New dedicated locker room for softball

 The many things named for Jesuits include 35 craters on the moon, the bark used to treat malaria, the camellia flower, the St. Regis Hotel in New York City—and at least one crew shell, the Rev. Anthony J. Kuzniewski, S.J., named for Holy Cross’ historian and football, basketball and lacrosse chaplain. The priest and professor fondly known as “Father K,” spoke recently with Holy Cross Magazine.

On having an eight named after him: “It was actually a surprise. I’ll tell you the story about it. In early April 2013, my 95-year-old mother died in Milwaukee. I flew home to do her funeral. Between her death and her funeral, we elected a new pope and he was a Jesuit. The week after that I was called down to the lakefront [the Donahue Rowing Center] to bless a new boat, and I didn’t know it was going to be named after me. It was a big surprise when they unveiled it. They asked me to say a few words, and I was speechless, I was so surprised.

“The Jesuits in the community all knew. They kept the secret. Quite a few of them were there. I had no idea. It totally took my breath away. On the way home I looked up to heaven and said, ‘Mother, you can take it easy.’ I attribute [the honor] to the kindness of the crew coach and the people in the crew program, but also to my mother’s finagling behind the scenes: She went to God!”

On what is entailed in the christening of a crew shell: “There’s a book of blessings that is available through one of the liturgical presses, and you modify one for the blessing of athletic facilities, inserting the word ‘boat’ for ‘field’ or ‘stadium’ or whatever. Then you sprinkle holy water on the boat and then at the end dump some champagne over the bow. [The bottle itself is not cracked on the boat.] [< brackets in the original] Not on a crew shell. This isn’t the Queen Mary.”

On the Ignatian aspect of rowing: “If you take the motto of ‘men and women for others,’ crew really personifies that, whether you’re operating an oar or the coxswain on the boat. If you don’t function as a unit, the whole thing falls apart. It really personifies putting yourself at the disposal of other people and their putting themselves at your disposal. It’s a little bit of a model of an ideal community.