On a recent episode of Ram Rides, Fordham’s newest YouTube series, John Cecero, SJ, vice president for mission integration and ministry, discussed the unique qualities of a Jesuit education. He went into even greater detail below about how Fordham prepares students to reflect on their purpose, his path to the priesthood, and his disco days (yes, really).
Why did you become a Jesuit priest?
I always wanted to be a priest. Starting when I was 5 years old, I would play priest and pretend I was saying Mass. My family originally thought it was cute, but thought, ‘He’ll grow out of it.’ Unlike Irish families that get excited by the prospect of a son being a priest, Italian families like mine are not. So as I went through adolescence and I was still talking this way, they got a little more alarmed.
I went to a Jesuit high school in Philadelphia, St. Joe’s Prep. I saw the Jesuits as men who were deeply spiritual, had a great sense of humor, and were committed to the work of education. And those were all things that I valued. I thought, this is the group for me. So I joined the Jesuits right after high school on September 3, 1976. This year will be my 50th anniversary as a Jesuit. I don’t feel that old, but it’s true.
What do you hope Fordham students will gain from their Jesuit education?
I hope that in their time here at Fordham, they begin to reflect on what their life purpose is, so that they are directed to pursue a purpose rather than to pursue the benefits of a particular job, whether that be salary, power, position, security—all of those corollary things that are not irrelevant. They’re important to consider, but [I hope] that they take time here to really reflect on what’s meaningful. What’s purposeful in a religious context? What did God create me for? How am I being asked to be a gift to the world? And I hope they continue to ask that question, because I continue to ask that question at my senior age.
I think a real benefit of Jesuit education is to be able to recognize both the need for that [reflection] and also how to do that kind of reflection. Because it’s not second nature. We usually live our lives getting through things.
You live in Campbell Hall at Rose Hill. What’s it like being on campus with students?
There’s such a joy in being around them—their energy, their light. I don’t have as much direct contact with students as I used to when I taught psychology here. But several of them I know pretty well because they come to Mass and they’re active in the Catholic community, so it’s great to be in their company.
What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?
My favorite Christmas tradition is Christmas Eve. As an Italian, we have the Feast of the Seven Fishes. I love that dinner. And by the way, I am a foodie, so I’m always at dinner.
But here at Fordham, my favorite tradition is the third Sunday of Advent, which we call Gaudete—which means rejoice in Latin. It’s really our chance to celebrate Christmas together with students in a Mass before they go home for their holidays.
I always get very emotional, because at the end of the Mass, they all light their candles, so the church is dark, then it’s all illuminated with candles, and they sing “Silent Night.”
Someone asked me to ask you: Do you like to dance?
I love to dance. But my dancing goes back to the 1970s. That’s when I was loving dance and discos. I remember, this was in the early 1990s when I was teaching, and it was a Friday afternoon class, and I said, well, we’ll wrap up now so you can all go home and get ready to go out to the disco. They were like, the disco? That’s when I realized I was in midlife.
