Philip Geister, SJ
Rector, Newman Institute
"In 2010 Fr. Nicolas visited Uppsala in Sweden to inaugurate the Jesuit university college, the Newman Institute.
The day before the inauguration, we organized an academic seminar. Some philosophers and theologians discussed the question what a Jesuit university could offer to Swedish society today. A lot of interesting and relevant things were said. The contribution of Fr. Nicolas, however, was the most remarkable: he just listened. What he had to say, he said the following day in his official speech, but at that moment, he wanted to learn just by listening. He was an excellent listener: very attentive, respectful and with a great sense of humor. That day I understood that the friendly, personal, listening attitude of Fr. Nicolas as a necessary and complementary key to understand the strong focus that he always put on the importance of depth in academia. “Depth” was for him an expression of the curiosity and openness of the mind and heart for people and for the truth. That is the depth that he practiced and that gave him truly an in-depth understanding of the reality he encountered.
If a Jesuit is supposed to find God in all things this is not only about doing academic research. It is also about meditating on the world from the perspective of the Trinity: attentive, respectful and forgiving, and, I guess, with a lot of humor. Thus, Fr. Nicolas made a lasting impact on the development of our school by reminding us of attitudes that are not commonly found at universities but that nonetheless are required in order to reach intellectual depth and – more importantly - to find God."