The Monastery of Los Jerónimos, venue of UCAM in Murcia, welcomed this morning the members of the Governing Board of the University, of the academic representatives, of the administration and services personnel and of its Student Council for the celebration of the Patron Saint. This year, the event was smaller, in compliance with the regulation in force, with the celebration of the Eucharist for the victims of COVID-19 and to pay an homage to the health professionals, priests, religious men and women who gave their lives during this period of pandemic.

The bishop of the Diocese of Cartagena highlighted, in the homily, that “our objective is not the new normality, but the new man described by the Gospel”, adding that “during these three months we have seen the sadness and fears, the uncertainty of not knowing what was going on, but those of us who have known the light will not remain in obscurity; with the help of God we will be able to regenerate life and have a peaceful society”.

Monsignor José Manuel Lorca addressed José Luis Mendoza by saying: “I’m very happy to see you on the bow of this vessel, which is a wonderful reality to keep helping to build the future of a new society, a better society. This university has a lot of responsibility with regard to that”.

Intervention of José Luis Mendoza

To conclude the celebration, the president of UCAM made a closing speech in which he thanked “God for each and every one of the members of the University, who delivered themselves, soul and body, to the professional work that they exercise in it in this coronavirus period, during which they have continued providing training to all of their students through online teaching”.

José Luis Mendoza highlighted the academic work that is carried out at UCAM and its contribution to society, that during this period of pandemic did not do any temporary lay-off (ERTE) and guaranteed all its job positions (more than 3,700) and that allows the public administration to save various millions of Euro by training more than 20,000 students without any cost for the Regional Government. In spite of this, the latter “is causing a serious damage to the university community due to the paralysis of the expansion works, thus impeding its natural development and provoking million-euro losses”, therefore he urged the Regional Government to respect the rights of the University and unblock the paralysis of the works.

On the other hand, in his speech, he urged the politicians “to be good men, who promote just laws, who protect the right of every Christian to educate his/her children in the faith he/she professes and to avoid producing laws that promote the culture of death”, with particular emphasis on the condemnation of abortion. Likewise, he demanded help for the immigrants and the most disadvantaged groups and he denounced “the injustices that are committed in the world of work” and that go against human dignity, by demanding that “all citizens have a job that allows them to live with dignity”

Full event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA6K9TDny1M