Fr. Kolvenbach Visits SI

For the second time in SI’s history, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus came to visit. (The first was a 1971 visit by Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ.) Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, SJ, Fr. General of the Jesuits, toured high schools and colleges in the California Province between November 28 and December 2, 1989, stopping by SI on December 1 where he spoke about the school’s move to coeducation, the martyrdom of the priests in El Salvador and the rich diversity of the SI student body. Among the dignitaries who came to SI for the event were San Francisco Archbishop John Quinn, Auxiliary Bishop Carlos Sevilla, SJ ’53, and California Provincial Paul Belcher, SJ.

As Fr. Kolvenbach entered the Commons, he was greeted by an 8-foot-by-6-foot mural-collage painted by students in Katie Wolf’s art class, made up of 48 1-square-foot sections, with each section painted by a different student. That piece is now on permanent display at SI in the walkway between the Commons and the Jesuit residence.

In his address, Fr. Kolvenbach told the students that he was impressed by the cheer, “We are SI.” “In loss it asks you to look beyond the defeat to your greater unity, and in victory — which I hope is often — it reminds you more than a win of any individual team, your genuine spirit is found again in your spiritual unity and in the rich diversity of your many clubs, sports and activities. Indeed, with the recent, welcome move to coeducation, diversity is ever more the hallmark of your school.”