given each individual an intellect to be able to deduce conclusions from those interpretations

I want to make it clear that Islam is something that is for everyone, from students who are at different levels of faith to non-Muslims who can inquire and learn more about the practice and perhaps take a lesson or two to apply to their own lives. 

What do you see as your larger role at the University?

My role is to add to whatever existing voices there are here from a Muslim perspective and to promote a relentless effort to engage students with their faith and their spirituality. One of the things that makes Fordham amazing and unique is the fact that faith and spirituality are taken really seriously. It provides an environment where students don’t feel awkward for being someone who has faith. I’m also going to provide basic chaplaincy services, including counseling and pastoral care. 

You worked for the Interfaith Center of New York before you came to Fordham. Why is interfaith dialogue so important to you?

There’s so much polarization in our world today. It’s either black or white. Either you’re Republican or Democrat, you support Israel, or you support Palestine, and there’s nothing in between. All these topics really polarize our communities. I find that, especially within the three Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, there’s a tie that binds and provides us with a framework within which we can work toward harmony and peaceful coexistence.

There is a mosque in the Bronx where the imam is from Senegal. Last summer, asylum seekers from Senegal were rushing there because that was where they felt at home.

The mosque did not have the capacity to feed them, so the imam reached out to us. We got a Mormon church to donate $10,000 worth of food. We couldn’t find anywhere to cook it, though, so at an event, one of my colleagues asked a Buddhist monk if they had a commercial kitchen. So we took food that we got from a Mormon church to a Buddhist temple and shared it at a mosque for Muslim migrants. That’s why a dialogue between faiths is important to me. Regardless of people’s faith, we believe that they’re the creation of God, and they have the dignity that God has given them. 

Muslim Life Events:

Beginning next week, Abdul Rahman will lead a weekly Jumu’ah prayer on both campuses from 1 – 1:30 pm. on Fridays. He will also lead a weekly Halaqa (circle) where participants will discuss topics relevant to contemporary Muslims’ lives. These will take place on Mondays at the Rose Hill campus and on Thursdays at the Lincoln Center campus. For more information, visit Muslim Life at Fordham or contact Abdul Rahman at [email protected].

“He was like another dad to me. He befriended, loved, kept up with, and supported me,” said Catherine McGovern, FCRH ’81, echoing the sentiments of alumni of many generations. 

Father Daly served as director of Campus Ministry at Fordham from 1980 to 1987. Later, he became assistant alumni chaplain, providing pastoral support to Fordham’s global community of more than 200,000 alumni from 2015 to 2019. This included attending alumni receptions and retreats, as well as writing seasonal prayers to alumni, often with a personal and poignant touch. He also served as chaplain to the women’s basketball team from 2017 to 2019, earning recognition from Fordham Athletics for his work. (Fun fact: His old Campus Ministry office served as the office of the fictional Father Damien Karras in the movie The Exorcist, said Beth Tarpey Evans, FCRH ’84, who once worked in Father Daly’s office. “He was so proud of that! He left that nameplate on the door,” Evans said.) 

A Second Father

What alumni remember most about Father Daly is the way he cared for them in the same spirit as a father, comforting them during difficult times and rejoicing with them during the most important moments of their lives, said those who knew him. He was a gregarious, fun, witty, and kind priest who took great pride in their accomplishments, said McGovern, who is part of a circle of women that fondly refer to themselves as “Leo’s Ladies.” 

He traveled across the country, marrying, baptizing, and blessing thousands of people—sometimes multiple generations in a single family, said his niece, Elizabeth Shortal Aptilon, FCLC ’85, GABELLI ’90. 

“You don’t meet that many people who are genuinely good people. There aren’t that many people that stay in touch with you for decades. But my uncle was someone who really maintained lifelong friends,” said Aptilon. 

An Advocate at Home and Abroad

Father Daly was born on July 29, 1930, in Brooklyn, New York, to Joseph Daly, a salesman, and Margaret McGowan Daly, a homemaker, both of whom had Irish heritage. He graduated from Brooklyn Preparatory High School, a Jesuit school in his home borough. He went on to earn a Master of Arts degree from Fordham’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a degree in counseling psychology from Columbia University. 

Father Daly entered the Society of Jesus in 1948 and was ordained a priest at the Fordham University Church in 1961. He served his fellow New Yorkers in many roles, including assistant principal at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City; administrator at Loyola Seminary in Shrub Oak, New York; high school counselor at Regis High School and Xavier High School in Manhattan; community superior at Xavier High School; and assistant to the rector of the Jesuit community at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City. He conducted retreat work as a staff member and director at St. Ignatius Retreat House on Long Island before it closed in 2012. Father Daly also served communities abroad, as campus minister at the University of Guam and as a chaplain at a U.S. Army missile range in the Marshall Islands.  

Father Daly was a great storyteller who treasured time with family and friends, said his niece. In his spare time, he loved listening to jazz music and playing golf, she said. 

His friend and former colleague Daniel J. Gatti, S.J, who used to serve as Fordham’s alumni chaplain, recalled the time Father Daly nearly made a 165-yard hole in a single shot—and almost won a free car in the process. 

“Leo was about eight inches [away],” said Father Gatti, who had attended a Fordham Gridiron Golf Outing with Father Daly and two other Jesuits. “The whole day, no one won the car. … But Leo, I think, was the closest,” he said, chuckling.

‘He Served God’s People Well’ 

Four years ago, he was diagnosed with a parotid gland tumor, said McGovern, an OB-GYN whom Father Daly jokingly called his “personal obstetrician.” Despite dealing with serious illness during his final years—surgeries, radiation, immunotherapy, and partial loss of vision and hearing—Father Daly remained cheerful and involved with his Jesuit community and those he loved, said those who knew him. 

“Throughout his long life, he served God’s people well,” Father Gatti said.  

Father Daly is survived by his niece; grandnephew Brandon Craig Aptilon, GABELLI ’22; grandnephew Bradley Edward Aptilon; and nephew, James P. Shortal, his wife, Denise, and their daughter, Kristin. He is predeceased by his sister, Helen Shortal, née Daly, GSE ’49. His wake will be held at Murray-Weigel Hall on Jan. 19 from 3 to 8 p.m. The funeral Mass will be held the next day at the University Church at 11 a.m. and livestreamed on Campus Ministry’s website. Father Daly will be buried at the Jesuit Cemetery in Auriesville, New York. Gifts in his name may be made to the Leo Daly, S.J., Scholarship Fund. 

By hosting events with partner organizations and adding opportunities to reflect and connect, the Office of Mission Integration and Ministry is working to help students, faculty, and staff find community on and off campus. The office’s expanding programs draw people who come from many faith backgrounds as well as those who come to their values from outside of religious faith.

“We do these events not only to amplify the mission but to also get different people across the University together—faculty, staff, students, alumni. We hope that it’s a very intergenerational thing,” said Robert Parmach, director of Ignatian mission and ministry at Fordham.

All of these programs are rooted in a tradition of balancing reflection and action developed by St. Ignatius Loyola, the 16th-century founder of the Society of Jesus, Parmach said. For example, on Nov. 16, about a dozen students and a few staff members gathered for a clothing sorting activity held at Xavier Mission, a Manhattan organization that provides services for those in need across New York City.

“We partnered with Xavier because there’s a real need for clothing for infants and toddlers, refugees, immigrants, and those who are experiencing homelessness right now,” Parmach said.

For Devany Kurtti, a sophomore at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, working with Xavier Mission was a chance to help members of the New York City community.

“It’s getting colder and so many people don’t have access to shelters,” Kurtti said. “I’ve always watched my parents and church help serve others. I know if I was having difficulties and didn’t have the resources I do, I would want someone to help.”

The event brought together a wide range of community members, including undergraduate and graduate students, and even alumni like Roxanne De La Torre, FCRH ’09, GRE ’11, who is the director of outreach at Xavier Mission.

More Creative and Expansive Offerings

Parmach said that Fordham has also expanded its retreat options to help more members of the community take time for reflection, especially if they can’t go away for a more “traditional” multi-day retreat.

“We’re having one-hour retreats for busy people, and we’re getting really good turnouts there,” he said.

One recent retreat was a “paint and reflect,” where more than 30 students came to have pizza, talk, and create paintings. In addition, Parmach noted that they’re also doing “10-second reflections” around campus to connect with students quickly and increase the office’s visibility.

“The student that’s running to class, they come, they have a quick cup of coffee or hot chocolate or candy. They have a reflection prompt that they contribute to [by writing] on a poster,” he said. “And we’ve [reached] hundreds of students at these things.”

Erin Hoffman, director of campus ministry for Lincoln Center, said that the office is also planning to add to its interfaith programming, which includes an annual interfaith prayer ceremony and picnic, and Faith Fest, a new event last year. 

“Fordham’s a place where faith matters, and we want students of all backgrounds to have opportunities to grow in their faith and form community with others while they’re here,” she said.

Additional reporting by Franco Giacomarra.

It was a new ambience for the Joseph M. McShane, S.J. Campus Center: eerie music, wolf howls, ghoulish costumes, giant cobwebs, a hallway-size haunted house, laughter mixed with the occasional frightful yelp.

The one flaw in the spookiness? All that natural light flooding in through the huge windows. “The sun is always shining in, it’s beautiful,” said Gabriel Chavarria, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior passing through the Career Center and Campus Ministry areas.

The Haunted Open House marked a new effort to help fully integrate the McShane Center into University life by enticing students to wander the full length of the second floor, discovering the cavernous hallways and hangout areas along the way—as well as all the offices there to serve them.

The second floor’s Halloween-season transformation highlighted a much larger, permanent transformation of student life brought about by the campus center’s construction, a pillar of the University’s $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student.

Enhancing the Entire Student Experience

Construction on the campus center has continued since it opened to students last year. Amid the second-floor Halloween hijinks on Oct. 17, crews were working on the first-floor Marketplace renovation that will produce a vastly better dining experience in another nine months or so.

Unfinished as it is, the McShane Center already feels like students’ home. “This is such a huge resource, and I think it’s a real asset to the University,” said Isabella Guariniello, a junior at Fordham College at Rose Hill who found the haunted house to be “a really cool way to interact with the students and the faculty here.”

Commuter student Ryan Nole, a Gabelli School of Business junior, appreciates being able to hang out in the campus center between classes. He’s noticed that it’s brought new visibility to student clubs and organizations and provides a kind of social lubricant—“I know if I want to see someone, they’ll probably be here,” he said while checking out the open house. “It definitely fulfills its role as a community space.”

In fact, with so many students gravitating toward the new student lounge and communal spaces on the first floor, “we wanted another way for students to kind of say, ‘Hey, there’s more parts to the building, there’s a whole bunch of stuff up here,’” said Juan Carlos Matos, assistant vice president for student affairs for diversity and inclusion—dressed up for the occasion as “Dr. Acula.”

Students partook of Halloween candy—including the allergy-free kind—and activities like pumpkin painting. All of the second-floor offices got into the act, including Student Services, the Office for Student Involvement, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

‘Cathedral-Like’ Light

To be sure, the new campus center has already been boosting the work of second-floor offices including the Career Center, which gained a new suite equipped with 10 interview rooms, event space, and other amenities, including new capabilities to promote career-related events.

The new suite “has truly elevated our office University-wide,” said Annette McLaughlin, director of the Career Center. The 840 career counseling appointments held from July through September represent a 24 percent increase over the same period last year, she noted.

Campus Ministry and the Center for Community Engaged Learning, or CCEL, now share a roomy, inviting suite with floor-to-ceiling windows providing “cathedral-like” light, in the words of Campus Ministry administrator Carol Gibney. It offers plenty of room for students to study or hang out and unwind, making it more likely that they’ll learn about something they want to get involved in, said Amanda Caputo, FCRH ’23, a program manager with Global Outreach. “Students [have]made this their home, in a way,” she said.

By providing generous, dedicated space for CCEL’s meetings with its New York City partner organizations, the facility “demonstrates the University’s commitment to community engagement and experiential learning,” said the center’s executive director, Julie Gafney, Ph.D.

“It helps to show that this is what we mean when we say we’re a Catholic and Jesuit institution,” she said. “We mean that we create spaces that put our mission work first.”

Learn more about the McShane Campus Center renewal and opportunities to give in support of it.

In the words of Pope Francis, we are looking at a “humanitarian catastrophe” in the Middle East as the war between Israel and Hamas grows in intensity. There is already terrible suffering among Israelis and Palestinians, and unless the combatants change course, we will see unimaginable brutality, misery, and death.

For that reason, the Pope has called for a worldwide day of fasting, prayer, and penance on Friday, October 27, 2023, by all people committed to the cause of peace.

Joining at the hour of prayer starting at 6 p.m. Rome time (noon New York time) in St. Peter’s, local churches and institutions are invited to organize similar initiatives.

We hope you will join with other members of the campus community and Campus Ministry to reflect upon and pray for peace on Friday:

Mass for Peace
Rose Hill: Sacred Heart Chapel, Dealy Hall, at 12:05 p.m.
Lincoln Center: Blessed Rupert Mayer, S.J., Chapel, Lowenstein 221, at noon

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament
University Church: noon to 1 p.m.
Blessed Rupert Mayer, S.J., Chapel, Lowenstein 221: 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

The world is poised on the brink of a dark and terrible moment—in the Pope’s words, “war erases the future.” We invite all to fast and pray with us on Friday.

Yours in Peace,

Rev. José Luis Salazar, SJ, PhD
Executive Director of Campus Ministry
Fordham University

“Today we celebrate the glorious variety of religious traditions in this world and the variety within each of those traditions—Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity, which only begin to scratch the surface of the faith traditions across the globe,” said Tania Tetlow, president of Fordham, at the ceremony. “And we pay attention both to the ways that they celebrate such diversity … where they overlap, and the insights that humanity has gotten from the sacred about who we are supposed to be to each other.” 

The event featured prayers, readings, student performances, and reflections from members of the University community, similar to last year’s inaugural ceremony hosted by Campus Ministry. 

In her remarks, President Tetlow asked the audience “to remember that our lives have a purpose, that the gifts God has blessed each of us with are not for us, but to make the world a better place.” In addition, she urged all those in attendance to hold onto a key takeaway from the religions of the world. 

“The lessons that I hope that you most take from all of our religious traditions, from faith itself, is this: that you are utterly and totally loved by God, just as you are, without ever having to earn it,” she said. “And that from that strength, you will take the courage to be able to love each other well—and most of all, to find the strength to love yourself.” 

Less visibly, the event also showed the power of philanthropy. Hosting Ignatian Q is just one thing made possible by a fund that is creating new momentum around the University for initiatives that support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning students, plus other sexual and gender minorities.

Founded last spring, the LGBTQ+ Student Wellbeing Fund is supporting everything from pastoral care to academic events and the development of classes reflecting LGBTQ+ themes—with the promise of more initiatives to come.

“I’m really encouraged and optimistic about the kind of response the fund has gotten, not only from LGBT members of the Fordham family but also straight members of our family who are deeply committed to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” said Joan Garry, FCRH ’79, a former executive director of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD and nationally recognized activist who serves on the Fordham University President’s Council executive committee.

Garry and her wife kick-started the fund last year by leading a Fordham Giving Day campaign for it and providing a $50,000 matching gift.

The need is plain, Garry said: The number of students who identify as other than heterosexual or cisgender is growing “off the charts.” These students “have all kind of struggles every day,” from self-acceptance to harassment to bullying, and suffer disproportionately from anxiety and depression, she said.

The fund is also needed because of a political climate that has become “downright terrifying,” she said, pointing to the Human Rights Campaign’s June 6 declaration of a “state of emergency” for LGBTQ+ people due to laws being enacted around the country.

By helping to foster a more inclusive campus community, the fund dovetails with a key priority of the University’s $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student.

Impact of the Wellbeing Fund

In addition to providing critical support to the Ignatian Q conference, the Wellbeing Fund has supported Campus Ministry programs including Queer Spirit Community and the Prism Retreat, as well as the publication of a Queer Prayer at Fordham booklet distributed at Ignatian Q, said Joan Cavanagh, Ph.D., senior director for spirituality and solidarity at Fordham.

The fund has also supported Center for Community Engaged Learning initiatives including scholarships that helped LGBTQ+ students take part in Fordham’s Global Outreach and Urban Plunge programs, a panel discussion on LGBTQ+ history, and grants for faculty. Co-sponsored by the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer, the grants support innovative classroom projects related to LGBTQ+ history and advocacy.

The Wellbeing Fund has “ignited an understanding that there is so much to do,” Garry said. “I am excited about the forward motion the fund is creating to educate, drive awareness, and galvanize support.”

Learn more about the uses of the LGBTQ+ Student Wellbeing Fund and make a gift.

Learn about Queer Spirit Community, the Prism Retreat, and other Campus Ministry resources for LGBTQ+ students.

See related story: Pope Francis Sends Warm Letter of Support for LGBTQ+ Conference at Fordham