A Trump gives $4 million to Jesuit university

Deacon Greg Kandra - published on 09/14/16

It’s the candidate’s sister.

From AP:

Fairfield University in Connecticut has received a $4 million donation from the sister of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Maryanne Trump Barry is a federal judge who sits on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania.

The press release:

Fairfield University announced today that a $4M gift in honor of Rev. Jeffrey P. von Arx, S. J., the President of Fairfield, has been made by long-time University supporter and 2011 honorary degree recipient, the Honorable Maryanne Trump Barry, Senior Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The gift will fund scholarships to enable deserving young people to pursue an education at Fairfield, and will permanently endow Fairfield’s Center for Ignatian Spirituality.

Judge Barry, a strong advocate of Jesuit education, has made this gift to express gratitude to Father von Arx for all that he has accomplished during his twelve years as President. Father von Arx will be leaving Fairfield at the end of 2016 to become Superior of the Jesuit community at Lafarge House in Cambridge, Mass.

“I am sad for this loss to Fairfield,” said Judge Barry, “and pray for the continuation of the Jesuit mission and the Jesuit identity, which Father von Arx has not only preserved, but has so successfully championed over these twelve years.”

“My gifts to causes in which I believe,” she continued, “have almost always been anonymous. I make a rare exception here because I have been so moved by the difference that Father von Arx and his presidency have made in so many ways in the lives of so many young people, and because I believe that, in founding the Center for Ignatian Spirituality in 2014, Father von Arx has assured that Ignatian spirituality will guide those at Fairfield, and even worldwide, who seek the gift it so uniquely can provide, while it continues to inform and influence the environment of learning at Fairfield.”

“I am truly honored and humbled by Judge Barry’s gift,” said Father von Arx. “The scholarships make possible the dreams of many worthy young men and women, and the Center will help meet the needs of today’s world, while renewing the formative prayer tradition at the heart of the mission of the Society of Jesus; indeed, the mission of the Center is to provide spiritual direction to the community, and to train spiritual directors – both lay and religious – in the tradition of Ignatian prayer.” For more information on the Center, please visit fairfield.edu/CIS.

Photo: Wikipedia

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