At the Intersection of the Secular and the Sacred
For Kevin Hardy, MS, CAS, M.Div., working at Albertus Magnus is a beautiful moment in a life touched by divine intersections. Kevin’s connection to Albertus began at a young age. He grew up in the Newhallville area and attended St. Mary’s Grammar School in the same building that now houses the 490 apartments. He recalls walking up Prospect Hill by the Albertus Magnus campus to school and feeling like he had entered a different world. “Being able to be introduced to that different world through the educational experiences and even through just the scenery of the space, I think taught me and encouraged me to dream,” he said.
Those dreams led Kevin to become the first member of his family to graduate college—an experience that translates well into his work as Assistant Director for the Office of Career and Professional Development. Remembering his own college experience, Kevin takes seriously his responsibility to guide first generation students at Albertus through career counseling. “I feel like their parents are trusting me and us to really take care of and steward their precious cargo, the same way that my parents trusted systems and people to steward me,” he explains, “I think that instilling confidence also is extremely important…just making sure that innately they believe that they can and should be here and will make a difference while they’re here.”
Kevin’s childhood connections don’t extend only to his career at Albertus Magnus. For the past 12 years, he has also pastored the St. Matthew’s Unison Freewill Baptist Church just down the road from Albertus, which he attended growing up. To both work at a school in the neighborhood where he grew up and lead his childhood church is divine intervention he believes. “To be able to extend myself to people, whether it be in the congregation or the community in the marriage of the two is very important to me,” he says. The Dominican pillars—study, prayer, community, and service—that are so foundational to Albertus resonate deeply for Kevin. “It’s almost like they run in parallel,” he says, “it’s wonderful to be able to work in a place that has values that are very similar and align with your faith.”
In serving the Albertus community and his congregation and working in the neighborhood where he grew up, there is certainly a divine intersection at play. “To see that intersection of this secular and the sacred come together and hopefully be embodied in my life is very humbling. I’m very grateful for that,” he concludes.
Contributed by: Kelly Hansen