Long after Loyola College merged with Sir George Williams University in 1974 to become Concordia, its Jesuit teaching philosophy lives on.
In 2004, the Jesuits left their seven-storey, brown-brick residence at the northwest corner of the Loyola Campus for good—and three years after Concordia bought the building for student housing.
The Loyola Jesuit Community, 1908-09.
While the move marked the end of the Jesuits’ physical presence on campus, the number of Jesuit teachers, which peaked at about 50 in the 1940s, had already been steadily dwindling following the merger of Loyola College with Sir George Williams University 30 years earlier and the rise of secularism.
Nonetheless, the Jesuits’ educational principles, which include innovative teaching methods, a competitive spirit and service to the community, remain their lasting legacy to Concordia.
Thanks to the Loyola Alumni Association’s diligent fundraising efforts, Concordia will soon incorporate the past into the future by refurbishing the Refectory Building on the Loyola Campus. On May 15, the Jesuits in English Canada announced a $1-million donation to the Loyola Refectory Refurbishment Campaign that will accelerate Concordia’s ambitious plans to renovate the building.
In recognition of this gift, the University will create an annual Loyola Lecture Series that will invite scholars to address both social and ethical issues.
Jean-Marc Laporte, S.J. (Society of Jesus), L BA 57, provincial superior for the Jesuits in English Canada, explains that their support of Concordia and the Refectory “was not simply a matter of real estate. It also presented an opportunity to be engaged in an educational enterprise. That is something very dear to the heart of the Society.”
The Refectory, completed in 1916, was one of the three, original Loyola College buildings on the west-end campus. It once housed dining rooms, a kitchen and an infirmary. The refurbished building will include a conference centre, offices and multi-purpose meetings rooms.
Jim Donaldson, L BSc 52, president of the Loyola Alumni Association, is thrilled about the prospect of returning the Refectory Building to its former glory. An architect by profession (whose first job was working on the design of the Georges Vanier Library at his alma mater), Donaldson says, “We want to design the type of facility where you go in and you just say, ‘Wow,’ and you’re overwhelmed by the marriage of contemporary and old.”
Once refurbished, the Refectory Building will stand as a both a fitting and lasting tribute to the strong Jesuit traditions that have shaped the character of Loyola and Concordia.
Competition and creativity
In 1896, Loyola College opened its doors as Montreal’s only English-Catholic college. Jesuit teachers followed the Order of the Society of Jesus’ philosophy of classical, humanities-based education established in the 16th century. The College also offered many other outlets, such as what course calendars dubbed “Physical Culture,” otherwise known as sports. The Loyola Literary and Debating Society conducted mock trials, published the Loyola College Review and held lively debates. The College also produced numerous concerts and plays. “We had some of the best theatre in the west end,” Donaldson relates.
Jim Pearson, L BA 54, who later became a long-time Loyola High School teacher, served on the stage crew for some theatrical performances while juggling sodality (Roman Catholic Church laity) duties, editing the sports section of the Loyola News student newspaper and playing football and golf. “I did everything except study,” Pearson jokes.
As its students’ competitive spirits spilled onto the playing field, Loyola became known for its sports teams. By 1935, along with football and golf, Loyola offered hockey, tennis, lacrosse and even snowshoeing, plus an annual track-and-field day. Donaldson fondly recalls his involvement as president of the Intramural Sports Association. “It was very competitive,” he says. “I don’t think there was a single student who didn’t participate. We were all out there, sliding around in the mud.”
That high student participation, together with Loyola’s quaintness, fostered a spirit of camaraderie. “Some of my best friends are people I went to university with,” says Donaldson. “The professors knew everybody by name. The priests got to know you well. They became like members of your family.”
Pioneering Jesuit teachers
Stanley Drummond, S.J., in his Loyola College biology laboratory, circa 1971
Loyola’s Jesuit teachers followed the Jesuit educational tradition of flexibility, innovation and a pioneering spirit by building prestigious programs and responding to evolving societal demands. When Stanley Drummond, S.J., first came to Loyola in 1946, he faced the challenge of launching a biology department without a laboratory, equipment, professors or money. “He built his own lab from scratch,” marvels Pearson. Drummond laid the intellectual foundation for many pre-medical students during his tenure at Loyola and Concordia. “There was a point when Father Drummond had taught practically every doctor who’d gone through the system,” Pearson points out. While Drummond earned an enviable reputation among medical and dental professionals, he also taught biology courses for non-science students For Drummond, S.J., now 95, was as much a calling as his spiritual work. He continued to share his knowledge with Concordia students until he was well past the age most professors retire. When he left Biology in the mid-’90s, the department boasted 40 professors, hundreds of students and well-equipped facilities.
John (Jack) O’Brien, S.J., circa 1985
In 1965, John (Jack) O’Brien, S.J., L BA 45, made history when he helped create a department: the first university program in Canada dedicated to the study and practice of communications.
The incorporation of theory and practice into the Department of Communication Arts (renamed Communication Studies in 1977) was in sync with the Jesuits’ advocacy of action to complement reflection and contemplation.
“Understanding why you do what you do is very much in the Jesuit tradition,” says Dennis Murphy, L BA 67, a member of the first Communication Arts graduating class and a longstanding faculty member. “Forty years after the department was founded, we still have that original integration of theory and practice,” Murphy says.
“When I began teaching in the late ’70s,” he adds, “there was an influx of people who would come here because of the Jesuits.” They came to study with experts like Marc Gervais, S.J., L BA 50, a highly regarded film critic and scholar who recently retired but still teaches part-time. While Gervais was a Sorbonne-educated PhD and a regular visitor to the Cannes film festival—not an obvious destination for a priest—he told Concordia University Magazine in 1993 that his students “know who I am and where I stand. They know I’m a Jesuit. That this is my fountain, my well.”
Students came from other disciplines to pursue the Communication Studies’ graduate diploma or joint PhD program—also Canadian firsts. Above all, they were lured by O’Brien the visionary. “If Jack O’Brien wasn’t a Jesuit, he could have been a network president,” Murphy says of his media-savvy former boss.
Other Jesuits played vital roles in shaping Concordia’s history. Among them, David Eley, S.J., spent 35 years at Loyola and Concordia, where he was part of Campus Ministry, taught in Communication and Theological Studies and at Lonergan College, and was a director of the Jesuit-sponsored Loyola Peace Institute. The late Monsignor Russell Breen, L BA 46, was a key figure during Concordia’s early days. He helped engineer the merger of Loyola and Sir George Williams and served for 12 years as one of Concordia’s two academic vice-rectors.
Thinking of others
In 1973, while administrators at Loyola and Sir George Williams were solidifying merger plans, Jesuit Superior General Pedro Arrupe coined the phrase “men for others” in an address to the Tenth International Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe in Valencia, Spain.
It was a fresh twist on an established Jesuit philosophy. “Jesuit institutions of learning function not merely with the desire to serve but also to produce men who, themselves, are imbued with this spirituality of action,” T.P. Slattery wrote in 1962 in his history of Loyola College called Loyola and Montreal.
Rob Brennan, S.J., president of Montreal’s independent, Jesuit-run Loyola High School, explains: “St. Ignatius says Jesuits should be contemplative in action. We show ourselves by what we do. You can’t say you love your neighbour without putting that concept into action.”
This spirituality of action, encapsulated by Arrupe’s “men for others” concept, shapes the distinctive character of contemporary Jesuit education. “We want people who are trained to academic excellence and have real competence in professional areas,” says Laporte. “However, we are also interested in having grads who volunteer their time and energy to causes that will benefit the segments of the population that are poor, underprivileged and don’t have a voice of their own.”
While Jesuit practices that include spiritual guidance counselling and daily mass have drawn to a close at Concordia, the tradition of community service remains, witnessed by recent student initiatives such as Sustainable Concordia, the People’s Potato, a vegan soup kitchen, and the Volunteer Abroad program, a student-run enterprise that provides assistance in countries hit hard by HIV/AIDS, poverty and war. “The physical, human Jesuit presence may be gone but what isn’t gone is the sense of ethics and values—the moral commitment,” says Murphy. “And I’ve found the people who seek that out are the students.”
Laporte agrees. “Concordia today is multilingual and multicultural, and we have a sense that what goes on there continues the values the Jesuits hold as important,” he says. “We try to find a way to appeal to human values, to encourage people to live their lives compassionately, so that that people can leave a real, positive imprint on society.”
Wendy Smith is a Montreal-based journalist.
If you have any comments about this article, contact
Howard Bokser, (514) 848-2424 ext. 3826, Howard.Bokser@concordia.ca
