STM
The Magazine of The Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale University
Spring 2017
STM MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTORS
S TAY I N T O U C H WITH STM
Editors:
Writers:
Robin McShane is the director of communications at STM.
Muriel Wang ‘20 is a freshman at Yale College and a member of STM’s Undergraduate Council.
Sarah Woodford ‘10 M.Div. is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and STM’s library director.
Dan Reid GRD ‘17 is a Master of Divinity student at Yale Divinity School and an intern for STM’s Center for Music and Liturgy.
Assistant Editors:
Stay in touch with STM
Christina Stankey ‘19 is a sophomore at Yale College and a member of STM’s Undergraduate Council.
www.facebook.com/stm.yale.edu
Emma Lecarie is a postgraduate associate at the Yale School of Medicine and a member of the STM community.
Frank Greaney ‘68 M.P.H. is a graduate of the Yale School of Public Health and a member of the STM community.
Katy Chan ‘15 is a graduate of Yale college. She is currently living in Seattle, Washington and preparing to enter medical school.
Jan Fournier ‘06 M.A.R. is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and a member of the STM community.
Brantley Butcher ‘19 is a sophomore at Yale College and a member of STM’s Undergraduate Council.
Griffin Oleynick ‘15 Ph.D. received his doctorate from Yale in Italian Language and Literature. He is STM’s 2017 Scholar in Residence.
@STMatYale
Michael Lalley GRD ‘18 is a Master of Arts in Religion student at Yale Divinity School and a member of STM’s Graduate Council. Design: Cadwell Art Direction
Primary Photography: Robert A. Lisak
@stmyale
About the Cover: Taizé, France: Spring flowers brighten the simple graves on the grounds of the Taizé community. In the foreground is the grave of Brother Roger Schütz, who founded the community in 1940.
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Photograph by Carlene Demiany
Mission Statement Saint Thomas More Chapel & Center serves the Catholic community at Yale by: · Creating a vibrant and welcoming community through worship and service
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· Cultivating informed faith and spirituality · Engaging in reflective discourse on faith and culture · Advancing the Church’s mission of promoting social justice · Participating in the global Church’s life and witness
Pictured: Wiley Dawson
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In This Issue 1
ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK:
TAIZÉ, FRANCE
3
FROM THE CENTER OF MUSIC AND LITURGY:
CLOUD HYMNAL
6
THE HUNGER BANQUET:
ENCOUNTERING WORLD HUNGER
9
JUDGE GUIDO CALABRESI & PROFESSOR CATHLEEN KAVENY:
CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION
14 15
STM MAGAZINE SPRING 2017
STM SCHOLAR IN RESIDENCE ON SILENCE: BREAKFAST WITH FR. JAMES MARTIN
Features 7 FROM THE ARCHIVES 12 THREE QUESTIONS 13 FAITH IN THE REAL WORLD 16 POP CULTURE 17 OPEN BOOK 18 SNAP SHOT STM Chaplains Rev. Robert Beloin, Ph.D., Chaplain Sr. Jennifer Schaaf, O.P., Assistant Chaplain Rev. Karl Davis, O.M.I., Assistant Chaplain Carlene Demiany ‘12 M.Div., Assistant Chaplain STM Magazine is published twice a year for our alumni, parents and friends. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the entire STM community.
268 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06511-4714 Phone: 203-777-5537
Fax: 203-777-0144
stmchapel@yale.edu Follow us online: stm.yale.edu
Alex Croxford ‘18 leads morning exercises with elementary school children in Nicaragua. Photograph by Jennifer Schaaf
FROM THE
Chaplain’s Desk
“Please know that your support makes a difference here every day.”
Reunion 2017
May 27 - 28 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th, 60th and 65th Reunion Classes: Dear Friends, The Spring season has been busy and enriching. Some students traveled to Nicaragua and France over break to help their neighbor and deepen their Catholic faith. Other students traveled to Chicago to join with students from nine campus ministries across the country for the annual ESTEEM (Engaging Students to Enliven the Ecclesial Mission) conference. Students from each group spoke about the experiences of these trips at a Sunday dinner after Easter. During the second semester, we had a full slate of challenging and informative lectures. Dr. Patrick O’Connor spoke as part of our Catholic Faculty Series: Life as a Scholar and a Believer. Cathleen Kaveny ‘90 J.D. ‘91 Ph.D. and Hon. Guido Calabresi ‘53 ‘58 L.L.B. continued their dialogue begun during the tenth anniversary celebration entitled “Life, Love and the Law: Continuing the Conversation.” The lecture for The Fay Vincent, Jr. Fellowship in Faith and Culture by Rev. James Martin, S.J. was attended by over 300 people, while 317 people viewed the lecture from home via livestream. Sr. Kathleen McManus, O.P. delivered The Rev. Richard R. Russell Lecture and Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P. delivered The Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Fellowship Lecture in Faith and Science. Promoting a Catholic intellectual life on campus remains a high priority for us. The season of Lent offered members of the community a chance to write a daily reflection and share it through e-mail. The Easter Triduum was again the liturgical high point of the year. Two adults were baptized in the immersion font and five others were received into the full communion of the Catholic Church through a profession of faith and Confirmation. The beautiful Exsultet on Holy Saturday night was written by Julian Darius Revie ‘02, our Composer in Residence and included an ancient Syrian Christian Chant melody attributed to the fourth-century Syrian composer and theologian St. Ephrem. This was also the first Triduum that our choir (and our tech-savvy congregants) used the Center for Music and Liturgy’s Cloud Hymnal and sang hymns from their smart phones and tablets. You can learn more about some of these events in the following pages. As you read, I hope that the Spring 2017 issue of the STM Magazine will be a source of inspiration for you. Please know that your support makes a difference here every day. As you prepare for the feast of Pentecost on June 4, I pray that the fifty days of the Easter season will be a time of blessing for you. Fr. Robert Beloin Chaplain
Saturday, May 27th 5:30-6:30pm
A cocktail reception for Catholic alumni and their friends will take place in the Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Center.
Sunday, May 28th 10am
A Mass of Remembrance for deceased alumni of reunion classes will be celebrated in the Chapel followed by brunch in the Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Center. All are welcome.
June 3-4 5th, 10th, 40th, 45th and 50th Reunion Classes: Saturday, June 3rd 5:30-6:30pm
A cocktail reception for Catholic alumni and their friends will take place in the Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Center.
Sunday, June 4th 10am
A Mass of Remembrance for deceased alumni of reunion classes will be celebrated in the Chapel followed by brunch in the Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Center. All are welcome.
Before her Baptism at the Easter Vigil, Sophie Chung GRD '18 shares her faith journey with the STM Community.
#MyCatholicYale
Alternative Spring Break: Taizé, France
I
Muriel Wang ‘20
“We talked about brokenness, about love, about good chocolate, about bad artwork and about the stars, finding in all of our conversations the face of God.”
t is so wondrous to have a song stuck in your head. The melody automatically plays on loop, refusing to cease for even a second to allow the intervention of lunchtime chatter. You know exactly how the chant ends, and exactly how to subtly connect the last syllable with the first as the song repeats itself. You recognize that familiar calmness, that glowing feeling, as the chant slowly takes root and grows inside you. It takes a while for you to notice that you’re now singing “Bénissez le Seigneur” out loud in the Trumbull Dining Hall! You’re back at Yale, and people are staring. The Alternative Spring Break trip to Taizé from March 12 to 19 is at its core a pilgrimage of spiritual healing and personal discovery. As the inaugural STM Spring Break group to Taizé, the twelve of us—eleven students and Assistant Chaplain Carlene Demiany ‘12 M.Div.—left for France after a stressful week of examinations at Yale. In the ecumenical, international monastery in Burgundy, we prayed, chanted, observed silence with the brothers three times a day, discussed Bible readings with the most interesting people, squeegeed the kitchen floor and indulged in simple meals of soup and bread (and sometimes, pasta). Every morning, we woke up to the slightly annoying screeching of birds. Every night, we tucked ourselves in with remnants of Taizé chants looping through our heads. Some nights, we lit candles and praised God through song until 1 a.m., our voices sore and soaring through the quiet countryside. We talked about brokenness, about love, about good chocolate, about bad artwork and about the stars, finding in all of our conversations the face of God.
Pictured at left, top L to R: Britt O’Daly ‘20, J.P. Kenney ‘20, Brantley Butcher ‘19, Stephen Irving ‘19, Kishore Chundi ‘20. Bottom L to R: Claire Ong ‘19, Ella Henry ‘20, Muriel Wang ‘20, Elizabeth Lee ‘19, Fatima Abaroa ‘20, Annie Killian GRD ‘19 Pictured at right, L to R: Ella Henry ‘20 and Claire Ong ‘19
1.
The Taizé Community, founded by Brother Roger Schütz in 1940, is an ecumenical monastic order in Taizé, France. The community is one of the world’s most important sites for pilgrimage and its ministries focus on youth, worship and music. Below is an example of a Taizé chant. It is simple in melody and structure, contains Biblical allusions and can be sung in many languages—French and English are printed below.
“Bénissez Le Seigneur” Toutes les œuvres du Seigneur, Bénissez le Seigneur. Vous les anges du Seigneur, Bénissez le Seigneur.
Taizé represents an indescribable feeling I will carry with me forever, especially at times of stress and sadness. Whenever I feel distant from God’s love, I will trace the edges of the Taizé cross, shaped like a dove, resting on my collarbone. I will meet up with the amazing people who shared this experience with me, laughing over nothing and reveling in shared silence. I will gladly welcome into my head the melody of Taizé chants, especially during lunchtime, regardless of my classmates’ staring. In these experiences, I find the magic of Taizé — that in community and in silence, I can viscerally feel the normallyabstract concepts of peace, of kindness, of reconciliation, of healing. I hope that this feeling never leaves me.
Bénissez le Seigneur, Bénissez le Seigneur! All the works (creations) of the Lord, Let us Bless the Lord. And you angels of the Lord, Let us Bless the Lord. Praise and glorify the Lord forever, Let us Bless the Lord, Let us Bless the Lord!
Photograph by Muriel Wang
Photographs by Carlene Demiany
A Lui louange pour toujours,
2.
From the Center of Music and Liturgy: Cloud Hymnal Dan Reid GRD ‘17
H
igh quality liturgical music offered in a highly affordable medium. That’s the quickest way to summarize Cloud Hymnal, a very young, innovative project for sharing newly harmonized hymns and newly composed music with churches around the world through online media. The idea is fairly old, but the medium through which it takes place is quite new. In the early part of the last century, the British composer Ralph Vaughn Williams set out to write new harmonies for already-existing hymn melodies of the English-speaking world. Like his eighteenth-century German predecessor, Johann Sebastian Bach, Vaughn Williams composed harmonies for hundreds of existing melodies and incorporated existing hymn melodies into his own original works. We on the Cloud Hymnal project see ourselves working in this same tradition of updating existing melodies with new harmonies. As one of the CML interns on the project, I have written new harmonies for five hymn melodies. Currently, I am working on a sixth new harmony for the hymn “Jesus, Lead the Way;” and I am in the process of adding an original composition into the hymnal’s library based on the spiritual “Let Us Break Bread.” Besides the fact that harmonizing existing hymn tunes is good for music’s own sake, we on the Cloud Hymnal project engage in this practice to provide hymns to congregations at no cost, since all of our hymns are public domain. All a parish must do, now that the Hymnal is available, is log into the site; create a community for its congregation; inform its parishioners about the site; and give them the community password for their mobile device—and they can have access to beautiful, newly composed music. My participation in this project has been a privilege. I have enjoyed working with Dr. Richard Gard ‘07 D.M.A. and with Julian D. Revie ‘02, STM’s composer in residence, and have had a unique opportunity to hone my skills as a composer and to provide a valuable service to the wider Catholic world. Giving people easy access to great music has been a special blessing to me this year; and, I look forward to seeing how the project develops in the years to come.
3.
The Cloud Hymnal mission is to provide a powerfully simple tool for church leaders and communities to create and share liturgies, music, readings and prayers.
Liturgies and Lists My Communities
Invite Members
1
2
3
Create a community
Create a liturgy
Invite members
https://cloudhymnal.org
4.
#MyCatholicYale
The heavens declare the Glory of God; the sky procalims its builder’s craft. Paslm 19:1
The Hunger Banquet: Encountering World Hunger Emma Lecarie, Postgraduate Associate: Yale School of Medicine
“Those who are hungr y deserve to be fed.”
A
s a child, I was fortunate enough to grow up in a household where I knew there would always be food on the table, but for so many others, access to food each day is not guaranteed. I was quickly reminded of this disparity upon entering STM’s Dining Hall to take part in the Hunger Banquet. A Hunger Banquet is an interactive activity simulating the imbalanced distribution of food in our world and is determined by the luck of the draw. Attendees were instructed to choose a slip of paper at random, placing each individual into the high, middle or low-income group. Some were born into relative prosperity and others into poverty. Those at the high-income table enjoyed a quality Italian dinner at a formal table setting, while those in the middle-income group ate a modest meal of rice and beans and those in the low-income population were offered only rice to eat while sitting in a group of chairs with no tables. I was taken aback by the statistics that were shared during the evening: Two-and-a-half-billion people live in poverty and over nine hundred and twenty-five million suffer from chronic hunger. Being placed into the low-income group, and only offered rice, I joined fifty percent of the world’s population, earning a couple of dollars a day. As I ate, I struggled to imagine a day that is consumed by finding food, water and shelter. The unfortunate truth is that there are people going hungry every day and the solution to end world hunger is not going to arise overnight. Efforts such as soup kitchens and food banks are helping, but the distribution of resources remains imbalanced. Although the circumstances into which we are born may be out of our control, how we deal with what we are given directly relates to the current state of our world. We can find peace and hope in the fact that our earth has the sustenance to feed every human being. Those of us who enjoy full stomachs have a responsibility to make this happen—because those who are hungry deserve to be fed.
6.
F R O M
T H E
A R C H I V E S
Lumen Fiat: The Chapel’s Chandeliers Frank Greaney ‘68 M.P.H.
Let there be
7.
light
conveys the significance of light as a metaphor for the divine, and it is readily present within the Chapel at STM. In an earlier “From the Archives” article, we noted that the Chapel’s founder, Rev. T. Lawrason Riggs, expressed his preference for a “cheerful church-joyous-with plenty of light” — hence, the clear windows, beautifully etched, that grace the STM’s Chapel and flood its interior with sunlight during the day. We also think that Father Riggs’s sentiment holds true for the Chapel’s chandeliers during the evening hours. The eight chandeliers were crafted of copper, glass and nickel, topped with unique decorative glasswork, a distinctive feature that attracts our attention and piques our curiosity. Their most prominent features are evocative of laboratory science. The pipettes, retorts and tubes clearly indicate that the sciences are entitled to a comfortable niche within Catholic higher education. In addition, the chandeliers tend to draw our eyes upward and forward to the sanctuary, the crucifix and the table. The chandeliers are singular works of art and of course, they have an interesting history. Saint Thomas More Chapel was designed by New Haven architect Douglas Orr ‘19 B.F.A. ‘27 M.F.A. Mr. Orr dominated New Haven architecture in the mid-twentieth century, creating numerous structures in the city’s skyscape, most notably the addition to the Yale Art Gallery and the Eli Building (SNETCO). He also served as Vice Chairman of the Commission on the Renovation of the Executive Mansion (the White House) and designed the Robert A. Taft Memorial and Carillon in Washington, D.C. Orr’s design of STM’s Chapel is considered spare, but also punctuated by the “flamboyant jewelry” of his chandeliers. The architect had selected a well-respected Meriden, Connecticut manufacturing company, Bradley & Hubbard, to create the fixtures. The Macalester Bicknell Corporation, also of Meriden, may well have executed the scientific glassware on the chandeliers. One surviving detail of that legend holds that the glass artisan responsible for that part of the assignment was a man named Jonathan Melville Bee. In 1965, these extraordinary lights were removed to the Chapel’s basement and spent decades in disrepair. In 2006, Petra Construction undertook a major renovation of the Chapel and Residence as designed by Knight Architecture. Petra and Knight are both well-known firms in the New Haven area. In the course of this restoration, the chandeliers were re-discovered. Five of the original six had survived their internment and were restored to their original luster. Three exact copies were artfully crafted by the Crenshaw Lighting Company of Floyd, Virginia, making the Chapel’s new chandelier count eight instead of six. The sophisticated and artistic legacy of Fr. Riggs and the artisans who helped him realize his vision lives on in our Chapel and in its unique chandeliers. Beautifully restored, the chandeliers continue to illuminate and inspire all who visit STM’s Chapel. Special thanks to those who contributed their knowledge and time to this article: Peter Alegi ‘56 ‘59 LL.B.; Janis Attridge, M.B.A.; Harold Attridge ‘97 M.A.H.; Fr. Robert Beloin, Ph.D.; George Knight ‘95 M.Arch.; Guido Petra; John Wilkinson ‘60 ‘63 M.A.T. and Sarah Woodford ‘10 M.Div. To see more photos of the Chapel chandeliers visit: stmarchives.omeka.net.
8.
Judge Guido Calabresi & Professor Cathleen Kaveny: Continuing the Conversation Transcript
On Sunday, March 5, STM did something different for The Judge Guido Calabresi Fellowship in Religion and Law. Instead of a lecture, Cathleen Kaveny ‘90 J.D. ‘91 Ph.D., Darald and Juliet Libby Professor of Law and Theology at Boston College, sat down for a conversation with Hon. Guido Calabresi ‘53 ‘58 L.L.B., former Dean and Sterling Professor at Yale Law School and now Sterling Professor Emeritus and Professorial Lecturer in Law. The conversation was entitled “Life, Love and the Law: Continuing the Conversation” and was a follow-up to the discussion they began during their break-out session at STM’s tenth anniversary celebration in December. Following is an excerpt from their stimulating conversation. To view the lecture in its entirety, visit stm.yale.edu/fellowships.
9.
Cathleen Kaveny: [Guido], you are Catholic. Your personal identity and your work identity testify to a broad tapestry of religious integration and ecumenism. Your mom’s family is Jewish, the famous Italian Finzi-Contini family; your wife, a Protestant; the university and the judicial system to which you’ve dedicated your life are broadly religiously pluralistic and include people of all faiths and no faith. Bringing together both your Catholic faith and your lived experience, how do you think about questions of religious identity and difference, and how to negotiate that in the increasingly pluralistic American public square? Guido Calabresi: I think everyone needs a home, a religious home, a place where they can feel comfortable and feel that they can do good. When I decided sometime between college, actually at Oxford, that I was a believer, I also decided that I needed to be part of something. I couldn’t be a person who just believed and didn’t do something regularly; [a person who goes] out to watch the sunset and pray to God. I don’t mean that people who do that, who really can do that, are any less good or anything. I didn’t trust myself to do that, so I looked for a [church] home. Strangely, I looked for various homes. My mother had become Catholic and [Roman Catholicism] was one of them I looked at. Another one, actually the one that was almost the most appealing to me, was the Quakers, the Friends. I decided against that because I talk too much, so I couldn’t possibly be a Quaker! I found in Catholicism that which is catholic with a small “c,” and its breadth and its history and its beauty and all those things, something where I fit. [Catholicism] is my home. I could happily accept all the beliefs. I could happily argue with all the things which one can argue with—and one can argue with a great deal because it is catholic—and found it very much my home. I must say that I can understand equally well that other people have other homes, and religion in that sense should be something which reaches out to other people and to their homes, so that you can understand what it is that makes it special for them. I see that. I see that in my friends. I see that in any number of people whom I meet all the time, what they teach me about their home. I hope that I teach them something about what is my home. I don’t know. I think that I am totally Catholic. I should say this, though: the Jewish tradition of my mother’s family is something that is there. My mother, as she got older and older, said to me, “Guido, as I get older, I become ever more Jewish and ever more Catholic.” (continued on page 11)
10.
“I think everyone needs a home, a religious home, a place where they can feel comfortable and feel that they can do good.” (continued from page 10)
CK: That’s actually very beautiful. If you think about some of what happened in the Catholic Church in the Second Vatican Council, on inter-religious relationship and particularly the relationship with the Jews, we’ve made progress. In Nostra aetate1, from Vatican II, the council fathers decided we were no longer going to pray for the conversion of the Jews, because they were our elder siblings in the faith, and that we would be praying with them, not so much for their conversion. GC: That’s not just them. I think, when you think of the scandal of different Christian faiths killing each other, and calling each other the most outlandish, awful names and not looking at what each of them saw that was worth seeing and doing, when one sees the same thing today with respect to different religions…How can anyone believe in Christ and not say that that is the scandal? That kind of warring over religion, that feeling of triumphalism and exclusion rather than, “I speak to everybody…” CK: I think that that’s true. What would you like to see? Guido Calabresi signs a book for Greg Pfeiffer GRD ‘17 We see this great expansion in the Catholic Church’s recognition of the importance of other religions traditions, and their dignity and their worth. At the same time, in the world around us, we see so much more, I guess, interreligious violence, not just abroad, but the spate of anti-Semitic activities in the United States as well as anti-Muslim activities. If you were not a second circuit judge or the dean of a law school, but say the dean of the College of Cardinals, what steps would you like to see American Catholics and Catholics around the world take to kind of combat this travesty, really? GC: Frankly, I don’t think one can do any better than what Pope Francis is doing – doing and saying every day. I don’t know if some of you, if any of you, saw or didn’t see the thing in the New York Times the other day about giving money to panhandlers2, and looking at the person and shaking the person’s hand, not worrying if the person was using the money for wine, for Crimey’s sake. The Pope in that, is saying just how much everything is a matter of human dignity, and that every person is just as worthy as anyone else – just that. If we could get that across, human dignity for every single person, we would be there – to the extent that one can use law or can use medicine or can use bananas to do it, is fine. Transcription section has been edited, annotated and condensed. The Editors would like to thank Cheryl at Rev.com for her exceptional and timely work in typing up the transcript from the original audio. Nostra Aetate: Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Vatican Council II, October 28, 1965.
1.
“The Pope on Panhandling: Give Without Worry,” The Editorial Board, The New York Times, March 3, 2017.
2.
11.
T H R E E
???
QUESTIONS
Nancy Ruddle, Ph.D. Christina Stankey ‘19
?
CS: A large part of your work as a scientist deals with the unknown. What have you learned about the process of asking questions? NR: I have found that the most interesting discoveries emerge from exploring the peripheral issues of straightforward questions. This requires an open mind and attention to what looks odd. When I began my Ph.D. research in immunology, I was studying how lymphocytes cause tissue damage and I discovered a soluble, secreted factor called lymphotoxin. Up until then, it was thought that such cells exerted effects mainly by cell-to-cell contact. I was even more shocked when, many years later, while studying mice produced by a colleague, I realized that lymphotoxin actually induces lymphoid organ formation! My colleague had expected an entirely different result, but by approaching his mice with an open mind, we were able to contribute to a completely new area of immunology.
?
CS: Our faith is full of beautiful teachings. What is one doctrine of the faith that you appreciate or live out on a daily basis? NR: Growing up, I looked to the Church for stability. I appreciated my father’s faith, and a friend’s mother was inspirational in her example as a strong Catholic woman. I have always been fascinated by the idea of vocation—and, for me, this grew into a deeper understanding of fulfilling our potential as Christians in work, relationships and everything that we do. In my adult life, my understanding of Church teachings evolved. As Fathers Russell and Beloin preached Christ’s words regarding compassion, inclusivity and the value of relationships, I came to appreciate more fully the Church’s teachings on social justice.
?
CS: Leisure allows us to wonder at the world anew. How do you spend your leisure time so that you come to see the world in a new light? NR: I love to garden. It allows me time to myself to bring order and beauty to the world by weeding, planting and cutting flowers. Everywhere I go, I pull weeds; it’s almost a compulsion! I also appreciate the beauty of the ocean. My late husband and I sailed together throughout our marriage beginning even before our engagement. We owned our sailboat for forty years and spent a great deal of time on or near the water. The expanse of the ocean gives me a great sense of the familiar as well as the transcendent. Nancy Ruddle is known for her discovery and analysis of lymphotoxin, a protein producted by T cells that play a role in the protective immune system and destroys tumor cells. To learn more about Dr. Ruddle, visit: https:// publichealth.yale.edu/people/ nancy_ruddle.profile
12.
FAITH IN THE
R E A L
W O R L D
Even Jesus Wept Katy Chan ‘15 In our new feature, a STM alumna/us reflects on joys and changes in their faith life after graduation. If you are interested in being one of our feature writers for “Faith in the Real World,” we would like to hear from you. Contact robin.mcshane@yale.edu.
S
itting in my cozy attic room in Seattle, Washington, curled up on a salvaged couch with a giant evergreen tapping at the window, I am a world away from the lower level seminar rooms of the Golden Center where I had found my core community at Yale. I am still new to this city, and jarringly aware of the temporary nature of my home here, just a pause between the rush of undergraduate life; months of traveling between Ethiopia, Alaska and New Haven; and already anticipating a move to a new state, campus and the start of medical school. Nevertheless, like many nights before, a former member of my Small Church Community and I walk through a tradition developed over four years of Friday night SCC meetings, a tradition which has continued long past our graduation day two years ago. Over Skype, we check in and share a rose (a joy), a bud (a hope) and a thorn (a sorrow) from our life that week. It’s a gentle opening, one deeply embedded in a sacred trust, a trust that allows me to confess the cause of my mourning—a cousin with two young children under the age of ten, diagnosed with inoperable and untreatable Stage IV stomach cancer. The voice of my friend is soft, familiar and comforting over laptop speakers: “Even Jesus wept.” Those words wash over me and I can almost feel outstretched arms reaching out to surround me, and the unconditional love of a friendship born at STM.
“Over Skype, we check in and share a rose (a joy), a bud (a hope) and a thorn (a sorrow) from our life that week.”
13.
Photograph by Katy Chan
STM Scholar in Residence: Combining the Scholarly and the Spiritual Griffin Oleynick ‘15 Ph.D.
Photographs by Christopher Wilson
O
ne of the most memorable moments for me this past year was watching a group of about thirty-five students, staff and community members from STM handle and pray with St. Thomas More’s sixteenth-century psalter, during a special visit to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library arranged by Michael Morand ‘87 ‘93 M.Div., the library’s public relations and communications officer. At the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, we had the opportunity to leaf through a book that few are given access to, even at Yale. Glossed by More’s own hand as he awaited execution for treason in the Tower of London in 1535, the prayer book records the only version of More’s well-known prayer in which he asks God for the grace to “set the world at nought.” As we prayed these words together in one voice, our group made direct contact with an object that lies at the very heart of our community’s identity. Combining interests that were every bit as scholarly as they were spiritual, this event also served as an example of the surprising connections that can be forged by using Yale’s unique and unparalleled collections in new ways. For the 2016-17 academic year I had the pleasure of serving as Scholar in Residence at STM, a new position designed to build intellectual bridges between the STM community and Yale’s vast intellectual resources—in terms of both research collections and personnel—related to Catholicism. My position had two aims, one ad extra and another ad intra. Through a series of guest lectures on Dante in the “Catholic Intellectual Tradition” course in Yale College and talks on Catholic topics such as medieval sculpture and Marian theology at the Yale Center for British Art and Yale Divinity School, I sought to enhance the public profile of STM on campus. At STM itself, I sought to build a new space for scholarly collaboration by facilitating regular opportunities for intellectual exchange among students, staff and community members. Two programs in particular were popular and well-received: Catholic Art @ Yale emerged as a series of monthly conversations about Catholic painting and sculpture, held at the Yale University Art Gallery, while the Catholic Studies Working Group brought together a group of about twelve young writers, scholars, artists and students who met monthly over lunch on Saturday afternoons to workshop writing projects and to share research and ideas. In addition to this regular programming I also helped to organized special one-time events, such as a discussion with students about the novel and film Silence with Rev. James Martin, S.J. I was thrilled to contribute to STM’s programming in a new area, and to have a chance to use my own scholarly training in a pastoral setting. My hope is that others will continue to build on this programming for many years to come — and in the process, nourish future generations of students and scholars who, illuminated by the light of Christ and infused with the joy of the Gospels, can in turn become evangelists for the entire Yale community.
14.
On Silence: Breakfast with Fr. James Martin, S.J.
H
Brantley Butcher ‘19
Rev. James Martin, S.J. sat comfortably in the recliner of the priests’ residence at STM, the morning sunshine giving the air around him a pleasant white glow.
is speech was fluid and open and drew the small group of students seated around him into his world with the ease of a man who tells stories for a living. The Jesuit, known for his many forays into the media and his work as editor at America magazine, gave his second talk of the weekend. While his lecture the night prior had focused on the unity of the human and the divine natures of Jesus, the second presentation addressed his recent work on the Martin Scorsese film Silence. When Father Martin discussed the movie Silence, he spoke of it with the reverence an artist would give to a masterwork. The discussion began with Fr. Martin describing the roles he played on the film’s set, which ranged from switching dialogue and prayers to their more Jesuit-like analogs to mentoring actor Andrew Garfield in the ways of Jesuit spirituality. He spoke with special fondness about the relationship he formed with Garfield, who began the film with only a basic understanding of Christianity. Fr. Martin described the joy of watching Garfield discover the Gospels and the fervor with which Garfield took to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. Their work together culminated with Fr. Martin, in Jesuit fashion, missioning Garfield to act in the film’s leading role, as Father Rodrigues, a moment that was emotionally touching for both the actor and Fr. Martin.
L to R: Fr. James Martin; Vernoca Mayer GRD ‘17; Julie Goulet, Ph.D.; Britt O’Daly ‘20
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Contemplation on Screen: A Review of Silence Michael Lalley GRD ‘18
The talk soon moved to discussing the film itself and its reception. Fr. Martin described the difficulty the film found in connecting with audiences due to its subject matter. For those who were unreligious, the decision to apostatize, which the film hinged upon, lacked the gravity needed to empathize with the seventeenth-century Jesuits. For those who were religious, Fr. Rodrigues’s ultimate decision to renounce his faith was difficult to understand, even though a clearly divine intervention informed Rodrigues’s decision. Fr. Martin saw the latter group’s difficulty with the film as especially troubling and representative of the state of the Church today, where a black and white mentality leaves little room for individual discernment. He praised Pope Francis for what he sees as the turn towards discernment at the Vatican and hopes the Church at large will embrace discernment as it moves towards the future. At the conclusion of the discussion, small groups formed organically to discuss what they had heard. Amid the hubbub of dishes making their return journey to the kitchen and the group photos, Fr. Martin moved from group to group. As he mingled, the Jesuit addressed students’ questions about Silence, spirituality and the current state of the Church—answering all inquiries with empathetic warmth and authenticity. Only after most guests had left did Fr. Martin grab his bags, thank Father Bob and begin his return journey to New York. To view Fr. Martin's lecture on the unity of the human and the divine natures of Jesus, visit stm.yale.edu/fellowships.
Viewing Silence, the long-gestated passion project and film from Martin Scorsese, defies the typical movie-going experience. Movie reviewer Matt Zoller Seitz described it as “not the sort of film you ‘like’ or ‘don’t like.’ It’s a film that you experience and then live with.” Father James Martin, S.J., an advisor on the film, likened the act of watching Silence to “living inside of a prayer.” This powerful film demands participation in a scrupulous inquiry into the nature of faith and doubt, and their painful co-existence in the heart. The plot follows the seventeenth-century journey of two Portuguese Jesuit priests, Father Rodrigues and Father Garupe, played heart-wrenchingly by Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver. These two missionaries travel to Japan, seeking to serve a secret Catholic community under the harsh persecution of the imperial shogunate. While ministering, they also search for an old mentor, Father Ferreria (a compelling Liam Neeson), who is rumored to have abandoned the faith. The young Jesuits are eventually betrayed, imprisoned by the authorities and commanded to abandon their own faith. The promised punishment for continued Christian fidelity falls not on the priests, but on other captured members of their beloved Japanese Christian church. For Catholic viewers, Silence offers no packaged “message” or meaning. Instead, the film compels viewers to stay in their seats while the credits roll, devoid of music, filled with only the sound of crashing surf, a near omnipresent motif in the movie. In the quiet that settles on the screen, Silence asks for a contemplative spirit, one that is willing to let unanswerable questions, stinging doubts and resilient prayer pour endlessly from the heart, washing into the world like waves onto a rocky Japanese shore.
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STM is a busy place, but our pastoral team still finds time to sit down and read a good book. Here are a few titles – some old and some new – that they are currently enjoying.
12 Strong Women of God: Biblical Models for Today
My Life with the Saints
Marci Alborghetti
Loyola Press, reprint, Oct. 1, 2017; $11.81, 414 pp.
Makoto Fujimura
Unlike any book on the saints you will ever read, Rev. Martin’s memoir ties in his own faith journey with how the saints have influenced him. His narrative is down to earth and told in a way that is both contemporary and relatable.
Inspired by Shusaku Endo’s novel Silence, visual artist Makoto Fujimura takes the reader on a prose pilgrimage that grapples with art, faith and the artist’s own Japanese heritage. I find the book to be a stunning reflection on both finding beauty amidst trauma and seeing the gospel when it seems to be the most distant.
Twenty-Third Publications; $14.47, 127 pp. The stories of these women inspire me to meet the challenges of life in the twenty-first century with optimism and poise as they are catholic/timeless issues of the human experience. – Danielle Wilson, Administrative Assistant to the Chaplain
The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a Baroque Masterpiece Eric Siblin Grove Press, reprint, Jan. 4, 2011; $30.88, 336 pp. As an undergraduate music major, I regularly performed movements from The Cello Suites on marimba. Siblin delves into the story, beauty and wonder behind these simple musical exercises, which are now well loved. – Sr. Jenn Schaaf, Assistant Chaplain
James Martin, S.J.
– Robin McShane, Director of Communications
Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering IVP Books; $18.17, 263 pp.
– Sarah Woodford, Director of the Vincent Library
In God’s Name Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso
Together Is Better: A Little Book of Inspiration
Jewish Lights Publishing; $16.23, 32 pp.
Simon Sinek
I recently read this book to the kindergarten class at St. FrancisSt. Rose of Lima Parochial School in New Haven. Wonderfully illustrated by Phoebe Stone, this multicultural and nonsectarian book explores the names of God and is a timeless piece of work to foster your children’s spirituality.
Servant leadership and teamwork is taught through this fun, illustrated book of inspirational quotes woven into a playground story. The two main themes in this book are that leadership is about lifting followers up and that teamwork allows great things to be accomplished. I bought this for my daughter who just turned 18 and will be leaving for college in September.
– Susan Lundgren Regan Finance Administrative Assistant
Portfolio; $13.09, 160pp.
– Michael Flora, Director of Administration & Finance
S N A P
S H OT BOARD OF TRUSTEES
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Ex officio: Most Rev. Leonard P. Blair, S.T.D. Archbishop of Hartford Rev. Steven C. Boguslawski, O.P. Moderator of the Curia and Vicar General Rev. Robert L. Beloin, Ph.D. Chaplain; Asst. Secretary/Treasurer Corporate: Harold W. Attridge '97 M.A.H. Vice President Jeffrey B. Brenzel '75 Attilio V. Granata '74 '77 M.D. Barnet Phillips IV '70 Lisa Vigliotti Harkness '87 President Maura A. Ryan '93 Ph.D. Secretary Alumni: William M. Edwards '02 Roberto S. Goizueta '76 Amy Hungerford '07 M.A.H. Kerry A. Robinson '97 M.A.R. Edward J. Smith '70 Treasurer
STM and Yale School of Nursing students and faculty stop for a selfie in front of Our Lady of Grace Cathedral in Leon, Nicaragua.
Joseph J. Vale '63 Honorary: Peter C. Alegi '56 '59 LL.B. Geoffrey T. Boisi P'01 P'09 Hon. Guido Calabresi '53 '58 LL.B. James M. Carolan Heather Cummings McCann '94 Philip M. Drake '48 M. Cathleen Kaveny '90 J.D. '91 Ph.D. Paul M. Kennedy '83 M.A.H. Eric Kim '02 Kate L. Moore '73 Lamin Sanneh '89 M.A.H. Francis T. Vincent Jr. '63 LL.B.
Photograph by Elyse Galloway
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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage
PAID
New Haven, CT Permit No. 315
268 Park Street New Haven, CT 06511
StudyPray Act T
hey are all around, hanging silently in the hallways and rooms
throughout the Golden Center. An eclectic and colorful collection
of visuals, created in many different forms of media: a hand-woven rug in hues of red and gray-blue outside the Meditation Room; colorful prints of The Saint John’s Bible in the Vincent Library; graphite and yellow sketches of old Yale in the upstairs hallway; paintings – some abstract, some not – by beloved community members in rooms both big and small. These works of art are quiet invitations, welcoming the STM community to experience their faith – and their life in New Haven – through the eyes of an artist. Rug: “Forgiveness” “May Christ’s forgiveness live in your heart and in your life.” Weaver: Masoma
Photograph by Robin J. McShane