Page 2 - CROSSROADS - February 1979
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK
As private colleges have emphasized their distinc
tiveness to contrast with public institutions, questions of
identity continue to surface. Some private institutions
are asking what it means to be Christian, others, what it
means to be Catholic, some others, what it means to be
bo:h Christian and Catholic. The resolution of the
identity question is essential to the future vitality of the
Catholic college; this question must be answered in both
the philosophical and the practical order. At Belmont
Abbey College the Long-range Planning Committee will
be charged with the responsibility of re-examining the
College’s Christian and Catholic identity.
If was encouraging to note that our Holy Father, J(^
PpuI II, directed his comments to this subject so early in
hi> pontificate, when he received in audience seven
thousand Turstees, professors, students, and friends of
Italy's Catholic University of the Sacred Heart on 8
December 1978. The occasion was the first centenary of
the birth of the University’s fYanciscan founder. Father
Agostino Gemelli. In his comments, the Pope for the
most part articulated the educational philosophy of
Father Gemelli. His observations were a stimulus to me
and I want to share them with you.
Education in a Catholic college must be centered in the
individual pe/son, endowed with certain physical,
psychical, and spiritual capacities, conditioned by
certain environmental factors, weakened by certain
illnesses, straining towards the conquest of certain
ideals. The primary aim of education is to assist the
person “to think well because thought makes man’s
greatness. In right thought lies the premise for right
action, and in right action lies the hope of a lasting
solution for the serious evils that torment mankind.”
Because of the limitations of human reasoning, faith is
Alumni Weekend ’79
Schedule of Events
Friday, March SO, 1979
9 p.m. - Informal welcome co-sponsored by the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Alumni Association, Piedmont
Room (2nd floor), Quality Inn (1-85 at Mulberry Rd.).
Saturday, March 31,1979
10:30-11:30 a.m. - Breakfast in Maurus Dining Hall
(BAC).
12 noon-1 p.m. - General Alumni Meeting in library
Auditorium (spouses are also invited).
1-2 p.m. - The Bookstore, the Alumni Office,.and the
Development Office and other campus facilities will be
open.
1 p.m. - Student hosts will provide campus tours
starting at the front of the Administration Building.
1:30 p.m. - Alumni basketball game - class of ’69 vs.
’74.
2 p.m. - Tennis match-BAC vs Centre College (Ky.).
6 p.m. - Cocktail party-open bar-in the Abbot Vincent
Taylor Library.
7:30 p.m. - Alumni Banquet-Maurus Dining Hall
highlighting the classes of 1949,1954,1969 and 1974 and
honoring Dr. Gilbert Farley (’40) and Mr. J.P. Smith
(’35).
9 p.m.-l a.m. - Alumni Dance-Haid College Union
Building (BYOB).
Sunday, April 1,1979
9 a.m. - Mass-Belmont Abbey Church.
10 a.m. - Breakfast-Maurus Dining Hall.
Spouse or Guest Name.
I plan to stay at the Quality Inn and I will make
reservations before March 23, 1979.
Detach and mail to Belmont Abbey College, Alumni Office,
Belmont, ,NC 28012 no later than March 20. 1979. Include a 110.00
per person deposit. Please make check payable to Belmont
Abbey College.
Total amoiut enclosed |_
Father Neil W. Tobin
necessary to answer the fundamental problems of
human existm:e.
“We must go back to God, not to just any God
presented to us by a natural rdigion, but to a If^g God,
to Jesus Christ, the siqireme reason for our life, the
supreme beauty to contemplate, the supreme goodness
to imitate, the supreme reward to reach.” (A. Gemelli,
“La funzione religiosa deUa culture,” in Vita E Pen-
siero, April 1919.) In such a vision of education, the
Word of God in the Scriptures stimulates and
str«igthens the human intdligence individually and in
the community of scholars, “who are sustained by the
joyful awareness of possessing tc^ether the ultimate
answer to ultimate problems; a commumty of men and
women, above all, who endeavor to incarnate in their
existoice and in the social environment to which they
belong the proclamation of salvation...”
Pope John Paul II concludes by stressing the im
portance of the Catholic college’s commitment to a
distinct faithfulness to the Qiurdi, to the Pope and the
Bishops, as well as to the local ecclesial community.
Here there is a vision of education which aj^edates
htnnanism, but goes beyond it to satisfy the yearnings of
the human person. In our deliberations about the
Christian and Catholic identity of Belmont Abbey
Collie, we will be giving serious amsideration to these
fundamentals. We ask your prayers so that we will be
faithful to our Christian and Catholic roots.
IfhuJL '' ^
Father Neil W. Tobin
President
EDWARD F. G4T.LAGHER
Area Alumnus Honored
ALUMNI WEEKEND 1979
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Mr. Edward F. “Bud”
Gallagher, an alumnus of the
class of 1931 and one of the most
loyal and generous friends
Belmont Abbey College has
ever had, was honored by his
close business associates,
members of his family, and
friends on December 20 at a
luncheon held at the Gaston
Country Club in Gastonia, N.C.
Mr. Gallagher, co-founder of
Good Will, Inc. when the firm
was established some forty-four
years ago, served as its
president and chairman of the
board for more than thirty
years until he stepped down
recently. He now serves as a
vice president of the Gastonia-
based company which publishes
and distributes Bibles and in
spirational books. The firm has
sales people located throughout
the United States and in several
foreign countries.
The highlight of the luncheon
was the formal presentation to
Mr. Gallagher of two Bibles
published by Good Will and
richly hand-bound in leather by
the R.R. Donnelley Company, a
Chicago firm that has printed
many of Good Will’s
publications over the past
quarter century. Mr. Gaylord
Donnelley came in person to
make the presentation. V Un
fortunately Mr. Gallagher was
ill and unable to attend. In his
absence, his wife Iva Lee
Gallagher accepted the gifts.
Father John P. Bradley, the
provost of Belmont Abbey
College and since 1952 a senior
editor at Good Will, was master
of ceremonies at the luncheon.
In introducing Mr. Gaylord
Donnelley, Father Bradley said
“It is unfortunate that the guest
of honor cannot be here today.
However, 1 can assure you that
Bud Gallagher and everyone
else at Good Will appreciate
deeply Mr. Gaylord Donnelley’s
coming here personally to honor
Bud.”
In making the presentation,
Mr. Donnelley underlined the
tremendous, contribution Mr.
Gallagher has made to the
publishing industry over so
many years - the reason why the
R.R. Donnelley Company
decided to honor him in a
special way. R.R. Donnelley,
one of the largest printing firms
in the United States, has over
the years printed literally
millions of inspirational books
published by Good Will.
Referring to this, Mr. Donnelley
said that his firm was happy to
have been so closely connected
with Bud Gallagher and Good
Will for so long.
Mr. Gallagher has been
dedicated to Belmont Abbey
College for many years. An
alumnus, a member of the
Board of Advisors from 1956 -
1976, and chairman of that
Board from 1970 - 1972, he was
awarded an honoraiy doctorate
(L.L.D.) by the College in 1961.
When the new Board of Trustees
was established in 1976 making
it possible for the first time in
the Collie’s history for lay
men and women to serve as
Trustees, Mr. GaUagher, most
fittingly, was one of the first
laymen elected to the Board.
Belmont Abbey CoUege joins
with the R.R. Donnelley
Company in congratulating Mr.
Gallagher and proudly
acknowledges the great debt of
gratitude owed to him by this
institution.
Iv'
■‘A'
Mr. Ekiward F. “Bud” Galla^er