Hard times — a Congress locked in venom and contempt for those with whom one must negotiate, “partisan” is a common adjective for elected officials at the national level; Detroit city caught in uncertainties about bankruptcy that stir mistrust and fear for the future; UDM negotiating a McNichols faculty contract turned acrimonious and hurtful.
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I’m in Denver for a meeting; the sun rose onto the Front Range of the Rockies s half hour ago. Serene and majestic, these mountains — Crisp dry air about 70º — a great recruitment poster for Regis University where I am meeting; of course tomorrow will be rainy with a high of 45º and snow showers; mountains can be volatile. And Denver is a city with city problems too. Regis works at engaging them as do we in Motown.
The mountains remind me of our home town, Detroit. One narrative defines “Detroit” as the home of ruins porn, corruption, and broken dreams. Another narrative, newer and fresher, defines “Detroit” as a home of renaissance, courage, and improbable creativity. Sometimes UDM has portrayed its strengths — a great faculty, excellent programs, a beautiful campus — as if we operate in a place-less bubble. dodging the word “Detroit.” Increasingly, though, I see signs that “Detroit” might become our best recruitment poster. A city already bustling with urbanity in its center, a city poised to teach other cities around the world how to restore battered neighborhoods, a university with guts and imagination, vital and alive right in the middle of that restoration.
Today’s word is not a poem but a little bit of history about our two core traditions, the Sisters of Mercy and the Jesuits:
When Catherine McAuley began the Sisters of Mercy (September 24, 1828) she had the gall and the wit to spend her inheritance building in the heart of Dublin (where the well-off held sway), a place of home and schooling for Dublin’s desperately poor women and their children. “The House of Mercy” still stands and remains the heart of the Sisters of Mercy world wide. St. Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, loved and believed in cities. He insisted that Jesuits look for places to live and work at the heart of cities. That is why Ignatius has his place, with 3 other founders of Catholic religious orders of men, in this moderately well-known saying, probably anonymous.
“Bernard loved the valleys
Benedict loved the mountains
Francis the towns . . .
Ignatius loved great cities.”
p.s. A correction from yesterday, embarrasing evidence that editors can create and then miss typo’s:
A poem for days of diminishing light
Here come the stars to character the skies,
And they in the estimation of the wise
Are more divine than any bulb or arc,
Because their purpose is to flash and spark,
But not to take away the precious dark.
We need the interruption of the night
To ease attention off when overtight,
To break our logic in too long a flight,
And ask us if our premises are right.
Robert Frost “The Literate Farmers and the Planet Venus”