Page 11 - Gonzaga at 60
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GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
Editor’s Note
This book is not a history.
The history of a school should probably be writen when it is a lot older than
sixty, and its producion will require a lot more ime than has been available for
the publicaion of this volume. A history of Gonzaga will inally bring together
detailed accounts of the school’s foundaion and development, and more extended
biographies of the many individuals who have served, or simply passed through, the
College. It will have more to say about Gonzaga’s posiion in, and contribuion to,
Irish society. The present book may well in ime be a source of some detail. While
preparing this book, however, it has become obvious to myself and to others that,
in the interests of any prospecive history of the College, there is urgent work to be
done to preserve some of the earliest memories.
Readers will quickly ind missing names and signiicant omissions of detail. I hope
the book contains a suicient mixture of personal recollecion and evocaive
photography to relect the past for those whose principal interest lies there.
The purpose of Gonzaga at Sixty: A Work in Progress as we have conceived it is
diferent, however. The book aims to relect, and relect on, the direcion Gonzaga
has taken; in paricular, the extent to which it has fulilled or sill coninues to fulil
the educaional aspiraions – academic, personal, spiritual and religious – of its
pioneering foundaion. The main thrust, therefore, of many of the contribuions by
the Past (some of them now wriing as members of staf) is a consideraion of their
educaion in Gonzaga and its efect on them.
In other respects, this book is a celebraion of the immense vitality and variety of a
hugely expanded school; of the many who have served the College as members of
staf and whose contribuion has not received recogniion in previous publicaions;
and of the strong sense of community that connects all who have played a part in
the sixty-year life of Gonzaga.
Michael Bevan
September 2010
GONZAGA AT SIXTY: A WORK IN PROGRESS
Editor’s Note
This book is not a history.
The history of a school should probably be writen when it is a lot older than
sixty, and its producion will require a lot more ime than has been available for
the publicaion of this volume. A history of Gonzaga will inally bring together
detailed accounts of the school’s foundaion and development, and more extended
biographies of the many individuals who have served, or simply passed through, the
College. It will have more to say about Gonzaga’s posiion in, and contribuion to,
Irish society. The present book may well in ime be a source of some detail. While
preparing this book, however, it has become obvious to myself and to others that,
in the interests of any prospecive history of the College, there is urgent work to be
done to preserve some of the earliest memories.
Readers will quickly ind missing names and signiicant omissions of detail. I hope
the book contains a suicient mixture of personal recollecion and evocaive
photography to relect the past for those whose principal interest lies there.
The purpose of Gonzaga at Sixty: A Work in Progress as we have conceived it is
diferent, however. The book aims to relect, and relect on, the direcion Gonzaga
has taken; in paricular, the extent to which it has fulilled or sill coninues to fulil
the educaional aspiraions – academic, personal, spiritual and religious – of its
pioneering foundaion. The main thrust, therefore, of many of the contribuions by
the Past (some of them now wriing as members of staf) is a consideraion of their
educaion in Gonzaga and its efect on them.
In other respects, this book is a celebraion of the immense vitality and variety of a
hugely expanded school; of the many who have served the College as members of
staf and whose contribuion has not received recogniion in previous publicaions;
and of the strong sense of community that connects all who have played a part in
the sixty-year life of Gonzaga.
Michael Bevan
September 2010
