In a dramatic ceremony, Dr. Peter K. Kilpatrick was installed as the 16th president of The Catholic University of America, emphasizing its Catholic identity and pledging to work to help it become the nation’s “premier Catholic research university.”
His installation on Nov. 11, 2022 came during a Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception celebrated by Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who as Washington’s archbishop serves as the university’s chancellor.
“Loving God and loving our neighbor should be a guidepost for us here at The Catholic University of America,” Dr. Kilpatrick said in his installation address, adding, “Learning to love requires that we allow God to fashion new hearts in us.”
Thousands of students and other members of the university community packed the National Shrine for the two-hour Mass, which opened with an academic procession with dozens of faculty members marching down the center aisle wearing colorful robes as Catholic University’s Symphony Orchestra played one of Mozart’s classical works.
Dr. Kilpatrick, who was appointed as the president of The Catholic University of America in March 2022 and took office on July 1, had earlier served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the Illinois Institute of Technology and previously was a professor and the McCloskey Dean of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. He holds a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota and served on the faculty of North Carolina State University in chemical engineering for 24 years. The new CUA president is also the author of more than 100 journal articles, the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards, and he holds or shares 12 patents.
“I should note that I only came to this university because I felt called to do so,” he said. “I was not actively seeking to be a president anywhere else, but I felt impelled to come to Catholic University because of the convergence of my interest in higher education and my deep and abiding Catholic faith.”
Offering an introduction to the university’s new president during the ceremony, Dr. David Walsh, a professor in CUA’s Department of Politics who was on the search committee that recommended Dr. Kilpatrick for the position, called him “an outstanding educator, scientist and energetic and imaginative administrator… He is a teacher of integrity and compassion and a scholar of great rigor, with a deep commitment to the highest ideals of Catholic higher education and to the Roman Catholic Church.”
Dr. Kilpatrick, who became Catholic as an adult, praised his wife Nancy, who he said “really taught me how to love by showing me the meaning of devoting her life in sacrificial service to others.” The couple has four adult children and four grandchildren, and Nancy Kilpatrick and their grandchildren brought the offertory gifts to Cardinal Gregory during the Mass.
The two most recent presidents of The Catholic University of America, John Garvey, who led the university from 2010 until Dr. Kilpatrick’s arrival this summer; and Bishop David M. O’Connell of Trenton, New Jersey, who led CUA from 1998-2010; attended the installation. The concelebrants at the Mass included Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the apostolic nuncio to the United States; Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, and Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. The guests included delegates from colleges, universities and other educational institutions.
In his homily, Cardinal Gregory praised Dr. Kilpatrick as a “wise and faithful man” and said “he will build on the legacy of excellence that is already the established heritage of this university and propel us into a brighter future.”
The installation was part of a Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom, and Cardinal Gregory in his homily reflected on wisdom, saying it “eventually comes with insight and experience. It comes as a grace from God Himself.”
The cardinal noted how Mary in Luke’s Gospel listened carefully and pondered the things she heard, and she willingly accepted God’s will.
“We turn to her as the Seat of Wisdom for our university and its new president, Dr. Kilpatrick. May she accompany him throughout the entire tenure of his service, assisting him each day and always reveal for him the divine wisdom that comes from God alone,” Cardinal Gregory said.
The Catholic University of America, the national university of the Catholic Church, was founded in Washington, D.C., by the bishops of the United States and chartered by Pope Leo XIII in 1887.
In his installation address, Dr. Kilpatrick noted that pope approved Catholic University’s founding 135 years ago with the mandate to ‘provide the Church with worthy ministers for the salvation of souls… and to give to the [American] Republic her best citizens.’” CUA’s president then said, “I stand here today committed to making good on that promise.”
During the installation, Dr. Kilpatrick made a profession of faith, leading the congregation in reciting the Creed, and then recited an Oath of Fidelity to the Catholic Church and its teachings. “I shall hold fast to the faith in its entirety; faithfully hand it on and explain it, and avoid teachings contrary to it,” he said as he recited the oath.
Dr. Kilpatrick was presented with symbols of his office, including an academic mace or scepter and a presidential medallion and chain placed around his neck. He wore the gold and white academic gown of Catholic University’s president, which he later jokingly described as “a bright banana yellow robe.”
On a serious note, he offered a Veterans Day salute to the men and women who have served in the armed forces. “If not for you, we would not be able to enjoy the freedoms that we should never take for granted,” he said, noting that his father was a bomber pilot in World War II.
Catholic University’s new president noted how its mission statement emphasizes advancing the dialogue between faith and reason. “The very core of who we are and what our mission is rests in this vital dialogue between our belief in God and what our reason and logic teach us,” he said. “This dialogue is a gift the world needs, perhaps now more than ever, as we witness great confusion in our society and culture about the very nature of the human person.”
Dr. Kilpatrick added that Catholic University also has “a more important mission to show love to each other, concretely through our acts of listening to each other, of serving each other and of giving ourselves to each other, even in the midst of the intellectual pursuits of a university.”
In his address, he noted how “Catholic University occupies distinctive academic territory, comprising 12 schools and a rich array of disciplines.” He said the university has more students receiving scholarships than at any point in its history, and its student body is more diverse than it has ever been, and its donors have supported new and renovated buildings and an increasing number of endowed faculty chairs, and its research expenditures are at their highest point. He praised the university for having a “vibrant, joyful campus community.”
But he highlighted a challenge faced by Catholic University, which now has 2,929 undergraduate students and 2,130 graduate students. “Today we are far too small to be such a comprehensive university, and we must grow,” he said. “Within 10 years, we should be a university of 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. At this size, we can be the vibrant university that we are called to be, and I am committed to helping to lead us there.”
Dr. Kilpatrick said that the university will need the full support of its alumni, trustees, donors, faculty and staff to help it grow and thrive and reach its goals.
“Working together, we will secure our destiny as the premier Catholic research university in our country. I am certain that with your help and prayers, our university’s greatest days lie ahead,” he said.
