By ALEX WHEELER
Features Editor
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Father Chris Degiovine has had a powerful impact on The College of Saint Rose for the past 25 years, and news of his leaving has brought a storm of emotions along with it. The Chronicle was able to sit down with Father Chris one last time before he closed up shop at The Office of Spiritual Life.
Nestled in his office in the basement of The Office of Spiritual Life, Father Chris seemed content with his decision to leave the College’s campus as he reflected on his time here and looked forward to his new position as a pastor at Saint Matthew’s in Voorheesville, NY.
As the campus begins to offer well wishes to such a staple on campus, some attention has been paid to where Father Chris came from before his Saint Rose journey began.
“I worked at the Diocese of Albany,” Father Chris recalled. There he was able to get to know and be of assistance to the community in Albany before making the move to college life.
Father Chris’s journey to Saint Rose even pre-dates Diocese, going back to his days at Siena as a math education major. “My first teaching job was in Voorheesville and now I’m going back,” Father Chris said.
As much as he enjoyed working with students as an educator, Father Chris realized that he was more involved with his students’ issues outside of the classroom rather than inside the classroom.
“I’m teaching them fractions and geometric proofs and they’re talking to me about difficult family situations and struggles that they’re having in their lives and I couldn’t see myself teaching math for the rest of my life when I wanted to be more comfort and solace for them on their journey.”
And he certainly made himself available to Saint Rose students as a comfort, as senior Priscilla Ly would believe. Regarding Father Chris’s impact on her Saint Rose experience and spiritual journey, she said, “He’s played a profound role in my interfaith journey and in helping me mold my spiritual identity.”
During his time at Siena, Father Chris was connected to a prayer group, one that he would become heavily involved with.
“Prayer was a source of inspiration and comfort for me during my transition from college to real life, whatever real life is.” Connected with the idea that he loved prayer, that he was Catholic, and that he wanted to further help students and people with their issues, Father Chris decided to go into priesthood. “I fell in love with the study of theology. I fell in love with the questions about God and about life and I was fascinated that I wasn’t the only one asking those questions.”
On the topic of what his favorite memories of Saint Rose were, Father Chris reflected in saying that he will always remember leading hikes during Fall CLASSIC weekend. “So many images of leading students, those memories were very vivid for me.” He went on to describe a service that the College had held the day after September 11, 2001.
“The day after 9/11 the College decided to close. We decided to put on a service the day after and we weren’t sure how many people would show up and we had about a thousand people show up.” He recalled the sense of community he felt during the service. Father Chris went on to say that, “Most of the memories are of students; all kinds of wonderful moments with students that are just priceless.”
Joan Horgan, director of Campus Ministry said summarizing her 20 years with Father Chris would be difficult, and instead offered him a few parting words.
“When we take on new things I think we invite the breath of the spirit to enter our lives in a new way and that is really worth celebrating. My wish for him is that glimmers of the celebrating could also be part of this time of change.”
On whether he had any departing words of his own for the student body, Father Chris sat back and began speaking about a prayer he gave at a commencement ceremony years ago. The commencement prayer began with Father Chris saying that he was a child of the 1960s and discussing how his generation believed they would bring peace and justice to the world.
“But we didn’t. We failed. We’ve left you a more dangerous world,” he said.
He continued this commencement prayer, stating, “I believe that your generation will be able to do what my generation couldn’t. I believe that there is something special about your generation and you have the potential to do something that my generation couldn’t do.”
“I still believe that,” Father Chris continued.
“Your generation will bring peace and justice to this world.”
So as Saint Rose bids farewell to a friend of the community, Father Chris would encourage that we should all remember that we can change the world. In the words of Father Chris, “You’re all capable of doing remarkable things, so, go on and do them.”
