Santa Clara University

Practicing What We Preach

Paul Locatelli, S.J.

President, Santa Clara University

Published in San Jose Mercury News on March 29, 2002

As a Roman Catholic, a priest, and a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) I am deeply troubled by the incidents of sexual abuse by priests which have been reported in the national press over the past few months and, more recently, here in Silicon Valley.

My heart goes out to the victims and their families even as I realize that no words can lessen the pain and suffering that they have experienced. Could there be any betrayal worse than what was done by those who claimed to represent God?

At the same time, I hope that the public, in reacting with justifiable anger to these tragic events, will keep in mind that roughly 95 percent of priests are living their call to serve the people of God with integrity and faithfulness. (As bishops have removed abusers from the ministry, the percentage of trustworthy priests is now even greater. Of course, even leaving one abuser in the clergy would be too much.) While I cannot speak for every priest, I am sure that we share with the Catholic community the same anger, sadness, and dismay over the scandal. I am further embarrassed by the failure of leadership that has exacerbated the scandal.

As university president, I have a special concern for young people of all ages, and particularly our current and future students. College age women and men don't need another reason to distrust large institutions and people in authority --- but that is precisely what this current crisis forces on them. If young people come to us with more skepticism about religious leaders, more distrust of institutions and authority, and more doubt about the relevance of faith and spirituality in their lives, how are we to respond as a Jesuit, Catholic university?

Our best response is to practice what we preach. The ideal of a Santa Clara education is to integrate rigorous intellectual inquiry, ethical principles, and compassion for all, especially the vulnerable and fragile. These characteristics are essential to the leadership development we emphasize with our students.

If - as a university community - we are to teach and learn leadership, our words and actions must model what we teach. Good leaders do things right. We call that "competence." Good leaders also do the right thing. We call that "conscience." Excellent leaders demonstrate personal integrity and solidarity with the fragile and vulnerable. Because they personally know their own fragility, they appreciate vulnerability in ways that move them to protect the fragile and less fortunate. We call that "compassion."

At this Jesuit, Catholic university, we will do our best to model the ideals of competence, conscience, and compassion in the weeks and months ahead. We will create opportunities to discuss what has happened, how the community can become healed and more rooted in faith as a result of this time of testing, how Church leaders can meet their responsibilities better in the future, and how our students, faculty, and staff can help ministers of all faiths regain the trust that is supposed to come with their office.

We must begin with a profound concern for the victims. We pray that they will heal and that justice will be served. We also pray for those who committed these wrongs, because forgiving - not forgetting - is an essential part of being a compassionate community.

We will examine what it means to lead from the core of our humanity and faith, the only wellsprings for the leadership we desperately need in these times.

We will serve as a forum to search for the truth and discover ways to address the complex issues of human exploitation and innocent suffering.

We will strive to do our best to lead by example and to serve by listening. We will not shy away from the truth, nor tolerate rumors and slander. We will remember that this is about actual people who are - like all of us at one time or another - innocent, trusting, fallible, struggling, vulnerable, disconcerted and shattered.

It is in the most difficult times that leaders are born and tested. And, it is in the most difficult times that young people in the process of forming their adult characters need places and people who will challenge and support them to live with integrity, courage, and a commitment to service.

No authentic university can be a museum of ideas or a refuge from the suffering that pervades our planet. A Jesuit, Catholic university must wrestle with the full universe of human experience in all its promise and all its tragedy. If we cannot look squarely at this scandal in our midst, we should close our doors.