Fordham’s Office of University Mission and Ministry has received a $1 million gift, the largest gift in the office’s history. It is intended by its donors to bolster the University’s Catholic and Jesuit identity, particularly through the Global Outreach and Retreat Ministry programs.

“In today’s world, we deal with a great number of searchers and seekers among our students,” said Msgr. Joseph G. Quinn, vice president for Mission and Ministry. “Our hope is always to help them discover what they believe and find where they belong.”

With deadlines and digital distractions, it’s sometimes difficult for students to tap into the wealth of spiritual offerings that make Fordham unique—even among its Jesuit peers, said Paul Francis, director of Global Outreach, the service immersion program that coordinates more than 30 national and international trips annually.

“I don’t know of any other school that has as many in-depth projects as we have at Global Outreach, nor as much participation,” said Francis.

Erin Hoffman, director of Ignatian spiritual programs, said the same goes for the Retreat Ministry. “Other schools may have more, but we offer a variety, from interfaith, to silent retreats, on-campus retreats, and much more.”

Both said that neither program lacks for participation, and that the gift will help meet increased demand. It will also assist students who might not otherwise be able to afford to participate.

Getting away from campus for either program incurs a significant expense. In the case of spiritual retreats, a weekend can cost approximately $100 a night per student. For Global Outreach, the international abroad trips can run as high as $3,000, and even local projects cost about $250.

“Up until now, we’ve had minimal recourses to help underwrite these programs,” said Msgr. Quinn. “In the past, for example, Global Outreach students would have to raise the to total sum of money needed for each project.”

Msgr. Quinn further said, however, that mere monetary value could not be placed on the outcomes.

“The ultimate results can be transformative,” he said. “They can help our students discern what they truly want to do with their lives.”

Hoffman said she sometimes uses the analogy of a military retreat to describe the spiritual retreat experience.

“You take a step back from the battle, maybe heal your wounds, take rest, and re-strategize,” she said. “But the retreat doesn’t end there. You bring it back to you day-to-day life with a renewed sense of your relationship with God and yourself.”

Francis said that similarly Global Outreach incorporates a significant amount of Ignatian reflection.

“Students become contemplatives in action,” he said, describing the ritual of having them share where they found new insights or discovered friendships at the end of each service day.

“For some the gifts are evident immediately. For others it may be two months down the road,” he said. “It’s a great way to learn lessons for a lifetime.”

Msgr. Quinn, Francis, and Hoffman all said that spiritual learning is the major thrust of Mission and Ministry—whether it’s through the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice, the Center for Religion and Culture, Global Outreach, or Campus Ministry.

“It’s so easy to opt out of community and say ‘Oh, wait, let me just send this text,’ rather than engage and ask, ‘What did we learn today?’” said Francis.

The gift was made through The Brian and Joelle Kelly Family Foundation.

In 1984, as president of the Fordham College Alumni Association, O’Neill was working with the Office of Alumni Relations on social and cultural programming for alumni, when he realized that a spiritual component was absent. “With their help, we set in motion the retreats,” he says, at Inisfada, the St. Ignatius Retreat House, and Mount Manresa Jesuit Retreat House.

The annual retreats, which are based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, provide alumni, family, and friends a quiet haven for contemplation, prayer, and fellowship. This year, the retreats will welcome alumni to the Immaculate Conception Seminary in Huntington, N.Y. (March 28-30), and Loyola House of Retreats in Morristown, N.J. (April 4-6).

“I’ve never had anyone say that it wasn’t worth it or anything negative,” O’Neill says of the retreats. “It’s always positive.” 

Along with spending time with his family—wife of 55 years, Pat, a 1990 alumna of the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education, and their son, James, daughter-in-law, Ellen, and grandsons, Seamus and Liam—O’Neill finds much meaningful work in his retirement.The Long Island native, who commuted to the Rose Hill campus every day in the early 1950s to study economics, went on to a career in sales. For the majority of his career, he sold advertising time for many New York radio stations, including WNEW-AM and WINS. Later, O’Neill worked as a broker, selling group medical and life insurance, before retiring two years ago.

He participates in the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, which provides adults age 50 and older opportunities to grow in their Christian faith and work in the Jesuit tradition to serve people in need. For seven years, he’s volunteered twice a week to tutor students in English, math, and social studies at the De La Salle School, a Catholic middle school in Freeport, Long Island.

A devoted Fordham alumnus, O’Neill regularly returns to the campuses. He served as chair of his class’s 25th Jubilee reunion in 1980, and comes back to the annual reunion every five years. He is a season ticket holder for men’s basketball games, and a member of Maroon Club and Rebounders Club, two of Fordham athletics’ support groups. He also makes monthly visits to the Lincoln Center campus as co-founder of the Alumni Career Continuance Support Group.

O’Neill and co-founder Bob Miller, FCRH ’55, held the first meeting of the career group in February 1994, but the idea came to them the year before, when O’Neill, an independent insurance broker, was seeking a new job. He contacted Miller, a principal in a New Jersey-based career outplacement and consulting service, for help. After O’Neill landed a job, the two decided to form the Career Continuance Support Group to share their career advice and expertise with the Fordham community.

“When people come back and say, ‘I start my new job next week,’ that’s enough to say why we do it,” says O’Neill. “When we first started, I asked Bob, ‘How many people do we need to be successful?’ He said, ‘one.’ So if we can help one person, then we are successful.”Over the many years, the two men have helped hundreds of Fordham alumni and friends who are out of work, contemplating a career change, or searching for more meaningful employment.

The group’s sessions, held on the last Saturday of each month, cover resume writing, interviewing, the role of the Internet, and many other topics. “Only one session canceled in 20 years,” O’Neill says. “Due to the weather.”

And save for another severe winter storm in New York City, they won’t miss a second session. The next one, on Feb. 22, celebrates the 20th anniversary of the group.

“It’s amazing to see the growth [of the University], and to still be a part of it,” says O’Neill.

“Fordham means a lot to me. I’ve tried to do my share of giving back.”

– Rachel Buttner