[econgrad]

Transform the world,’ Catholic university’s 1st graduating class told
1/30/2007

Catholic Online

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Catholic Online) – Go out and transform the world, said the head of a Catholic university at a commencement ceremony for its first graduation class.

During the Jan. 25 evening event, Father Robert Presutti, president of the University of Sacramento here, said that just five years ago the new Catholic university, the first such institution in the United States founded by the Legionaries of Christ, had no name, no location, no programs or no students.

Three years ago, Father Presutti recalled, the university had the vision, a home and a name. Today, he noted, the university has a campus, a master’s degree program, students, international tours, community events and graduates.

The university's first program, a Masters of Arts in Education with a strong focus on catechetics, began two years ago with 40 students. It has grown to its present 80 students, and now includes two catechetical certificate programs. The university, part of a global network of Legion universities in countries including Mexico, Chile, Spain and Italy, will launch a second master's degree program in the fall of 2007.

During the ceremony, Father Presutti cast a vision for the institution’s future: “a university of 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students, many of whom will be residing on a beautifully master planned 200-acre campus … professors dedicated not only to research but to mentoring their students … and students … capable of challenging the human condition to think more deeply, commit more profoundly to the ethical recasting of our culture … to create a civilization of justice and peace..”

Bishop William K. Weigand, of Sacramento, Calif., recalled his unrealized dream of a university when he was bishop of Salt Lake City.

Noting that he retained the same dream when he came to Sacramento in 1994, Bishop Weigand expressed his happiness that the first fruits of his dream, an institution of higher learning dedicated to profoundly impacting the world, was now becoming a reality.