The Boston College Peter Canisius Professor will kick off a series of conversations around the Jesuit tradition of radical hospitality.
At Fairfield University, radical hospitality animates how we reach for the magis, the more, by extending beyond who we are and what we know to the boundaries of knowledge — to achieve academic excellence through inclusivity.
— Jocelyn M. Boryczka, PhD, Associate Vice Provost for Scholarly, Creative, and Community Engagement
Earlier this month, Fairfield University welcomed Class of 2023 students at the First-Year Academic Gathering on the Bellarmine lawn. As is customary, a faculty member was selected to deliver a keynote to welcome students to Fairfield and to challenge them with a call to action. This year Jocelyn M. Boryczka, PhD, associate vice provost for scholarly, creative, and community engagement, presented to students the idea of the Jesuit tradition of radical hospitality — the idea of making people feel welcome.
To continue a series of conversations surrounding radical hospitality, the fourth pillar of Fairfield’s Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Mission Statement, moral theologian James Keenan, S.J., will deliver a keynote entitled “Vulnerable to Radical Hospitality” on Thursday, October 3, 2019 at 5 p.m. in the Barone Campus Center. A reception will follow at 6:15 p.m. First-Year students who attend will receive FYE Thrive credit.
Keenan is Canisius Professor and director of the Jesuit Institute at Boston College. His research interests include university ethics, fundamental moral theology, and Church leadership ethics, among others. The courses he teaches include "Fundamental Moral Theology," "Ethical Issues of HIV/AIDS," and "Twentieth Century Catholic Moral Theology." Keenan has been published widely and is author of several books including University Ethics: Why Colleges Need A Culture of Ethics and Doing Catholic Theological Ethics in a Cross Cultural and Interreligious Asian, forthcoming.
"At Fairfield University, radical hospitality animates how we reach for the magis, the more, by extending beyond who we are and what we know to the boundaries of knowledge — to achieve academic excellence through inclusivity," said Dr. Boryczka. “We are all members of a global community where the world becomes our home. We are called to receive others, to engage with diverse peoples, and to welcome and be welcomed in the process. Remembering marginalized others and our histories, welcoming and being welcomed, and belonging to a diverse global community mark the three steps in the practice of radical hospitality.”
