One of the best parts of getting to teach at Saint Ignatius happens in the weeks surrounding Christmas break. That is when many of our college-aged alumni come back to visit their old school—usually in packs of two and three, proudly wearing their college swag—and catch us up on what is happening in their lives. I did it myself back in the ’80s because I had a sense then—as our young alumni do today—that the term alma mater means what it says, that this place was to them a “nourishing mother,” and that where they find their mother, they find their home.
Our college men returning home to visit is a tradition at Saint Ignatius, not unlike “the walk” freshman year to and from the Cathedral of St. John for the Mass of the Holy Spirit, pregame Mass with the football team, and the shenanigans of our seniors on their last day. It’s just something we do—and have done—seemingly forever.
But while all those things have become the norm in the last forty or so years, they haven’t always been. Traditions have to start somewhere. More importantly, once begun, they need to literally be “handed over.” Someone needs to keep the activity alive.
Saint Ignatius is replete with traditions, but it was last week that I was reminded of an excellent one.
Michael Costello ’22, returned home last week as the James E. Skerl ’74 Christian Manhood lecturer. Addressing the question “What does it mean to be a man?” Michael reminded his audience that the world has given them many different answers to that question, many of which revolve around ideas of conquest, domination, and monetary success. But he suggested a different approach, one centered on living lives of “service, servitude, and simplicity.”
While too humble to dwell on his impressive work with the Saint Ignatius Christian Action Team, or his considerable work at college with those he ministers to in prison or on the streets, the Marquette University junior nonetheless stressed to the members of the senior class the importance of living lives of service to others. He noted that he works side-by-side with women and men from a wide variety of backgrounds and professions when participating in his ministries.
Michael also spoke of developing an attitude of servitude, giving of oneself to others. In short, he emphasized the importance of being loving. In doing so, he reiterated the message of Jesus Who challenged His followers to love one another as He loved them—in a selfless, self-sacrificing way.
In all this, he stressed the virtue of simplicity in life, of being more caught up in relationships over things, of meaning over materialism. (Michael is putting his money where his mouth is—he is studying environmental science and will probably work in a non-profit NGO...not the most lucrative of professions, he admits).
Moreover, he emphasized the point that life can be relatively simple. Echoing the message of beloved former president Fr. Robert Welsh, S.J. ’54 (inscribed in stone on the mall) Michael told his audience, “If God calls you to do something, do it.”
And this is the point. Tom Healey ’77, founder of the lecture, noted that no one better captured the vision of Jim Skerl than Michael did in his remarks. There is an admirable trend among many (most?) American high schools and colleges—religious and secular—stress service learning in their curricula and co-curricular activities. Michael emphasized the importance of serving, challenging us to move outside of our comfort zones to give of ourselves to those in need. But he also reminded us that we do this because of our Christian faith: in short, he made clear that as Ignatians it is not enough simply to be good men, we should be Christian men. Men who “see the face of Christ” in those they serve and “be the face of Christ” as they do it.
It is a message that Jim Skerl delivered in the Christian Manhood class he developed forty-plus years ago and made an essential element of Christian Action Team initiatives.
Michael never knew Jim Skerl, but he knew those who knew him. The message of Christ-focused, others-centered service that was the hallmark of Jim’s life and work came to Michael through the witness and example of Tom Healey in his Christian Manhood class. It came through the witness of people like Amy Carroll and De’Shaun Adair ’14 when Michael was with them at L’Arche. It came through the example of people like Ed Plaspohl and Ed Nolan Hon. ’19 in the Labre ministry to the homeless. And, of course, this was a message shared with him by his parents.
“Tradition” is a key part of Catholic life—both in what we do and in what we believe. Tradition reminds us that the truths of the Faith are not arbitrary and they are not new. Even when invoking the gift of infallibility the Holy Father and/or the bishops go to great pains to show that teaching has been held, in the words of St. Vincent of Lerins, “everywhere, always, and by all” and that the teaching has its origins in Christ.
Jesus—echoing the prophets—called His disciples to serve “the least of [His] brothers and sisters” (Mt. 25). Those disciples handed that teaching over to their followers down to the Costello family, Jim Skerl, and those associated with Saint Ignatius and Marquette. They, in turn, shared this with Michael.
And last week it was MIchael’s turn to “hand over” the message of love of God and neighbor to his younger brothers gathered in the Breen Center.
Thus perpetuating the best tradition of Saint Ignatius High School.
A.M.D.G. / B.V.M.H.