Keep Dreaming Together

Dear Saint Mary’s Friends,

Like so many in our extended SMC family, all of us at Saint Mary’s are praying for the vitality and the strength of Pope Francis, who has suffered some recent health setbacks. 

My own meeting with the Holy Father last summer has left an indelible mark on me. He spoke eloquently about Catholic higher education, insisting that we must not become mere businesses: “A greater passion must animate the university,” he said, “as evidenced in a shared search for truth, a greater horizon of meaning, lived out in a community of knowledge where the liberality of love is palpable.” And a liberality of love is certainly palpable at Saint Mary’s College.

Perhaps my own heart is particularly full at this moment because news of Pope Francis’ illness intersected with the Gospel of Luke that was read at Sunday Mass this week—and that reading is about nothing if not about the “liberality of love.” It’s the very familiar passage where Jesus tells us: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you.” He asks us to turn the other cheek, to give up not just our coat but also our tunic, and he ultimately offers what we now call the Golden Rule: to “do unto others as you would have them do to you.”

Throughout the time that Francis has occupied the Chair of Saint Peter, he has urged us above all to love one another—and to form communities to build a better, more just, and more peaceful world. Recognizing the increasing divisiveness and discord in our world, he exhorts us to create unity and to “dream together” for a better future. 

This dream is consistent with the culture we strive to build at Saint Mary’s. And for this goal, there is no teaching of this pontiff more relevant than his beautiful 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, which promotes the Franciscan ideals of “fraternity” and “social friendship.” Saint Francis of Assisi spoke, after all, of familial relationships with all creation, and Pope Francis echoes his namesake, even as he focuses on “human fraternity.” Indeed the fraternity he speaks of “shatters the chains that keep us isolated and separate; in their place, it builds bridges”: “Love enables us to create one great family, where all of us can feel at home…Love exudes compassion and dignity.”

Using the parable of the good Samaritan as a touchstone that reminds us to love our neighbor as ourselves, Pope Francis says: “The parable clearly does not indulge in abstract moralizing, nor is its message merely social and ethical. It speaks to us of an essential and often forgotten aspect of our common humanity: we were created for a fulfillment that can only be found in love. We cannot be indifferent to suffering; we cannot allow anyone to go through life as an outcast.” At Saint Mary’s, we promote this common humanity, and our graduates bring it to the wider world. We encourage students to develop morals, values, and virtues, and—especially in these fraught times—we should also remind them that, as the Holy Father warns, “without charity, we may possess only apparent virtues, incapable of sustaining life in common.” 

Our shared life at the College is built around a symbol we all revere: the French Cross. Leaning on that symbol as a sign of unity, we can see the beautiful message in its structure. The cross itself stands for faith. The four arms of the cross, each one an anchor, represent hope. And the negative space created between each of the arms gives shape to four hearts, representing love. 

Fratelli Tutti speaks extensively of love, but also of the need for renewed hope in our world. The pope expresses concern that “in today’s world, the sense of belonging to a single human family is fading, and the dream of working together for justice and peace seems an outdated utopia.” But he also offers solutions. Love breaks down barriers and creates opportunities for encounter. Hope “can open us up to grand ideals that make life more beautiful and worthwhile.” “Unity,” he reminds us, “is greater than conflict.” 

So, let’s keep dreaming together.

Spes Unica,
Katie Conboy, Ph.D., President

February 28, 2025