Scranton Jesuits, Donate 6 Million Dollars To Jesuits

Jesuits to donate $6M
BY Sarah Hofius Hall
12/14/2007
The Jesuit Community of Scranton on Thursday announced $6 million in donations, which officials say are representative of the Jesuits’ 65 years of local service.
The funds will be divided among three groups, with the University of Scranton, Scranton Preparatory School and the health care fund of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus each receiving $2 million. The Jesuits are members of the Society of Jesus. The announcement, which was made at the university’s Estate, the once-home of the Scranton Jesuits, was “filled with a sense of mission and a sense of service,” said Rev. George Aschenbrenner, S.J., rector of the Jesuit community.It’s because of the Jesuits’ hard work and simplicity of life that the donation is possible, he added.There are no definite plans yet for the donations to the university or Scranton Prep, but Prep’s president, the Rev. Herbert Keller, S.J., and university President Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J., said they would be used to strengthen the institutions’ Jesuit ideals. The donation addresses challenges of health care for aging Jesuits and of fostering Jesuit and Catholic traditions of education with a declining number of Jesuits, said the Rev. Bernard McIlhenny, S.J., administrator of the Scranton Jesuit community.The Jesuits have a long history in Scranton, arriving in 1942 to administer the then debt-ridden University of Scranton. The Estate, which was donated by Worthington Scranton, became their residence. They established Scranton Preparatory School in 1944, and in the 1950s, the Jesuits moved the university from Wyoming Avenue to its current location around the Estate.

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