The Alphonsian Academy, with the annual “Welcome Day” activity, now in its 10th edition, began its 75th academic year on the 30th of September. During the opening event, a strong idea resounded several times in the Aula Magna: celebrating such an anniversary means “experiencing” the importance “of feeling part of a story,” which is also an expression of the mission of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, which “imagined” the Academy, strongly desired it and laid the foundations for this project to materialize. A story to which “we” belong, but which “belongs to us” from the moment we commit ourselves to know it, or rather to make it familiar… from the moment we cross, not only physically, the threshold of the Pontifical Institute for the first time.
Therefore, the 75th is a renewed occasion to remember the initial intuition that was entrusted to us and to commit to embodying it, with courage and faithfulness, in the present of the triple mission—research, teaching, and dialogue with the territory—to which every university centre is called.
Hence, the wish to discover and keep open some “doors”, as the academic community was already invited to do last August 1st, Solemnity of St. Alphonsus M. de Liguori, patron saint of Confessors and Moralists. If the first door is precisely that of the Academy, through which each person can, and is called to, recognize and experience the importance and beauty of feeling part of family history, the second door is certainly that of the heart and intelligence so that living in these places is not limited to the mere assumption of notions and knowledge, but brings about a real transformation… and matures the skills of dialogue, discernment, and knowing how to research together. The third door is obviously that of time, from which the wish and commitment – both for students and teachers – to invest in the best way the special period of research and study, also made up of spaces for adequate rest, and pastoral commitment always keeping in mind that morality is a “living knowledge”, and not a laboratory product … The fourth door is that of mutual acceptance. The Alphonsian Academy, like all Roman study centres, is a place where worlds, cultures, and experiences meet. The wish and invitation are to treasure it so that from this precious treasure chest, we learn to draw old things and new things like the scribe of the Gospel.
Other doors remain to be discovered and opened during this 75th year of academic activity, such as that of the Alphonsian Blog, which, with the beginning of its activities, resumes its consolidated weekly publication. Also, to the readers of our Blog, a fundamental part of the Alphonsian Community, our best wishes for a fruitful academic year.
Fr. Antonio Donato, C.Ss.R.
The President
