Editor’s Note: On November 15, 2018, the day before the inauguration of Tania Tetlow as Loyola University New Orleans’s 17th (and first lay) president, Fr. Ron Mercier, S.J., provincial of the Central and Southern Jesuit province, formally missioned her as director of the apostolic work that is Loyola University New Orleans. Maria Calzada with Alice Clark describe this effort in their article “Leading through Difficult Times". Below is the formal questions asked by Provincial Mercier, S.J..
Fr. Mercier: Today we celebrate Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit school, as a ministry of the Society of Jesus. What does that mean, though?
The 35th General Congregation of the Jesuits, our highest authority, declared that a Jesuit school has a close relationship with the Society and lives out the Jesuit commitment to Catholic faith through promoting justice in the world, while trying to bring cultures and faiths together. Certainly Loyola New Orleans does that so well, and we Jesuits are proud of our relationship with this school.
We commit ourselves to this cooperation today, and now ask Tania Tetlow to accept a mission from the Society of Jesus as our sign of support for her new role at the school.
Tania Tetlow, the board of directors of Loyola University New Orleans, after a long and careful search, have asked that the Society of Jesus mission you to be the president of this great university. As provincial of the Central and Southern Province, I ask whether you are willing to accept this mission.
President Tetlow: I am.
Fr. Mercier: Will you shape your decisions in accordance with the mission of the Society of Jesus, by a commitment to a faith that does justice through interreligious dialogue and a creative engagement with culture?
President Tetlow: I will.
Fr. Mercier: Will you regularly enter into dialogue with the Society through its legitimate superiors concerning those matters that touch directly upon its Catholic and Jesuit mission?
President Tetlow: I will.
Fr. Mercier: Will you foster within the Loyola New Orleans community its Catholic and Jesuit mission, through a pattern of leadership patterned after Christ who came to serve and not to be served?
President Tetlow: I will.
Fr. Mercier: With gratitude to God for the gift of your leadership of this school, and in recognition of the great gift that Loyola University New Orleans is for the church and the Society, I mission you to serve as president. I promise that we in the Society of Jesus will support you in your work, collaborate with you in fostering the mission we share, and through prayer, witness, and service foster the work of this great institution.
May the gracious mercy and wisdom of God, displayed so fully in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, be your constant support and beacon throughout the days of your ministry. Amen!