Paul Clare Reinert - Seasons of change: reflections on a half century at Saint Louis University

1996 by University of Saint Louis Press

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Reinert, Paul C. (Paul Clare), 1910
Seasons of change: reflections on a half century at Saint Louis
University / by Paul C. Reinert, Paul Shore.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
ISBN 0-9652929-0-8
1. Reinert, Paul C. (Paul Clare), 1910-. 2. St. Louis
UniversityPresidentsBiography. I. Shore, Paul J., 1956
II. Title.
LD4817.S517R45 1996
378.1'11'092dc20
[B]96-28829
CIP

Marketing and Distribution:
Fordham University Press
University Box L
Bronx, New York 10458

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Paul Reinert has accomplished many things in the past half century. I have been lucky enough to be a witness to some of his most remarkable achievements, and since he and I were in the same profession of university president for so many years, I have an especial appreciation for what he has been able to do, both for Saint Louis University and for education in general. Some of the most memorable incidents from his career will be told in the following pages, but Paul Reinert's greatest accomplishments are still worth mentioning here. Father Reinert led and sustained a Catholic urban university through a period of redefinition and growth, during which its relation to that community and its mission of service were amplified and enriched beyond anyone's expectation. When other institutions fled a city that was facing crisis, Paul Reinert and Saint Louis University stayed to fight and win the good fight, an endeavor which continues today. While maintaining the Jesuit traditions of academic excellence and liberal education, Father Reinert was able to reach out to people in all walks of life and invite them into meaningful participation in the life of the university. This participation benefited not only the university, but also those who learned from him how to give of themselves. He has always kept before himself and before those who worked with him the ideals of continual spiritual and intellectual development and service, never sacrificing the one goal for the other.

Paul Reinert has done more than this, though. By making Saint Louis University a model of how contemporary American Catholic higher education can confront the challenges of modern life, he provided leadership to countless other Catholic educators trying to find their way in the uncharted territory of life after Vatican II. His ability to maintain the meaningful Catholicity of the university while consciously broadening the university's constituency helped inspire the formulation