Letter from President Fahey (March 11)
Vigil of St. Gregory the Great
March 11th, 2020
Dear Students and All Members of the College Community,
By this evening (March 11th) all Thomas More students of the Rome program will have safely returned.
We are requiring all students to follow the CDC guidelines as well as the College Guidelines for returning students.
This means that our friends and fellow students will largely be in “homestay” through the Feast of the Incarnation/Annunciation (March 25th). These next two weeks may become increasingly difficult for them as they will no longer have the grandeur of Rome, the intensity of getting out of a foreign country, and the direct companionship of our academic and spiritual community.
Let us together, therefore, address this sense of gloom; let us do so as a College, as Thomas More College—where we know how to find and display that difficult balance between seriousness and mirth.
I am asking all members of the Community in Merrimack to communicate over the coming weeks with each student from our Rome program. Emails for all students are provided with this note.
Please write to them about your day, your classes, your life. Write to them with interesting stories, reflections upon your readings, etc. Write simply to send a greeting and let them know they are not forgotten. Write with your own concerns. Write with a spiritual sacrifice.
We must all play an active role in maintaining the health of our College community—at the center of that is keeping the spirit of community alive.
These actions are worthy actions for a Catholic during Lent; they involve Works of Mercy both Corporal (to visit the sick) and Spiritual (to comfort the afflicted, to pray for the living…). Please take note of the addresses attached and stay in touch with all of our friends.
In Christo Rege,
William Fahey, Ph.D.
President
