Among our community members, we come from countless walks of life, from locations all over the country and the world. We are a community shaped by different cultures, experiences, and hopes. And yet, by Divine Providence, we believe we’ have all been gathered here together.

PROVIDENCE COLLEGE: OUR CATHOLIC AND DOMINICAN MISSION

Providence College is unwavering in its commitment to be an inclusive and welcoming community. Such a commitment is grounded in our Catholic and Dominican mission and by our belief that God has called us here and is guiding our journey toward truth. This vision goes back to our founding. In 1917, the College intentionally welcomed men of “every faith or none.” When prejudicial quotas at rival institutions limited educational opportunities for Jews, Providence College opened its doors, and by 1931, 16% of the Freshman class was Jewish. We continue to value and cherish the relations we enjoy with the Jewish members of our community. Many years later, in an address to the Faculty Senate in 1998, the College’president, Fr. Philip Smith, proclaimed, “Fashioned by the one Creator, all are brothers and sisters in a single human family with a divine mandate to be one another’s keepers.” Such are our foundations, and I wish to affirm, and indeed to strengthen this vision—a vision intrinsically linked to who we have been, who we are, and whom we hope to become as a Catholic and Dominican institution of higher education in our 21st century world.

While many members of our community flourish and feel supported by the College, some have not always been shown the love and dignity to which all are entitled. In her keynote remarks at the 2018 inaugural Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation, Dr. Bernice A. King, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke movingly of her father’s vision of a “beloved community.” It was a moment of inspiration and vision for Providence College. Soon after, the College adopted this language to describe the community we aspire to become.

Some members of our community have expressed a need for greater institutional clarity on the College’s vision of and approach to inclusion and belonging. Some continue to express a desire for the College to define what is meant by the beloved community at Providence College, and to provide a statement that clearly expresses the College’s vision of inclusion.

I wish to reaffirm the College’s commitment to making Providence College a more just and loving community. We do this because the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the consistent teaching of the Catholic Church demand this of us. Our Catholic and Dominican identity drives our commitment to becoming a just, inclusive, and diverse community, and as such, we eschew both a merely secular notion of diversity or any profession of faith that does not embrace every human being as a child of God, made in His image and likeness, and equal in dignity.

Included in this package are two updated statements that I hope will provide a degree of the clarity that many seek:

1. In the Spirit of Solidarity: Embracing Racial, Ethnic, and Socio-Economic Diversity at Providence College A synopsis of foundational principles from the Catholic and Dominican tradition that will drive our embrace of inclusion and our pursuit of the beloved community, and
2. On the Beloved Community: An introduction to what we mean by the phrase “beloved community” at Providence College. It begins with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s theological vision of the beloved community and builds upon it with the Catholic theological tradition and vision of higher education.

While I believe that these statements are important in providing a foundation upon which we can build, I know that this is but another step on our journey. The Office of Mission and Ministry will work to operationalize these concepts by explicating the principles of “beloved community” and incorporating them in new and programs throughout our college community. I share this work with a sense of humility and with a sense of gratitude to the members of the Friar Family who have provided advice. I pray that these statements will be helpful in our College’s journey toward becoming a beloved community.

Respectfully,

Kenneth R. Sicard, O.P.
College President