Assumption Hosts Community and the Company of Friends Event

To reaffirm shared values and reflect upon the true meaning of community, Assumption hosted an event titled “Community and the Company of Friends,” inviting all members of the community to share in a recommitment to Assumption’s shared purpose.  

Fr. Dennis Gallagher, A.A, Vice President for Mission, began the event with a greeting and a reading from the First Book of Kings.  

“For as long as I can remember, whenever there was any kind of survey asking, ‘what do you like most about Assumption?’, the answer that is usually at the top of the list is ‘community,’” Gallagher said. “Community means, I think, that we have responsibilities toward one another in realizing that this good, which is common to us, calls us out of ourselves to something greater than ourselves.” 

Assumption University President Greg Weiner then gave a reflection on community and character, asserting that the Assumption community is strong in its values and ability to commit itself to understanding and respecting one another’s humanity. 

“We are here to reflect on who we are and who we hope to be,” said Weiner. “By who we are, I mean members of the Assumption University community. I mean we in the fullest sense: each of us, no matter our role, or rank, or authority, and all of us, as a community beyond ourselves, seeking something common. We are a community in whose capacity for friendship and character my confidence is every bit as strong as it was last week, last month, last year, or at any other time.” 

“Our character is what makes us Greyhounds. And the most essential part of that character is the knowledge that we all can do good, and we all can do evil. We all have done good and have done evil. We are all more than the worst thing we have done, and none of us can afford the arrogance of resting on the best thing we have done,” said Weiner. “Today, we recommit ourselves to who we are, to who we aspire to be, and we recommit ourselves to the ethic of community and common good and mutual responsibility that is essential to both. Thank you for who you are, who we are, and for who we will become together.” 

After Weiner’s reflection, Sofia Bruno ’26, President of Assumption’s Student Government Association, read a passage from the second book of Saint Augustine’s Confessions. This passage focused on struggling with sin and desiring evil for its own sake, leading to a community in disorder.  

Anthony Fayette ’25, member of the men’s lacrosse and eSports teams, then gave his own reflection on the community he is a part of at Assumption and how it has had a major influence on his collegiate career, leading him to join multiple clubs and organizations. 

“The community here inspires you to relationships with others,” said Fayette. “It leads you to engage in relationships with those around you, and many times with those who are very different to yourself. Assumption as a university…is defined by dedication to the individual through quality relationships.”  

“If our community is founded upon the principle of people as image bearers of God, which entails treating everyone with respect and ultimately with brotherly and sisterly love, then our community will flourish and be a light in the darkness of this world,” said Fayette. “I want everyone who enters into our community to experience the same love, compassion, inspiration, and relational enthusiasm that I experienced first as a freshman and now as a senior. This is our call, our mission, so graciously given to us from on high.”   

This event was the first of three events to be held on campus this semester with themes of reflecting upon shared values and community.