Lecture Series Celebrates Fordham’s
Historic Synergy With New York City
and Honors Father O’Hare

For more than 160 years, the histories of New York City and Fordham University have intersected in many interesting ways. John Hughes, for example, founded Fordham in 1841 and became the first Archbishop of New York in 1850.

To celebrate and shed further light on this unique synergy, the University recently hosted the “Fordham and the City” lecture series at the Law School’s McNally Amphitheater. During two evenings of lectures, historians and authors also honored the Rev. Joseph A. O’Hare’s dynamic and historic leadership as both president of Fordham and a public official in New York City.

Kenneth T. Jackson, Ph.D., president of the New-York Historical Society and editor of the 1,376-page Encyclopedia of New York City, launched the series on Feb. 27 with a lecture titled “Empire City: New York, Fordham and the Development of the World Metropolis.” In 1841, when Hughes established St. John’s College in the village of Fordham, New York was the oldest city and the most heterogeneous society in the United States. And, according to Jackson, it was growing rapidly. Between the time of the University’s founding and the start of the Civil War, one-fifth of all urban growth in the country took place in New York. Rising numbers of Irish- and German-Catholic immigrants contributed to this growth. By mid-1800s, approximately half of the city’s population was foreign-born, he said.

Jackson, who is also the Jacques Barzun Professor of History and the Social Sciences at Columbia University, chronicled the city’s rise to prominence by discussing several key developments, including the opening of the Erie Canal and the creation of Central Park.

On March 16, Peter A. Quinn, Ph.D. (GAS ’75), author of the historical novel Banished Children of Eve: A Novel of Civil War New York, explored the distinct yet related histories of three New Yorkers during his lecture titled “Fordham and the Rise of Gotham: City of God and City of Man.”

Quinn, a former speechwriter former New York Governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo, told the stories of Archbishop John Hughes, poet Edgar Allen Poe, and Irish immigrant Michael Manning—all members of the village of Fordham during the University’s formative decade in the mid-1900s. Although the arrival of the reputable John Hughes in 1837 drew a large amount of notice, Quinn said, the arrival of Poe that same year drew none. While Hughes was poised to lead the Catholic Church during a time filled with riots, revolts and disease, Poe was seeking fame by writing about caverns of human nature that had long gone unexplored. Manning was simply a poor immigrant from Ireland who made money by cobbling the shoes of the Fordham Jesuits.

Quinn noted how Manning would live longer than both Hughes and Poe despite his life of hardship and struggle. He concluded his lecture by pointing to the shared meaning of all three stories.

“Today, we are at where Poe, Hughes and Manning once were,” said Quinn. “We are suspended between the human city and the holy one, pondering our place, asking the same questions they asked—Whose city is it? Who belongs, who doesn’t? What does God have to do with it? Fordham University is now an intrinsic part of those questions and of this city, psychically and spiritually. It is interwoven into the fabric of New York…[and] it provides a unique perspective from which to ponder our place in the scheme of things.”

The third lecture was presented by Msgr. Thomas J. Shelley, associate chair of Fordham’s Department of Theology and co-editor of the Encyclopedia of American Catholic History, who delivered the lecture “From St. John’s College to Fordham: A Catholic University for the Capital of the World.”

Father Shelley spoke of Fordham student Francis J. Spellman, future cardinal and archbishop of New York, who arrived at Rose Hill in 1907. Chronicling the experience of Spellman and others, Father Shelley traced the school’s long and difficult transition from college to university. He noted how although continuity and tradition were two characteristics Spellman and others most cherished about Fordham, the University, like other Catholic institutions, has been repeatedly faced with the mammoth challenge of preserving both within a rapidly changing church and society.

“For almost a century now, Fordham has made its own contribution to addressing [this] challenge as it continues to evolve from St. John’s College to Fordham, a Catholic University for the capital of the world,” said Msgr. Shelley.

After chronicling the ups and downs that characterized the administrations of several Fordham presidents, Shelley paid special tribute to Father O’Hare’s historic leadership, citing triumphs ranging from campus expansions to his historic tenure as the founding chairman of the New York City Campaign Finance Board.

Additional speakers in the series included Roger Wines, Ph.D., professor of history, who spoke about the city’s influence on Fordham; the Rev. Robert Grimes, S.J. (FCO ’75), dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, who discussed the Jesuits as public figures throughout New York City history; and the Rev. Raymond Schroth, S.J. (FCO ’55), author of Fordham: A History and Memoir (Loyola Press, 2002), who provided additional historical insight and reflected on the pastoral contributions of Father O’Hare to the Fordham community.

The lecture series was sponsored by the Office of the University Chaplain, the Archbishop Hughes Institute of Religion and Culture and the Center for American Catholic Studies.

Back to top

More Top Stories in this issue:

Return to Top Stories index

Return to Inside Fordham home page

Copyright © 2003, Fordham University.