Mission Week conversation: Joy, friendship and mission
Two longtime Creighton University Jesuits—and good friends—the Rev. Larry Gillick, SJ, and the Rev. Greg Carlson, SJ, will participate in a lively group discussion titled “Finding Joy, Friendship and Mission” on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 7 p.m. in the Harper Center, Hixson-Lied Auditorium.
The event, which is part of Creighton’s annual Mission Week celebration (Aug. 25-Sept. 5), is open to the public as well as to Creighton faculty, staff, students, alumni, families and friends. It also will be livestreamed. Register online to attend in person or receive the livestream link.
Joining Frs. Gillick and Carlson in this conversation will be recent Creighton graduate Cassidy Nipp, BSN’25, and administrator Michele Bogard, PhD. Bogard has been at Creighton for more than 24 years and currently serves as associate vice provost for Student Life, while Nipp is a pediatric nurse at Children’s Nebraska in Omaha and a running companion for Fr. Gillick, who is blind.
The hosts will take questions, which can be asked at the event or in advance through this form.
Fr. Gillick and Fr. Carlson both joined Creighton in 1979, but the Milwaukee natives have known each other since their days at Marquette University High School together in the late 1950s.
“Our Jesuit superior missioned us to create something special at Creighton,” says Fr. Carlson. “We did, and the creating together has gone on ever since.”
“Yes, we were missioned to create something new. Here’s another new, creative thing: We found a beautiful fraternal friendship,” says Fr. Gillick. “That friendship has created me as more of a man for Creighton’s mission.”
“I look forward to lively conversation among the four of us and with the people who come,” adds Fr. Carlson. “Besides, I never know what Fr. Gillick will say!”
Fr. Carlson entered the Jesuits in 1959, and Fr. Gillick would do the same one year later, in 1960. Fr. Gillick was ordained in 1972, and Fr. Carlson in 1974. Together, they have combined for more than 130 years of service as Jesuits.
In 1979, both came to Creighton – Fr. Gillick as spiritual director for Jesuit scholastics and Fr. Carlson to teach literature and create a seminary for the humanities education of younger Jesuits.
Today, Fr. Gillick serves as director of the Deglman Center for Ignatian Spirituality, while Fr. Carlson, an award-winning faculty member, is an avid collector of Aesop’s Fables, with more than 11,100 books and thousands of related objects housed at Creighton. Both offer spiritual direction and guidance, as a team and individually.
