If one stays within the contiguous states, there are few places as far from Spokane as Galveston, Texas. At the same time there are few if any places Gonzaga is more indebted to than that distant city on the Gulf. For it was there that its leader of 31 years was bred and educated before entering the Missouri Province of the Society of Jesus. Gonzaga and the Oregon Province should always be grateful to the province that has lent him to the apostolate of Gonzaga University for well over three decades.

Of course, the thought of three decades would have appeared foolish in 1974 when Barney arrived on the campus. There was fine tradition but less than no money; a good student body but too small in number; adequate facilities but many unpaid for; solid faculty but a faded vision. Indeed many shrewd prognosticators and not a few bankers thought the jig was up. They were wrong and the key reason was the quiet, steady and confident man Bernard J. Coughlin who now serves as the University’s Chancellor.

Fortunate indeed is Gonzaga to have co-opted this splendid Priest and leading educator of the American Assistancy of the Society of Jesus. Few now think of him as a Texan, or even a Missouri Jesuit; rather he’s Barney who led Gonzaga out of the wilderness and across the Jordan.