On Nov. 1, the University president, Joseph Marina, S.J., sent a message to the University community celebrating both the Solemnity of All Saints and National Native American Heritage Month. Below is his note.
Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints. This is a sacred day in which we not only remember the great men and women of the Catholic faith who continue to provide us with good and holy example but also a special time to invoke their aid for the graces we desire. Many of us tend to gravitate toward St. Ignatius and other Jesuit role models in our prayers and our actions. Nothing wrong with that! But the Communion of Saints is far more expansive. It is comprised of those in Heaven along with those who live on Earth, all held together by the love of God and the ardent desire to share that love. The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it this way: “It is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather, that by this devotion to the exercise of charity, the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened (#957).
Also, November is National Native American Heritage Month. It is a time to celebrate cultures, traditions, histories, and to acknowledge the important contributions of the original inhabitants of our continent. This month is also a time to educate and raise awareness about the unique challenges and sufferings Native people and communities have faced historically and in the present.
The University of Scranton has officially adopted a Land Acknowledgment Statement to recognize and honor the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Lenape, the Munsee, the Shawnee and the Susquehannocks in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Statement reads:
The University of Scranton acknowledges the original inhabitants and nations…