In Gratitude and Appreciation: Recognizing Women’s History Month

During Gonzaga’s all-school Mass on Tuesday, March 19, Father Lingan took a moment to speak to the student body about the significance of Women’s History Month. Below is an excerpt from his remarks:

Women's History Month originated from a week-long celebration in Santa Rosa, California in 1978. The following year, the idea expanded to a national event in the United States. 

Since 1987, March has officially been recognized as Women's History Month, dedicated to honoring the contributions and achievements of women throughout history.

I take this moment to express appreciation to all the women who have, and who presently do, contribute so much and enable our school to achieve and succeed in meeting our mission of offering a values-oriented and academically challenging curriculum to young men of diverse backgrounds from all of the Washington metropolitan area.

To the women who are present, and to those who join us in spirit, I sincerely thank you for all that you have done, and for all that you continue to do for Gonzaga, for our students, and for your colleagues. Thank you!

Finally, to our students, our recognition, appreciation, and respect for women is not only to be shown or demonstrated during the month of March, such respect is to be shown in every moment every single day; shown to our mothers, our grandmothers, our sisters, our cousins, our friends, our girlfriends, our teachers and staff members here at Gonzaga. To this, there are no exceptions and no excuses.

It strikes me that on this Feast Day, in honor of St. Joseph, he is a fine example of a man who showed such respect by the way he honored Mary in the way he lived and served as her husband and as Jesus’ father. 

On this page are photos of just a few of the wonderful women faculty and staff members who are part of the Gonzaga community and who dedicate themselves to the young men of Eye Street. Happy Women’s History Month!