{"id":3353,"date":"2020-12-16T13:32:58","date_gmt":"2020-12-16T18:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/libraries\/?p=3353"},"modified":"2020-12-17T14:40:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T19:40:28","slug":"50-years-later-msgr-fahys-inaugural-address-foreshadows-issues-of-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/libraries\/2020\/12\/50-years-later-msgr-fahys-inaugural-address-foreshadows-issues-of-today\/","title":{"rendered":"50 Years Later, Msgr. Fahy’s Inaugural Address Foreshadows Issues of Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guest Blog Post By Angela Kariotis Kotsonis<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Portrait<\/a>
Portrait of Monsignor Fahy by John Canfield, untitled publication by the Seton Hall Office of Public Relations, 1976, held the Priest Vertical Files of the Archdiocese of Newark, Box 24<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I learned about Monsignor Fahy in the spring semester of 2018. It was at an intergenerational panel discussion at the Walsh Library of former Seton Hall student-activist leaders. The event was organized by the Concerned 44, an activated student group. The panel discussion was a teach-in about the history of protest on Seton Hall\u2019s campus and discussion about the progress of the then student movement. You can follow the Concerned 44 on Instagram. If it weren\u2019t for this panel discussion I would not have learned about President Fahy and I\u2019d still be pronouncing Fahy Hall wrong. As an alumna, I can\u2019t help but be angry that it took this long. I became more interested and invited colleagues into the journey of getting to know Fahy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Alan Delozier, University Archivist, did the work to uncover the Fahy Inaugural address which is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. The CORE has integrated the speech as a required reading for the Journey of Transformations course. And this article intends to showcase a digital<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Newspaper<\/a>
Monsignor Fahy with the leadership of the Black Studies Program, Newark Star Ledger, April 21, 1975<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

communal reading of the text as an activist performance practice. The point of the project is to position the text and its ethos as a cultural imprint on our collective memory. To me, Fahy is a white anti-racist abolitionist ancestor who risked and used his power to benefit others. Social justice is a term we\u2019re hearing a lot. What is it? How do you define it? What does it look like? Everyone will have a different answer. I define it as: righting a wrong. If it doesn\u2019t right a wrong, it is not justice. Not only did Fahy leverage his power to right a wrong with some of the most impactful undertakings of Seton Hall\u2019s history but he acknowledged the problem. Often, we rush to solutions without first doing the self interrogation to name the problem. He used this moment, his inaugural address, when everyone was listening and we\u2019re still listening 50 years later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The video, this collective recitation, brings many voices together for one message. Faculty and students, separate, but together. It carves a lineage. There are protests now as there were 50 years ago. In the streets and on our campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n