30 Oct Colloquium 2025 Summary

GUF Colloquium 2025

Greetings from Rome.  Most of us arrived in the Eternal City on Sunday morning and after getting settled, our group quickly overcame any jet lag and enthusiastically jumped into our program.

Late Sunday afternoon we walked over to the Pantheon and the beautiful Chapel of S Maria and Martyres. Fr. Tom Merkel celebrated Sunday Mass under the watchful eye of the Byzantine icon of the Madonna of the Pantheon, a depiction of Mary holding the Christ Child and believed to be the first or among the first such depictions Mary and the baby Jesus. Afterward we convened on the hotel rooftop on a beautiful Rome October evening for a welcome reception and introduction to many of the leaders at the Greg.

Monday morning began with a guided walking tour from the hotel to the Greg narrated by Fr. Christian Saenz S.J., a Miami-based Jesuit and Greg-alum who now is teaching full time in the Faculty of History. Morning presentations at the Greg included a fascinating presentation by faculty and interns on the Historical Archive at the Greg, and panel discussions on the history and future of the Greg and on the history and mission of the Foundation itself, wrapped around a coffee break at the Greg “Cafe”, a bustling beehive of students, faculty and visitors. We followed with Pranzo in the Greg garden and had interesting conversation with remarkable (and exceedingly grateful) scholarship students.

Late afternoon we walked over to St. Ignatius of Loyola Church, the “chapel” of the Greg, where we were treated to a Jesuit-led tour of the extraordinary history and artwork of this Church and then moved to the side Chapel of St. Aloysius Gonzaga and heard Mass celebrated by our new Trustee, Fr. Chris Johnson S.J. Afterwards, we made the short walk down the street to the breathtaking Caravita Chapel for our relaxed buffet dinner and conversation with priests and seminarians who are studying at the Greg.  We were serenaded by the Gesu singers, a talented group of young Jesuits who live at the Gesu community.

On Tuesday morning in perfect Rome October weather we walked to the Greg with Fr. Danny Huang S.J., an American Jesuit who teaches at the Greg in the Faculty of Missionology.  We stopped along the way at the “Bellarmino”, one of the Jesuit communities for students at the Greg.  It has a room where St Therese of Lisieux (the “Little Flower”) stayed while she (at the age of 15) was waiting for approval from the Pope to enter the convent (she otherwise was too young). Very moving.

Once at the Greg we started with Mass in the Students’ Chapel celebrated by Fr. Scott Brodeur S.J. Our morning was filled with two first-time panel discussions, one led by Fr. Huang on Evangelization in the Attention Economy and by Fr. David Nazar on the ways that the Greg students are using AI in their research — fascinating!  The second panel focused on the Greg and the Pontificate of Pope Leo, including the Church’s continuing reliance on St. Augustine and comments from canon lawyer Fr. Robert Geisinger S.J., who worked with Cardinal Prevost (now Leo) in his own capacity as a canon lawyer.

In the evening we took vans to the Pontificate of the Academy of Sciences in the Vatican Gardens for our annual St. Ignatius dinner.  The highlight was the awarding of the St. Ignatius Medal to two of our most distinguished alumni, Cardinal Pietro Parolin of the Secretariat of State and Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Chancellor of the Pontificate of the Academy of Sciences.  Both men were genuinely honored to receive their medals.  Other VIP guests included Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary for the Relations among States, and Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy, the highest ranking canon lawyer in the Dicastery of the Faith and a double alum from the Greg.

On Wednesday we left the hotel at 7:15 am for the Papal General Audience and our vans were whisked into Vatican City. We walked into a virtually empty St. Peter’s Basilica and after taking plenty of photos, we ventured downstairs to the chapel in front of St. Peter’s Tomb and heard Mass celebrated by our Fr. Bill George. Then we made our way out to our prime seats to the side of the papal stage.

After the completion of the General Audience, we were escorted behind the stage to await our photo shoot with the Holy Father.  We got much more than that! Our Fr. Tom Merkel presented Pope Leo with our Saint Ignatius Medal, for which he seemed quite appreciative. (He also seemed elated to get a laminated Frank Thomas Chicago White Sox baseball card!).  He enjoyed a little Villanova/Georgetown/Creighton banter.  But much more important, he turned and faced our entire group and, very seriously, told us how important the Greg is to him (he confessed that while he didn’t attend the Greg, he used its library to study). He acknowledged that he would be keeping his eyes on Greg students/alums to help him lead the Church.  And he said an emphatic “thanks” – he was very grateful for the support that the GUF provides to the Greg.  It was a moment!

Before we headed off to the Jesuit Curia for a garden tour and pranzo, we fulfilled part of our Jubilee Year pilgrimage and walked through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s.  At the Curia rooftop, Fr. Johan Verschueren, the Jesuit who is delegated by the Superior General of the Society of Jesus to oversee the Jesuit works in Rome, including the Greg, explained the management structure of the Curia and how it fits within the worldwide Society.

Later in the afternoon we ventured outside the walls of Rome to tour the Abbey of the Three Fountains, the spot where St. Paul was martyred, where we were led in some prayers and reflection by the Greg’s Fr. Scott Brodeur, one of the foremost scholars on St. Paul in the world. We then made the short trip to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, our second of the four major Basilicas of Rome. Cardinal James Harvey, an American cardinal (from Milwaukee) and the Archpriest of the Basilica, led us through the Holy Door (two in one day!) and gave us a tour of the incredible interior of the Basilica. We concluded this visit by praying at the Tomb of St. Paul and seeing the small Chapel where St. Ignatius made his religious profession at the beginning of the Society of Jesus.

Of course, no Colloquium day would be complete without another special dinner.  At a local restaurant, we were joined by Cardinal Harvey, Fr. Brodeur, one of his fellow Greg Professors and two U.S. students (both priests) that accompanied them on the recent study trip to Turkey in the “Footsteps of Sts. Paul and John”, which was partially funded by GUF benefactors.

Thursday was “Biblicum” day.  Mass first with Fr. Paul Mueller S.J. (Superior of the Jesuit Community at the Biblicum) and Fr. Peter Dubovsky, S.J. (President of the Biblicum) in the chapel for the Jesuit community. We convened in a classroom for a very informative presentation on the Biblicum institute led by Fr. Dubovsky, including a highly entertaining segment by Fr. James Page, S.J., a U.S. doctoral student from New Orleans.  We had a great tour of the Biblicum library, including seeing rooms that have been renovated or created with funding from the GUF over the years.

After our afternoon “siesta”, we gathered at the Church of the Gesu, the home Church of the Society of Jesus, for a tour led by Fr. Julio Minsal, S.J., always one of the most popular visits all week.  Conor Smith, S.J., a Jesuit scholastic from Denver, gave us an enthusiastic tour of the rooms of St. Ignatius, to the point we thought the Saint himself was going to join us!

We left there in vans for dinner at the incomparable Circola della Caccia — no place anywhere has higher ceilings and walls filled with more beautiful frescoes. Delicious dinner and lively conversation. A number of our pilgrims completed the day by making their way to the hotel rooftop for a nightcap and a recap of the trip so far. Lots of fun and laughs, a great bonding experience.

Friday was “Orientale” Day. We left the hotel at 9:00 am to head off to the Orientale where we joined professors and students for the opening Mass for the school year, which was celebrated by the priests and deacons of the Armenian College. Although the tradition is different from the Latin rite to which we were accustomed, we were supplied with a handy guide to help us follow along and we all knew how to exchange the sign of peace and receive Communion. As most of you know, there are 23 Eastern Churches (e.g., Maronite) within 5 Eastern rites (e.g. Byzantine, Chaldean) that are all in communion with the Pope, alongside our Latin (Roman) Catholic Church.  Really another example of how universal our Church is.

From the Orientale we walked across the street to Santa Maria Maggiore (another of the four major Basilicas in Rome) so that we could walk through our third Holy Door for the week.  Of course, that magnificent Basilica is also the final resting place of Pope Francis, so we were able to file past that most simple crypt before touring the rest of the Church.

Late afternoon we met up with Fr. Hans Zollner and his amazing staff to learn about the IADC (formerly the Center for Child Protection) and also the historic 1700+ year old building in which the Institute is headquartered, the Villa Malta. As usual, Fr. Hans had us all wrapped around his finger with his description of all the Institute’s crucial safeguarding work undertaken throughout the world, and he was most grateful for the generous work of the GUF.  All this was followed by another fantastic Italian dinner at a nearby restaurant.

After a full week of presentations, liturgies, tours, pasta, chatting with the Pope, shopping (and, oh, more pasta!), Saturday morning and early afternoon were free periods for our group. Some took golf cart tours around the City, some got their shopping done to finish their gifts for families back home, and some made their way to walk through the 4th Holy Door at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Late in the afternoon we celebrated Sunday Mass in a beautiful chapel at Santa Maria in Transpontina, located along the welcoming road to St. Peter’s Basilica.  Fr. Tom used the gospel message of perseverance to remind us to “work as if everything depends on us and to pray as if everything depends on God”. He also gave a beautiful summary of the gospel messages that we had heard during the week.

After a delicious dinner at a nearby restaurant we headed off for our private, after-hours tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Needless to say, arriving in the Sistine Chapel by ourselves for an Art History class on one of the artistic wonders of the world is breathtaking and unforgettable.  We finished our tour through the Raphael gallery and then out in the courtyard for some Prosecco and desserts.  The Roman evening was just perfect.

Back at the hotel, some convened for one more “mini-pilgrimage” up to the rooftop for a final recap of the amazing week. Hugs and kisses as folks peeled off to finish packing for the early morning pickups to the airport for flights home.  What a great group of new and old friends!

Now time to evangelize at home and ignite the world on fire!

William J. Whelan
Chairman, Gregorian University Foundation