Mary Higgins Clark Shares Insights on Writing and Education

Mary Higgins Clark answered questions from Mary Bly (right), and
audience members at McNally Ampitheatre.
Photo by Tom Stoelker

“I felt like I was the child of a lesser god, because I did not have that diploma in my hands.” 

Best selling author Mary Higgins Clark, FCLC ’79, minced few words during an appearance at Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus. 

The reigning queen of suspense’s appearance, along with Fordham professor of English Mary Bly, Ph.D., was the closing keynote of the annual conference of Jesuit Advancement Administrators (JAA), held at Fordham from July 13-15.

For “Philanthropy and its Vital Impact on Education,” Higgins Clark spoke at length about what it takes to be a writer (you have to be a good story teller), her deep connections to Fordham, (she first visited the Rose Hill campus when she was 19 to attend a tea dance) and what a Jesuit education gave her (the ability to think).

Speaking to an auditorium filled with development professionals, Higgins Clark called herself living proof of the power of philanthropy. The sudden death of her father when she was 11 thrust her family into a precarious financial situation, but a scholarship enabled her to attend high school at the Villa Maria Academy in the Bronx. 

And although she signed a six-figure writing contract while attending night classes at Fordham College Lincoln Center, she stayed on to finish a degree in philosophy. 

Her 43 books have sold 100 million copies in the United States alone, and so Higgins Clark in turn has given back to Fordham; last year she pledged $2 million to create the Mary Higgins Clark Chair in Creative Writing.

“We must give back. There’s that saying, ‘Much is expected of those to whom much has been given,’” she said.

“So many people simply need help, and we all know the price of education. It only happens because people reach out to donors.”

Throughout the morning, Higgins Clark regaled the audience with stories from her past and her family, using story-telling skills she said here honed while growing up in a large Irish family. 

She compared suspense writing to going to a cocktail party. When you meet someone, you don’t want to hear their entire life story; rather you want the highlights.

“Especially in suspense, you don’t give 20 minutes to the weather and the atmosphere, and someone is having a cup of tea. You’ve got to grab the audience,” she said.

She also said social engagements are also key to engaging potential donors.

“I have said when I die, make it a party. I enjoy parties so much, if it’s good enough, I’ll climb out of my casket to go to it.”

Watch the full interview here.

—Patrick Verel

Remembering Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

Today marks the 106th birthday of Pedro Arrupe, S.J. (1907–1991), the 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus.

Born in in the Basque region of Spain, Father Arrupe is known for his work as a missionary in Japan during the mid-20th century. He was sent to the country in 1938, and in 1945 moved to Nagatsuka, just outside of Hiroshima, to become master of novices at a Japanese mission.

He was in Nagatsuka on Aug. 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, annihilating the city. Having received medical training in Spain before becoming a Jesuit, Father Arrupe attended to as many of the wounded as he could. He and his colleagues gave shelter to 150 victims in their mission, offering food and medical treatment.

In 1965, while serving as Superior of the Japanese Province, Father Arrupe was elected Super General of the Society, a position he held until 1983. During this time, he helped guide the Jesuit community through Vatican II, a turbulent time for the Society. He emphasized a spirituality of engagement and the Jesuits’ obligation to address the needs of the poor, which resulted in the Society working in more hands-on ways with poor communities, especially in Latin America.

This same mission drives Jesuit education, he said, insofar as the “prime educational objective must be to form men and women for others.”

To read more about Father Arrupe, including his arrest and imprisonment shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, read the article by Loyola Press’s Ignatian Spirtuality page.

— Joanna Klimaski

Nothing is more practical than finding God,
than falling in Love in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination,
will affect everything.
It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read,
whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.

— Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

Ignatian Week 2013 at Fordham

Tomorrow is the first day of Ignatian Week, an annual tradition that celebrates the Jesuit spirituality at the heart of Fordham.

Beginning Nov. 13 and continuing through Wednesday, Nov. 20, the Office of University Mission and Ministry and its partners will sponsor a series of discussions, meals, and prayer centered on the legacy of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, and the unique spirituality that characterizes the Jesuit Order.

“The Jesuits are renowned the world over for excellence in education, focusing on liberal arts, value-centered education of the whole person, and a commitment to lifelong learning, social justice, and service,” said Carol Gibney, associate director for campus ministry at Lincoln Center and director of Ignatian Programs.

“As a Jesuit institution, the University's principles are based on the 450-year old teaching traditions of St. Ignatius… The Ignatian Week events highlight our rich Ignatian heritage and what it means to be part of a Jesuit university.”

The festivities commence on the Rose Hill campus with “Law and Order: The Jesuit Factor,” presented by Msgr. Thomas J. Shelley, professor emeritus of theology. Msgr. Shelley will discuss the case of New York-based Jesuit Anthony Kohlmann—after whom Fordham’s Kohlmann Hall is named—who was integral to the landmark legal case about the Seal of the Confessional, which prohibits priests from disclosing information learned during the sacrament of penance.

Ignatian Week continues later that evening at the Lincoln Center campus with the fall McGinley Lecture, “To Be a Pilgrim: A Geography of Faith for Jews, Christians, and Muslims,” presented by Patrick J. Ryan, S.J., the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society.

Other upcoming events include:

• A discussion and guided meditation with Zen roshi (“master”) and Jesuit priest Robert Kennedy, S.J.;
• An outing at Pugsley’s with America Magazine editor-in-chief Matt Malone, S.J., who will discuss the recent interview with Pope Francis;
• A trip to Washington, D.C., to participate in the Ignatian Family Teach-In, lobbying for issues of humane comprehensive immigration reform and raising minimum wage;
• An interactive video conference with Catholic feminist theologians in Asia;

…and more!

To see a full list of Ignatian Week events, visit Campus Ministry’s website.

— Joanna Klimaski

Fordham Welcomes Jesuit Superior General to Campus

Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus,
celebrates Mass in University Church at Fordham.
Photo courtesy the Society of Jesus' New York Province

Fordham welcomed a notable member of the worldwide Jesuit community to campus recently, when Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., Superior General of the Society of Jesus, made a stop during an official trip to the United States.

The visit was part of a two-week tour to meet with American Jesuits and Jesuit scholastics, visit Jesuit high schools, and speak with administrators of Jesuit colleges and universities. The trip was Father Nicolás’ second visit to the United States since being elected Superior General of the order in 2008.

While in New York, Father Nicolás met with Jesuits in formation, visited retired Jesuits at the Murray-Weigel Jesuit Community, and celebrated Mass with 150 Jesuits, lay directors, and staff from the New York province.

“Father Nicolás encouraged us to go deep in our prayer, work, and study, that this is what we can offer the church and the world,” said Thomas Scirghi, S.J., associate professor of theology and rector of the Jesuit Community at Spellman Hall.

“He is concerned that many Jesuits wear too many hats, spreading themselves too thin. The danger here is it keeps you on the surface and prevents you from plunging deeply into any one type of work.”

In addition to New York, Father Nicolás traveled to Boston, St. Louis, and Chicago. He concluded his trip with the presidents, administrators, and board members of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), an organization that represents the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States.

At the gathering, Father Nicolás broached a topic that he said has not yet been fully confronted: the future of Jesuit schools in the face of changing demographics.

“In 1973, there were about 212 million Americans; today there are about 316 million. That means that if the number of Americans per Jesuit institutions of higher learning had been kept constant, there should be 42 AJCU institutions today,” Father Nicolás said. “And since 1973, the number of U.S. Jesuits has declined from 6,616 to 2,547. This means that if the total number of U.S. Jesuits per AJCU institution had been kept constant, there should be only 11 Jesuit colleges and universities today.

“Since the supply of Jesuits is increasingly limited while the demand for more Jesuits seems to always expand, it would seem that some changes are in order.”

These changes are already happening—for instance, a number of AJCU presidents are not Jesuits, and some are not Catholic. Such changes reflect the important role that the laity plays in the Society’s mission, Father Nicolás said; but it is crucial that the 28 AJCU institutions and the Society of Jesus ensure their relationship does not become “stretched so thin that it becomes impersonal and meaningless.”

“[I have no doubt] you are capable of undertaking bold challenges and that you are ready to do whatever is necessary to serve this important ministry that serves so many individuals, so many communities, to say nothing of the Lord and his church,” he said. “You have the talents and temperament, the head and heart, to do what needs to be done.”

For the full text of Father Nicolás' remarks to the AJCU, read the transcript in America Magazine.

Father Nicolás with David S. Ciancimino, S.J., provincial of
the Society of Jesus' New York Province,
and Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.
Photo courtesy of the Society of Jesus' New York Province

— Joanna Klimaski