Note: This message was originally sent on March 15, 2023
This Friday is our founder’s birthday - Father Joseph Cataldo was born March 17, 1837. There are just a few other things happening on Friday, but I thought you might appreciate this reflection as we lean on the luck of the Irish to round out a good week for Zag Nation.
After his ordination as a Jesuit, Father Cataldo came to the U.S. where he led the Rocky Mountain Missions, a network of missions among Native American tribes in the West. He opened a small schoolhouse at St. Michael’s Mission in Spokane and then bought land along the Spokane River to build a college. He raised funds and oversaw the building of Gonzaga College, which opened in 1887. Father Cataldo then lived and worked among the Nez Perce people until his death at age 92 on April 9, 1928.
In honor of his birthday, I want to share with you a reflection provided to me by a thoughtful colleague. This is from Father Cataldo, taken from the unpublished manuscript of Joseph M. Cataldo, S.J. Collection, Spokane Indian Mission, 1865-1886 (housed at the Jesuit Archives and Research Center): “Don’t be proud, Blackgown, for our conversion. It was not you that converted us. … It is not your work but the work of God.”
Therein lies a statement of humility that is woven into the very fabric of Gonzaga and lives within each of you….. we do not want to take credit for the amazing things that take place at Gonzaga – that is the work of God. However, we are indeed grateful to God for each of you and the students we get to serve.
And to those students and the faculty who guide them, if you get a chance, please take in these two powerful videos offered by our colleagues in enrollment management and marketing and communications. These stories of courage are being shared with prospective students in this very moment as they discern if GU is the right fit for them.
- A cancer diagnosis, a school shooting, a serious back injury – student-athlete Rhea Jansen embodies what it means to be courageous on and off the court.
We get to feature these two and hundreds of other stories – the work of God – because you believe in this place and the way we bring our mission to life……. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Happy Birthday Father Cataldo, and Go Zags!