A good Jesuit is hard to find

The next Creighton University president could be the first in school history not to own clerical vestments.

The committee tasked with replacing the outgoing president, the Rev. John Schlegel, will search long and hard for a Jesuit priest, a Creighton leader said this week, trying to continue a tradition that began when the Rev. Romanus Shaffel became Creighton's first president in 1878.

But the search committee also might bump into a 21st century reality that's increasingly pushing other Jesuit universities to hire non-priests as presidents.

Simply put, a good Jesuit is getting hard to find.

“Nobody wants to see the day (of a non-Jesuit president) come, but it might come. We have to deal with that,” said Bill Fitzgerald, the chairman of Creighton's board of directors.

A decade ago, a Jesuit priest led all but one Jesuit college and university in the country, said the Rev. Charles Currie, president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.

Then the University of Detroit Mercy hired a non-Jesuit president. A year later, Georgetown University followed suit.

Now nine of the 28 Jesuit universities in the country have a permanent or interim president who is not a Jesuit priest, Currie said.

“We used to assume that (the president's job) could only be done by a Jesuit, but we've learned over the years that it isn't true,” Currie said. “It's not something we should be fearful of. ... There's clearly value in having a Jesuit, but if that person is not available, you have to move in other directions.”

Jesuits belong to the Society of Jesus, a male-only Catholic religious order founded in 1534 by St. Ignatius of Loyola. Jesuits are best known as teachers and researchers, and they have founded and run hundreds of high schools and colleges around the world.

Today there are approximately 2,900 Jesuits in the country, half of the 6,000 of a half-century ago, according to the Society of Jesus. As the number of Jesuit priests has nosedived, those left are getting older, with an average age around 63.

As running a major university grows more complicated and more stressful, it's getting tougher to find a Jesuit both qualified and willing to take the presidential leap, Fitzgerald said.

Creighton might have an advantage because it's a top-ranked college with a law school and medical school, Fitzgerald said, the sort of place that might attract the current president of another Jesuit college.

That's what happened with Schlegel, who was the president of the University of San Francisco — and a former Creighton faculty member — when he jumped at the CU president's job in 2000.

But the timing of Schlegel's departure might make hiring another Jesuit a little tougher.

Five Jesuit presidents, including Schlegel, announced their retirements last week, meaning that five Jesuit universities will be fighting over a shrinking pool of qualified replacements.

Currie doubts that all five vacancies will be filled by Jesuits.

Creighton will soon form a 12-member presidential search committee, including faculty, administrators, alums and board members, Fitzgerald said.

That committee will first search nationwide for a qualified Jesuit leader, preferably a priest experienced in running a university.

But the search might swerve toward other candidates, Fitzgerald said, especially if it becomes clear there aren't enough qualified Jesuits interested in the job.

This swerve wasn't even possible until five years ago, he said, when Schlegel convinced the board to change its bylaws so it could hire either a Jesuit or non-Jesuit president.

Those bylaws had previously prohibited Creighton from hiring a layperson.

Though the board isn't commenting on potential candidates, one known Jesuit college leader has local ties.

The Rev. Timothy Lannon has served as president of St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia since 2003. From Mason City, Iowa, Lannon graduated from Creighton University, became a Jesuit priest and later ran Creighton Prep for seven years.

If the board decides to consider non-priests, it could attempt to lure several former Creighton administrators who have since moved on to become college presidents.

Maryanne Stevens, a former chair of Creighton's theology department, has presided at Omaha's College of St. Mary since 1996.

Charles Dougherty, a former CU vice president, has led Duquesne University, a 10,000-student Catholic (but not Jesuit) university, since 2001.

And Christine Wiseman, another former CU vice president, was named president of St. Xavier University in Chicago last November.

While not ruling out any qualified candidates, Fitzgerald said he's hopeful the next Creighton president will be like the last 23.

“The board feels strongly that, if there's an opportunity, we certainly want to find a Jesuit for Creighton University,” he said. “That would be the ideal world, but that doesn't mean that's going to happen.”

Contact the writer:

444-1064, matthew.hansen@owh.com

Editor's Note: This is a corrected version of the story. An earlier version reported that a decade ago, all Jesuit colleges and universities were led by a Jesuit. There was was one non-Jesuit serving as president of a Jesuit university at the time.

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