Dominican Brother Sings at World Youth Day Papal Mass

Our Australian brother Mannes, who did his novitiate here in the Bay Area, sang the gospel at the WYD papal mass.  To see, please click below:

http://video.wyd2008.org/?MediaId=e8e9650e-f45a-4e68-9538-d2a8cb06f22a

GTU Course Books at Cal Bookstore

The Graduate Theological Union is pleased to announce that its campus bookstore has moved to a new location. The new store will become part of the University of California at Berkeley bookstore and is located in the Student Union building on the UC campus.
The UC Berkeley bookstore is owned by the Student Union and operated by the Follett Higher Education Group, the nation’s largest operator of college bookstores. Follett operates more than 760 college stores nationwide, including the stores at UC Berkeley and Stanford. The GTU is pleased to partner with UC Berkeley and Follett to serve our students’ educational needs.
The UC bookstore will provide textbooks and readers for all GTU courses.
For Students
Textbooks and readers will be available for purchase at the UC Berkeley store, located in the Student Union building. Textbooks are currently located in the lower level of the store. Books of general theological interest are available on the main level of the bookstore. Students may also purchase texts online and either have them shipped to their homes or pick them up at the store.
108 Martin Luther King Jr.
Student Union, #4504
Corner of Bancroft Way at Telegraph Avenue
Berkeley, CA 947204504
Phone: (510)642-9000
Fax: (510)643-7836

For Faculty
If you submitted your textbook order to the GTU bookstore, it has already been forwarded to the new store. The new store will also create readers for you. If you wish to contact the store you may email the textbook department at text@berkeley.edu or contact them by phone at 510-642-9000 ext. 683.

 

 

DSPT Annual Golf Tournament

Join DSPT as it launches its first-ever golf tournament.  The event will be held on Monday, July 14 at the Metropolitan Golf Course in Oakland.  This year’s golf tournament will include a silent auction and a raffle following the awards ceremony.  Your registration fee of $150 includes green fees, carts, BBQ, and tee prizes.  Registration & Putting contest starts at 8:00 AM and shotgun starts 9:30 AM.

Please join us in this fun event.  Your participation will help us to raise the funds needed to continue DSPT’s vital mission of educating and preparing its religious and lay students to become future leaders of the Church.    For more information, please e-mail Advancement@dspt.edu or call (510) 883-2085.

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Lam Khong to Exhibit Art Work in Boston

DSPT Alumnus Lam Khong will be presenting two series of works on paper in an exhibition entitled "Breath and Prayer."   Each series contemplates the Stations of the Cross from a unique perspective.  In many traditional Stations, we see a narrative of the events of Jesus' Passion.  As Lam become more familiar with these specific scenes such as "Jesus is Condemned to Die" or "Jesus Meets His Mother," he reinterprets the historical Stations in order to help him better understand and appreciate the Passion in his life.  In these two series, one is focused on the face of Jesus and one is focused on his breath. 

Lam said, that "...while studying philosophy at the Dominican School in Berkeley in 2007, I began the series of line drawings. My mind was worn out by the amount of reading—and rereading.  By the end of the day, the only thing I could concentrate on was drawing simple lines across the page.  Each line was drawn in one breath, and often, I would recite a prayer with each line. Through this simple gesture, I recognized a few important lessons.  Every human act, like every line, is important.  Although our individual tasks may be minute, when added together, they become significant. In each drawing, there are about three thousand lines. The nature of lines and their abundance brought me to reflect on beginnings and ends and eternity." 

Lam will be at the opening reception on July 5, 2008. 

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Support DSPT through Giving Cart

Support DSPT by purchasing goods through Giving Cart (The Catholic Way to Shop).

• Go to the giving cart website.
• Create a new account.
• Choose the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology as your "cause".
• When you shop online go to givingcart.com first, then click on your favorite shopping sites from the giving cart site.
• A percentage of the purchases you make will go to supporting the DSPT.
• It costs you nothing
• You don't have to give givingcart.com your credit card information.

 

DSPT Student to Present at Conference

Andrew Lang, a Dominican School MA Philosophy student, will present a paper, "Chance, the Vain, and Teratology in Physics II 6." at the Annual Aristotle and Aristotelianism Conference, June 17-19, 2008, at Marquette University.
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Academy of Catholic Theology

Richard Schenk, O.P., the presidential address at the first annual meeting of the Academy of Catholic Theology. Listen to the lecture here:
The Assumption, Eschatology and the Task of Theology

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Four Dominican School Students to be Ordained Priests

Dismas Edward Sayre, O.P.
James Junipero Moore, O.P.
Augustine Hilander, O.P.
Dominic DeMaio, O.P.

To the Holy Order of the Priesthood

By the Most Reverend Allen H. Vigneron
Bishop of Oakland

In St. Dominic’s Church, San Francisco, California
Saturday, May 31st, in the Year of Our Lord 2008
at 10:30 in the morning.

http://www.opwest.org/ordination2008/

Congratulations!

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Contribution of Interfaith Dialogue to Peace Building

Pacifica Institute, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, and Center for Islamic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union cordially invites you to a talk on:
Contribution of Interfaith Dialogue to Peace Building

Featuring: Fr. Thomas Michel, S.J.
Woodstock International Fellow at George town University, Washington, DC.
Former Head of the Office for Islam Vatican Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue (1988-1994)
Executive Secretary of the Office for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences
(FABC-OEIA), in Bangkok, Thailand (1994-1998)
Secretary of the Jesuit Secretariat for Interreligious Dialogue in Rome, Italy
Ecumenical Secretary for the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences

Introduction by: Sr. Marianne Farina, CSC
Professor of Philosophy and Theology at  Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology

Date & Time:
April 30, Wednesday, 7.00-9.00 PM
Location:
Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Classroom 1
2301 Vine Street (at Arch), Berkeley

Free & open to public
(Refreshments served 6.30-7.00 PM)

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DOMINICAN COME & SEE WEEKEND

Friday March 7 thru Sunday, March 9

If you have wondered what life was like behind the walls of Saint Albert Priory, the House of Studies of the Dominican Student Brothers, this is your chance.  Open to men between the ages of 20-40 who want to share in the vision of preaching, teaching, and self-conversion.  For more information, please email Father Steve, OP, at vocations@opwest.org or talk to any of the Dominican Friars. 

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Holy Week 2008 schedule at St. Albert's

Here is the Holy Week schedule at St. Albert's:
Thurs., Fri., Sat. Tenebrae-7:30 AM
Holy Thursday Mass-7:30 PM
Good Friday Services- 7:30 PM
Holy Saturday: Vespers-5:30 PM; Mass--9:00 PM (Reception following in refectory)
Easter Sunday--Lauds-8:45 AM; Mass-9:30 AM; Vespers-5:00 PM; Compline-9:00 PM.

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Oakland Cathedral Article

FROM:  Bp. Vigneron

By clicking on the link below you can read an article about our Cathedral which is appearing in a journal that has professional architects as its audience. 

I recommend it both because our architect, Mr. Hartman, speaks very clearly about the meaning of his work and because the article gives us a sense of the critical acclaim the building is being given.

I give thanks to God for the support all of you have given to this millennial project for the glory of God and the strengthening of Christ's life in our Diocese.

Bp. Vigneron

full article

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DSPT Student Donates Design to Hospital Fundraiser

Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology student Debra Nichols Design donated a Heart to the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation Heroes and Hearts Fundraiser. She was inspired by her long time friend Ellen Newman, and when asked to, did not hesitate.

http://www.sfghf.net/heroes08_Nichols.php

Intel sponsored the piece, which will be displayed in their new pilot facility in Santa Clara. Debra, with Paul Otellini and family.

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Aristotle's Legacy: Three Perspectives

The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology is honored to announce three lectures to be held in the context of its search for a professor of philosophy with expertise in the history, reception, and current reflection upon ancient Greek philosophy.

Tuesday, 5 February 2008, 7:30 P.M.

THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN POSTPOSED - DATE TO BE DETERMINED
Kevin Timpe
An Aristotelian Account of Events and Their Individuation
One aspect of the metaphysics of events is ontological reflection on events to include accounts of their individuation and identity.  There are two dominant families of views regarding the identity and individuation of events: property-exemplification accounts and causal history accounts.  My concern in the present paper is solely with the first of these families.  I begin by raising a number of problems faced by extant property-exemplification accounts of events and their individuation.  Then, building upon an Aristotelian ontology, I develop a property-exemplification theory of events and their individuation that avoids the problems facing its rival accounts.

Wednesday, 6 February 2008, 10:30 A.M.
Joseph Magee
Aristotle and Contemporary Theories of Mind
In recent years, some scholars have sought to portray Aristotle’s doctrine of soul, sense and mind, as an ancient version of contemporary theories in the philosophy of mind.  Specifically, some have argued that in the De Anima he espouses a sort of functionalism about the physical realization of mental states and capacities, or the supervenience of mental states on physical processes.  A more accurate understanding of his philosophy, however, reveals that his insights into what is distinctive about cognition as an activity are not easy to correlate with contemporary presuppositions about mental states or physical processes."

Friday, 8 February 2008, 7:30 P.M.
Margarita Vega
Metaphor in the Light of On Interpretation, 16a 3-8
The theory and use of metaphora by Aristotle is a problem that scholars have addressed without a satisfactory answer. Instead of simply tracing the varied uses of metaphora in the various treatises, I propose that the semantics of metaphora needs to be explained. Aristotle’s views about the relation between language, thought and reality as depicted in On Interpretation 16a 3-8 in conjunction with the references to metaphora throughout the Corpus provide a framework to understand metaphora as a complex phenomenon of epiphora, metapherein and metaphorikon einai. Aristotle’s theory of metaphora helps us to understand the relationship between language and thought in Aristotle’s philosophy.

All lectures will be held at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology,
2301 Vine Street (at Arch and Vine), Berkeley, CA 94708
The lectures are free and open to the public.

 

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June 7 , 2007

Eleanor Westbrooke and Scott Connolly Receive the Alemany Award for Christian Service

• See photos of the award dinner
• Read Sophia Leahy Stone's reflection on the award dinner
• Read about the Alemany Award

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June 2 , 2007

Four Dominican School Graduates Ordained

Congratulations to:

- Fr. John Thomas Mellein, OP
- Fr. Michael Hurley, OP
- Fr. Jerome Cudden, OP
- Fr. Vincent Kelber, OP

See photos of the ordination.

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May 18, 2007

Congratulations to the 2007 Graduates

(graduation photos)

Certificate of Theological Studies
Anne Collins, F.M.A., Tse Kam Fong Cecilia, F.M.A., John Steven Giuntoli, John Moore O’Brien, S.D.B., Shane Reade, S.D.B., Marcel Tigga, S.D.B.

Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy
Héctor O. Cortes, Lorna Tumali Mendoza, V.D.M.F.

Master of Divinity
Thomas R. Booth, Jerome Cudden, O.P., Michael J. Hurley, O.P., Vincent M. Kelber, O.P., John Thomas Mellein, O.P., Diana Sotelo Woodward, Paul Martin Woodward

Master of Arts (Philosophy)
Sharon Ann MarieTyree
“The Optional Ideal: A Defense of Stephen R. L. Clark’s Interpretation of Aristotelian Happiness”

Master of Arts (Theology)

Integral Emphasis
Katherine Mary Cox, Marianne Farina, C.S.C., (Comprehensive Examination Coordinator), Christopher Renz, O.P. ,
Jerome Cudden, O.P., Michael J. Hurley, O. P. , Vincent M. Kelber, O.P., John Thomas Mellein, O.P.

Research Emphasis
Colleen Nichole Power (With Honors)
“An Icon of Personhood: How Marian Icons in the Eastern Tradition Reveal Humankind is Created in the Image and Likeness of God”

David Keong Seid, O.P.
“The Missionary Vocation of the Church and the Challenge of Religious Pluralism”

Project Emphasis
Thinh Duc Nguyen, S.D.B.
“Young Vietnamese-Americans and Their Images of God”

Sr. Armanda Maria Garçês dos Santos, F.S.P.
“Facing the Apostolic Paul: An Iconographic Portrait”

Degree Conferred by the Graduate Theological Union
in cooperation with the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology

GTU Master of Arts
Eric Gerlach
“‘With Him, True Philosophy First Begins’: Hegel's Praise of Eriugena and the Dialectical Rise of theHuman Mind”

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May 7, 2007

Micahel Morris, OP, Placed on Judah Magnus Museum Board

The Judah Magnes Museum has placed Michael Morris, O.P., on its Board of Advisors. The Magnes Museum, located in the historic Burke Mansion in the Claremont district of Berkeley, is the third largest Jewish museum in the country following those found in New York and Los Angeles. The Magnes is seeking greater ties with the GTU and in this effort Professor Morris of the Dominican School and Carin Jacobs of the Magnes Museum are constructing a course on "museum literacy" which will enable those students with an interest in religion and the arts to gain museum experience and thereby increase their marketability upon graduation. The course will also enable the student to gain a better understanding of Judaism by working with the artifacts of its material culture.

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April 2, 2007

Discover Tenebrae this Holy Week!

by Boniface Willard, op (originally printed in the Arch & Vine)
Tenebrae will be celebrated at St. Albert’s Priory the mornings of the Triduum at 7:00am. All are invited to join the Dominicans in this prayer.

From the Latin word for “darkness,” Tenebrae is the term given to the liturgical office of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday as it was observed prior to the 1955 reform of Holy Week by Pope Pius XII. Dominicans have continued to pray Tenebrae each year as a particular tradition of our Order.

Tenebrae has roots as early as the 7th century, when those celebrating the Office would do so in almost complete darkness – the only light coming from a large candelabra, called a hearse. While the number of candles on the hearse has varied, today there are usually fifteen tapers.

Although there have been many changes, the contemporary Office of Tenebrae retains many traces of the ancient rite. There is no introductory verse or Invitatory, and the “Glory to…” after each psalm and canticle is omitted. After each psalm or canticle, a set of candles is extinguished – symbolizing the Apostles’ desertion in the Garden of Olives – until there is only one left, the so-called Christ candle. During the singing of the Benedictus, this candle is not extinguished but is carried out of the Church, symbolizing Christ’s death and burial.

The psalms are punctuated by three lessons taken from the Book of Lamentations: a collection of poems which grieve over the Babylonian destruction, in 587 BC, of the temple in Jerusalem and the ruin of the people of Israel. By describing the horrible situation which they now endure, the poems exhort the Israelites to mourn for having turned away from God to worship foreign, pagan gods. Each stanza begins with a Hebrew letter. When the Hebrew alphabet is used this way, it is able to express completeness or fullness; here, the complete and full desolation of Israel. The great “Prayer of Jeremiah,” which ends Tenebrae on Saturday, is a plea to God to relent in punishment and rescue the people, despite what they have done.

One cannot take part in these prayers without being impressed by their simple dignity and majesty. Today, we can make these psalms and lamentations our own. As we pray them, we can seek pardon for our sins, as well as the sins of the whole world. We can reflect on any of the ways in which we have turned away from being “the image and likeness of God.

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March 21, 2007

News Update from Fr. Hilary Martin, OP

This past October I attended made a pilgrimage from Arltunga to Santa Teresa in Central Australia. I made this pilgrimage with about 20 members of the Aboriginal Commission of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. There was a social justice theme to this pilgrimage. It began with a smoking service for us and we were blessed and given permisson to visit Arltunga site, now abandoned. During WWII (when the Northern Territory was under martial law) the aboriginal community of Alice Springs was ejected, houses, chattels and all, and sent to this desert location at a moments notice. (To be fair to the government this was instigated by the threat of meningitis.) The aboriginal community was forced to live at Arltunga for about 10 years under difficult desert conditions. The location was on an abandoned gold mine and the ground water had become toxic. There were many early deaths. Fortunately, the bishop was able to buy a place at Santa Teresa outside Alice Springs, a good place, where the community now lives today. They have wonderful aboriginal artists living there and it was a joy to be with them at the end of the journey. There were welcoming ceremonies, a smoking service with a spiritual advisor and visits to sacred places in the area.

At the end of the pilgrimage I attended the triennial meeting of Catholic Aboriginal leaders from all over Australia -- about 600 people in all with about 8 bishops, and with some whites as guests. I attended as a delegate from the state of Victoria. The meeting was an excellent opportunity for me to meet long-term aboriginal friends from the NT, especially from Wadeye, which I visit frequently. The meeting at Alice Springs was to celebrate the 20`" anniversary of Pope John Paul IIs visit there. He had made a powerful statement in 1996 in favour of indigenous cultures, especially powerful in Australia. The aboriginal community was saying, I suspect, that the Pope's message was being lost or forgotten.

I returned to the United States from Australia in December to teach the History of Medieval Thought and Culture once again, and a graduate course doing a close reading in a key text of Thomas Aquinas, the Disputed Question, the De Veritate. In March I read a paper at the annual Medieval Association of the Pacific, which met this year at UCLA (my old Alma Mater). This is an academic society of professors of medieval studies in universities and colleges on the West Coast. My paper, Money in Transition, was about the development of money in the 14` century and the work of Nicole Oresme.

I had to put on hold my plans to conduct a course on aboriginal land and religion until I could find sufficient grant money to help my student defray costs for a flight to Australia. This course was, and is, to be conducted in conjunction with the Centre for Religion and Education at the GTU.

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March 15, 2007

March 5 , 2007

 

February 7, 2007

PhD Admissions Panel Hosted by DSPT

On Tuesday, February 6, the newly-formed DSPT Academic Group hosted a GTU-wide PhD Admissions Panel. The panel consisted of Joseph Duggan, Associate Dean of the Graduate Division for Degrees, Admissions, and Appointments at UC-Berkeley, Kathleen Kook, Assistant Dean for Admissions at the GTU, and John Campbell, Professor of Philosophy at UC-Berkeley. The panel opened with an introduction by Elissa McCormack, ASDSPT President, followed by short talks by each of the panel participants and ending with time for questions.

All of the panel participants spoke about the general admissions process for doctoral programs, emphasizing that students should take the time to really consider if a PhD is what they want to do. Since PhD programs are, on average, a seven-year commitment, students interested in doing a PhD should think long and hard about whether or not this is really what they want to do. The panel participants all also gave GTU students some great tips about how to best put together their applications, like asking a professor in advance if they would be able to write a good letter of recommendation for you, remembering to rewrite your writing sample to incorporate the comments of your professor, and trying not to worry about the aspects of your application that are not under your control and focusing on the ones that are (like the personal statement and writing sample). Another important suggestion, reiterated by all the participants, was to ask professors about what programs would be best for your interests and to not be afraid to contact the departments and the faculty at these schools directly.

The DSPT Academic Group was formed in the fall of 2006 by a group of students who are all interested in pursuing PhD work after finishing at DSPT. Although the group is currently in a fluid form, the students who attended the PhD Admissions Panel will all be asked about their preferences about how such a group could best support them both during their M.A. and through the PhD application process. The Academic Group hopes to become a permanent presence at the GTU, run by students at DSPT since more of the lay DSPT students seem to be interested in academics in comparison to the large percentages of ministry-focused students at the other GTU schools.

-- Elissa McCormack

________________________

 

January 28, 2007

Thomas Aquinas, a Master of Dialogue Between Cultures

VATICAN CITY, JAN 28, 2007 (VIS) - Before praying the Angelus this morning, Benedict XVI dedicated some remarks to the figure of St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast day falls today.

Addressing the thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope recalled that the saint presents a "valid model for harmony between reason and faith, dimensions of the human spirit that that are fully realized in the meeting and dialogue between them."

For St. Thomas, human reason...[read more]

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October 12th

On October 12th, Dominican School Professor Michael Morris, OP, delivered the prestigious Dillenberger Lecture, sponsored by the GTU in association with the Center for Art and Religion in Education. His topic, "Moving Pictures: The Bible and Beyond" discussed the portrayal of Biblical or near-Biblical events in cinema, and was presented in conjunction with an art exhibit of the same title, and a "Sword and Sandal" Film Festival. This year, the lecture was followed on October 13th with a symposium which Fr. Michael led. Congratulations, Fr. Michael!

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October 1, 2006

Pamela Thomas named has been named Lasallian Educator of the Month by the Buttimer Institute.

Congratulations to Pamela!
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September 21, 2006

United Nations International Day of Peace
September 21, 2006

Today united with brothers and sisters around the world, the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology re-dedicates itself to work for justice and peace. Key to promoting a culture of peace is cooperation, collaboration and dialogue among faith traditions. 

Pope Benedict XVI calls us to this important mission stating that peace results only from witnessing to and working in Truth:

[We] must realize that peace cannot be reduced to the simple absence of armed conflict, but needs to be understood as ''the fruit of an order which has been planted in human society by its divine Founder'', an order ''which must be brought about by humanity in its thirst for ever more perfect justice''.  As the result of an order planned and willed by the love of God, peace has an intrinsic and invincible truth of its own, and corresponds ''to an irrepressible yearning and hope dwelling within us''. (2006 World Day of Peace http://www.vatican.va).

 Pope Benedict urges scholars and pastors to engage in  “frank and sincere dialogue with great mutual respect” (Vatican News September 20, 2006).

The Muslim community responds favorably to the call for dialogue. It remains committed to a renewed engagement that will help us heal a world torn apart by hatred and violence.

We reject and decry all violence committed by Muslims against Christian and Catholic individuals and institutions. Such violence is sinful and unlawful. We urge Muslim authorities to increase their protection of Christians and their houses of worship, and to prosecute anyone who commits such acts of violence.

Muslim Americans welcome the gestures of friendship and understanding that have been made by their Catholic friends and colleagues, and express our sincere interest in continuing our dialogue with the Catholic Church to build the bridges of understanding between us. (Islamic Society of North America http://www.isna.net).

Though recent events have been a great test for our faith communities, Muslims and Catholics in a spirit of solidarity will join together to keep the Ramadan fast and pray for peace.  (http://www.masnet.org).

The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology offers information about interfaith dialogue and related local events. Postings will appear on this website throughout the coming weeks.

September 13, 2006

On Wednesday, September 13, 2006 the new Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology campus at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California was consecrated by the Most Reverend Allen Vigneron, Bishop of Oakland. The icon of St. Albert the Great was blessed by the bishop and in procession was moved to the new campus where it was installed in the chapel. See a large image of the icon and a short video (scroll down) of the procession on the DominICON web site.

Many thanks to Fr. Brendan McAnerney, OP for his work and the donation of the icon to the School.

July 5 , 2006

From the Spring 2006 GTU Currents Newsletter - Students Speak

Three students from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology talk about their experience at the Graduate Theological Union.

CHRISTOPHER FADOK, O. P.
The Graduate Theological Union's connection to UC Berkeley is huge.
I took a graduate-level class there on the nature of consciousness with world-renowned philosopher John Searle. One of my Dominican brothers and I were the only two enrolled from the GTU. I remember one Berkeley student asking us about St. Augustine and the nature of the soul, and how that would relate to issues in the philosophy of mind. It was an opportunity to make critical and creative dialogue happen, and participate in broader conversations about philosophical issues.

LAWRENCE KING
The most important thing is to not lose sight of the reason why you've come here. Most of us arrive with some specific goal, something important that's related to the outside world-to evangelize or to do social work or to reach out to people who aren't certain about their beliefs. In addition to questions of abstract theology, I try to remember the real people whose lives-physical and intellectual-are impacted by these teachings.

COLLEEN POWER
Studying here has given me the tools to talk with others in an open and responsive way, particularly those outside of the GTU. People hear that you're studying theology and they want to talk about it. Perfect strangers, on an airplane or on the street, often engage me in in-depth conversations about theology and life in general. They ask amazing questions. These discussions bridge gaps between my own understanding and faith with other points of view, and they give us a chance to say to each other, "This is what I believe."

 

June 15 , 2006

Read Fr. Richard Schenk's answer to:

"Why a Dominican School of PHILOSOPHY and Theology? Why should philosophy be taught at all at the Graduate THEOLOGICAL Union? "

May 19, 2006

Congratulations to the new inductees into the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology College of Fellows!
Kevin Starr, Andre Delbecq, Barbara Elliot, and Gleaves Whitney.

See the College of Fellows page for the citations of each inductee.

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May 19, 2006

Congratulations to the new DSPT Graduates!

Read Andre Delbecq's Commencement Address
Read Br. Christopher Fadok's Commencement Address

Certificate of Theological Studies

Claire Norris and Chun Soeb Lee, S.D.B.

Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy

Karl Lupe Gonzalez, O.P., Mark Francis Manzano, O.P., Tammylee Aw Ngo, O.F.M. Conv., James Phan, O.F.M. Conv., Maria Erica Robles, V.D.M.F., Douglas Speigel, O.F.M. Conv., and Lois Vander Wende-Williams

Master of Divinity

Bernhard Blankenhorn, O.P., Patrick L. Havel, Claire Thérèse Heyne, and Chinh D. Nguyen, S.D.B.

Master of Arts (Philosophy)

Newell I. Cutter III Duke - “Nietzsche’s Moral Paradigms”

Christopher Paul Fadok, O.P. (With Honors) - “Looking Forward to the Past: A Plea for Thomistic Intervention in the Philosophy of Mind”

Master of Arts (Theology)

Research Emphasis
Patrick M. Finn - “Liberation from a Paradigm of Conditional Love in the Transformative Dark Night According to St. John of the Cross”

Charlotte Ann Greer, F.M.A. - “Mystical Life: The Heart of Feminine Salesian Spirituality as Experienced by Mother Rosetta Marchese, F.M.A.”

Project Emphasis
Carrie L. Skinner

Bonnie L. Soong - “Recovering Affability as a Contemporary Virtue”Integral Emphasis
Anthony Richard Garcias, O.P.

Master of Arts (Philosophy ) & Master of Arts (Theology) - Concurrent Degree
Zachary J. Foreman - “Confronting Terrorism Justly: A Retrieval of the Just War Tradition and an Application to International
Terrorism”

Degrees Conferred by the Graduate Theological Union in cooperation with the Dominican School  of Philosophy and Theology

GTU Master of Arts
Bernhard Blankenhorn, O.P. (With Honors) - “The Sacraments as Instrumental Causes of Grace:
Thomas Aquinas and the Post-Modern Theology of
Louis-Marie Chauvet”

Christine Louise Gutleben - “Intentional Eucharistic Food Choices”

Phillip Jeffrey Guilbeau - “Our Lady the Fleming: Late Medieval Northern European Devotional Trends and Iconographical Motives in Sixteenth-Century New Spain” 

 

 

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April 26,2006

Dear DSPT community:

I wish to announce the death of Monsignor Bernard J. Moran in Oakland, April 21, 2006. Your prayers are requested for the repose of his soul and for the intentions of his family.

Monsignor Moran was not only a friend of the Dominicans during his long service in the Diocese of Oakland but, because of that great service to the church in Oakland, he was also honored by the Dominican School as an Alemany Award recipient for his many years of Catholic service.

Monsignor was a priest for 53 years having been ordained in San Francisco January 24, 1953. His assignments included: St. Anne Church in SF; St. Paschal Church and St. Isadore Church in Oakland; St. Joseph the Worker Church in Berkeley; St. Raymond in Dublin and St. Theresa in Oakland. Monsignor also served as director of Catholic Cemeteries for the Diocese of Oakland.

In addition to their request for prayers from the DSPT community, Monsignor's family invite you to visit at St. Theresa Church, 30 Mandalay Rd, Oakland on Wednesday (today) after 2:30 PM, where the Vigil Service will be at 7:00 PM (tonight). All are also invited to the concelebrated Funeral Mass on Thursday, April 27th, at 10:30AM (also at St. Theresa's), followed by a reception in the parish hall, and then committal in St. Mary's Cemetery.

Scott Connolly
Vice President of Administration and Student Services

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April 11, 2006

An Assessment of the “Gospel of Judas”

by Fr. Gregory Tatum, OP
Assistant Professor of New Testament

The Press has raised a great hue and cry about the newly discovered “Gospel of Judas.” There is talk of the Church conspiring to hide the truth. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Gospel of Judas was written by a tiny fringe group of Gnostics in the second century who rejected the God of Jews and Christians. Gnosticism was a religious movement that thrived in the second and third centuries. It set itself apart from the traditional religions of the Roman Empire as well as from Judaism and Christianity by proposing a secret knowledge (in Greek, gnosis,) which was available only to an elite few. They generally believed that the physical world and particularly the human body were evil, created by a rebellious minor aeon, or divine being. Seeing the popularity of Christianity, many Gnostics associated this evil creator with the God of Jews and Christians. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church taught that the physical world and the human body are good, because created by the good and only God, and that the human body is especially holy because God became a human being in Jesus Christ.

Irenaeus of Lyons (circa CE 180) mentions the “Gospel of Judas” when he finishes his tour of contemporary Gnosticism in his book Against Heresies. Irenaeus’ analysis of Gnosticism has been borne out by the truly significant discovery of the Nag Hammadi library. After surveying the larger groups of Gnostics, Irenaeus mentions a tiny fringe group who venerate Cain and other “bad guys” in the Jewish Scriptures because they would not worship what they considered to be the minor god who created the evil physical universe. Irenaeus writes:

Still others say that Cain came from the Absolute Sovereignty above, and Esau, Korah, and the men of Sodom, along with every person of this sort, have the same origin. They were hated by the Creator because though attacked they suffered no harm, for Sophia took to herself what was her own in them. The traitor Judas was the only one of the apostles who possessed this knowledge (cf. John 13:27). For this reason he brought about the mystery of the betrayal; through him all things on earth and in heaven were destroyed. They provide a work to this effect called the “Gospel of Judas.” (Against Heresies, 1.31.1)

The “Gospel of Judas” was thus written by a group of second century Gnostics who rejected the Creator God. This group attempted to co-opt Jesus away from the Catholic Church for Gnosticism. Jesus is portrayed teaching typically Gnostic doctrines, e.g. the imprisonment of the soul in the flesh, the multiplicity of divine aeons, the creation of the world as an act of rebellion by a lesser aeon (namely, the God of Jews and Christians). Judas is portrayed as the true Gnostic who liberates Jesus from his physical body and who is rejected by the Catholic Church, represented by the Twelve Apostles, who worship “their God,” the rebellious aeon who created the evil, physical cosmos. The anti-Christian character of the “Gospel of Judas” is further shown by its portrayal of Jesus as mocking the Eucharist and vilifying the Church’s ministry. What little Christian veneer the “Gospel of Judas” has is taken from the four canonical Gospels, albeit in garbled Gnostic form. Irenaeus of Lyons quite accurately describes the “Gospel of Judas.” It was neither secret nor hidden; it simply did not excite sufficient interest to be copied very often because it was written by a tiny fringe group.

An English translation of this work is available in PDF format on the National Geographic website. The website also provides a history of the badly damaged third century manuscript that can be identified as a Coptic translation of the second century Greek “Gospel of Judas” mentioned by Irenaeus. The talk of the Church conspiring to hide the truth is nonsense. The Catholic Church has played no role at all in the entire affair. Indeed, the manuscript was lost and hidden and is so badly damaged because of the greediness of antiquity dealers. The Church has played no role other than to authenticate the document by the public description in Irenaeus’ work.

I invite anyone who is interested to read the document itself before reading the historically uninformed sensationalism of journalists. Then one can clearly see that the “Gospel of Judas” cannot stand up as a Gospel in comparison with any one of the canonical four. The “Gospel of Judas” was clearly derived from and written in relation to existing Christian traditions about Jesus; and the canonical Gospels’ portraits of Jesus simply could not have developed from the portrait of Jesus in the “Gospel of Judas.” The document illustrates second and third century Gnosticism, but it has nothing to do with the historical Jesus.

Fr. Gregory writes from the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, where he has spent the last semester doing research.  He will teach the Johannine corpus and the Pauline corpus in the fall.

 

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April 4 , 2006

Discover Tenebrae this Holy Week!

by Boniface Willard, op (originally printed in the Arch & Vine)
Tenebrae will be celebrated at St. Albert’s Priory the mornings of the Triduum at 7:00am. All are invited to join the Dominicans in this prayer.

From the Latin word for “darkness,” Tenebrae is the term given to the liturgical office of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday as it was observed prior to the 1955 reform of Holy Week by Pope Pius XII. Dominicans have continued to pray Tenebrae each year as a particular tradition of our Order.

Tenebrae has roots as early as the 7th century, when those celebrating the Office would do so in almost complete darkness – the only light coming from a large candelabra, called a hearse. While the number of candles on the hearse has varied, today there are usually fifteen tapers.

Although there have been many changes, the contemporary Office of Tenebrae retains many traces of the ancient rite. There is no introductory verse or Invitatory, and the “Glory to…” after each psalm and canticle is omitted. After each psalm or canticle, a set of candles is extinguished – symbolizing the Apostles’ desertion in the Garden of Olives – until there is only one left, the so-called Christ candle. During the singing of the Benedictus, this candle is not extinguished but is carried out of the Church, symbolizing Christ’s death and burial.

The psalms are punctuated by three lessons taken from the Book of Lamentations: a collection of poems which grieve over the Babylonian destruction, in 587 BC, of the temple in Jerusalem and the ruin of the people of Israel. By describing the horrible situation which they now endure, the poems exhort the Israelites to mourn for having turned away from God to worship foreign, pagan gods. Each stanza begins with a Hebrew letter. When the Hebrew alphabet is used this way, it is able to express completeness or fullness; here, the complete and full desolation of Israel. The great “Prayer of Jeremiah,” which ends Tenebrae on Saturday, is a plea to God to relent in punishment and rescue the people, despite what they have done.

One cannot take part in these prayers without being impressed by their simple dignity and majesty. Today, we can make these psalms and lamentations our own. As we pray them, we can seek pardon for our sins, as well as the sins of the whole world. We can reflect on any of the ways in which we have turned away from being “the image and likeness of God.”

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April 3 , 2006

Welcoming the Apostolic Visitation Team

by Christopher Renz, op (originally printed in the Arch & Vine)
Many of you are already aware that the Roman curia is conducting formal visitations this year of seminaries and houses of religious formation in the U.S. So, we thought a few particulars would be helpful to bring you up to date on what’s happening here at the DSPT.

The visitation is scheduled for April 23-28, 2006. Headed by Bishop Walter Edyvean, auxiliary bishop of Boston, each of six priests will conduct twenty-minute, one-on-one interviews with all regular faculty and clerical candidates.
In addition to visiting the DSPT, the team will also visit the FST, St. Albert Priory, Don Bosco Hall (and the Institute of Salesian Studies), the Dominican Missionaries for the Deaf (San Francisco), Holy Family Friary (Castro Valley), and St. Elizabeth Friary (Oakland).

The substance for the interview is taken from the published Instrumentum Laboris, a series of questions which focus on various aspects of priestly formation, but particularly on intellectual formation, especially in the field of moral theology. While no formal preparation for the interview is needed, interested folk may wish to review the Instrumentum (available online at the Vatican website).

Faculty and involved students will be asked to sign up for a meeting time, and will be given instructions about the meeting place. Those not directly involved in the interview process can participate through prayer, and the offer of welcome to the team members.

Please feel free to send me any questions you may have at crenz@dspt.edu. For more information on the apostolic visitation see www.usccb.org/vocations/asv.shtml.

 

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February 26, 2006

Lenten Activities

The Season of Lent is upon us and brings with it many opportunities for prayer and reflection.

On March 1st we will celebrate Ash Wednesday with a Tri-school Mass at the PSR Chapel at 12:40pm.

Every Thursday of Lent come to FST for Tri-School Lenten Prayer Services at 5:15pm. These are evenings of solemn prayer, reflection, and music.

Friday afternoons during Lent, St. Albert’s Priory will have Stations of the Cross at 3:30 in the chapel.

On Friday evenings during Lent from 6:00-7:30pm, the Tri-School Prayer committee is hosting “A Lenten Journey into Meditation”, exploring Buddhist meditation techniques as a means to put Christian faith into practice.

On March 22, Fr. Michael Dodds will lead a Lenten Day of Reflection at St. Albert’s Priory. We will meet at the Priory at noon for mid-day prayer and rosary. Lunch will follow. Fr. Dodds will lead students in prayerful reflections. Confession and a small mass will conclude the day.

Finally, Sr. Marianne Farina and the Oakland Diocese will host a Compassionate Listening Training at the Badè from March 31-April 2.

More information on all these events is available at www.dspt.edu or by emailing asdspt@dspt.edu.

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January 30, 2006

Congratulations to Our New Deacons!

Over the Christmas Break four of our Dominican students were ordained to the diaconate. Rev. Br. Jerome Cudden op and Rev. Br. John Thomas Mellein op were ordained at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington DC by Bishop Martin Holley. Rev. Br. Michael Hurley op and Rev. Br. Vincent Mary Kelber op were ordained at Holy Rosary, the Dominican parish in Antioch, CA, by Bishop Allen Vigneron.

They join students who are already deacons including Rev. Br. Bernhard Blankenhorn op, who was ordained in Toulouse last spring, and Rev. Br. Chinh Nguyen sdb, who was ordained at St. Augustine’s Parish in Oakland this past fall.

Clerical Brothers are ordained deacons in their sixth year of studies at the DSPT. This follows their profession of solemn vows which normally happens in their fifth year of studies. These brothers now look forward to their priestly ordinations at the end of their seventh year of studies, having been awarded M.Div. degrees. Rev. Br. Bernhard will be ordained a priest this June. Rev. Brs. Jerome, John Thomas, Michael, and Vincent Mary expect to be ordained priests in the spring of 2007.

Talking about his experience serving at the altar as deacon, Rev. Br. Vincent Mary commented, “I felt right up there.”

The DSPT community offers congratulations and blessings to these brothers on their spiritual journey.

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January 30, 2006

Benedict XVI Writes His First Encyclical as Pope

The Pope’s long-awaited first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est or God Is Love, was released early January, 2006. The BBC News writes: “Papal proclamations are often taken as a sign of the possible direction of the Roman Catholic Church. Theologians are expected to scrutinise Pope Benedict’s first encyclical for any hints at how the former head of Catholic doctrine will lead his flock.” His encyclical is essentially on love – in particular, Christian love, and charity. It seems he will lead with, and in, love.

The first part of the encyclical deals with the distinction between Eros and Agape. We are to emulate the Divine love: “Fundamentally, ‘love’ is a single reality.” When the two are separated, love becomes a “caricature or … an impoverished form of love.” The greatest example of this love is Christ’s sacrifice. Receiving the Eucharist is “more than statically receiving the incarnate Logos,” but also a drawing into this love. Our response to that must be genuine and we must necessarily be ready to love our neighbor in imitation of His love.

The second part is on Caritas and the concrete acts of charity in the Church. This love of neighbor, discussed above, must be practiced by the Church community as a whole. The role of the Church is “to contribute to the purification of reason and to the reawakening of those moral forces without which just structures are neither established nor prove effective in the long run. The direct duty to work for a just ordering of society ... is proper to the lay faithful.” The charitable activity of the Church is an “opus proprium” and flows organically from within.

Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that charity should not be merely a means to spread the Good News. “Love is free.” Love should be the end of a charitable act and not used as a means.
For the encyclical see the vatican website.

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December 5, 2005

Owl of Minerva Sounds a Lively Note

Br. James Junipero Moore, op, challenged our notions of how music affects us in his presentation for the Owl of Minerva, titled “Music and Virtue Ethics: Living Authentically in Today’s Atomized World.” Over forty people attended the discussion last Wednesday the 30th, hosted in the classroom at the FST.

Br. James based his presentation on the research and arguments which he is developing for his MA thesis. He did not shy away from controversy, critiquing such popular musicians as 50 Cent and Brittney Spears, and he sparked a lively discussion on the role of music in developing virtue or vice. He claimed that music can be a great aid to developing a well-ordered soul, or can disrupt the order of one’s soul.

Responses ranged from tentative agreement to disputing his most fundamental premisses. This kind of discussion, of course, is exactly the goal of the Owl of Minerva.

The Owl is a student-led philosophy forum, open to the public, in which students present a brief philosophical argument, followed by questions and discussion. Following the example of Socrates, refreshments are provided before, during and after the discussion.

The Owl was founded by Sophia Leahy (’04), and has been run this semester by Newell Cutter III, who recently completed his own MA degree. Next semester, Br. Christopher Fadok, op, will take the reins and continue the tradition of engaging, spontaneous philosophy at the DSPT.

For more information, check out the Owl website, www.owlofminerva.com, or contact Br. Christopher at cpfadok@yahoo.com.

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October 31, 2005

Spring Early Registration on WebAdvisor

Following a successful test of online Early Registration for Fall 2005, the Graduate Theological Union will initiate an institutional-wide online registration using Student WebAdvisor for Early Registration for Spring 2006. DSPT students should check their mailboxes for more information and instructions regarding this new web-based Early Registration.

Early Registration for Spring 2006 for all students (both B.A. Philosophy and all graduate students) will occur Monday, November 7 through Friday, November 11. Students and faculty advisors should plan to meet at that time to discuss their Spring schedules.

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October 13, 2005

Fr. Michael Sweeney, OP, President of Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology gave the keynote address to the Annual Meeting of the Lay Ecclesial Ministers of the Diocese of Oakland.

Read Fr. Michael's address "Why lay ecclesial Ministry?"

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October 6, 2005

Fr. Michael Sweeney, OP, President of Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology will appear on the radio program "Your Call" (KALW -- 91.7 in the Bay Area) from 10 am to 11 am. The program will focus on the Apostolic Visitation of US Seminaries. Other guests include Amy Wellborn and representative of Dignity.

Follow-up:

• Listen to the archived program from the "Your Call" web site
• See Fr. Michael's follow-up remarks On the Apostolic Visitation of the U.S. Seminaries
• See Amy Wellborn's blog entry regarding the program

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April 25, 2005

The DSPT is pleased to announce the hire of two new regular faculty members:

• Marianne Farina, C.S.C. has been appointed to the position of assistant professor of philosophy and theology at the DSPT. A member of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Indiana, Sr. Marianne received her doctorate in theological ethics from Boston College (2004). Her dissertation topic was "Moral Goodness and Friendship with God: The Moral Teachings of Thomas Aquinas and Hamid al-Ghazali." She is currently the director for research and scholarship at the Center for Women's InterCultural Leadership , as well as lecturer in ethics and justice (St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN). Sr. Marianne is not a newcomer to the GTU, having taught courses in Christian ethics, Islam, and comparative religion at both PSR and Starr King from 1998-2002. Her research interests include Catholic moral theology, philosophical ethics, Islamic ethics, and Christian and Islamic spirituality.
• John Berkman, Ph.D. has been appointed to the position of associate professor of philosophy and theology at the DSPT. Dr. Berkman received his doctorate from Duke University (1994) and is currently associate professor and area director of Moral Theology/Ethics at The Catholic University of America (Washington, DC). He is co-editor of The Pinckaers Reader: Renewing Catholic Moral Theology (CUA Press, forthcoming) and The Hauerwas Reader (Duke University Press, 2001). His research interests include end-of-life issues, biomedical reproductive ethics, religious ethics, virtue and utilitarian ethics, and the history of Catholic moral theology. Dr. Berkman will teach full-time at the DSPT beginning in the Fall 2006.

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April 19, 2005

 

 

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His Holiness John Paul II
May 18, 1920 - April 2, 2005

In his first Encyclical Letter to the Church, Redemptor Hominis, Pope John Paul II made clear his vision for the Church:

"The Church wishes to serve this single end: that each person may be able to find Christ, in order that Christ may walk with each person the path of life, with the power of the truth about man and the world that is contained in the mystery of the Incarnation and the Redemption and with the power of the love that is radiated by that truth"
(Redemptor Hominis, 13).

Quoting Lumen Gentium (the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church in the Modern World) from the Vatican Council II, John Paul insisted, therefore, that "man [and woman] is the road the Church must walk."

"Man and woman is the road the Church must walk"; just as Christ unites himself with each man and each woman, so the Church, the Body of Christ, must reach out to each man and each woman, every man and every woman, "without any exception whatever", he insisted. The Holy Father not only taught this, but in myriad ways he also lived this: by his travels, by his solidarity with the poor, the dispossessed, the young and the old, in his prayer and in what he exhorted and taught, Pope John Paul II walked with each of us, every one of us, without any exception whatever.

For this reason the world now seeks, for a moment, to walk with him -whether the millions of pilgrims who have traveled to Rome to celebrate his life, or whether the hundreds of millions who cannot be there, but accompany him in prayer. Let us now attend him by our prayers, but then let us be about the work of the Church, which he has so wonderfully illumined for us, so that, in very fact, "each man and woman may be able to find Christ."

Rev. Michael Sweeney, O.P.

 

 

See also the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology Events Calendar and Academic Calendar.

Details about the wide range of events happening across the GTU consortium are available at the GTU website.

 

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