On Monday 7 June the Australian Catholic University conferred the degree Doctor of the University honoris causa on the Reverend Professor Gerald O'Collins SJ. Fr O'Collins also delivered the Occasional Address at the Conferral of Awards ceremony in Melbourne. The ACU published the following citation:
The Australian Catholic University is proud to honour one of the Catholic Church's most eminent theologians. Gerald Glynn O'Collins, whose education at Xavier College prepared him well for his further studies, proved himself one of the University of Melbourne's outstanding scholars. He completed both his undergraduate and Master's degrees in Arts with first class honours. His brilliant academic career was acknowledged when he was awarded the University's Leeper Gold Medal in Classics in 1958 and, some years later, a travelling scholarship from 1965 to 1969, and he took out his PhD from Cambridge University in 1969.
His education in Classical Studies was to be a solid foundation for Gerald O'Collins' principal intellectual interest, theology. Gerald had entered the Society of Jesus in 1950 and was ordained in 1963, having completed studies at Canisius College, Pymble. On his return from Cambridge, Gerald began teaching at Jesuit Theological College, now (through the United Faculty of Theology) a constituent member of the Melbourne College of Divinity, an institution that awarded him the Doctor of Divinity degree in 2007.
During his five years at Jesuit Theological College he was also a Visiting Professor at Weston School of Theology in Boston. In 1973/74, he received the further distinction of being an Honoured Visitor at Pembroke College, Cambridge University. Indeed, Gerald O'Collins' scholarly capacity had family antecedents. His grandfather, Patrick McMahon Glynn, was one of the Founding Fathers of Australia and brought to the drafting of its Constitution immense learning and an impenetrable Galway brogue.
Full recognition of his academic brilliance came when Gerald was appointed Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, in 1974, and when he served there as dean of the Theology Faculty (1985-91). The Gregorian granted him the title of Emeritus Professor at the time of his retirement in 2006. During these thirty-two years in Rome, Gerald was a prolific writer and published major theological works.
He was also an invited visiting scholar at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge, from late 1991 to early 1992; he had been the Wade Professor of Theology at Marquette University, Milwaukee in the fall semesters of 1994, 1998 and 2006.
A tireless academic, during more than three decades, Gerald was also a visiting professor or speaker at many colleges and universities around the world: in Australia, Chile, Colombia, India, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Scotland and the United States of America, lecturing for those centres mainly in the areas of fundamental theology and Christology. Prior to his return last September to Australia, he held for three years a research chair in theology at Saint Mary's University College, Twickenham [in the UK].
While Gerald has a worldwide reputation as an excellent lecturer, for many he is also well known as an excellent writer, one who is able to push the boundaries of theological speculation and knowledge. He has published over fifty books as either the sole author or a major contributor and editor. Many of these works are also published in other languages, both European and Asian. Since the turn of this century he has published over fifteen scholarly theological books - four in 2008, and three are to be published in 2010.
In addition to the books, Gerald has also written extensively for leading theological journals, Biblica, Gregorianum, Scottish Journal of Theology and Theological Studies, to name but four. He is also well known as a regular contributor to The Tablet, where many who are not theologians have learned from the wisdom of this extraordinary theologian as he has distilled complex thinking to enable God's faithful to make sense of their own spirituality. It is a rare gift and Gerald has been able to produce theological works that open the scriptures for all to appreciate the Word of God revealed in Christ.
Always active ecumenically, from 1996 to 2003 Gerald co-chaired conferences on the resurrection, the Trinity, the incarnation, and the redemption in New York, which attracted leading Christian and Jewish scholars. The proceedings were published in four volumes by Oxford University Press. In 2009 and earlier this year, he chaired meetings for the Templeton Foundation in Istanbul and Oxford, which brought together on the theme of 'Light from Light' scientists and theologians of different denominations. The papers will be published by Eerdmans.
In 2006 Gerald O'Collins was created a Companion of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AC) in recognition of his outstanding commitment to theological scholarship and ecumenical initiatives. He had been earlier awarded the Malipiero Prize in 1987 for his book Jesus Risen, and the Stefano Borgia Prize in 2001 for his theological writing, and the Johannes Quasten medal in 2006 from the Catholic University of America for his services to theological studies. He also has received honorary doctorates from the Melbourne College of Divinity and from the universities of Surrey, San Francisco, John Carroll in Cleveland and Sacred Heart in Bridgeport.
The ACU has also conferred on Mr Bernard Geary OAM the degree Doctor of the University honoris causa. His citation refers to his commitment over many years to the issues surrounding young people's rights and system change, focusing on their best interests and aspirations:
Such was his success that he was appointed as Director of the Brosnan Centre to further his commitment, this time working on a state-wide basis with young offenders on release from jail. He saw the need and was eager to assist. He had been acquainted with the needs of many of the young people from the Centre as he had been a member of the Sentencing Advisory Board and for seventeen years a member of the Victorian Youth Parole Board.
He remained with the Brosnan Centre as Director for three years until it became part of Jesuit Social Services, where Bernie also took over as policy director and chief executive officer. He remained with the Jesuit Social Services for sixteen years and here, too, focused his boundless energies and deep commitment to those most in need of assistance.
His philosophy then and later with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society was to be proactive and not to wait for people to knock on the door and have to ask for help. He saw the role as one to seek out rather than to be sought after. He strongly believes that the broader community should work proactively with the poor, and that, given the right opportunity, inherent generosity and spirit are there to be tapped.
Read Fr Gerald O' Collins' Thinkpeace in this edition of Province Express