Newswise — PHILADELPHIA (March 20, 2014) – Saint Joseph’s University will grant honorary degrees to Frannie and James J. Maguire ’58 and David Hollenbach, S.J. ’64, Ph.D., at the 2014 Commencement ceremonies, which are set for Saturday, May 17. The doctoral, graduate and College of Professional and Liberal Studies ceremony begins at 9 a.m., and the undergraduate at 3 p.m. Both ceremonies will be held on the Maguire Campus.
The Maguires, who will receive Doctor of Public Service degrees at the undergraduate ceremony, have generously dedicated their lives to higher education and their belief in the transformative power of an educational experience rooted in faith and justice. As a young man, Jim attended then-Saint Joseph’s College and he has remained a loyal and impassioned alumnus. The Maguires’ generous financial support made possible the acquisition of the former Episcopal Academy, now the University's Maguire Campus, named in Jim’s honor. The author of Just Show Up (Maguire 2010), he has often been quoted as saying,”Saint Joseph’s changed my life.” He will speak at the undergraduate ceremony.
In 2000, the Maguires established The Maguire Foundation, a charitable enterprise that reflects their commitment to higher education combined with their passion for helping children and young adults obtain a quality education through scholarship support. Through their Foundation, they created The Maguire Scholars Program, which provides scholarship dollars to institutions in the “Maguire Network” for families in need who choose to educate their children through private grade school, high school and college. In addition to Saint Joseph’s, the network schools include 14 primary schools, 18 “Faith in the Future” high schools, and 17 colleges and universities.
David Hollenbach, S.J. ’64, Ph.D., will speak at the graduate ceremony, where he will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. At the undergraduate ceremony, Fr. Hollenbach will be recognized, along with classmates from the Class of 1964, as a “Golden Hawk.” A member of the theology department at Boston College, he holds the University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice and serves as director of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice. He received his Ph.D. in religious ethics from Yale University. His research and teaching interests are centered on human rights in the context of humanitarian crises, theories of justice and religion in political life.
Fr. Hollenbach is the author of five books, editor/translator of several others and the author of numerous articles on topics ranging from refugee rights to Catholic teaching and social engagement, religious freedom, economic justice and globalization. He has been Visiting Professor of Social Ethics at Hekima College of the Catholic University of eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya and at the Jesuit Philosophy Institute in Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam. In 1990, he conducted the annual Winter School of Theology in six cities in Southern Africa, sponsored by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Southern Africa.
“It is truly humbling to recognize these extraordinary honorees,” says University President C. Kevin Gillespie, S.J. ’72. “Their dedication to the greater good, that is to the magis, and to helping others stands as an inspiration to all.”
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