WORCESTER – Francesco C. Cesareo looks at his presidency at Assumption University as a ministry that involved his family and served students, the Church and the community.
Preparing for his June 30 retirement, the institution’s 16th president told The Catholic Free Press about advancements made in his 15 years there, including strengthening Assumption’s Catholic identity and liberal arts education, transitioning to a university, raising approximately $77 million, and opening a campus in Rome.
He and his wife, Filomena, are preparing to move to the Philadelphia area, near their daughter, Marianna Schreiner, and her husband, Jeffrey, who are expecting their first child in July.
It was “a privilege and an honor to serve as president” of Assumption, President Cesareo said. “I saw my role as a steward of the institution, especially the mission of the institution. … My role as president for me has always been a ministry to the Church. … There was a pastoral dimension to the presidency, particularly for the students.”
Sometimes people would ask him how many children he has, and he would reply, “2,000,” because he felt responsible for the safety and well-being of Assumption students, he said. He and his family even helped some of them move onto campus.
“Even though we belonged to a parish (St. Bernadette in Northborough), we worshipped here” to model for students worshipping as a family, he said. Their sons, Gianfranco (now in law school) and Massimo (who recently graduated from Duquesne University), were altar servers. Their daughter was a cantor. His wife established the Assumption Parent and Family Association. She and their sons were in the student concert band.
President Cesareo said he enjoyed being part of the Diocese of Worcester, knowing Bishop McManus, priests and religious. He said he tried to fulfill a Catholic university’s responsibility to the local Church, as Pope John Paul II called for in “Ex Corde Ecclesiae.” He used principles from this apostolic constitution to further Assumption’s Catholic identity and mission.
Among other endeavors, Assumption hosted diocesan men’s and women’s conferences and sometimes provided formation for the clergy days it hosted.
And, President Cesareo said, “We have developed a culture that supports priestly vocations and religious life.” He said during his tenure at least three students became Worcester diocesan priests, three more are to be ordained to the priesthood or transitional diaconate this spring, and four others have entered religious communities.
Assumption also gives full-tuition scholarships to youth supported by the diocese’s Adopt-a-Student program, and matches scholarships for African-Americans supported by the Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Education Foundation, President Cesareo said.
Assumption’s Catholic identity has been “unapologetic” and “explicit,” during his presidency, he said.
Students are evangelized through campus ministry and missionaries from the Fellowship of Catholic University Students.
Stained glass windows from the former Assumption Preparatory School grace the chapel and other buildings, and there are statues of Christ the Healer, St. Augustine and Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption, who founded the college. Other artwork includes a copy of The St. John’s Bible in the Tinsley Campus Ministry Center, built during President Cesareo’s tenure.
The Catholic identity and mission are infused into the curriculum through emphasis on the Catholic intellectual tradition, theology and philosophy, and the dialogue between faith and reason, and by hiring faculty who contribute to the mission, President Cesareo explained.
He said that part of his legacy was making the liberal arts more central, at a time when society does not value a liberal education.
“What I’ve stressed … our education is really about formation,” he said. “Career preparation is the outcome of the education our students receive. … We’re educating the mind, the heart, the soul” – a holistic approach focusing on the betterment of the world. Students’ success will be measured not simply by their jobs or salaries, but by living out what God calls them to do.
The Catholic liberal arts education is integrated into all the new schools within the university, President Cesareo said. At the heart is the D’Amour College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in which all students fulfill core requirements. The other schools are the Grenon School of Business, Froelich School of Nursing, School of Health Professions and School of Graduate Studies.
After establishing these schools, the logical next step was to seek university status, achieved in 2020, President Cesareo said.
Having different schools led to an increase in philanthropic support from donors with specific interests, he said. During his tenure, approximately $77 million was raised, including donations to the capital campaign which ends May 31 and has exceeded its $35 million goal, President Cesareo said.
Another accomplishment is Assumption’s campus in Italy.
“When I got here, our students were not comfortable going” to new places, the president said. He opened a campus on the Assumptionists’ property in Rome, where students could study with classmates and faculty from Assumption and see the universality of the Church.
“My hope was that would give them a sense of comfort that they could study abroad” with other programs too, he said.
He said he chose Rome because it is “the heart of the Church” and liberal education originated in the Greco-Roman world.
President Cesareo also advanced Assumption’s visibility domestically. He chaired for eight years the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Review Board to prevent sexual abuse of minors by church personnel. He is still board president of the Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Education Foundation.
He said he’s also immersed himself in the Worcester community through Assumption’s support – financially, with intellectual resources and/or student volunteers – for the WooSox, the Worcester Railers Hockey Club, and Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, among other organizations. Assumption also works closely with local Catholic and public schools, he said.
He said he tried to remain true to Assumption’s mission and values and now he’s helping the provost, Greg Weiner, transition to interim president.
“We’ll see what God has in store for me next,” President Cesareo said