Yesterday was a great day to be an American.

Barack Obama, an African-American of humble origin, was inaugurated as our nation’s 44th president and commander-in-chief. Only in America could the dreams of a young Barack Obama become true!

I grew up in the South – in Jacksonville, Florida – and I did not think I would ever see in my lifetime an African-American man or woman elected President of the United States. The Catholic schools I attended were integrated but most of Jacksonville’s public schools were largely segregated and the ones in predominantly African-American neighborhoods were evidently inferior in quality. I was in 4th grade when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted and by the time I was in college at Florida State University and working as student manager of the basketball team in the mid-70’s, I saw how our nation’s civil rights laws were unevenly observed. Our team was made up mostly of black players and I vividly recall how they were discriminated against in some cities where we traveled. Thirty years ago it seemed to me that racial attitudes in America were nearly intractable and that the awful “gradualism” that Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. decried had become routine.

And yet, there was Barack Obama yesterday, with his hand on the Bible and the oath of office on his lips. The excitement on the Capitol grounds was matched by that in neighborhoods across our country – and on our campus. Pittsburgh’s KDKA brought a television crew here to interview some students who were watching the inaugural ceremony in the Carey Center. One student, Sherrie Dunlap, spoke of President Obama’s inauguration as “an amazing moment.”

Without doubt all Americans are behind President Obama and are hoping that he succeeds. He has the prayers of the Saint Vincent College community - and the Towey family’s, too.

One of the developments since election night that has touched me has been how well President Obama and former President Bush have interacted and seemed to get along during the time of transition and all the way through yesterday’s ceremonies and farewells. In many countries such civility between politicians of widely-divergent views and different political parties is unimaginable. But not in America.

As many of you know, President Bush was Saint Vincent College’s commencement speaker in 2007 and was the first sitting U.S. president ever to appear on our campus. Our prayers are with him, too, and it was gracious of President Obama to publicly thank him for his service.

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The crowd yesterday in the Carey Center lounge matched the one that gathered in that same space Sunday to watch our Pittsburgh Steelers win the AFC Championship!

Go Steelers! Now they head to the Super Bowl. For over 40 years our college has hosted the Steelers for their summer training camp. Sports Illustrated and ESPN and others hail our campus environment as the NFL’s best. We must be doing something right because the Steelers arguably are the greatest and most successful NFL franchise.

We are extra-proud of the men in black and gold and we will be having a campus-wide event next week to send the Steelers off to victory. It is only fitting that the place where the Steelers’ Super Bowl journey began should have a special “send off” celebration – we may even have a student football game out on Chuck Noll field! Stay tuned for details on this event and plan to attend.

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Finally, speaking of big send offs – today and tomorrow we are sending off another group – Saint Vincent College and Seminary students who will be going to Washington to participate in the annual “March for Life.”

This pro-life rally, held every year on the anniversary of the dreadful U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, is an excused absence for the students who are representing our College and giving expression to our Catholic, Benedictine identity. When I lived in Washington I never missed one of these rallies – and what always struck me as most impressive was the vast sea of the bright, shining faces of young people from every corner of America who were willing to brave the cold, wind, rain, or whatever late-January in Washington offered – and the heckling voices of the protestors who typically line the route.

Three Saint Vincent vans and one car carrying 22 students left our campus about two hours ago, and tomorrow, a bus is leaving at 5:30AM carrying four monks and 42 students. I understand the Seminary sent a busload of 51 seminarians earlier today.

This contingent of Saint Vincent students is the largest since I have been here and I only wish I could go and march with them. Kudos to Campus Ministry and the Respect for Life Club for organizing such a big group! Please keep your fellow students in your prayers as they travel to and from Washington and march along the same streets that hosted inaugural parades yesterday.

America has much to be proud of, and much more work to do, if we are to fulfill the cherished dreams of our founders, Reverend Dr. King, and other great Americans who have exhorted us, as President Obama did yesterday, to protect freedom and assure liberty and justice for all.