College of the Holy Cross — Local services in Worcester

You climb that Worcester hill, and before the Gothic spires, before the manicured quad, something stops you cold: Enzo Plazzotta’s bronze hand—68 inches of oxidized metal thrust skyward like a prophet’s warning or a drowning man’s last reach. It’s called The Hand of Christ, but it reads like accusation. That’s Holy Cross in miniature: beauty on the surface, uncomfortable truths murmuring underneath.

The campus dazzles. Mount Saint James earned its nickname—The Hill—through topography that doubles as metaphor: you are always climbing, always reminded of hierarchy, always breathless. The 175-acre arboretum sprawls across dramatic elevation changes. Fenwick Hall’s twin spires (added 1868–1875) puncture the sky with Gothic ambition. Eleven Rodins live here. The architecture shouts permanence, prestige, and a very specific strain of American Catholic aspiration.

But here’s what else they own: a founding story steeped in the economics of enslavement. Thomas Mulledy, Georgetown’s former president, became Holy Cross’s first president in 1843—fresh off being censured for selling 272 enslaved human beings. When fire gutted Fenwick Hall in 1852, the largest rebuilding gift came from Patrick Healy, using $2,300 from his father’s estate—money earned by selling 51 enslaved people. Patrick and his brother James (the school’s first valedictorian) were themselves legally enslaved but passed as white their entire lives—an American arrangement of terror and silence that this institution both enabled and depended upon.

You cannot separate the spires from the ledger. You cannot admire those Rodins without asking who paid—and how.

Today, the college is aggressively selective—21% acceptance rate, down from 43% in 2022—more applicants competing to inherit this gorgeous, compromised space. Controversies swirl like weather fronts: a $25 million donor suing over broken promises, the student newspaper abandoning “Crusader” because it shared a name with a KKK publication, a dispute with the local bishop over Pride flags. In 2019, they ended need-blind admissions. The wealthy climb easier now.

What does it mean to visit? It means confronting American Catholicism’s glittering façade and bloody foundations at once. It means understanding that elite education has always been about who gets to forget and who is forced to remember. From the hilltop, Worcester spreads below—panoramic, possessive, perfect for an institution that spent its first decade debating whether proceeds from enslaved children’s sale were acceptable fundraising.

Go see it. The hand reaches up, the spires reach up—everything here strains toward heaven while rooted in earth that remembers everything. That tension is the American story, and Holy Cross tells it with startling clarity if you look past the purple banners and polished bronze.

The art is world-class. The view is breathtaking. The history is what...

First amendment and personal Opinion: I have been carefully researching the College of the Holy Cross for my children, hoping to find a genuinely Christ-centered environment that fosters both academic excellence and biblical formation. I am deeply disappointed. While the school’s name and Jesuit heritage suggest a commitment to Christian values, in practice the institution has departed significantly from its foundational mission.

The college hires faculty and staff who openly promote secular values, including LGBTQ+ ideologies, and foster a culture that encourages indulgence, self-expression, and worldly pleasures over moral and spiritual formation. This is not merely a divergence of opinion — it is a deliberate embrace of ideas that contradict biblical teachings.

This is, unfortunately, yet another example of Christian spaces and infrastructure being occupied by pagan or secular influences, a form of cultural appropriation that sows confusion among families seeking genuine Christ-centered education. For parents who value traditional biblical teaching and want their children to be grounded in real faith, this institution no longer fulfills...

[My niece Katie and I had the chance to join a tour this morning, and it was such a great experience! Our tour guides, Ava and Maddie, were fantastic—so friendly, enthusiastic, and interactive. They answered every question and made the tour both fun and informative.

The admissions staff was warm and welcoming, and the campus is absolutely beautiful. The energy and positivity we felt throughout the tour really stood out. Highly recommend this tour to anyone...