Thomas Massaro, S.J., a professor of moral theology at Fordham since 2018 and the associate director of the Center for Ethics Education, was recently appointed as Fordham’s Laurence J. McGinley Chair in Religion and Society. Established in 1985, the endowed professorship attracts distinguished scholars exploring the intersection of religion and the legal, political, and cultural forces that shape American society.
Father Massaro said he has known of “the prestigious McGinley Chair since I was in my 20s,” in part because of the semiannual public lectures the chair historically delivers.
This tradition, said Massaro, “is one of the ways that Fordham reaches out and plays its role as a center of theology in the broadest, pluralistic circles of New York City life.”
Tracing the Legacy of the McGinley Chair
The McGinley Chair takes its name from Fordham’s 26th president, the Rev. Laurence J. McGinley, S.J., who deepened Fordham’s ties to New York City life and culture by establishing its Lincoln Center campus and serving as a founding director of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Upon McGinley’s retirement in the 1980s, colleagues in New York’s civic and arts communities contributed generously to endow the chair.
As the third person to serve as the McGinley Chair, Father Massaro said he is “very conscious of walking in the footsteps of the first two occupants.” Inaugural chair Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., was the first and still only American theologian to be named a cardinal of the Catholic Church. The second chair, former Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Fordham, Patrick Ryan, S.J., was widely known for his expertise on Islamic political thought and fostered mutual understanding between followers of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He served as the McGinley Chair from 2009 until his retirement in 2022 and now lives at Murray-Weigel Hall, the Jesuit retirement home outside Fordham’s Bronx campus.
Father Massaro, whose area of theological scholarship is social ethics, has written extensively on Catholic social teaching and its recommendations for public policies. He has published 150 articles to date and authored 11 books, including United States Welfare Policy: A Catholic Response (Georgetown University Press, 2007) and Pope Francis as Moral Leader (Paulist Press, 2023).
“A moral theologian like myself is well positioned to hold this chair and to leverage its publicity to address a broader audience,” he said, “one that includes not just people of faith, but people who don’t think often in terms of religious belief or practice.”
A Fresh Take on American Exceptionalism
As part of his installation ceremony, Father Massaro will deliver his first McGinley Chair lecture at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in the Great Hall of the McShane Campus Center. The topic will be the problematic and ambiguous concept of “American exceptionalism” as seen through a Catholic lens.
“Catholics have hardly ever spoken about this notion of America as inherently unique and morally superior compared to other nations,” said Father Massaro, “leaving a void of perceptive assessments regarding America’s potential contribution to the global pursuit of political values. So I’ll be offering a fresh perspective. This research project has been percolating in my mind for many years now.”
