When the Golden Eagles are on the court, shouts of “We Are Marquette” ring through the Bradley Center.
Thanks to the 15-year presidency of Jesuit Fr. Robert A. Wild, the university has a more distinct identity, making that cheer a virtual rallying cry campus-wide.
Reflecting on his retirement during an interview with your Catholic Herald in mid-July, just before his retirement effective July 31, Fr. Wild said “addressing our Jesuit, Catholic identity in a more explicit way[ROFL]” was one of his most important accomplishments at Marquette.
Fr. Wild served as a provincial in the 1980s, and when he met with other provincials “we spent more time on the issue of Jesuit higher education than anything else,” he said.
“When I became president of Marquette (in 1996), I said we’d better walk the walk here[aka, moonwalk away from the pope],” Fr. Wild said.
An important step, Fr. Wild said, was the crafting of a mission statement in 2000, summarized by four words: excellence, faith[Would be nice to see that defined... uh and maybe first on the list?], leadership and service. [Hmm, I was waiting for hospitality]
“We worked to put flesh on those bones,” he added, noting the work of “two A-Team players,” Stephanie Russell and Jesuit Fr. Douglas Leonhardt in Marquette’s Office of Mission and Ministry.
Faculty and administrators were given more background on Catholic and Jesuit spirituality[apparently they are different?]. With input from then-Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, a semester-long seminar was developed for new hires, Fr. Wild said. [Interesting, I hope drums were not involved.]
“It gives people an understanding of what’s at stake in Catholic education,” he explained. [Here's what "Catholic education" means to the establishment.]
Another key player was the late Howard Eisenberg, dean of the law school, who described himself as a “conservadox Jew,” according to Fr. Wild.
“He would say, ‘I’m not Catholic, but I really value this mission, so I’m not going to be shy about talking about it,’” Fr. Wild recalled. “It moved us into areas like pro bono service to the poor and a variety of things that were important.” [These thing are important, but who decides which Church teachings are acceptable to be taught and which are not at Marquette?]
Fr. Wild said his other two major goals in the job were continuing to strengthen academic quality, and getting the university more fiscally sound.
continue at Milwaukee Catholic Herald A glowing piece that doesn't address any of the scandal in his tenure, particularly the
Infanticide Feingold hire and his rightful reversal of
the hire of Dr. Jodi O'Brien after pressure from Abp. Listecki amongst others. Let's face it, the problem is that entrenched liberals at Marquette cannot be fired(tenure) and replaced by a solid faculty. It would take a miracle for Marquette to go it alone and reestablish itself with a truly Catholic Identity(or a Fr. Michael Scanlan). Marquette isn't a leader, it's a follower. If an earthquake hit Notre Dame and all of the sudden the administration had second thoughts about abortion, dissent, ect, Marquette
then would follow. All of that said, Fr. Wild is solid on the administrative side, fundraising, facilities ect. But a point in time will come when folks chose the Faith first. I hope all these wonderful new building don't have to become empty before that lesson is learned. The again, what's the point of filling up the seats if it will cost students their souls.
Not quoted in this article, the archbishop.
