Rev. Patrick Conroy, S.J. spills his cup of coffee. It flows around a jar of chocolates sitting on the table and splashes onto his leather chair. But Conroy isn’t fazed. “It’s a good thing you weren’t sitting in that chair,” he joked, cleaning up the mess. “Then you really would have had a story.”
Conroy’s positive attitude will be missed when he leaves Georgetown this December. He is well known around campus as the founder and director of the popular ESCAPE program, a retreat for first-years and transfer students.
The Jesuit Order is transferring Conroy to Beaverton, Ore., just outside of Portland, where he has been appointed superior of the religious community at Jesuit High School.
“My leaving Georgetown doesn’t have anything to do with my evaluation at Georgetown, or my happiness here, or my work here,” he said. “It’s just that I’m needed by the Jesuits to do something else.”
“I’m not upset to leave. It’s a good move,” he added.
As he sat in his Healy office, surrounded by Georgetown and ESCAPE paraphernalia, he remarked that he has mixed feelings about leaving Georgetown behind. “I very much enjoyed the cultural, racial, and religious diversity at Georgetown,” he said. “Portland is a major West Coast port, but it’s not a major crossroads of the world-I’ll miss that.”
“I’m from the West Coast, and I think I’ll enjoy being back in a place where the pace isn’t as urgent,” he said.
As superior of the Jesuit community in Oregon, Conroy expects that he will be involved with faculty and parents, as well as students. As the only Jesuit under the age of 70 at the high school, he will be doing work in campus ministry similar to the work he does here at Georgetown, organizing masses and retreats.
The ESCAPE program, which Conroy founded in 1990 will continue in his absence.
Sam Buchan, ESCAPE Coordinator, is confident the program will stand on its own. “He’s set up a very strong base for the ESCAPE program, and he’s brought a lot of himself into it,” Buchan said. “Even though he’s leaving, the ESCAPE program is so solid because of all the work that’s gone into it through the years to set it up. It will be able to carry on and be just as strong a program.”
ESCAPE leader Meaghan Remshard (CAS ‘05) noted that it is Conroy’s positive outlook that is making his departure bearable for those who know him. Many are not taking the news so well. Remshard recalls that when Conroy announced his departure at the first ESCAPE meeting many students broke down in tears.
“I honestly can’t imagine life at Georgetown without Fr. Pat”, she said.
Remshard said that of all the Jesuits on campus, Conroy is the most connected with student life. She believes that his absence will “take away a really important link between the Jesuits and the student community.”
“It’s an amazing relationship that he has with this campus and this community. He’s a figure that everyone knows on this campus,” Buchanan said.
Wishing to dispel rumors that Jess Sauer, S.J. will be replacing Conroy as director of ESCAPE, Conroy emphasizes that nobody has been chosen to assume that position as of yet. Sauer, who is living with the Jesuit Community this year, will be helping with the program after Conroy’s departure.
Glancing over to his guitar propped up against the wall of his office, Conroy added that the person that replaces him as ESCAPE Leader does not have to be musically inclined.
“The person that replaces me doesn’t have to play the guitar,” he said. That’s not part of the job description.”
