Fr. Kevin Grove, C.S.C., on the Mission of Catholic Education

Blessed Basil Moreau sought to create spirited communities of scholarship and faith when he first established the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1837. He wanted to help students participate in a lively exchange of ideas that would enable them to shape a more just and compassionate world.

Fr. Kevin Grove, C.S.C., whose scholarship focuses on the spirituality of Fr. Moreau, will visit Stonehill College on Wednesday, February 26, as part of the 2025 Saint André Lecture. During this program, Fr. Grove will explore the ways that Holy Cross institutions like Stonehill continue the vision of Catholic education that Fr. Moreau set forth nearly two centuries ago. 

In preparation for Fr. Grove’s visit to campus, we recently sat down with him to talk about searching for truth, finding purpose, cultivating a generous heart, and more.  

Your lecture is entitled “Fr. Moreau and the Mission of Catholic Education.” What do you believe is the value of Catholic education in modern society?

In John’s Gospel, Jesus claims to be the way, truth, and life. Catholic education takes its inspiration from Jesus such that the search for truth is joyful, valuable, and draws people of goodwill into conversations across time, place, and disciplines. Catholic education claims that the very search for truth can and should be joyful—across the disciplines and according to their appropriate methods of discovery. Most importantly, the discovery of truth can help us to be more “fully alive,” which as St. Irenaeus famously said, is also the glory of God.

You are the co-editor of a book called Basil Moreau: Essential Writings. Broadly speaking, what lessons can we draw from Basil Moreau’s life and teachings? 

Moreau is a fascinating educator and religious founder because he answered the call to serve the church and society in response to the ruptures and violence of the French Revolution. He was the sort of visionary leader who saw the challenges of the present age as opportunities. Education was the key, in his mind, to bringing life, light, faith, and hope to a world marred by violence and brokenness. 

Rooted in Fr. Moreau’s vision, Stonehill College seeks to help students engage in a discernment process that will enable them to pursue a vocation that offers them purpose. How would you define your own vocation? 

One of the great privileges of my life as a Holy Cross priest and professor (my vocation) is to speak with students about vocation as a call from God, a living into and building upon the image and likeness of God in each of us. Such a calling is of the whole person—love, work, rest, gratitude, and community. Of course, vocation includes our careers, but not in a narrow way. I’ve found that sometimes students in our time are pressured to reduce the value of their calling to an outcome of academic or career performance. Vocation is a much more enlivening way of speaking about the purpose of our lives.

What advice do you have for students as they work to discover their calling?

We in Holy Cross say that callings come “from within and without.” That is, sometimes the deepest part of our own heart presses us forward in service of God and neighbor. But there may be other times when professors, family, mentors, and friends see something in us that we have not realized and can encourage us to develop it. I hope students might be open to the call that comes from within as well as without.

Saint André was a doorman welcoming people to the College de Notre Dame, a Holy Cross school in Montreal, so the ongoing theme for the Saint André Lecture series is "Welcoming the Other." How do you go about welcoming the other in your own life and work?

I was blessed to live and work for a summer at St. Joseph’s Oratory where St. André lived and worked. What has always inspired me about his life and witness is the way in which he cultivated a generous heart for those in need. He welcomed them, prayed with them, and cared for them. He did all three unceasingly. For me, he is a model and a daily inspiration for those who come to my door.

What do you hope Saint André Lecture attendees take away from your presentation? 

Whether students and faculty attending the lecture are Catholic or not, I hope that they are able to walk away with a sense of joy at the challenge and vision of a Catholic education at Stonehill College. Moreau used the phrase: lifegiving, luminous, practical, and profound. It is my hope that those terms might apply to the way we think about Catholic education—not as a brand, but as a way of bringing hope to a world that needs it.