The Ave Maria University 2024-2025 Academic Year opened with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Frank J. Dewane on Aug. 26, 2024.
Prior to the opening hymn, students carrying banners representing different Households of the resident halls of the university came forward. They were followed by faculty, dressed in their academic robes and seated up front while the students sat behind. Concelebrating the Mass with Bishop Dewane were the priests who serve the spiritual needs of the students on campus and in Ave Maria Parish.
The Bishop and priests wore red vestments, to mark the celebration of a Mass of the Holy Spirit, whereupon the community gathers to thank God for the gifts of creation and salvation and to seek the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit in the coming year.
Bishop Dewane called upon the Lord to bless the works of the faculty and staff of the university as they are dedicated to the task of building up the students on all levels, but most importantly in their spiritual and faith formation.
The Bishop welcomed new and returning students and noted that they have each been provided with a great opportunity to be at Ave Maria University and said he was praying that they find success in their studies. He encouraged the students to be open to hear the call of the Lord in their lives and to live that answer each day.
As students, they come to Ave Maria University with goals and dreams to enter into a profession or career, but the Bishop remarked how that is secondary to what their commitment to attending a Catholic University is all about.
“Your commitment must be about listening to the Lord and responding in a particular way,” Bishop Dewane continued.
One way to respond to the Lord, Bishop Dewane explained, was through living out a Gift of the Holy Spirit that must take a new meaning in our society and in their lives – civility.
“You need to search it out, and demonstrate one to the other, as civility is sadly often lacking in the world,” the Bishop said. “At the heart of civility is helping someone else through difficulty, and this is where civilization starts. Bring civility here to Ave Maria University and to your own life, and we must all ask ourselves: ‘Are we doing all we can to truly help others, or is it just a convenience?’”
As Jesus offered with His Sermon on the Mount – which the Bishop described as an inaugural address – we are all given a mission in life, that is to give dignity, respect and time to others, as we all “labor with Him under the banner of the Cross,” Bishop Dewane said. “It is in faith you join the Cross.”
The Bishop encouraged the students and faculty to recall the Sermon on the Mount frequently, and to recommit themselves to follow the agenda Jesus sets out, taking the opportunity during their time at Ave Maria University to grow closer to the Lord.
“It will make you more the man or woman of God the Lord calls you to be,” Bishop Dewane said. “You are a blessing, and have been given great opportunities and a mission, promoted by the Holy Spirit, to be civilized. That is, to stay with those who may fall along the way and to carry them to the safety of the Lord.”
Following the closing prayer, the Bishop presided over a commissioning ceremony for four new doctoral students in theology who received the mandatum. As part of the doctoral program, they will be engaged as instructors and teaching assistants for courses in Catholic theology at the University. As such, they are required to obtain the mandatum from the Local Bishop. The object of the mandatum is the content of the professor’s teaching, and thus the mandatum recognizes both the professor’s “lawful freedom of inquiry” and the professor’s commitment and responsibility to teach authentic Catholic doctrine and to refrain from putting forth as Catholic teaching anything contrary to the Church’s magisterium. As part of the ceremony, before Bishop Dewane and the entire school community, each made a Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity, vowing to remain faithful to the Teachings of the Church.
After the Mass the Bishop greeted the students who thanked him for his presence and inspiring homily.
