http://www.ai.edu RSS feeds for Aquinas Institute of Theology 60 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/92/School-Appoints-Trustees-to-Board.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=92 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=92&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/92/School-Appoints-Trustees-to-Board.aspx A community volunteer, a president of a microbrewery and a CEO of are the latest additions to Aquinas Institute of Theology’s board of trustees. They join 21 other women and men who oversee the direction of the graduate school. New members are J. Patrick Mulcahy, vice chairman of Energizer Holdings, Inc.; Tom Schlafly, attorney and president of St. Louis Brewery, Inc.; and Bonnie Wimmer, volunteer and board member at Catholic Community Services, Midtown. “The caliber of these three trustees is an indication of just how far the current board has taken the school,” said Fr. Charles Bouchard, O.P., president of Aquinas Institute. “This is an extraordinarily talented and professional group. Their influence will be felt throughout the life of the school as they oversee our expansion.” Wimmer is a lifelong Catholic and St. Louis native. She has been married to pediatrician Warren J. Wimmer for 52 years. The couple raised four boys and four girls and now has 22 grandchildren. Wimmer has served on boards of education of her children’s schools as well as chairman of the boards of Our Lady of Life and Catholic Community Services, Midtown. She has volunteered at Midtown for more than a dozen years. Wimmer has degrees in psychology and sociology from Maryville University and worked as a medical technician to help her husband through medical school. Schlafly is president of the company that produces Schlafly beer and operates two restaurants in St. Louis. He’s also an attorney with Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin, LLP. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown University. Schlafly serves on boards of the St. Louis Public Library, Downtown St. Louis Partnership, Friends of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Trailnet, St. Louis Public Schools Foundation and the St. Louis Art Museum. He and his wife, Ulrike, a native of Cologne, Germany, live in St. Louis. Mulcahy joined Ralston Purina in 1968 and went on to become co-CEO in 1997. Energizer Holdings, Inc. spun out of Ralston Purina in 2000, and Mulcahy was CEO of Energizer. He stepped down as CEO in January and now serves as vice chairman of Energizer Holdings. Mulcahy is president of the board of commissioners for the St. Louis Art Museum, vice chairman of the American Youth Foundation board of directors, and a member of boards for Energizer Holdings and Solutia, Inc. He earned an MBA and master’s degree in agricultural economics from Cornell University. Mulcahy and his wife, Midge, have six children and live in St. Louis. The board of trustees for Aquinas Institute consists of Dominican men and women from throughout the United States and Catholics largely from the metropolitan area committed to graduate-level theological study. They work with leaders of the Central Province of Dominicans. CM Support Tue, 19 Jul 2005 17:58:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:92 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/93/Resources-on-Stem-Cell-Research.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=93 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=93&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/93/Resources-on-Stem-Cell-Research.aspx Aquinas Institute hosted about 350 people June 29 for a conversation on stem cell research. Find out more about the event and the speaker, review an outline of the presentation (784kb PDF) or study additional resources: Web Sites President’s Council on Bioethics The National Institutes of Health Genetics, Science and the Church: A Synopsis of Church Teaching on Science and Genetics (PDF document); Catholic Health Association Articles Cahill, Lisa Sowle. “Stem Cells: A Bioethical Balancing Act.” America (March 26, 2001) 14- 19. Callahan, Daniel. “Promises, Promises: Is Embryonic Stem-Cell Research Sound Public Policy?” Commonweal 132: 1 (2005): 12 – 15. Callahan, Sidney. “Zygotes and Blastocysts: Human Enough to Protect?” Commonweal 129: 12 (2002): 7 – 8. Cohen, Cynthia B. “Stem Cell Research in the U.S. After the President’s Speech of August 2001.” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 14:1 (2004) 97-114. Fischbach, Gerald D., Fischbach, Ruth L. “Stem Cells: Science, Policy and Ethics.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation Vol. 114 (10) November 2004: 1364-1370. Garvey, John. “The Stem-Cell Sell.” Commonweal 128: 14 (2001) 5 – 2. Walters, LeRoy. “Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: An Intercultural Perspective.” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 14:1 (2004) 3-38. Books Snow, Nancy E. ed. Stem Cell Research: New Frontiers in Science and Ethics. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003. CM Support Wed, 29 Jun 2005 18:03:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:93 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/94/Author-on-Medical-Ethics-Will-Address-Stem-Cell-Research.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=94 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=94&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/94/Author-on-Medical-Ethics-Will-Address-Stem-Cell-Research.aspx The emerging possibility of therapies based on stem cell research has been accompanied by questions from Christians about the moral and ethical implications of the research. Aquinas Institute of Theology, a graduate school on the campus of Saint Louis University, will host a presentation on stem cell research Wednesday, June 29, to answer some of those questions. “Stem Cell Research: The Tip of the Ethical Iceberg,” will begin with lunch at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Cardinal Rigali Center, 20 Archbishop May Drive in Shrewsbury. Sr. Jean deBlois, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and a nationally recognized health care ethicist, will speak at about 11:45 a.m. She’ll begin taking questions about 12:30 p.m. The event has generated such interest that the room is at capacity and the school has closed registrations. Standing room remains open to the media. DeBlois worked as a nurse while she studied theology. She was a supervisor in a cardiac intensive care unit before she became a student and ultimately teacher in medical ethics. She earned a Ph.D. in moral theology and medical ethics from Catholic University of America. Today, she directs a master’s degree program at Aquinas Institute for executives in Catholic health care from around the country. She also serves as a sponsor liaison for Ascension Health, the nation’s largest Catholic and largest non-profit health care system in the United States. DeBlois is author of A Primer for Health Care Ethics: Essays for a Pluralistic Society. The event is the final in the 2004-2005 Roundtable series sponsored by Aquinas Institute. The series offers Catholics opportunities to delve deeper into matters of Church and theology as a means of using the tradition to resolve contemporary questions. CM Support Thu, 23 Jun 2005 18:13:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:94 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/95/Web-Site-Offers-Journal-Forum-to-Catholic-Health-Care-Providers.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=95 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=95&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/95/Web-Site-Offers-Journal-Forum-to-Catholic-Health-Care-Providers.aspx A St. Louis physician and Aquinas Institute of Theology have launched a Web site for leaders in faith-based health care. The site, Salus & Sofia , is a wisdom community in mission. Salus & Sofia, which is Latin for “health” and Greek for “wisdom,” offers a peer-reviewed, quarterly journal, Radical Imaging. In the first issue, articles explore health care as a ministry, models of identity and mission, and the social, moral and cultural landscape of Catholic health care. Visitors to the Web site can sign up to receive email notices of future issues of Radical Imaging. The Web site also offers password-protected online discussions about topics such as professional and spiritual formation, community outreach and advocacy, ideas for collaboration and health care mission resources. Aquinas Institute, a graduate school on the campus of Saint Louis University, sponsors the site. The school was among the first schools in the United States to offer a graduate degree to Catholic health care executives as a means of sustaining the philosophies and practices central to the care begun by religious orders decades ago. Fred Rottnek, M.D., created the site with assistance from faculty and staff at Aquinas Institute. Rottnek is medical director for corrections medicine in the St. Louis County Department of Health and a family physician with the Institute for Research & Education. Rottnek also was in the first graduating class in the Master of Arts in Health Care Mission program and is the newly named assistant director. “Fred has created something unprecedented with this Web site,” said Fr. Charles Bouchard, O.P., president of Aquinas Institute. “It provides an opportunity to build a national, even global, wisdom community – a community that can strengthen the mission of Catholic health care.” CM Support Thu, 02 Jun 2005 19:44:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:95 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/96/Commencement-Address-by-James-Fisher-MDiv-PhD.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=96 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=96&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/96/Commencement-Address-by-James-Fisher-MDiv-PhD.aspx In the Beginning It is an honor for me to participate in these commencement exercises. As a professor, I am not unfamiliar with ceremonies such as these, having, by my own loose account, probably attended just this side of one hundred such exercises. My own home institution of Saint Louis University offers me no less than three graduation exercises to attend within a matter of a few days: that would be a ceremony for the Graduate School, for the John Cook School of Business where I teach, and then a final round-up for the entire University community. Though the weather is often hot or threatening rain, though the list of names can be extensive and the commencement speech, I should remind myself, too long, despite all these things or, who knows, partly because of these things, I do love these occasions. I have received a few degrees, for which I’m grateful; I have conferred a few degrees as well, and for those students I have been pleased and proud. I have also witnessed the graduation of my own children, which stirs emotions of surprising complexity, as I am sure many or you know or are perhaps now experiencing. But this is only the second time I have been asked to make a commencement address. The first was in 1971 when I spoke at my own high school graduation at Douglas MacArthur High School in Decatur, Illinois. I would like to tell you that I was the valedictorian, but Shauna Harvey received that honor. I would even like to tell you I was the salutatorian, but another Jim, Jim Bundy, had that designation. I was the class orator, a kind of back-handed compliment to the student who talked a lot in class. My wife, Judy, was in attendance that night, as she is tonight. Judy, who well knows that I throw little of my paper trail away, will not be surprised when I announce that I still have that speech. Nor will Judy be surprised when I announce that I could not quite find that speech for reference here tonight. But, let the record reflect, I did not accuse her of throwing it away. Let me observe here at the beginning of this address that we call this exercise “commencement,” which of course means beginning. T.S. Eliot, the poet who had his beginning here in St. Louis writes that What we call the beginning is often the end And to make and end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. –Four Quartets: “Little Gidding” I imagine you graduates feel this beginning, in part, as an end, an end from which you must now begin. So the end leads to a beginning, but the line demarcating one from the other is not always clear. My own beginning here in St. Louis had a certain ambiguity. I left the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, where I was pursuing my Ph.D., without actually having completed that degree. I took my position here at Saint Louis University with the explicit and clear understanding of both my new and old university that I would need to complete my dissertation research. And so I started making a beginning without really making a proper end. There is a special academic acronym given the unfortunate souls, such as myself, who labor in this purgatorial status: ABD–all but dissertation. The Bible tells us “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24) There is more that a little truth to that saying, but accommodations must sometimes be made. And so I traveled between St. Louis and Champaign many times, monitoring the progress of crops throughout southern and central Illinois for more than one agricultural season. I often thought, “If only I didn’t have this millstone of a dissertation around my neck, how much better, how much more productive as a scholar and effective as a teacher I would be.” Not to mention a more loving husband and engaged father. I often thought “How much happier I will be when I finish this dissertation.” Well I did finish. To the delight of some, the amazement of others. When people ask how long it took me to do my Ph.D., I simple say, “the Regan administration” and leave it at that. Judy sent out invitations to my graduation that began “The announcement you’ve all been waiting for…” Commencement exercises were held the 22nd day of May in the year 1988. I attended but gave no speech. So the end is where we start from. Not long after that, another pivotal event appeared on my professional horizon. I came up for promotion and tenure, a critical juncture in the life a professor when the employer decides whether, as we like to say, you go “up or out.” And so once again I found myself thinking thoughts quite similar to those I entertained in my ABD years. Won’t life be much better once I clear this hurdle? Will it not be better to have this increased measure of security? To remove the uncertainty, to resolve the tension? What I am of course describing here is what one of my divinity school professors has called life on the verge. A sense or expectation that a better or richer or fuller life is just around the corner or just slightly beyond one’s reach. If we can just close this chapter, the next one offers so much more. And it often seems so tantalizingly close. There is a Biblical parallel for this found in John’s Gospel. Where we are told that There is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethzatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me in the pool, when the water is troubled, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. (John 5:2-9) Clearly the dramatic climax is the man’s healing, but what lingers is my mind I the 38 years that this man apparently spent on the verge. The seminary professor I previously mentioned has written about this passage in a wonderful little book called Minister on the Spot. Jim Dittes draws an interesting connection between the lame man’s status and the challenge of serving in ministry. He writes: Thirty-eight years must be close to the average length of a man’s ministry. How many of those years are spent on the verge? How many of those years are spent waiting and watching, waiting for the extra help, the extra training, the extra experience, the right moment, the right circumstances which will immerse one fully in God’s healing work… (p. 2) We observe in our Gospel story that the lame man wants carried down into the pool where he believes he will find healing. It doesn’t seem like a lot to ask. Just a bit of help, he’s almost there, right on the verge. Of course, that is not at all what happens. That is not how he is restored. Dittes extends and applies this to that minister on the spot, who is, I suspect, like many ministers, like many of us. He says, simply to us all: There is no such thing as being on the verge. It only feels that way. Either be sick where you are, or else there, where you are, “Take up your pallet and walk…” Wherever you are, however you are, you are living as fully in the world, you are exercising as complete a ministry as you ever will. Well, graduates, take note of how I have just used my old seminary professor to get a leg-up into this address. It is a deft maneuver that you may consider using at some point in the future. But let me now see if I can’t bring a little more of Jim Fisher and, shall we say, his business sensibilities into the mix. I want to offer a brief meditation on why we often get “stuck,” and feel ourselves living on the verge. I take as my text, Jesus’ parable of the talents. At the core of this story is a sort of economics lesson. As my friends in the economics department down the street would tell you, all economics is really about two things: choice and scarcity. And so the basic economic question is how will you allocate the resources you hold, scarce as they inevitably are? And this takes us down another well-trod path in business and economics the age-old consideration of risk, on the one hand, versus return, on the other. It seems whenever we make decisions there is a fundamental kind of determination we make as we weigh potential risk and possible rewards. So most of us make our decisions with a kind of split sensibility–looking with one eye at the reward we desire and with the other at the risk we can accept. But then how do we actually make decisions? The parable of the talents offers guidance and a warning about our choices, about the talents given to us and their application in the world. Simply put, the parable suggests that we undervalue what we have and, at the same time, overvalue what we lack. I can tell you that in my experience as a teacher the most substantial challenge I face in preparing students for the tasks and responsibilities of management is not in the transmission of knowledge and the development of skills, but in the application of that knowledge and skill, to use their talents, if you will, that they have been given. Managers and executive are paid and frequently paid quite well because at the end of the day, they make good business decisions. They frequently make these decisions under the pressure of time, money and incomplete information. Some can’t do it. Some suffer, like the invalid at the pool of Bethzatha, unable to move quickly enough. Only it is what we in the business world call paralysis by analysis. A little more time, a little more money, a little more information, then the course of action, the right decision will be clear. So I don’t tell my students much, certainly not what to think or what to do. I have my own parables–actually we call them case studies–and I drop my students unceremoniously into the midst of a story and ask them what will you do? How will you do it? And then, simply, why? And I must tell you it is work to get them to take a position. Most are reluctant to say what they would do. Many are uncomfortable making a decision, even a simulated one, because they are unsure, afraid they might be wrong. And this I think is the other great truth of the parable, that the root cause of our fear–our paralysis, our willingness to remain on the verge–is the specter of failure. We undervalue what we have and overvalue what we lack. And in a perverse way, I think, we really overvalue failure–avoiding even the risk of it on so many occasions. Like the poor servant in the parable we bury our talent deep–after all we don’t really have the knack our master did for managing. Best not to risk so much when our own resources seem so meager. Why are so many of us afraid of failure? Here at commencement, at the beginning as we look to the future with hope, with anticipation, with the expectations of accomplishment and, yes, success, let me just stop say a good word or two about failure. First, not much of significance gets done without failure. Jim Burke, the former CEO of Johnson & Johnson is a sort of lion in the field of business ethics. He was responsible for the fortunes of Tylenol in the 1980′s when tampering with the product resulted in the death of several consumers. He is widely credited with doing the right thing in recalling the product from the store shelves and eventually producing a tamper-resistant product. He tells an interesting story about coming up through the ranks at Johnson & Johnson as a product manager. One of his first new product introductions was a product called Chest Rub. The product failed and he was summoned to the office of the then Chairman, himself a Johnson as in Johnson & Johnson, who was known simply as the General. Burke has observed that as he walked over to the General’s office “I was convinced I was going to be fired. And I was kind of excited about it, because I thought you gave it your best shot–at least this company has the decency to have the Chairman of the Board fire you.” He walked into the General’s office and found him dictating memos. The General stopped and picked up a piece of paper and asked, “Are you Mr. Burke?” “Yes, I am, sir.” “It says here that you were responsible for this new product. Is that right? “Yes, sir, it is.” “It also says here that this product failed and cost us several $100,000s. Is that right?” “That is correct.” The General extended his hand to Jim Burke and shook it saying, “Mr. Burke, I want to congratulate you for making that mistake. Make sure that you make other mistakes. But, Mr. Burke, don’t make that mistake again.” The General said what he did only in part for the benefit of Burke. He told him to make other mistakes, but not that mistake knowing that he would tell that story to others and that that story would contribute to a stronger and better company. I have heard Jim Burke say with such conviction in his voice, “You can’t build anything without a lot of failure. You really can’t; it’s just impossible.” Let’s also say this about failure or the fear of failure: the associations with which we surround it, the expectations we attach to it–are typically much worse than the experience itself and its eventual aftermath. David Myers, who teaches psychology at, appropriately enough, Hope College, observes that people think they know what will really make them happy and really make them unhappy, seeking the former and trying to dodge the latter. But his studies and research show that emotions–both positive and negative–really have a relatively short half-life. Even those difficult emotions connected with failure and loss tend to rebound quicker than we might image. When I heard Professor Myers talk he illustrated this point with the example of promotion and tenure. It turns out studies have been made of professors over time and, you know, those who did not get tenure were not lastingly devastated, indeed, they are doing quite well emotionally, and those who did get tenure, well, they are not doing any better emotionally speaking. And lest you think I am just obsessing about things academic, these findings even extend into issues having to do with illness and disability and material prosperity. David Myers punctuated his talk with these words from the psalmist: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Ps. 30:5). And so we undervalue what we have and overvalue what we lack. Maybe among the things we undervalue are the stories we carry around with us and within us. As you go out into ministry, as you go out to tell The Story, you must also let your own life speak. God will use it, often independent of your intention or expectation. Over twenty-five years ago I was in seminary. I had many fine teachers, one in particular taught theology and he had a gift for clarity and a warm and sympathetic way about him. He was thoughtful and generous with students. I think it was in my second year in divinity school that the community was devastated by the news that his wife had taken her own life. As I subsequently sat in class and listened to him talk about God I often wondered about the connection between his theology and the circumstances of loss in his own life. But he never drew that connection, at least not explicitly or in my hearing. Then about a year and a half ago, I returned to Yale Divinity School for convocation and what also served as the 25th anniversary of my own commencement. One thing in particular that drew me back was that the former professor of mine, still active, was among the featured speakers, offering a series of lectures on the theme of redemption. At the heart of these lectures, as I learned through my subsequent presence and my hearing, was the story of a family, a family whose youngest son was suddenly stricken by a serious illness, nearly dying, and then recovering, but only partially and with significant disabilities that strained to the point of breaking the family’s ability to cope. Although he told this story in the third person as if an account about some other family he once knew, I myself knew as I sat there and listened that the story was his own. It was a story of suffering and loss but also one of faith and the possibility of redemption and it penetrated me to my core. He concluded his lecture and I had to leave the chapel immediately to catch a flight to St. Louis. I could not reach the professor before I left to tell him what his lectures had meant to me. And so I walked away with a close friend and former classmate of mine. I asked Ed, the classmate, to tell the professor how much his words had meant to me. He said he would do that but Ed also told me gently and firmly that I should write him and tell him in my own words. And I did. Here in part is what I wrote: Dear Professor, It was a pleasure to see you this past October, when I returned to New Haven and YDS for my 25th class reunion. So much can and does transpire in twenty-five years, but as I sat in the pew with my friends the distance in years seemed slight. Reunions seem to invite one to consider the relationship between who one is and who one used to be. Certainly I did this, frequently finding my memories colored by a sense of loss. There is, as your lecture observed, the temptation to cling to “nostalgia for something that never was.” But reality can dissipate this sentiment and so the atmosphere of Marquand Chapel, the grounds of the school, and the presence of people so closely identified with YDS was finally a kind of tonic for me–a rich experience superior to any idealized recollection. But my primary purpose in writing is to tell you how much I benefited from your lectures, how grateful I am for having had the opportunity to–listen is really too passive and pale a word–experience the lectures. Your words–the compelling family story and your consideration of it–seemed so accessible and filled with significance that I was really transfixed throughout. I saw, in my own circumstances, having a son who died last year (named Sam as was the boy in your story), not so much a similarity as a connection to the story. C.S. Lewis writes in the aftermath of his wife’s death how such loss shakes one “out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs.” I, too, have felt this shift, if not exactly erosion, in the substantiality of what I believe or perhaps its relevance in the face of real loss. For me, your lectures embodied this experience, the suffering that attends to loss, and also offered guidance–a warning, even–as we seek to evade or otherwise dull a harsh reality. I then closed with an acknowledgement of how I still felt very much like a divinity school student, “deriving his inspiration from his professors. I am grateful,” I wrote, “for this connection, for the opportunity to see you again and to keep alive our former communion.” I finished this speech last night at about 6:00 pm. I hit the print button and, on a whim, went to my filing cabinet. In the very back of one drawer was a file marked “Miscellaneous” and there is was, my 1971 commencement speech. It was a carbon copy and the carbon itself was so degraded that the two pages were essentially blank. If you held it up to the light you could see the imprint of the letters. I could just make out the title; it was “Fear of Failure.” That I should return to that topic here tonight perhaps shows an astonishing lack of range. But perhaps also some truth to the poet’s observation that We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. –Four Quartets: “Little Gidding” Here at commencement, let us all begin, as if for the first time. Rise, take up your pallet and walk.  CM Support Fri, 06 May 2005 19:48:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:96 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/98/Aquinas-Institute-Awards-Honorary-Doctorates.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=98 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=98&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/98/Aquinas-Institute-Awards-Honorary-Doctorates.aspx Aquinas Institute will honor five members of the St. Louis metropolitan community with honorary doctorate degrees at Commencement on Friday, May 6. Amrit and Amy Gill will receive doctors of civic letters, honoris causa. They are real estate developers whose love for historic properties has led to the restoration of buildings and neighborhoods that had become victims of neglect. Amrit Gill was born in Jalandhar, India, and came to St. Louis in 1988 to pursue an MBA at Washington University. Amy Gill was born in Kentucky and moved to St. Louis in 1977 as a high school student. The two met at Washington University and married in 1990. When Amy Gill learned that a building where she once lived had gone into bankruptcy, the couple tackled their first real estate development job. They bought the three-family flat in University City on the courthouse steps. In 1995, they formed A & A Contracting, Inc. Today, they provide jobs for more than 100 people who design, build and manage their properties. The Gills now own and operate more than 700 apartment units in the city. In one neighborhood, they have purchased dilapidated drug houses to restore and resell. Much of their work is visible from the front steps of Aquinas Institute. The Gills bought the Coronado Hotel on Lindell Boulevard in 2001 and invested $40 million in its redevelopment. This 1920s building had been vacant for more than a decade and seemed headed toward ruin. Today, it houses 165 apartment units, a restaurant, banquet facility, café, and space for offices and shops. Also nearby is Lindell Towers, which the Gills bought when they bought the Coronado. They invested $30 million to upgrade the two-building complex, which is a popular place for university students and faculty to live. Ronald Henderson will receive a doctor of civic letters, honoris causa. He is the United States marshal for the eastern district of Missouri and a former chief of police for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Henderson is a St. Louis native. He served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1970 and is a veteran of the Vietnam War. He began his law enforcement career in St. Louis in 1970. He moved through the ranks to become the department’s 31st chief of police. During his tenure, he coordinated a multi-agency security detail for the 1999 visit of Pope John Paul II and directed security for the celebration following the St. Louis Rams’ Super Bowl victory in 2000. President George W. Bush appointed Henderson as a U.S. marshal in 2002. He also is an active volunteer in the church and community. Henderson is treasurer on the board of Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of St. Louis and has served on the board of the St. Charles Lwanga Center, which promotes spiritual formation and leadership development within the African-American Catholic community. He is a member of St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist Church, where he is an usher, parish council member, president of the men’s club and honorary chair of a fundraising for a youth scholarship program. George J. Henry will receive a doctor of humanities, honoris causa. He is superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He oversees Catholic preschool programs, parish schools of religion, elementary and secondary schools and adult religious education. His first job in 1965 was teaching at Sacred Heart School in Crystal City, where he was a pupil in the 1950s. He went on to become principal at Sacred Heart in 1970, which gave him the distinction of being the first layperson appointed principal of an elementary school in the archdiocese. He was principal at one more elementary school before being named associate superintendent of Catholic elementary schools. In 1995, he became the first lay superintendent for the archdiocese. He is a member of the Public Policy and Catholic Schools Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He also is past chairman of the Federal Assistance Advisory Committee for the USCCB. He has served on the Missouri Catholic Conference as chairman of the education department, chairman of the government committee and member of the public policy committee. Among his board memberships are the Today and Tomorrow Foundation and Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School. He belongs to Christ Prince of Peace Church in Ballwin. Sr. Janet McCann, ASC, will receive a doctor of humanities, honoris causa. She is principal of Sr. Thea Bowman Catholic School in East St. Louis. Most children who attend Thea Bowman School live below the poverty line and come from a family with only one parent present. One of the foundresses of Sr. McCann’s order – the Adorers of the Blood of Christ – had a great passion for going to places where beauty and order were absent, and Sr. McCann said she brings that passion to her work as well. “That is where I feel I can most make a difference,” she said. “I feel like children in these schools deserve exceptional educational opportunities to break the cycle of poverty.” Sr. McCann grew up in Cahokia, Illinois, and entered religious life as a college sophomore. She taught in schools in Illinois and one in Memphis, Tenn., before becoming principal at Holy Trinity Catholic School in St. Louis in 1997. She joined Sr. Thea Bowman School this academic year. Sr. McCann is a member of the “Bad Habits,” a trio of nuns who play guitar and sing for church and civic groups. The women also entertain at correctional facilities for Easter and Christmas. CM Support Thu, 05 May 2005 19:53:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:98 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/97/Graduates-Prepare-for-Ministries-in-Metro-Area-and-Throughout-US.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=97 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=97&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/97/Graduates-Prepare-for-Ministries-in-Metro-Area-and-Throughout-US.aspx Fifty-nine women and men will graduate from Aquinas Institute of Theology on Friday. In the weeks following graduation, they will become theology teachers, retreat directors, hospital chaplains, hospice care providers, and priests, among other things. Commencement is 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 6, at St. Francis Xavier “College” Church, at Grand and Lindell boulevards. Graduates also will gather at College Church at 11 a.m. Friday for a baccalaureate liturgy, which will include the traditional and colorful hooding ceremony. James Fisher, M.Div., Ph.D., associate professor of marketing and director of the Emerson Center for Business Ethics at Saint Louis University, will deliver the commencement address. Fisher also serves as a business ethics consultant and conducts ethics training and ethics audits for businesses. Aquinas Institute will honor five members of the St. Louis metropolitan community with honorary doctorate degrees. The following students will recieve their degree or certificate: Certificate in Spiritual Direction Carol Y. Boerding Janice Smith Burroughs Rose Ann Ficker, SSND Clarence J. Heller Sr. Therese Anne Kiefer, ASC Fr. Gary Lauenstein, C.Ss.R. The Rev. Polly J. McWilliams Dennis J. Schafer, O.F.M. Annette L. Sherwood Certificate in Pastoral Care Carl John Germain Patricia A. Lane Pat March Julie C. Patterson Kathleen M. Tehan Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies B.J. Asher Mary A. Collar Jacquelyn Stenglein Crawford Robert W. Eigenrauch Diane Dunn Hans Gail L. Herzog Pamela Lee Holmes Alicia Anne Kardos Arlene M. Kohut, O.S.F. Christine Marie Lambert Jane Lear McKinney Paul G. Miller Mary Teresa Graczak Regan Troy Christopher Woytek Master of Arts Elizabeth Ann Goodwin Brendan Mier Hemmerle Laurie Elizabeth Julian Stephen Ouma Lumala, O.P. Deborah Meister Diego B. Navarro Carrie L. Sallwasser Susan Hay Sanner Jonathan Francis Sullivan Mary R. Wavada David Richard Wenzel Ben Richard John Wiederholt Master of Divinity Jared H. Ainsworth-Bryson Elise Lenore Ainsworth-Bryson Andrew Stelter Berkes Stephen M. DiSalvo Dorothy Maye Gannon Robert Douglas Greer, O.P. Jane Calacci Guenther Rahab Isidor Richard A. Litzau, O.P. Omomaro A. Okekaro, O.P. David Philip N. Powell, O.P. Edgar Ramirez-Barroso David Keong Seid, O.P. Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry/Master of Social Work Stefan J. Marquitz Natasha M. Weitl Doctor of Ministry in Preaching Deacon Alan P. Bowslaugh James Eldon Hayes The Rev. Dennis R. Sewar The Rev. Michael Allen Woroniewicz CM Support Thu, 05 May 2005 19:49:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:97 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/99/Aquinas-Institute-Chooses-28-Parishes-to-Build-Leadership-Teams.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=99 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=99&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/99/Aquinas-Institute-Chooses-28-Parishes-to-Build-Leadership-Teams.aspx Twenty-eight parishes from four dioceses have been selected to participate in the Apollos Project, a five-year initiative intended to foster a greater sense of responsibility among Catholics and ease workloads for pastors. Each parish will identify a candidate to pursue a master’s degree at Aquinas Institute, and when that parishioner graduates, he or she will become a paid lay minister of the parish. These parishes will serve as incubators for a model of ministry that has been loosely forming for decades but is not yet organized or widely identified –a model in which pastors and professionally trained laypeople form teams to meet the needs of their communities. Students from several of the parishes will begin classes in August 2005. Students from the remaining parishes will begin classes in August 2006. Those parishes will go through a more extensive process of identifying needs of their communities and surfacing a candidate for graduate study to fulfill those needs. The Apollos Project is sponsored by Aquinas Institute in partnership with Lilly Endowment Inc., a private foundation based in Indianapolis, which awarded the school a $1.7 million grant. Through the grant, Aquinas Institute will provide scholarships to students identified by their parishes as candidates for ministry, offer additional support and training for pastors and parishes throughout the initiative, and embark upon a communications campaign to raise awareness about the importance of a participative laity. “Catholics in the pews have become passive,” said Fr. Charles Bouchard, O.P., president of Aquinas Institute. “They are accustomed to having priests provided for them. This project should remind each of us that the Church belongs to every Catholic, and we must concern ourselves with identifying and supporting lay leaders who will work collaboratively with priests to keep our parishes viable and spiritually nourishing.” The following parishes have been chosen to participate in the project: Diocese of Belleville Immaculate Conception, Centreville Immaculate Conception, Columbia Queen of Peace, Scott Air Force Base in Mascoutah St. Bruno, Pinckneyville St. Clare, O’Fallon St. Joseph, Olney St. Mary, Carlyle St. Michael Paderborn, Waterloo St. Nicholas, O’Fallon St. Peter Cathedral, Belleville St. Rose of Lima, Metropolis St. Rose, St. Rose St. Stephen, Caseyville St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, Belleville Sts. Peter and Paul, Waterloo Archdiocese of St. Louis Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Ferguson Holy Spirit Church, Maryland Heights Holy Trinity Church, St. Ann Immaculate Conception, Arnold St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. Louis St. Charles Lwanga Center, St. Louis St. Cronan, St. Louis St. Ignatius Loyola, Marthasville St. Norbert, Florissant Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau Immaculate Conception, Jackson Diocese of Springfield in Illinois Church of St. Jude, Rochester Sts. Peter and Paul, Collinsville St. Jerome, Troy CM Support Wed, 04 May 2005 19:55:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:99 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/100/Fact-or-Fiction-A-Closer-Look-at-the-Da-Vinci-Code.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=100 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=100&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/100/Fact-or-Fiction-A-Closer-Look-at-the-Da-Vinci-Code.aspx Was Mary Magdalene more than just a friend to Jesus? Is it possible that the bloodline of Jesus is still alive today? Why do these heresies pop up with such regularity? Much of what author Dan Brown wrote in “The Da Vinci Code” has provoked controversy among Catholics since the dawn of the Church. Where do we draw the line between fact and fiction? Br. Dominic Holtz, O.P. who holds a Ph.D. in medieval studies from Notre Dame and is a visiting assistant professor of philosophy and Church history at Aquinas Institute, will help shine a light on the truths and fallacies of the book in “Fact or Fiction: A Closer Look at the Da Vinci Code,” part of a Theology on Tap series sponsored by Aquinas Institute of Theology. The series helps Catholics apply Church teachings to contemporary questions. Theology on Tap begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 14, upstairs at the Tap Room, 2100 Locust St. Br. Holtz will speak at 6:30 p.m. Aquinas Institute of Theology, a graduate school on the campus of Saint Louis University, sponsors Theology on Tap. Part of the mission of the school is to engage Catholics in dialogue that will help them to keep their faith lives relevant amid demands of their professional and personal lives. Theology on Tap is designed to provide a casual gathering place for Catholics to sip beer, hear brief presentations and ask questions. To find out more about Theology on Tap or the presentation on April 14, call Aquinas Institute at (314) 977-7292. Log on at www.ai.edu/events. CM Support Tue, 12 Apr 2005 20:00:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:100 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/101/St-Paul-the-Businessman-Hear-Thoughts-on-Balancing-Work-with-Loving-Thy-Neighbor-at-the-Next-Theology-on-Tap.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=101 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=101&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/101/St-Paul-the-Businessman-Hear-Thoughts-on-Balancing-Work-with-Loving-Thy-Neighbor-at-the-Next-Theology-on-Tap.aspx Competing for promotions, seeking to pay less and get more, fighting competitors for clients. The person God calls us to be may seem to some professionals to be an ideal rather than a reality. They say the reality – especially in the work world – can be brutal. The Rev. Seán Charles Martin, a diocesan priest from Dallas and associate professor of biblical studies at Aquinas Institute, will offer thoughts on that tension during “St. Paul the Businessman,” part of a Theology on Tap series sponsored by Aquinas Institute of Theology. Theology on Tap begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 31, upstairs at the Tap Room, 2100 Locust St. Fr. Martin will speak at 6:30 p.m. Fr. Martin earned a master of arts in theology from University of Dallas, a master of arts in English from University of Notre Dame, and a license of sacred theology and doctorate of sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He describes himself as “currently preoccupied” with how St. Paul’s work was carried out in the two generations after his death. Aquinas Institute of Theology, a graduate school on the campus of Saint Louis University, sponsors Theology on Tap. The series helps Catholics apply Church teachings to contemporary questions. Theology on Tap is designed to provide a casual gathering place for Catholics to sip beer, hear brief presentations and ask questions. To find out more about Theology on Tap or the presentation on March 31, call Aquinas Institute at (314) 977-7292. Log on at www.ai.edu/events. CM Support Tue, 22 Mar 2005 20:02:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:101 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/102/Annual-Lecture-Looks-at-Feminism-Common-Good.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=102 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=102&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/102/Annual-Lecture-Looks-at-Feminism-Common-Good.aspx Was St. Thomas Aquinas a feminist? That is the question Susanne DeCrane will explore at the 23rd annual Aquinas Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in the ballroom of St. Francis Xavier “College” Church. Vespers will precede the lecture at 5 p.m. in College Church. DeCrane, author and instructor, will apply Aquinas’s principle of the common good to women’s health issues in the United States and specifically to the link between black women and breast cancer. In an article based on the same subject, DeCrane writes that retrieving Aquinas’s principle “is significant in that it will demonstrate that a feminist, liberationist approach to ethics can accommodate and appropriate a universal claim that has seemed, for centuries, to oppress – not liberate – women.” DeCrane teaches at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland and St. Mary’s University and Seminary in Baltimore. She earned a Ph.D. in Christian ethics from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto and an M.Div. from Regis College, also in Toronto. Her publications include “Ask for Anything: A Retrieval of the Theology of Petitionary Prayer,” “Teach Us to Pray, Proceedings of the Theology Institute of Villanova University” and Aquinas, Feminism and the Common Good. Aquinas Institute of Theology is a Dominican-sponsored graduate school of theology on the campus of Saint Louis University. The school prepares men for the priesthood, women and men for vowed religious life and lay women and men for careers in the Church. The annual Aquinas Lecture traditionally focuses on a contemporary theological question and applies the thinking of St. Thomas Aquinas, a 13th-century Dominican theologian, to a 21st-century issue. CM Support Thu, 17 Feb 2005 21:04:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:102 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/103/Course-Connecting-Theology-to-Life-Wins-Grant-from-Yale.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=103 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=103&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/103/Course-Connecting-Theology-to-Life-Wins-Grant-from-Yale.aspx Faculty members at Aquinas Institute of Theology want students to accomplish more than mastery of course content. They want them to develop practices that will sustain them after graduation as people who embody what Christians are called to be. Two faculty members in pastoral theology – Celeste Mueller and Ann Garrido, D.Min. – developed a course that first-year students must take. It introduces them to practices necessary for success in academia and beyond. The course so impressed representatives of Yale Divinity School in Connecticut that they awarded Aquinas Institute a $5,000 “Faith as a Way of Life” project grant. Aquinas Institute was among four schools awarded the grant, which seeks to explore and build the relationship between faith and daily life. Garrido and Mueller teach the new course, which is required for first-year students. “Students entering graduate theological studies are entering an ancient and broad conversation,” Garrido said. “It is a conversation that has spanned centuries and continents. We want our students to be full partners in that conversation.” The course focuses on five practices important to preparing students for that dialogue. Garrido and Mueller call on students to achieve excellence in written and spoken communication, read texts closely, analyze social context of readings, reflect theologically, and collaborate. As they read, for example, they should examine their own presuppositions and consider the historical era and culture of the writer. As they conduct themselves in their studies and lives outside of academia, they should reflect theologically, or practice interpreting life’s experiences in light of God’s purpose and applying the Christian story to daily events. “Many of our students will not become preachers from the pulpit,” Garrido said, “but they will preach through speaking, writing or sitting at the bedside of a hospice patient. These practices will make each of them better as they pursue their ministries.” CM Support Tue, 14 Dec 2004 21:05:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:103 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/104/Aquinas-Institute-of-Theology-Plans-Move-to-Former-Factory.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=104 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=104&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/104/Aquinas-Institute-of-Theology-Plans-Move-to-Former-Factory.aspx Aquinas Institute of Theology, a graduate school on the campus of Saint Louis University, has reached a preliminary agreement with a St. Louis developer to rehab an industrial building in Midtown St. Louis. The space at 3701 Forest Park Parkway will become a seminary and graduate school in Fall 2005. Growth at the Dominican-sponsored school makes the move necessary. The 16,000 square feet of space at 3642 Lindell Blvd. is not enough to house the expanding programs and staff at Aquinas Institute. The new site, about an eighth of a mile southwest, contains 38,000 square feet. The board of trustees for Aquinas Institute authorized a capital campaign to finance the new building. Details of the campaign are not yet finalized. The move will not affect the school’s relationship with Saint Louis University. SLU students will be able to cross-register for courses at Aquinas Institute, and Aquinas students will have access to SLU classes as well as services such as the university library, computer center and fitness center. “The ink is not yet on the paper,” said Fr. Charles Bouchard, O.P., president of Aquinas Institute, “but the move is all but a certainty. We’ve outgrown our building.” Aquinas Institute welcomed 96 new students this fall – the largest first-year class in the school’s 79-year history. Among the group were nine first-year student brothers – or Dominican seminarians. They comprised the largest seminarian class in almost 30 years. The Central Province of Dominicans, which sponsors Aquinas Institute, has 18 men preparing for ordination at the school. Total enrollment is 295. Fr. Michael Mascari, O.P., provincial, said the leadership of the Central Province is thrilled with plans to move. “It is central to the Dominican charism to go where the need is great,” he said. “The fact that Aquinas continues to grow is evident that the need is there indeed. The province is delighted to be present in the Archdiocese of St. Louis and provide a sound theological education to the women and men who serve in the archdiocese’s parishes, schools and agencies.” Aquinas Institute moved into its current space – the former SLU law school – in 1981. It expects to make the next move in October 2005. The first occupant of the factory at 3701 Forest Park was Standard Adding Machine in 1903. The building most recently housed Harrison/Williams Fixtures. As the new Aquinas Institute, it will feature a chapel, expanded library, classrooms, offices and a reading/meditation space for students. CM Support Mon, 13 Dec 2004 21:07:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:104 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/105/Aquinas-Institute-of-Theology-Appoints-New-Development-Director.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=105 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=105&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/105/Aquinas-Institute-of-Theology-Appoints-New-Development-Director.aspx Kevin J. Lee of Belleville has been named director of institutional advancement at Aquinas Institute of Theology in Midtown St. Louis. Lee, who has been associate director of admissions at Aquinas Institute, will oversee the fund-raising efforts at the graduate school. His priorities will include raising money to endow four faculty chairs, bolstering scholarship funds for seminarians, vowed religious and laypeople, and increasing annual giving. Key to meeting those challenges will be raising awareness about the school, Lee said. “It is the overall challenge facing Catholic seminaries and all Christian seminaries,” he said. “We must educate people about our relevance.” Lee succeeds Marcus Watson, who joined Aquinas Institute in January 2003 and returned recently to his home in Baton Rouge, La. Aquinas Institute of Theology is a Roman Catholic graduate school on the campus of Saint Louis University. The Order of Preachers sponsors the school, which educates candidates for the priesthood, vowed religious sisters and brothers, and laypeople pursuing careers in ministry or seeking to better understand their faith lives and faith tradition. Alumni who do not seek ordination assume roles as campus ministers, for example, theology teachers, managers of parishes without resident priests and hospital chaplains. CM Support Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:09:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:105 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/106/Aquinas-Institute-Chosen-for-17-Million-Grant-to-Effect-Change-in-Catholic-Church.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=106 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=106&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/106/Aquinas-Institute-Chosen-for-17-Million-Grant-to-Effect-Change-in-Catholic-Church.aspx A Roman Catholic graduate school of theology in Midtown St. Louis learned Friday it has been awarded a $1.7 million grant to embark upon a project intended to fundamentally change the way Catholics think. Lilly Endowment Inc., a private foundation based in Indianapolis, awarded the grant to Aquinas Institute of Theology to launch a five-year initiative to raise awareness about the state of the Church today and call upon lay Catholics to recognize their role in sustaining the Church. The initiative, known as the Apollos Project, will connect Aquinas Institute of Theology to 35 parishes in the metropolitan area. The parishes will serve as incubators for a model of ministry that has been loosely forming itself for decades but is not yet organized or widely identified – a model in which pastors and professionally trained laypeople form a team to meet the needs of Catholic parishes. The needs are pressing. In the Diocese of Belleville, for example, 47 of 77 parishes have no resident pastor. Priests travel among parishes to celebrate Mass and often are not able to fulfill other priestly duties, such as visiting the sick or counseling families. Through the Apollos Project, Aquinas Institute plans to lessen pastors’ burdens by preparing laypeople to effectively meet needs in parishes in the Belleville diocese as well as parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, the diocese of Springfield, Ill., and the Missouri dioceses of Jefferson City and Springfield-Cape Girardeau. The heart of the Apollos Project is 35 fellowships for laypeople chosen by their parishes as candidates for ministry. Twenty-five fellows will already have worked or volunteered in their parishes but will not have pursued formal studies in theology. Ten fellows will emerge through a more extensive process in which parishes assess their needs and identify among parishioners a candidate for graduate-level theological study and professional ministry. The grant will allow Aquinas Institute to provide the fellows the academic and spiritual preparation they need to become effective parish leaders. During their studies, they will work part-time at their parish. When they graduate, they’ll become full-time employees. Fr. Charles Bouchard, O.P., president of Aquinas Institute of Theology, said the grant is another example of how the school responds to changing circumstances in the Catholic Church. “We are probably more entrepreneurial than most seminaries,” he said. “We were among the first schools to accept women religious. We were part of the first ecumenical consortium in the United States. We are the first and only Catholic school to offer a doctor of ministry degree in preaching and the first to offer a degree to prepare health care executives to sustain the Church’s health care ministry. Now, we’re leading an initiative to establish a new model of parish ministry.” Even if the downward trend in priesthood candidates reversed, Bouchard said an essential role would still exist for well-educated lay professional Catholics. “Catholics in the pews have become passive,” he said. “They are accustomed to having priests provided for them. This project should remind each of us that the Church belongs to every Catholic and needs leaders to emerge from among its ranks.” Aquinas Institute is a graduate school of theology sponsored by the Order of Preachers, or Dominicans. It honors the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church while it encourages dialogue to keep the Church relevant in the 21st century. The school is a community in which priesthood candidates study with vowed religious brothers and sisters as well as lay people – parents, professionals, recent graduates and retirees – who seek leadership roles in the Catholic Church or a greater understanding of their Church and faith. Lilly Endowment awarded Aquinas Institute the grant through its “Making Connections Initiative,” which sought proposals that offered ways to build relationships among church-affiliated organizations that would lead to better ministry. The Endowment provides more grant funds for religion initiatives than any other foundation in the United States. CM Support Wed, 20 Oct 2004 20:11:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:106 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/107/When-the-Vow-Breaks-Aquinas-Institute-Sponsors-Theology-on-Tap-on-Divorce-and-Annulments.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=107 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=107&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/107/When-the-Vow-Breaks-Aquinas-Institute-Sponsors-Theology-on-Tap-on-Divorce-and-Annulments.aspx As the divorce rate soars in the United States, so does the rate of annulments. Despite the frequency of annulments – even in a metropolitan area with more than half a million Catholics – much of what people believe is myth. Are children of an annulled marriage illegitimate? Are annulments a 20th-century invention of the Church? Joachim Culotta, O.P., a judge on the council that decides annulments in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, will clarify the misunderstandings about annulments and explain the process during “When the Vow Breaks,” the second in a series of conversations about how Catholics can apply Church teachings to contemporary questions. The conversation begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, upstairs at the Tap Room, 2100 Locust St. Fr. Culotta will speak at about 6:30 p.m. Fr. Culotta was ordained a priest in 1964 and has worked on marriage tribunals since 1967. He has been judicial vicar on tribunals in Memphis and Nashville. He also is the prior, or religious superior, of a community of Dominican priests and seminarians in St. Louis. Aquinas Institute of Theology, a graduate school on the campus of Saint Louis University, sponsors Theology on Tap. Part of the mission of the school is to engage Catholics in dialogue that will help them to keep their faith lives relevant amid the demands of their professional and personal lives. Theology on Tap is designed to provide a casual gathering place for Catholics to sip beer, hear brief presentations and ask questions. To find out more about Theology on Tap or the presentation on Oct. 14, call Aquinas Institute at (314) 977-3889. CM Support Thu, 02 Sep 2004 20:12:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:107 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/108/Assumption-Parish-Priest-Wins-10th-Annual-Great-Preacher-Award.aspx#Comments 0 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/RssComments.aspx?TabID=69&ModuleID=402&ArticleID=108 http://www.ai.edu/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Tracking/Trackback.aspx?ArticleID=108&PortalID=0&TabID=69 http://www.ai.edu/AboutUs/PressReleases/tabid/69/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/108/Assumption-Parish-Priest-Wins-10th-Annual-Great-Preacher-Award.aspx A pastor whose reputation includes his antics as a puppeteer when preaching to children and his more serious work as author, speaker and video writer has been named the 2004 recipient of the Great Preacher Award. Aquinas Institute of Theology chose Fr. Joe Kempf, pastor of Assumption Church in O’Fallon, Mo., because his preaching has the profound impact upon his congregation that the award seeks to recognize. “I am convinced that of all the things I do, I can touch more lives in that 10 or 12 minutes a week than I can in anything else I do,” Kempf said. “That is something that both energizes me and terrifies me.” Aquinas Institute, which is a graduate school of theology on the campus of Saint Louis University, will present the award to Kempf on Tuesday, Oct. 19. He will preach at vespers, or evening prayer, at 6:30 p.m. at St. Francis Xavier “College” Church, at the intersection of Grand and Lindell boulevards. He’ll receive the 10th annual Great Preacher Award during a reception following the prayer service in the church ballroom. Vespers are open to the public; tickets are required for the reception. Letters from Assumption parishioners suggest Kempf does indeed touch lives. Parishioners describe him as a preacher who captivates a packed church week after week, someone whose boundless energy and joy inspire them. A Web site initially set up so the homebound and college students could hear Kempf preach now gets as many as 175 hits per homily. (Listen to Kempf’s homilies at www.assumptionbvm.org) Fr. Kempf has been pastor at Assumption since 1999. He brought with him “Big Al,” a blue-bodied, gray-faced, two-toothed puppet who typically makes an appearance after Communion. Kempf and Al will “talk” for about 90 seconds, which Kempf uses to deliver the most fundamental message of Christianity: Love one another. “One of the most beautiful responses I get is from parents who say their children quote Big Al to remind mom or dad that they need to be more like Jesus,” Kempf said. Big Al came onto the scene when Kempf made an eight-part children’s video series about grieving, “No One Cries the Wrong Way.” The work was the result of intense personal study and reflection following a friend’s death. Kempf has possessed throughout his lifetime “a gut-wrenching passion for those who hurt in any way,” he said. He has since written a book and produced a video for an older audience, all under the title “No One Cries the Wrong Way.”His work in ministering to the grieving and his videos on the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation have led to appearances as a keynote speaker at national conferences in the United States and Canada. Above all though, Kempf considers himself a parish priest. “What matters most to me in the whole world is that people find the joy that comes from living the way of Jesus,” he said. Aquinas Institute of Theology established the Great Preacher Award in 1995. The annual award is presented to an outstanding preacher whose pastoral leadership has made the Catholic community stronger. The award is a powerful means of renewing the Church and promoting good preaching, which is central to the mission of the Dominican order. The award also is intended to sustain great preaching and encourage Catholics to be attuned to hearing the Word. Fr. Kempf will share the evening with the recipient of a newer award, the Catherine of Siena Excellence in Ministry, which honors a non-ordained church professional. The honoree will be announced soon. CM Support Tue, 17 Aug 2004 20:14:00 GMT f1397696-738c-4295-afcd-943feb885714:108