Who says you can’t go home?

I officially have one week until I leave for England. Naturally, I just spent about five days in Boston and Worcester with my Holy Cross friends. Packing up everything so I can move to a foreign country for two years? Nah. It doesn’t seem nearly as important as going back to my alma mater.

It was fantastic to see everyone. I had long conversations with Professors Perry, Mulrooney, Kee, DiCenso, Smith, Geracht, and Fr. Brooks about my new courses at Oxford and how I felt where graduate school was going to lead me. I talked with friends about their lives on the Hill as current seniors, juniors, and sophomores, and we reminisced about our adventures when I was still a student. I walked around campus to see the new additions and to place myself in my favorite spots on campus. I spent most of Tuesday afternoon in Campion talking with Paul Melley and the other chaplains. I went to Culpepper’s every morning to get my iced coffee and blueberry scones. In other words, I felt like I was back at Holy Cross.

Fr. Brooks – we chatted about the Christology seminar this semester and the theologians that his students had picked earlier that day. I am proud to report that another girl is studying Rahner!

Professor Kee – this poor man thought that when I graduated, I’d be out of his hair. Such is not the case!

Although, I will admit this – although I adored every moment that I spent on campus, I just had this feeling that it’s time to move on from Holy Cross. Holy Cross has given me the most wonderful undergraduate experience, but I am excited for everything that my graduate career has to offer.

Don’t worry – I will always consider Holy Cross my home. But I’m just very excited about the opportunities that graduate school holds for me. And, oh, yes. I am leaving for England in less than a week, and I haven’t started packing. This could be an issue.

Unfortunately, my visit back to Holy Cross wasn’t all smiles and catching up. One of my favorite professors, Professor Rick Murphy of the Religious Studies department, passed away on Tuesday morning.

I was blessed to have had Professor Murphy for two classes – Jesus and His Contemporaries in my sophomore year and Apocalypticism Through the Ages in my senior year. When Fr. Brooks told me about Professor Murphy’s passing on Tuesday morning, I had a difficult time accepting it. Professor Murphy was one of the kindest and most involved professors in my life at Holy Cross (then again, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a professor at Holy Cross who didn’t care about his or her students). Even in the semester when I wasn’t taking one of his classes, I always stopped by his office and we talked about everything – and I mean everything. His classes helped me develop a more mature understanding of my Catholic faith, and his example as a scholar and a man of faith definitely helped me along my own faith journey. The photo above is from my Christology defense in Senior year, when he was a guest grader. After my presentation and defense of Karl Rahner, Professor Murphy sat down next to me and whispered, “Great job.” His presence on campus and, more specifically, in my life will certainly be missed, but I am blessed to have known him in my undergraduate career.

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