What were your undergraduate major & institution?
English, Saint Louis University
What were you doing immediately before coming to STM?
Non-profit executive, mostly in the arts and education.
When did you first realize you wanted to pursue graduate studies in theology? How did you know?
The Spirit has been nudging me for decades (the Spirit is very patient, but very persistent). As my non-profit work evolved to become – like all our world – more focused on margins than on ministry, and my professional writing increasingly railed against the Golden Calf (quite ineffectively, as I’m sure you’ve noticed), I decided it was time to respond more directly to the call.
What people, experiences, courses, etc. informed this call?
I’ve worked as a guest artist and as a remote contributing writer for a bunch of years with Teatro la Fragua, the Honduran Jesuit theater company (full disclosure: my Jesuit older brother founded TLF, so I can’t provide objective witness). TLF’s grounding belief is that “Art and religion spring from the same human roots; they spring from our need to be in touch with something beyond the littleness we feel as human beings.” That yearning to reach out beyond the littleness – in my art and in my faith – informed my call at all stages of the discernment process.
For the less whimsically oriented, at a practical level my wife had gone back to school to get a nursing degree, and my son did a mid-career master’s at Oxford. So in my immediate family I had some recent, powerful models – and powerful support – for substantial, qualitative vocational adjustments that required heavy lifting and yielded special results. I’m hoping now that I can uphold the family tradition.
Were there any roadblocks in your discernment process? How did you navigate them?
One moment of clarity came when I realized I wasn’t deciding between a good option and a bad option – I was trying to decide among two or more good options – graduate work and family time. I adore my grandkids, and love spending time with their parents. Three years of an MDiv program would not be conducive to quality time with any of them. That separation remains difficult. But thank God for zoom, for decent air connectivity from Boston, for a patient, talented and supportive wife, and for a family of enthusiastic singers. (I recommend “That’s the Way That the World Goes Round” by John Prine, “Drunken Sailor” by Great Big Sea, and “The Fox” by Pete Seeger – all quite singable over a phone or zoom line, and naughty enough that they’ve stayed fresh for youngsters, middlesters and oldsters all.).
Why did you choose STM for your theological studies?
Partly because I speak upper intermediate to lower advanced Jesuitese (although with a pronounced lay accent). I’ve been around Jesuits my whole life, including, as I mentioned, an older brother who entered the Jesuits when I was a lad of eight years. Beyond the family links, over the years a dozen or more Jesuit concerns have attached my name to a diploma, a degree, a paycheck, a playbill, a church bulletin, an article, a parish committee, or a JUG list (can’t forget JUG).
But that familiarity itself did not play as big a role as did the attitude I perceived among my classmates, even before I committed. In my experience, the Jesuits’ most consistent genius isn’t being the smartest folks in the room. Where the Jesuits stand out is in attracting people who bring a committed mystical realism to their work in building the kingdom of God. That played out at the STM: Good people show up, take agency, and get to work as a community. Just within my STM MDiv cohort 2024 (a subset of about 15 students – here’s looking at you MDiv 2024!), classmates have advocated for and achieved substantive improvement at the STM that will enrich the school (especially for lay students), deepen my experience, and help shape the church of the 21st century. That’s the kind of stuff I like to be around (to quote Guy Clark).
And at a practical, academic level, the STM stood well above the competition when it came to providing an opportunity to explore Latin American theology (granted, the Catholic competition in the U.S. is uneven). I also did not realize it at the time, but I have been really lucky to get to apply some Latin American theology in my assistantship work at the Roche Center for Catholic Education.
“Where the Jesuits stand out is in attracting people who bring a committed mystical realism to their work in building the kingdom of God. That played out at the STM: Good people show up, take agency, and get to work as a community.”
In what ways do you see yourself using your degree?
I am still in negotiations with the Spirit on this one, but I hope my ministerial work leaves me bruised, hurting and dirty because I’ve been out on the streets, scrounging up dinner and exchanging stories of great joy with the local strangers, widows and orphans. School? Parish? Agency? Other? I’ll get back to you on this one.
