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

The messages conveyed during keynote speeches, breakout sessions, a Mass, and other events made for a conference that was, in the words of one organizer, “amazing.”

“I don’t even know how to describe it. Everyone was crying. It was more than I could have ever hoped for,” said Ben Reilly, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill and chair of the Ignatian Q Planning Committee. “It seems to have breathed life into the conversation around LGBT life on campus and LGBT student community, and the importance of community both at Fordham and across our AJCU family.”

Speakers were unsparing in describing the obstacles to LGBTQ+ equality. The weekend began with a keynote at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, next to the Lincoln Center campus, by Bryan Massingale, S.T.D., a gay Catholic priest and the James and Nancy Buckman Chair in Applied Christian Ethics at Fordham.

He spoke of the necessity of dreaming as a step toward creating a just society in which people no longer face intolerance and violence because of gender identity or gender expression.

“That dream is under attack—blatant attack, disturbing attack,” he said, citing laws against “life-saving, gender-affirming medical care” and discussion of LGBTQ topics in schools, among other things. “There are serious efforts underway,” he said, “to create a world in which we don’t exist.”

He decried the idea that “God does not love us and we are not worthy,” saying “we have to dream of a world and a church where that lie is put to rest.” During his address, he prompted everyone in the pews to turn to one another and give affirmations including “you are loved” and “you are sacred.”

Visibility, Understanding, Acceptance

Saturday’s keynote was delivered at the Rose Hill campus by Joan Garry, FCRH ’79, a nationally recognized LGBTQ activist and former executive director of the gay rights organization GLAAD.

“The LGBTQ movement for equality needs all of you—badly,” said Garry, who serves on the executive committee of the President’s Council at Fordham. She urged the students to be activists who foster greater inclusivity at their colleges and universities and provide a model for other LGBTQ students who may be struggling.

“Visibility drives understanding, and understanding drives acceptance,” she said. “When you are ‘out,’ you model authenticity and honesty, and you show people the way. We illustrate that one does not have to be controlled by the expectations of others, and do you know how big that is? That’s a superpower.”

The event was supported by Campus Ministry and the Office of Mission Integration and Ministry. Father Massingale celebrated Mass at the Lincoln Center campus on Sunday, and for some students, it was their first time attending Mass since coming out, Reilly said.

Also on Sunday, in a keynote at the Lincoln Center campus, James Martin, S.J., the prominent author and editor at large at America magazine, said the openness of more and more LGBTQ people in parishes and dioceses ensures that the Catholic Church will continue to become more open to them.

“As more and more people are coming out, more and more bishops have nieces and nephews who are openly gay. That just changes them,” he said. “And that’s not going to stop.”

But when the 71,000-square-foot, four-story addition to the McGinley Center officially opens today, Feb. 1, it will introduce to the Fordham community a radically different sort of space, filled with places to relax, recharge, and connect.

Get Your Sweat On

One of the highlights of this new building addition will be the expanded fitness center, which at 20,000 square feet occupies the lower level of both the new building addition and the existing McGinley Center. The brand new, brightly lit space, which is illuminated by both overhead lighting and sunlight from ceiling windows facing the front of the building, is dedicated to 100 pieces of state-of-the-art weight-training equipment. The existing space will continue to be used for cardio equipment, assuring shorter wait times. One of the newest pieces of equipment is a climbing simulator known as a Jacob’s Ladder. (The fitness center is currently operating at reduced capacity due to COVID-19 regulations.)

Eagle-eyed visitors heading to a newly offered yoga session in one of the two new classrooms might notice that the arches of the original McGinley Center have been left as unfinished concrete, not painted white like the rest of the wall. It’s a small, subtle touch meant to acknowledge the past, said Larry Peifer, the lead designer for architecture firm HLW International LLP. A similar sensibility influenced the choice of the new addition’s Corinthian granite façade, which is the same material on the outside of the Rose Hill Gym next door.

“We’ve kind of remixed Fordham’s architectural palate. We took these materials you see elsewhere, whether its Corinthian granite, limestone terrazzo, oak, or bronze, sampled them, and used them in a new way,” he said.

A Home Away from Home

The first floor presents two distinctly different yet equally inviting common spaces: the student lounge and the gallery.

Boasting 17-foot ceilings, the lounge is an airy, semi-industrial space, with an unfinished concrete ceiling and exposed wiring above. The furnishings offer a mix of practicality and fun; sitting upon the terrazzo floor are tables, chairs, couches, a foosball table, and a pool table. Further on, a table large enough for a gathering of 16 is sectioned off by a dropdown ceiling; beyond that are private, glass-enclosed meeting rooms.

John P Gering, managing partner for HLW, said the goal for the 9,500-square-foot lounge has always been to make it feel like a place where resident and commuter students alike can mingle and relax.

“It feels less like a classroom environment. It’s very informal, there are lots of touchpoints for laptops and things of that nature,” he said.

The gallery, a multi-level glass-covered space linking together the addition with the existing McGinley Center, is open to the addition now. After the third phase of construction is complete, the walls will come down, and a newly refurbished

marketplace dining facility replacing the existing dining space will be seamlessly connected to the other spaces.

Its defining characteristic is natural light, which streams down over the two overhead walkways connecting the second floors of the new building addition and McGinley, past the 20-foot retractable movie screen hanging from the ceiling, and onto the floor and walls, where the stone engravings of the Stations of the Cross are embedded. At night, the engravings will be illuminated.

Career Services and Campus Ministry

The second floor is shared by the expanded offices of the Career Center, Campus Ministry, and the Center for Community Engaged Learning.

The new Career Center space features a lounge with a rough-hewn ceiling similar to the student lounge that’s bathed in light from windows in the front of the building. Also included in the suite are a pantry and 10 interview rooms outfitted with noise dampening panels and electronic glass walls that can be turned opaque with a light switch. Career services director Annette McLaughlin said in a 2020 interview that it’s her intention that the department is “a destination, not a checklist,” for students.

“I want to create a career center for cura personalis. This is all about mind, body, and spirit as it relates to how you find your pathway in the world,” she said.

Next door is a hub for students’ quest for deeper meaning in their lives. In addition to offices, the Campus Ministry and the Center for Community Engaged Learning feature two reflection rooms, a room with a widescreen suitable for conferences, and several smaller spaces available for gatherings.

John Cecero, S.J., vice president for mission integration and ministry, said he’s excited to bring together two departments within the division that had previously been in separate spaces.

“There’s much more common space for people to use, and I think that will foster collaboration both between these two departments and with others within the University. That is a major goal for us,” he said.

A New Vista for a New Era

Arguably the most breathtaking view is from the top floor, where the 28-foot ceiling is open to the sky like the gallery next to it. The 4,390-square-foot multipurpose space also reflects Fordham’s Catholic identity, with the Stations of the Cross occupying a central place on the back wall. The views from the top floor—the New York Botanical Garden to the north, Bahoshy Field to the west, and Hughes Hall and Edwards Parade to the south—give a new perspective to a familiar locale. Embedded in the wooden drop-down ceiling are acoustic panels, audiovisual equipment, and darkening shades that can be easily deployed for presentations.

Gering said the space, which can accommodate as many as 196 people in the main room and 147 in another, smaller room, is part of the firm’s dedication to the neo-Gothic aesthetic of the Rose Hill campus. Traditional gothic buildings are built with a portal entry and a main entry next to a tower that leads to a large aisle connecting to an altar, he said. This will be the case when a glass arcade between the new building addition and the Rose Hill Gym is completed in the second phase of construction.

“As you enter the building, you enter next to a tower, which is a beacon on campus. Then you walk through the arcade, which is similar to the aisle in Gothic architecture, and rather than walking to an altar or chapel, you proceed up to the next level, which is this grand board room and multifunction room,” he said.

“This is shifting the heart of the campus. The idea is that it is truly a campus center that brings everyone together with amenities, gathering places, and wellness programs and spaces that respond to that. It’ll be the new landmark of the university.”

The new building addition is the first of three phases that the center will undergo as part of a radical transformation that will culminate in 2025. When finished, the entire project will reflect Fordham’s history while giving visitors a modern space to convene and relax.

“If it’s going to be a building that really feels like the University and is taking the University someplace new—but not someplace that it doesn’t recognize—it has to have a certain spirit and a poetic weight that feels contemporary,” Gering said.

“Fordham has such a strong history and rich personality; we didn’t want anything to feel like it was foreign.”

Q: Seven years ago you left your position as rector at Fordham to take over leadership of the newly combined USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus. What did you learn from your time that you’ll be bringing back to the University?

A: A large part of bringing together the New York and the New England provinces was to focus on the core features that united us. The different missions are all rooted in a common appreciation of how God labors in the world and through each of us, and our response is one of gratitude, love, and generosity.

Having been at Fordham for 15 years, I have a special interest in Jesuit higher education. What is unique about Jesuit higher education is that same spiritual foundation we’re focused on in the province. We’re in the business of not only preparing people for careers, but also informing how they see the world, how they orient themselves toward God and other people. No matter what profession they pursue, they put those gifts at the service of others, and especially the poor, the marginalized, and those members of society who are ignored or overlooked.

I think sometimes we forget to articulate that we’re not here only to introduce people to great ideas, but also to make them “men and women with and for others.” My role is to work with others in the University to keep our focus on why we are engaged in the business of Jesuit education here.

Q: What will be some of your biggest priorities?

A: One of my biggest priorities is working with the Board of Trustees. In 2013, I was asked to coordinate a meeting of the board chairs of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities with Father General Adolfo Nicolás, S.J. He said to them, ‘You are the leaders of the colleges and universities.’ In a legal sense, that’s absolutely true, but it’s also true in a mission sense. The board allocates finances and makes decisions that help people like me and others with overseeing and implementing the mission.

Another is faculty. I was a full-time member of the faculty for 15 years, so I know that faculty are very busy. The challenge is to help faculty have some time to reflect on that key question, ‘Why am I doing this in the context of a Jesuit university?’ That’s going to be through a series of talks and presentations, and through personal reflection and exploration. I’m working closely with Jim McCartin in creating initiatives that will include seminars and retreats.

We also want to expand the work that Lito Salazar, S.J.,  and campus ministry does. We want to serve the Catholic students and those who are interested in explicit religious practices, but there are others who I’m sure would benefit from programs designed to open them up to a spiritual worldview.

We also have the Center for Community Engaged Learning, which Dr. Julie Gafney just took over last year. They’ve increased the number of courses that are offered where faculty engage with students who participate in community engagement projects and integrate that work with academic work. It’s a wonderful opportunity to be of service to the poor and marginalized right here in the Bronx community.

David Gibson has been doing some wonderful talks, discussions, lectures, and seminars with the Center on Religion and Culture. I’m going to be working with him to expand that programming to include topics that would be of particular interest to younger people.

Q: Talk to me about life trap theory, which is your area of expertise in psychology. Is that going to play a part in how you approach your new role?

A: What gets in the way of productively focusing on mission are our personal, and you might say institutional, life traps. One of the life traps is overdependence. So for example, students or faculty might say, ‘Well, mission is the work of others and, I’ll let them do it.’ That’s kind of a trap because it’s shirking a responsibility that is really incumbent on all of us to participate in.

Q: This year is the Ignatian Year, which celebrates the 500th anniversary of the “cannonball moment” of St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits. Why is Jesuit spirituality so important even after five centuries?

A: It was May 20 of this year that was the 500th anniversary of St. Ignatius being hit by a cannonball when he was a soldier. It was a turning point in his life because that wound literally laid him on his back, and during his convalescence, he started to read Lives of the Saints and started to think, ‘Maybe this whole ambition of worldly success is not that important—what’s really important is following Jesus Christ.’

What you might call the “cannonball moment” is what Jesuit education is all about. We’re not going to shoot students with cannonballs, but hopefully in the course of their time in a Jesuit school, their worldview gets shaken, maybe shattered, certainly rocked, and they get opportunities to radically rethink who they are, what they are, and what their purpose in life is, just as Ignatius did. So this year, we’re celebrating a focus on conversion and higher education. That’s the core mission.

Q: Does it feel more relevant given what a tumultuous time this is?

A: Pope Francis [who is a Jesuit]had something to say about that. He did a series of interviews recently and they were published in a book called Let Us Dream (Simon & Schuster, 2020). He says the pandemic is just like the cannonball for the whole world, and he hopes that the new normal will be a more radically transformed world, where we come out of it with a heightened awareness of the needs of others. He sees it as a fertile, if extraordinarily painful, moment for us.

Dear Members of the Fordham Family,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome back John J. Cecero, S.J., as Fordham’s new vice president for Mission Integration and Ministry, as of August 2, 2021. Father Cecero succeeds Michael C. McCarthy, S.J., who has held the post since January 1, 2016, under a slightly different title.

Please note that Father Cecero’s position title reflects a renaming of the Division of Mission Integration and Planning. It will now be titled the Division of Mission Integration and Ministry.

Father Cecero’s return to Fordham follows six years of service as the provincial of the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus. He previously served at the University as an associate professor of psychology from 1998 to 2013 and is a tenured member of the psychology faculty here. He was a member of the Fordham Board of Trustees from 2008 to 2014, serving as chair of its mission and identity committee, and was the rector of the Fordham Jesuit Community from 2007 to 2013.

He received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in 1996; master’s of divinity and theology degrees in 1988 and 1989, respectively, from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology (now the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry); and a bachelor’s degree in French and philosophy from Gonzaga University in 1982. He was ordained to the priesthood in June 1989.

Father Cecero completed a one-year clinical internship at the Boston VA Hospital and a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship in substance abuse treatments at Yale University’s Department of Psychiatry. He continues to give workshops and presentations on spirituality, addiction, mental health, and inspirational leadership to clergy and religious. He has published widely on lifetrap theory and practice, and he is the author of Praying Through Our Lifetraps: A Psycho-Spiritual Path to Freedom, a book-length guide published in 2002 by Resurrection Press. He is also the author of a series of audio presentations that were produced in 2009 under the title Spirituality, Psychology and Virtue: A Catholic’s Guide to a Flourishing Life.

As vice president for Mission Integration and Ministry, Father Cecero is responsible for the advancement of the Jesuit and Catholic mission of the University, in collaboration with other departments and offices across the University. In this role, he oversees the Office of Campus Ministry, the Center for Community Engaged Learning, and the Center on Religion and Culture.

I want to thank Father McCarthy for his long and transformative service as vice president for Mission Integration and Planning—the first person to serve in that expanded role. Father Mick, as most of Fordham knows him, has been a steady presence and a good friend. He is a well-liked and highly respected colleague, and we will miss him greatly. He will be taking a one-year sabbatical before moving on to a new assignment at the request of his provincial.

In Father Cecero we have a leader of intellectual substance, strong faith, and deep understanding of the human condition. He is an accomplished academic, administrator, and author, and a highly regarded psychotherapist. I look forward to working with him on the cabinet for his wise counsel and warm collegiality, and I believe he is exactly the right choice to lead Mission Integration and Ministry following the turbulent academic year we have just completed. I know you all join me in giving him a warm welcome back to Fordham.

Sincerely,

Joseph M. McShane, S.J.