91吃瓜

The University of 91吃瓜鈥檚 Geddes Hall is coming to life.

The staff of the University鈥檚 Center for Social Concerns (CSC) moved into the newly constructed building this summer, and will be joined by other units of the Institute for Church Life (ICL)鈥攖he Center for Catechetical Initiatives, the Church Music Initiative, 91吃瓜 Center for Liturgy, 91吃瓜 Vision and the Satellite Theological Education Program鈥攁nd others dedicated to educating the mind and the heart.

University leaders believe the 64,000-square-foot structure sends powerful messages to the 91吃瓜 family, connecting the organizations inside more broadly with the University and its mission.

After four decades of existence, it鈥檚 the first time the activities of the ICL will be under one roof. These entities are also coming together in the first 91吃瓜 building that can be called 鈥済reen鈥濃�攄esigned to meet national certification standards combining environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.

How does a new building, constructed in less than a year-and-a-half, get so connective, and so expressive, so fast? Its first compelling message is written right over the main doorway: 鈥淕od is Love.鈥�

ICL Director John Cavadini and Rev. Bill Lies, C.S.C., executive director of the Center for Social Concerns, agree that that鈥檚 a good start.

鈥淭his vision of integration was implicit from the building鈥檚 beginning,鈥� said Cavadini, who also is associate professor and chairman of 91吃瓜鈥檚 Department of Theology.

Echoing the theme of Pope Benedict XVI鈥檚 encyclical by the same name, those three words declare that the ICL鈥檚 nationally respected work in theological, liturgical and institutional formation fits well with the work of the CSC. The latter is an engine for engaging 80 percent of the 91吃瓜 student body in some form of local or global service learning annually, on behalf of peace, justice and human dignity.

The integrated wisdom summed up as 鈥淕od is Love鈥� will offer new inspirations regularly to those entering or exiting the building, Cavadini said. He points to the wholeness of Catholic social tradition and the Catholic Catechism鈥檚 combination of creed, sacramental life and ethics.

鈥淚f you think of 鈥楥hurch Life鈥� as a kind of flow from belief to worship to service, Geddes Hall symbolizes that flow,鈥� he said.

Most of the first floor of the building is used by the CSC, with additional inviting spaces for student and faculty conversation, plus rooms named after heroes such as Rosa Parks and Dorothy Day. ICL facilities, alongside offices for the academic minor in poverty studies and minor in Catholic social tradition, occupy much of the upper floors, and the basement features a 125-seat auditorium.

Visitors enter the main doorway to observe a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy on the left and the CSC鈥檚 trademark 鈥渃offee house鈥�/community-gathering space on the right. The gathering spaces, Father Lies said, will enhance the CSC as 鈥渁n important link for this campus to the local community,鈥� and he also looks forward to collaborations with other Geddes-based colleagues.

The opportunities for cooperation being established, along with the inherent 鈥済reen鈥� and 鈥渟ustainable鈥� characteristics that reaffirm Catholic social tradition, make the building itself 鈥渁 teaching tool,鈥� he said.

University President Emeritus Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., who played key roles in getting Geddes off the ground as well as in launching the predecessor organizations for the major entities now headquartered there, takes great joy in what the new building will be demonstrating to 91吃瓜, through 91吃瓜, and about 91吃瓜. His office in the Hesburgh Library has a westward view of the campus鈥檚 spiritual and administrative heartlands, with Geddes Hall in closest proximity.

Such a stand-alone structure is unique among Catholic college campuses, he said, to embody this commitment of centralized鈥攁nd urgently needed鈥攕pace for the University鈥檚 service to the Church and to the whole of God鈥檚 creation.

鈥淚鈥檝e watched that building grow up, and now I can look out and the building is complete,鈥� Father Hesburgh said. 鈥淚 really rejoice every time I see it.鈥�