Ask a first-year student to name a Jesuit priest at Georgetown, and “Father Pat” will most likely be their response. What’s really surprising is that he could probably name them as well. Rev. Patrick Conroy, S.J. has been well known during his years at Georgetown as a Jesuit who knows students, and the students will miss him when he leaves for Jesuit High School in Oregon in December.
Out of all the faculty and administration on any college campus, only a small minority interact consistently with students outside of the classroom or the office, and those that do are often considered treasures for their ability to bridge that gap. While they may not bring a school the national headlines it can gain with the addition of a blockbuster academic, they immeasurably enrich the students’ experience at a university-far more, it could be said, than the students’ knowledge that they share a campus with a famed scholar.
At a Jesuit university, it is especially important that at least a few of those local treasures be Jesuits. Conroy has been such a treasure to Georgetown in the 14 years he has served here. He learns student’s names, he seeks them out, and he has possibly done more than any other Jesuit here to make Jesuit values relevant to the experience of all students.
In 1990, he founded ESCAPE, a retreat available to all students that is non-religious, yet incorporates aspects of traditional Jesuit spiritualism. No other campus activity that integrates Jesuit values with more secular aspects of student life is anywhere near as popular. Many Georgetown students cite ESCAPE as one of their best experiences at the University. The program will continue without Conroy.
“It’s an amazing relationship that he has with this campus and this community. He’s a figure that everyone knows on this campus,” said Sam Buchan, ESCAPE Coordinator.
With Conroy’s departure, the University will lose its most visible representative of the Jesuit Community. For the University’s Jesuit identity to remain an essential element of the Georgetown experience, someone must take his place. There will always be students who identify as Catholic, and who naturally seek out the Jesuit community for guidance and mentoring. But for the value of a Jesuit education to reach the entire student body, Georgetown would do well to find another who will reach out to students with the same spark and enthusiasm.
