In 1973, Father Pedro Arrupe, then-Superior General of the Society of Jesus, delivered his landmark address to the 10th Congress of Jesuit Alumni of Europe in Valencia, Spain. His audience, consisting of male Jesuit-educated alumni, was eager to listen to what he had to say.
However, they were shocked to hear Father Arrupe lambast the Jesuits and their associated educational institutions for failing to educate them on the meaning of justice:
"Have we Jesuits educated you for justice? You and I know what many of your Jesuit teachers will answer to that question. They will answer, in all sincerity and humility: No, we have not. If the terms 'justice' and 'education for justice' carry all the depth of meaning which the Church gives them today, we have not educated you for justice."
Father Arrupe then proposed the most foundational teaching of the modern Jesuit era. He declared the Jesuits’ prime educational objective must be to form "men for others" − men who seek justice, respect others, resolve never to profit from positions of power unjustly, live more simply, and change unfair social structures. No man for others runs from this call, as stepping down from our posts of power could risk handing over the entire social structure to the egotistical.
At St. Xavier High School, juniors read Father Arrupe’s text in their Morality and Justice course, write about it, and talk with classmates about how to live in line with his address. Unfortunately, these impressionable young men are watching one prominent member of the Long Blue Line fail to live up to St. Xavier’s ideals of being a man for others.
Ramaswamy's Acton ad raises questions about those ideals
Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2003 St. Xavier graduate and the Republican candidate for Ohio governor, recently released a despicable attack ad against his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. The ad features Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, denying Acton’s account of a childhood she says involved sexual abuse and homelessness.
Acton has said she was sexually abused by her stepfather when she was 12, and that she and her brother were removed from her mother's custody for severe abuse, neglect and sexual abuse. Arthur and Acton have been estranged for almost 50 years.
Vivek ad crosses all lines of basic human decency. What kind of person uses childhood trauma for political gain? What does it say to our St. Xavier community that a prominent alumnus would attack a woman over her well-documented claims of sexual victimization?
What St. Xavier students can learn from this controversy
At a time when our young men should be learning to love, cherish and respect women, Ramaswamy's ad wants to convince St. Xavier students that a woman who has suffered at the hands of the people she wanted to trust the most is morally acceptable. It is not and never will be.
Ramaswamy certainly didn’t skip any classes while at St. Xavier. He was the class valedictorian. But he certainly didn’t take any of his lessons that Father Arrupe made to heart.
He should immediately issue a public apology, pull the ad and end these personal attacks. To all our young men and future alumni of St. Xavier High School, it is up to us to call out shameless and appalling attacks like these. We are better than Ramaswamy's actions.
I implore all my fellow members of the Long Blue Line not to vote for him.
Andrew Geraghty is a 2018 St. Xavier graduate who lives on the West Side of Cincinnati.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ramaswamy's Acton ad betrays the values St. X taught us | Opinion
