Last Friday, Oct. 2, 2015, as the Rev. Timothy Lannon, S.J., and the Rev. John Schlegel, S.J., placed the presidential chain around the Rev. Daniel Hendrickson, S.J.’s neck, Creighton University officially welcomed its 25th President.
The placing of the chain was the climax of a two-day Inaugural celebration that included a Missioning Mass and Installation Ceremony.
The Mass took place Thursday, Oct. 1st in St. John’s Church on Creighton’s campus. More than 60 priests from Jesuit schools across the nation, local faith communities and Creighton’s own Jesuit community concelebrated with Hendrickson and his twin brother, the Rev. Scott Hendrickson, S.J., alongside the principal celebrant, the Rev. Thomas Lawler, S.J., Provincial of the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus, who ultimately offered the official missioning.
Among the concelebrants were the Rev. William Dedinger, Bishop Emeritus of Grand Island, Nebraska, Rt. Rev. Raphael Walsh, O.S.B., and Abbot Theodore Wolff, O.S.B., (Walsh and Wolff are both Abbots Emeritus at Mount Michael Abbey where Hendrickson attended high school) and the Rev. Brian Paulson, S.J., Provincial of the Chicago-Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus.
Many students, alumni, faculty, staff and other friends of Creighton attended the Mass, creating a sea of blue in the pews. The Church itself was also dressed up for the event, most prominently featuring a one-of-a-kind altar cloth created especially for the celebration. The cloth was painted for the Mass by artist Maureen Beat, who also works as an administrative assistant in the Creighton EDGE office. The cloth depicted vibrant images of a kingfisher bird, dragonfly, globe and flames in keeping with the Inaugural theme “As Kingfishers Catch Fire.”
Something else at the altar really caught the congregation’s attention: namely, the mirror effect created by the Hendrickson brothers standing to either side of Lawler. Several students described the scene as a “Hendrickson sandwich.”
Scott Hendrickson, in fact, gave the homily at the Missioning Mass. Scott’s words to his brother and the congregation at large focused on the Holy Spirit, the mission of Jesuit Education and how these two define the life and work of his brother Daniel.
“To allow the Holy Spirit to work within oneself is to be transformed,” Scott said. “And that transformation is at the core of Jesuit education.”
Thus, it was a host of Jesuit educators who sat before President Hendrickson the next day as he prepared to be inaugurated once and for all as Creighton’s 25th University President.
Creighton faculty processed into the Ryan Athletic Center along with student representatives, administrators, board members and other officials of the University on Friday afternoon for the Installation Ceremony. Along with the hundreds of students and guests who attended the event, they listened as members of both the local and wider communities offered their blessings, congratulations and charges to President Hendrickson.
Representing the Omaha community were the most reverend George Lucas, Archbishop of Omaha, and Omaha mayor Jean Stothert.
Lucas and Stothert charged President Hendrickson with continuing the positive work he is already doing for Creighton and Omaha. Stothert expressed her hope that, under the leadership of President Hendrickson, Creighton might maintain its status as a cornerstone of education and citizenship within Omaha.
“Serve your students and our city through the Jesuit traditions that have built the University into a nationally-recognized school of excellence — graduating thoughtful, active leaders who will remain engaged in our community,” Stothert charged.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and College of St. Mary President Maryanne Stevens, R.S.M., Ph.D., also offered their greetings and charges.
Stevens spoke of President Hendrickson’s need to “go against the current” in his work at Creighton, acting as a visionary and pioneer.
“In this way you will build on the legacy of those who have gone before you and further our understanding of what it means to be a great Catholic university,” Stevens said.
Following these words from the greater community were congratulations and charges from within Creighton itself. Representatives from the Creighton faculty, staff, alumni and student communities offered their own charges for President Hendrickson.
Bartholomew Clark, R.Ph., Ph.D., President of Creighton’s Faculty Council, encouraged President Hendrickson to “promote that robust Ignatian culture of inquiry, dialogue, debate and discernment that guides us in our adherence to Creighton’s mission.”
Creighton Student Union President, Kayman Nixon, struck a tender note, welcoming President Hendrickson as the “25th father of our Creighton family.”
Following all of the calls to action and service, President Hendrickson himself came forward to speak, offering his perspective on this newly assumed role and his vision for the future of the University.
President Hendrickson spoke of his local roots, his experiences as a student at Mount Michael Benedictine Abbey and Marquette University, his time at Creighton as a teacher and trustee and the many individuals and role models along the way who influenced his concept of Jesuit education.
He praised, in particular, two figures from Jesuit history who have inspired his thinking and whose lives and work serve as a springboard for his own mission at Creighton. President Hendrickson keeps the spirit of intercultural engagement of the Rev. Mateo Ricci, S.J., and the challenge to be rooted in service offered by the Rev. Pedro Arrupe, S.J., in mind as he lays out his aims for the University.
“The need for us to study the landscape of our own lives is prescient, and the need for us for understanding the conditions and realities of those around us is just as urgent,” President Hendrickson said.
President Hendrickson believes that, “we are poised to meet such needs.”
This is true now more than ever, as President Hendrickson announced two new initiatives that are taking form within Creighton.
The first, for which $3.6 million has already been raised, is the Creighton Global Initiative. According to President Hendrickson, the initiative is “designed to strengthen global perspective at Creighton,” by fostering opportunities for international immersion, discussion of diversity and multicultural realities, engagement in the Omaha community and promotion of the University’s focus on pressing global issues.
The second announcement presented the Creighton Catholic Social Teaching Fund, made possible by two anonymous donors. “These resources will be used to bring attention to issues of social injustice and . . . will ensure that Creighton continues its leadership in promoting human dignity in its many forms; thereby, strengthening its Jesuit Catholic mission,” Hendrickson said.
These initiatives are ways that President Hendrickson is already demonstrating his “more”-centered attitude. He referred back to the theme of “As Kingfishers Catch Fire,” citing a line in the poem that reads, “I say more.” President Hendrickson has taken the poem, and this line in particular, to heart, as a call toward an educational environment that recognizes true beauty and strives for genuine service in the Ignatian spirit.
“Creighton keeps saying, ‘I say more,’” President Hendrickson said. “And today, in my new role as your new president, I do likewise.”
Vice Provost of Mission and Ministry, Eileen Burke-Sullivan, S.T.D., concluded the Installation Ceremony with a benediction, calling upon God to guide the new president.
“We ask You to draw forth from Daniel the fruits of the many gifts You have given, developed, honed, refined and celebrated within him: fruits of mature wisdom, clear understanding, patient council, courageous integrity, discerned knowing, authentic knowing and charity that surpasses understanding,” Burke-Sullivan said.
These are the gifts that will guide President Hendrickson through his time here at Creighton. Together, they form the image of the University’s new leader and will serve as fuel for all the “more” he has in store.