Thank You for Everything

Father Benedict O’Cinnsealaigh’s Final Comments to the Faculty at the Senate Meeting on April 30, 2018.

“This will be my last Senate meeting, at least as rector, and so I want to take just a moment to thank you all for all that you do for The Athenaeum and Mount St. Mary’s Seminary.

I came to the seminary eighteen years ago and have spent the last seven as President and Rector. Looking around the room today I notice that only Dennis Eagan, Becky Marsh, Fr. Rob Jack, and Susan McGurgan were here when I began eighteen years ago. I have to say that the eighteen years, and in particular the last seven, have been work; but they have also been enjoyable, a lot of fun, a time of energy and enthusiasm, and for me as a priest they have been very educational.

Being President and Rector is a sort of on-the-job training situation, but I have been very fortunate to have been surrounded by very competent and gifted people who have helped me in this work. I have to tell you that I feel it has been a great and wonderful privilege for me to have had the opportunity and the good fortune to have worked for you and with you. I certainly feel that I have received so much more than I have given, and any success we have achieved has been as much in spite of me as it has been because of me. In truth, it has been your success, our success.

You make this place work, you make this place special, you make this place a success. I feel privileged and honored to have been part of the work and the community here, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity and the grace to have been part of The Athenaeum, Mount St. Mary’s Seminary, and this faculty. Thank you for all your support and kindness, your hard work and dedication. Thank you for everything. And may God continue to bless you.”

Father Benedict O’Cinnsealaigh

President and Rector
The Athenaeum of Ohio / Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West