— VOL. 09 — Fall 2019 p/04 p/06 p/07 — — — ELENA KENEDY NEW ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: MISSIOLOGY CHAIR HISPANIC ENGAGEMENT NAMED SR. DUONG PHAM ESTABLISHED Oblate School of Theology - 285 Oblate Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78205 - 210.341.1366 - www.ost.edu Letter from the President Wisdom Versus Intelligence There’s a huge difference between being bright and being wise, between brilliance and wisdom. We can be highly intelligent but not very wise. Ideally, of course, we should strive to be both, but that isn’t always the case, particularly today. We’re living in a culture that rewards brilliance above wisdom and within which we pride ourselves first of all in being brighter than each other. Who has the highest degree? Who went to the most elite university? Who’s the most entrepreneurial? Who’s the most popular? Who’s the cleverest scientist, researcher, writer, journalist, television personality or wit at the office or family table? Who’s the most brilliant? We never ask who’s the wisest? Today, intelligence is valued far above wisdom, and that’s not always good. We’re a highly informed and intelligent people, but our FR. RON ROLHEISER compassion is not nearly on par with our brilliance. We’re bright, but not always wise. What’s the difference between intelligence and wisdom? Wisdom is intelligencecolored by empathy. Rev. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, is a Roman In the end, what makes for wisdom is intelligence that grasps with sympathy the complexity of Catholic priest and member of the others and the world. Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. He is a theologian, professor, award- To be truly helpful, learning must be matched by an equal growth in empathy. When this isn’t winning author, and serves as president of happening, then growth in intelligence is invariably one-sided and, while perhaps providing Oblate School of Theology. something for the community, will always lack the kind of understanding that can help bind the community together and help us better understand ourselves and our world. When intelligence is not informed by empathy, what it produces will generally not contribute to the common good. Without a concomitant empathy, intelligence invariably becomes arrogant and condescending. Board of Trustees True learning, on the other hand, is humble, self-effacing and empathic. When we develop Very Rev. Louis Studer, OMI (Chair) ourselves intellectually, without sufficient empathy, our talents invariably become causes for envy Rev. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI rather than gifts for community. Mr. Richard Acosta Ironically, at the end of the day, intelligence not sufficiently informed by empathy will not be Mr. Stephen I. Avery very bright, but instead will be an arrested intelligence wherein its fault will not be in what it has Dr. Lorraine Barnes learned (for learning itself is good) but in where its learning stopped. It will suffer from a hazard Mrs. Gayle Benson, HOMI aptly named by Alexander Pope, where “a little learning is a dangerous thing,” where we have Rev. Warren A. Brown, OMI read one book too many but one book too few! Dr. Dianna Burns Rev. James P. Chambers, OMI One might object here and make a plea for science and scientific objectivity. Isn’t empirical science Mrs. Lori Dawson the product of a pure intellectual pursuit which refuses to be colored by anything outside itself? Mr. James R. Eller Isn’t the ideal of all learning to be purely objective, to have no bias of any sort? Where does empathy Very Rev. Arthur Flores, OMI play a role in pure research? Doesn’t an eye turned towards empathy fudge pure objectivity? Most Rev. Gustavo García-Siller, MSpS Pure objectivity doesn’t exist, in science or anywhere else. Science today accepts that it can never be Mr. Richard Kardys, HOMI purely objective. All measurement has its own agenda, its own angle; it cannot help but interfere Mrs. Ginger Kemmy (however infinitesimally, perhaps) with what it measures. Everyone and everything, including Mr. Patrick J. Kennedy, Jr. science, has a bias (euphemistically, a pre-ontology). Thus, since all learning necessarily begins Rev. John Kingsbury, CSsR with an angle, a bias, pre-ontology, the question is not “How can I be purely objective?” but rather, Deacon Robert Kusenberger, HOMI “What serves us best as an angle from which to learn?” The answer is empathy. Mr. Michael Matteuzzi Sr. Teresa Maya, CCVI However, empathy is not to be confused with sentimentality or naiveté, as is sometimes the case. Mr. Robert McAdams, CPA Sentimentality and naiveté see a fault within intellectuality itself, seeing learning itself as the Mr. Jordan McMorrough problem; but learning is never the problem. One-sided learning is the problem – namely, learning that isn’t sufficiently informed by empathy, which seeks knowledge without understanding. Most Rev Michael F. Olson, STD, MA Rev. Dale Schlitt, OMI I teach graduate students who are mainly preparing for ministry within their churches, and so, Sr. Jane Ann Slater, CDP, PhD for them, graduate learning is, by definition, meant to be more than just scoring high marks, Mr. Paul Vance graduating with honor, being informed and educated, or even just satisfying their own intellectual Rev. Rufus Whitley, OMI curiosities and questions. By their very vocation, they are striving for wisdom more than for mere Mr. Mark Wittig intelligence. But even they, like most everyone else in our culture, struggle not to be one-sided in their learning, to have their studies bring them as much compassion as knowledge. We all struggle Emeritus with this. It’s hard to resist the temptation to be clever and bright, more informed than everyone Most Rev. Kevin Vann, DD, Emeritus else, no matter if we aren’t very compassionate persons afterwards. So this is a plea, not a criticism: To all of us, whether we’re doing formal studies; whether we’re trying to learn the newest information technology; whether we’re trying to keep ourselves informed socially and politically; whether we’re writing articles, books, or blogs; whether we’re taking training for a job; or whether we’re just mustering material for an argument at our family table or workplace, remember: It’s not good enough merely to be smart; we must also be compassionate. p/2 — FALL 2019 OST NEWS TABLE OF CONTENTS p/05 p/11 — — FACULTY ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: SPOTLIGHT: FR. BOB WRIGHT FR. ARÉCHIGA Editorial Staff ELENA KENEDY The OST News is a free publication of the Institutional p/04 Advancement Department of Oblate School of Theology MISSIOLOGY CHAIR for the alumni, benefactors, and friends of the OST community. We thank you for the voluntary donations you send to help us defray the cost of printing, postage, DR. FURST NAMED and handling. p/06 ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR Editor HISPANIC ENGAGEMENT Lea Kochanek STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Managing Editor/ Reporter p/07 J. Michael Parker SR. DUONG PHAM Layout Designer John Marden p/10 OST COMMUNITY NEWS Circulation Manager Yolanda Garcia p/3 — FALL 2019 OST NEWS Featured Article Elena S. Kenedy Chair in Missiology U.S. Province gift establishes missiology chair Oblate School of Theology has established its fourth endowed teaching chair in 10 years and christened it the Elena S. Kenedy Chair in Missiology. The event was celebrated at an invitation-only dinner Sept. 23 in the Whitley Theological Center. Fr. Bob Wright, OMI, has been named the chair’s first holder. A member of the OST faculty since 1984, he has dedicated his teaching career to studying Hispanic ways of worship and spirituality. “Obviously, a teaching chair in missiology – the study of missions – is important for a missionary congregation. It has always been an important area for the Oblates. Having an endowed chair in missiology at OST is very important to our Oblate identity and our ability to contribute to the larger Oblate community around the world,” said Dr. .Scott Kenedy family has given to the Oblates in the United Woodward, vice president for academic affairs and States throughout the years, and we are happy to do dean of OST. this,” Dr. Woodward commented. “The Father Frank Montalbano Chair in Scripture The chair’s namesake was married to John G. was established in 2009, the Vance Chair in Systematic Kennedy Jr., grandson of Captain Mifflin Kenedy, Theology in 2015 and the Kusenberger Chair in who founded one of South Texas’ three largest Oblate Studies in 2017. Now we’ll have the Kenedy ranches after the Civil War. John Gregory Kenedy Chair in Missiology. Our further hope is to establish Sr., known as “Don Gregorio,” inherited the 400,000- a chair in African American Studies and another acre Kenedy ranch, La Parra, at his father’s death chair or two in Spirituality. We’re looking for funds in 1895. His son John G. Kenedy Jr., married Elena that will enable us to establish a few more chairs,” Dr. Suess, a native of Saltillo, Mexico, in 1942. He died Woodward said. in 1948, and his sister, Sarita Kenedy died childless in 1961, leaving most of her estate to the John G. and Considering the size of OST’s student population, to Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation, named be able to establish four endowed chairs totaling more for her parents. Elena Kenedy died in 1984 at age 95, than $6 million in the past 10 years is remarkable, he leaving the bulk of her estate to the John G. Kenedy continued. “They are some of the largest donations Jr. Charitable Trust. Sarita left the 30-room ranch made to a member school in the Association of headquarters, La Casa Grande, to the Missionary Theological Schools. They’ve helped us cover the cost Oblates of Mary Immaculate.