University of San Francisco - USF Don Yearbook (San Francisco, CA)

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In that time, Father Feely lias lived to the fullest the life of his Order. He has vivified the maxim Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam in the classroom, the academic conference, the pulpit and—more important—in his students, friends and fellow Jesuits. He has been instrumental in the academic and physical growth of the University. As Dean of Liberal Arts and Science, he revised curricula and increased the faculty; as Academic Vice President. he administered a growing college, which he had helped to become a young University almost overnight. During the thirties. Father Feely led American intellectuals in the study of Communism, and eventually originated the course Political Science 140 (Philosophy, Tactics and Dynamics of World Communism) at USF. His ideas and endeavors were not always popular then. Nor are they now. When this is so, it is because they are inconvenient to the comfortable and disturbing to the escapist. Father Connolly’s predecessor as President. Father William Dunne. S.J., says of Father Feely: “Through his tireless devotion to the confessional he affected thousands ... in leading them to excellent lives.” As priest (and this has always been the foremost facet of the man), Father Feely filled St. Ignatius Church week after week with his sermons on Communism. Christian marriage, and innumerable other topics compellingly relevant to the lives of the people he served. His personal magnetism will be remembered by many. At a 1950 testimonial dinner, the alumni offered an analysis of his unassuming greatness: “.. . everyone saw in your eyes what may be called, in Chcstcrtonian paradox, a humble exaltation.” 12

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Dedication A legacy of concern If the University is committed to excellence, ii is so only because individuals who have made the University are so committed. The individual dedicated to excellence is concerned; he is never content with the pomposity and convenience of the status quo, but therapeutically finds fault with the existing order and strives to remedy the flaws he discovers. Such a man is rare. Usually, many aspire to this level of sendee and, although they are noteworthy, are dominated by an occasional charismatic leader. USF has had such a leader within the past half century. He has made Saint Ignatius College into the University of San Francisco. In more recent years, he has striven in every way possible to keep the school “on its toes, by constructively criticizing and contributing. In the future, his legacy will be even more fully realized: that of an almost insatiable desire for the University of San Francisco to rise above the commonplace, to be not a follower of the educational world, but a leader. In short, the excellence of the University—past, present and future—is this man’s very life. In all aspects of his life—teacher, dean, administrator, confessor, preacher, lecturer, scholar—he has been called, most appropriately, Mr. USF.” Today, however, he may be a mystery to the present crop of students. Unless they have become intimately associated with him, (and few do); the students fail to know the man. Some have been more fortunate, having heard of him from alumni who are their fathers, relatives or friends. And many who are not juniors or seniors may not know him at all. It is unfortunate that some do not know a man very similar to many of us in hopes, desires, dreams and feelings, only different from us essentially in two major facets: experience and achievement. The century was not twenty-years-old when a young Saint Ignatius College graduate (A.B. magna cum laude 1914. Ll.B. 1916), Ray Feely, turned down a job in a law firm to enter the Society of Jesus. Another USF law grad (of the twenties), Judge Preston Devine, later said, “We knew that you were destined to be a distinguished lawyer. Still, somehow, it seemed you belonged to the institution of old St. Ignatius. l'he rest of the story is history: Ray came bach from his Jesuit studies, never to leave the Hilltop. Throughout his tenure at the institution (which was the Hayes Street “shirt factory” when he first knew it), his dedication has made USF an integral part of him and ha.s made him an integral part of USF. 11

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And it has been the inspiration of this man that has truly earned him his title of “Father, for he has by his enthusiasm begotten many spiritual sons: the alumni are of course familiar to us; even more important and familiar are the sons in the Order who continue in the legacy of concern—the Smyths, Zabalas, Martens, Schallerts and many more. To speak of the excellence of the University of San Francisco, achieved or aspired to. is necessarily to speak of the man who has given his life to that committment. This man is overwhelming in stature: he is an inspiration and guide which—although not always recognized by name—has nurtured (he University through its growth. He has not known all the students of these decades by name, yet has sincerely been concerned for each of us. We humbly dedicate the 1962 DON to Fattier Raymond T. Feely, S. J. The DON Editorial Board George Devine, Editor; Thomas J. Mellon, Jr.; Executive Editor; Michael I . Sullivan, Managing Editor; G. Edward Stephan, Leland D. Vanden-dale, Edward James S. Twigg, Sam Houston Andrew and Michael Svanevik, Editorial Associates.