Scott R. Pilarz, S.J. Inaugural Speech

Rev. Scott Pilarz, S.J. When I entered the Society of Jesus 30 years ago, the novice master in charge of our formation told us repeatedly, “In the spiritual life, there are no coincidences.” So I take it as a work of providence that this inauguration occurs on the birthday of my home state’s poet laureate and the man who has long provided inspiration and consolation to many including me: Bruce Springsteen. Bruce is 62 today. Marquette, baby, we are clearly born to run.

Serendipity and grace surround us today, and not only on account of the Boss’s birthday. So much contributes to Marquette’s momentum right now. First is the fact that all of us stand on the shoulders of generations of women and men who have given so much to Marquette for so long: starting with Milwaukee’s first archbishop who had the audacity to imagine a Jesuit University in an immigrant outpost on the American frontier, down to Marquette’s most recent presidents, Albert DiUlio and Robert Wild, great men to whom we owe a tremendous debt of gratitude. In all the years in between, Marquette has been blessed with an innovative spirit, unique among Jesuit schools: Consider the fact that we were the first Catholic university in the world to admit women more than 100 years ago to be educated side-by-side with men. Marquette has repeatedly been responsive to the signs of the times and the common good of God’s people. Let us pledge together that Marquette will remain so.

On my part, I want to own how humbled I am to be here — it’s a funny feeling to be a freshman at 52. The Board of Trustees offered me their confidence by entrusting the presidency of Marquette to me. Their passion for this place is contagious and it was the primary reason I got interested in the job. The Wisconsin Province of the Jesuits and their provincial superior, Tom Lawler, are willing to let a man from the Mother Province of Maryland till the rudder of their flagship. With your help and God’s grace, we will keep faith with the promise of this great Catholic and Jesuit University.

I am humbled too by the calls to service that we all just heard, starting with the call from the Archbishop to serve the Church of Milwaukee. I am confident that we can make good on those calls of service.

I am confident that we can keep faith on two counts: One, I do not come alone and, two, I join a remarkable Marquette community already in place. You need to know that I do not come here alone. I am a member of several tribes who you will hopefully welcome as warmly as you’ve been welcoming me:

• My parents, Ron and Joan Pilarz, who gave me the incomparable gift of a Jesuit university education and so much more. They now work as product placement specialists for the Marquette Spirit Shop.

• My sister, Susan, and brother-in-law Joe Lappin. Joe will be calling in plays to Buzz Williams. My niece Carly, a junior at TCU, who will hopefully be doing her Ph.D. in English at Marquette in a couple years. And the main man in our family, my nephew Joey. If anybody’s looking for heroes, my advice is to look to the Lappins.

• Then there’s the extended Pilarz-Simons-Surovick family — a collective party waiting to happen.

• The incredibly loyal Camden Catholic High School coterie, friends since we were 14.

• And today about one hundred Hoyas here at Marquette, including my friend and Georgetown’s 47th president Leo Donovan, Georgetown classmates, friends and former students, all of whom have pledged to behave — at least until basketball season. And Marquette students, be forewarned, if any strangers with East Coast accents show up on your porch tonight looking for a libation claiming to be my nieces and nephews, don’t let them in. I have one niece and one nephew and they will be with me.

• Finally, the University of Scranton contingent: For 8 years I had the privilege of working in a magical place — the Jesuit miracle in the mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania. I left only because that’s what Jesuits do — our home is the road, and the right road at the right time pointed in the direction of Marquette. I will be ever grateful for what Scranton did to transform me as a professor, a president, a priest and a person. Thanks for the Pride, Passion and Promise, and God bless the University of Scranton.

And God bless Marquette. In a year’s worth of visits and a month now on the ground, I have learned how much God has blessed Marquette. Like the city of Milwaukee, this campus extends itself to newcomers in a warm and wonderful way. The cultures of the city and the campus are marked by an authenticity and utter lack of pretension. In that sense, it reminds me of my home in the Garden State. People here are comfortable in their own skins. And like the Garden State, there is a big body of water to the east that helps me orient myself. And seagulls. Who knew that Milwaukee had seagulls?