TLab Together

Casey C. Beaumier, S.J.
Haub Vice President, University Mission & Ministry
Director, Campus Ministry

When I speak with our parents and students at the various orientation sessions we offer in the summer, before freshman move-in, I have the opportunity to introduce them to the work that takes place within Boston College’s Division of Mission and Ministry. In those presentations, I emphasize first and foremost that we are a university and therefore a school of the mind. In addition to the school of the mind, however, Boston College has, through its Jesuit, Catholic mission, a school of the heart. It is this school of the heart that makes Boston College distinctive in the world of higher education.

By school of the heart, I mean those venues where the senses of the heart have an opportunity for their own formation. We know that the physical senses are the gateway to knowledge. We learn through the physical senses of the eyes, the ears, and so forth. Those senses are only half of what the fullness of humanity has been blessed with, however. Humans have interior senses, too—and a great formation provides opportunities for the eyes of the heart, the ears of the heart, etc., to be deepened and expanded as well. In fact, I believe that the highest that we can attain are those moments in human formation where the eyes of the heart are in communion with the physical eyes, where the ears of the heart are united with the physical ears. For we Christians, such moments are the pinnacle of the imitation of Christ, whom we believe to be both fully human and fully divine. Each of us are fully human—and each person has a share of divinity that has been entrusted to us. The exercise of those spiritual senses, therefore, and the mastery of integrating the spiritual senses into one’s person, is the quiet and steady formation process that occurs in the school of the heart.

The work of our Division of Mission and Ministry is to provide opportunities for all of our students, faculty, staff, and friends of Boston College to explore, exercise, and expand those senses of the heart. Examples of such opportunities include beautiful spaces on campus to stroll or to sit quietly. Linden Lane, for example, is a beautiful place for us to gaze upon the beauty of creation. Saint Mary Chapel is a beautiful place for quiet contemplation or communal worship.

Our retreat programming provides another opportunity for members of the university to grow in the school of the heart. Boston College offers many, many retreats where quiet reflection, careful listening, and sincere sharing provide opportunities for interior care and growth. Finally, the school of the heart encourages solidarity and communion with the larger community of our university, city, country, and world through service and immersion. Formation at BC emphasizes personal generosity and learning to value the art of spending oneself on something greater than oneself. It is in this school that our community members learn a key mystery of the inner life—that when we give ourselves away, we receive more of the truth of who we are.

The challenge for us in Mission and Ministry is that, unlike the university’s school of the mind, there is no transcript for the school of the heart, but it is here for the receiving. Part of our effort, therefore, is to constantly be thinking of ways to make the school of the heart compelling and attractive. The hope is that we can learn to present the opportunities of the school of the heart in ways that are so convincing that a person would wonder how she or he could not enroll in it. That’s the vision and hope that we have in Mission and Ministry for all of our community members here at Boston College.