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STMThe Magazine of The Catholic Chapel & Center at Yale University Winter 2021 p 13 Illuminating What Lies Beneath p 7 Challenge and Hope in a Pandemic p 3 Father Bob’s Final ProjectSTM MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTORS Design: Cadwell Art Direction Primary Photography: Robert A. Lisak Mission Statement Saint Thomas More Chapel & Center serves the Catholic community at Yale by: · Creating a vibrant and welcoming community through worship and service · 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 About the Cover To comply with Yale Religious Ministry guidelines for socially-distanced meetings, Father Ryan spends time with a student outdoors in the Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Center's piazza. STAY IN TOUCH WITH STM Download the STM Yale App. Editors: Robin McShane is the Director of Communications at STM. Sarah Woodford '10 M.Div. is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and STM’s Library Director. Writers: Liam Callanan '90 is the author of Cloud Atlas (2004), and, most recently. Paris by the Book (2018). He is a Yale graduate, a Yale parent and the 2017 George W. Hunt, S.J., Prize winner. Carlene Joan Demiany '12 M.Div., '14 S.T.M. is one of STM’s assistant chaplains. Her primary focus is undergraduate programming. Meagan Fitzpatrick Ph.D. '14 lives in Maryland with her husband and two sons. She is an infectious disease transmission modeler at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Christopher Gurley GRD '21 is a graduate student at Yale Divinity School. He is currently applying to Ph.D. programs. Gregory Jany '21 is a senior in Jonathan Edwards College. Paul Meosky GRD '22 is a student at Yale Law School and a frequent contributor to STM’s blog. Katie Painter '23 is a sophomore in Timothy Dwight College and a member of STM’s Undergraduate Council. Valerie Pavilonis '22 is a junior in Morse College, a member of STM’s Undergraduate Council and University News Editor at Yale Daily News. Cover photograph by Robert Lisak.STM MAGAZINE WINTER 2021 In This Issue 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 STM Magazine is published twice a year for our alums, parents and friends. Opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily reflect those of the entire STM community. 1 FROM THE CHAPLAIN’S DESK 3 FATHER BOB’S FINAL PROJECT 7 CHALLENGE AND HOPE IN A PANDEMIC 11 ILLUMINATING WHAT LIES BENEATH 13 INNATE DIGNITY 15 DEVELOPMENT DEEP DIVE Features 2 STUDENT VOICES 5 FAITH IN THE REAL WORLD 8 POP! CULTURE 19 OPEN BOOK 20 SNAP SHOT The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:5 Like mail for so much of the past Christmas season, this magazine may have arrived in your mailbox a bit later than usual. But here it is, our Winter 2021 issue. STM has made the most of this completely virtual fall semester and Advent season—which Father Ryan writes about in his “From the Chaplain’s Desk.” Along with articles on our fall semester’s lectures and programs, we also have an in-depth look at your generosity from our Development Department. Thank you for all that you do. We couldn’t do ministry, especially during a pandemic, without you. Perhaps you’re looking for a new show to watch in the new year. Why not try EVIL, as recommended by law student Paul Meosky GRD '22? We also have a poignant “Faith in the Real World” from alum Meagan Fitzpatrick Ph.D. '14, an infectious disease transmission modeler. She writes about her faith and struggles as she tracks the spread of COVID-19. And, we’re particularly excited that Liam Callanan '90 (and 2017 Hunt Prize winner) wrote us a special essay for “Open Book” on how he and his family have been weathering the pandemic through a review of a “lovely, long short story” by Rick Bass. We hope you enjoy, Robin & Sarah from the editors Letter Photograph by Owen McShane.1. Dear Friends, In his most recent apostolic exhortation, Patris Corde, the Holy Father reflects on the life of Saint Joseph, especially his decision to change his life plans and accept Mary as she accepted Jesus. There is a passage from the letter that has haunted me throughout Advent and into this new year: “Often in life, things happen whose meaning we do not understand. Our first reaction is frequently one of disappointment and rebellion. Joseph set aside his own ideas in order to accept the course of events and, mysterious as they seemed, to embrace them, take responsibility for them and make them part of his own history. Unless we are reconciled with our own history, we will be unable to take a single step forward, for we will always remain hostage to our own expectations and disappointments that follow. Joseph did not look for shortcuts, but confronted reality with open eyes and accepted personal responsibility for it. In our own lives, acceptance and welcome can be an expression of the Holy Spirit’s gift of fortitude. Only the Lord can give us the strength needed to accept life as it is, with all its contradictions, frustrations and disappointments…[knowing] that God always finds a way to carry out his saving plan.” The Holy Father dedicated 2021 to St. Joseph, though I think we at STM have also spent the fall of 2020 trying to follow the saint’s example through all the “contradictions, frustrations and disappointments” of doing campus ministry during a pandemic, which has also been a time of reckoning with systemic racism, various forms of hatred and bigotry, and, fear and uncertainty about the future. While for many, both in society and in the church, there has been a temptation to give in to discouragement and complacency—this has been a time for us to “confront reality with open eyes” and meet our challenges with creativity, faith and fortitude. We have embraced new ways of being together and found ways to challenge and support one another spiritually, intellectually and socially. We have also celebrated the blessings—all signs of God’s love, providence and creativity—which compel us to come out of ourselves to be Christ for the world. Soon, we will enter Lent 2021, again with “open eyes” as we seek clarity of heart and mind with Christ and responding to God’s call to “repent and believe in the Gospel.” It is this imperative that challenges us to put our faith in action—and, it will continue to inform all that we do. Gratefully Yours in Christ, Fr. Ryan M. Lerner Chaplain The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:5 FROM THE Chaplain’s Desk Photograph by Robin McShane.2. “Today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke 19:10 So concludes this Tuesday’s moving gospel passage in which the tax-collector Zacchaeus repents of his sins and gives himself over to God at last. As I immerse myself in these words, the sun is setting on another short November day outside my window. COVID-19 cases are continuing to surge around the country. My (remote) sophomore fall is drawing nearer to its end and I feel my former life on campus receding deeper into the folds of my memory. And yet, despite these sorrows, the gospel invites a flame of hope into my cloistered, lamp-lit bedroom tonight. We live in a sick, hurting and broken world. Once again at this moment within the ebb and flow of time, we face a swell of human suffering. We might find it easy to distance ourselves from God as we come to terms with the darkness in our midst. Overwhelmed by the uncertainty that lies ahead, we might be all the more tempted to stray from Christ’s path. As people of faith, however, we must engage with the voice of conscience. We must confront ourselves with all we have done and failed to do, as we look upon a world that needs our help. Of course, it can be difficult to acknowledge our painfully human shortcomings. A sense of despair might threaten to wrap its tendrils around our hearts and choke out the joy of Christ’s love that we are called to radiate. But Zacchaeus’ story reminds us not to dwell on the imperfections of earthly life. Instead, the gospel tells us that we must turn to our faith to heal, to examine our faults with an unflinching eye, and thereby cultivate the very best versions of ourselves in God. We come to our Father as we are. We confess our sins with our hands empty and heads bowed. And yet we strive every day to live more in God’s image, to be better than we were the day before, to come closer to the life that Christ teaches. Perhaps we will never attain the unblemished ideal to which we aspire. We are all, as Jesus says, “what was lost.” But if we really try to channel God’s redeeming grace in everything that we do, we can also be what was found. As some say St. Augustine once proclaimed, “The Church is not a hotel for saints, it is a hospital for sinners.” These words have breathed life into my thoughts over the past few weeks, as I have grappled with the flaws that I see both in myself and in the world I inhabit. I hope that our Christian family will cherish the wisdom of Augustine and Zacchaeus as we move forward into the newest chapter of the Church’s history. Let us keep our faith grounded in the promise of healing, redemption and renewal for all. STUDENT VOICES Katie Painter '23 STM started a new weekly blog post this fall entitled “Student Voices.” In it, undergraduates and graduates write about the daily Bible readings offered by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and reflect on their faith and studies at Yale. This is Katie's from Tuesday, November 17, 2020.3. Father Bob’s Final Project: Realizing the Frederick Shrady Statue of St. Thomas More Carlene Joan Demiany, '12 M.Div., '14 S.T.M. Fr. Bob sat directly across from me, hands folded, inquisitive eyes alive with purpose. I sat in my desk chair, notepad in hand, pen at the ready. It was fall 2017. He wanted to meet to discuss projects he hoped to complete before ending his tenure as Chaplain. Our conversation turned to his last, unfinished project: the realization of a Frederick Shrady statue of St. Thomas More. I scribbled down notes, as he shared the intriguing history. It was 1999. He and Kerry Robinson M.A.R. '94 had just begun their capital campaign to build what would become the Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Center. One of the first gifts received came from Daniel McKeon of Ridgefield, CT, who happened to be a neighbor and friend of Frederick Shrady, arguably the preeminent Catholic sculptor of recent history. He holds this distinction primarily because he is the only American artist ever commissioned by a Pope. His twelve-foot statue of Our Lady of Fatima requested by then Pope John Paul II still resides in the Vatican Gardens. When Daniel McKeon made his gift, he pledged half to the building campaign and half to the realization of a Frederick Shrady statue of St. Thomas More. Prior to his death in 1990, Shrady had produced a sixteen-inch maquette (a preliminary model) of a possible St. Thomas More statue. Never before cast as a life-size sculpture, Mr. McKeon wanted this dramatic maquette realized and on display at what would become the Catholic Center at Yale. Photograph by Robert Lisak.4. After receiving Mr. McKeon’s pledge, Fr. Bob and Kerry met with Frederick Shrady’s widow, Maria Shrady, who showed them her late-husband’s maquette of St. Thomas More. Famous for an artistic technique called “bronze in motion,” Shrady’s statues are purposefully abstract in order to focus the viewer’s attention on the movement of the figure. This technique invites the viewer to look past physical attributes and ask what the movement reveals about the internal disposition of the figure. This artistic technique had a memorable impact on Fr. Bob. “I’ll never forget that maquette,” Fr. Bob said to me in our meeting. “St. Thomas More is leaning back. This is the moment when he is bending under the pressure of King Henry VIII and looking up to heaven for strength. The question is: will he break, will he recant or will he stand firm?” Unfortunately, Mr. McKeon died in 2001, shortly followed by Maria Shrady’s death in 2002. Attention turned to the ambitious construction of the Golden Center with the intent of realizing the statue at the conclusion of construction. Yet by the time this occurred, the project stalled due to the deaths of the statue’s biggest advocates: Mr. McKeon and Mrs. Shrady. When Mrs. Shrady died, the whereabouts of her late-husband’s maquette became unknown. “We need to find that maquette,” Fr. Bob said, giving me one of his famous winks. “I want to get this done. It is important.” Despite my initial attempts to find the maquette, I was unsuccessful. But when Fr. Bob was diagnosed with brain cancer in January 2018, the project became an obsession. I wanted him to know his final unfinished task would be completed. Margaret Lukaszyk, Director of Development, joined in the quest with a new perspective and began following new leads. A series of phone calls eventually connected Margaret with the artist’s daughter Maily Smith. Once in contact with Mrs. Smith, Margaret convinced her to look for the maquette and after searching through her father’s estate, the long-lost maquette was located in her brother’s Northern Virginia home. I took the photos Mrs. Smith's brother sent to Fr. Bob so he could verify it was the maquette he had seen with Kerry in 1999. I went into the residence and found Fr. Bob in his wheel chair, covered in his Yale blanket. At this point, talking and smiling were difficult, as the aggressive brain cancer progressed. I sat down and shared the good news that Margaret might have located the lost Shrady maquette of St. Thomas More. I held up the photos directly in front of him. “You…found…it,” he managed to say, lips curving, wanting to smile. “I…am…happy.” This year, Fr. Bob's final wish will now be fulfilled, when a bronze Shrady statue of St. Thomas More will be installed in the Residence Garden. With its realization and installation, we are adding to the art historical record of Frederick Shrady, expanding the repertoire of a prominent, deceased Catholic artist. We also join a prestigious list of other museums and institutions that have a Frederick Shrady statue in their collections, a list that includes, but is not limited to the Vatican Gardens, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Stanford University, the J. Edgar Hoover Building and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. With special thanks to Cristina Demiany, M.A. Art Business, for her artistic contributions and commentary on this article; Margaret Lukaszyk, for spearheading the project; and Kerry Robinson, for her historical knowledge, passion and support. When the statue of St. Thomas More is installed, viewers may find it imposing and haunting. The hollow eyes of the saint stare towards heaven, as he leans back, grasping his crucifix. This is the moment when King Henry VIII is forcing him to choose between family, prestige, his very life or the dictates of conscience. Shrady is inviting us into that haunting, terrible choice. Would we, the viewer, have the same strength not to bend under the pressure or would we break and compromise? As we contemplate the statue, Shrady invites each of us to question our own courage. Frederick Shrady works in his studio on the "Risen Christ" for Fairfield University's Egan Chapel. Photo courtesy of Marie Louise Smith.5. n more ordinary times, in the before-times when the word “COVID-19” had not yet entered our lexicon, I found inspiration and motivation for my work in this reading from Isaiah: “On this mountain he will destroy The veil that veils all people, The web that is woven over all nations; He will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.” This vision has been the cornerstone of my image for the Kingdom of God. And while I acknowledged that death could never be fully destroyed, I chose a career in public health with the hope that my work could bring the world closer to the Kingdom—a place with fewer tears and a less-tightly woven web. Enter 2020. I should clarify further: I am an infectious disease epidemiologist. Almost every day this year, I have been working with COVID-19 data, evaluating how bad the pandemic has been and computing what is likely to happen next. With this work, I have been in the position of seeing the near future with striking clarity but having almost no power to change it. It is a position that easily breeds despair. Why work so hard? asks a cynical inner voice. You cannot beat this thing. Let the world take care of itself. Death always wins, it’s just winning a little faster now. What does it matter? For me, the only response is through the hard truth at the center of Christianity: that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead. If we believe this, we also believe the corollary that there are things more powerful than death, that death is not the full story, that we are indeed called to transcend death. In Christ, there is no room for cynicism. I remember, too, that even Christ did not heal all those who were sick when he lived on Earth. He healed those in front of him, and it was counted a miracle. And so for one more day, I turn back to my computer. Death is here—the data shows that clearly—but it does not have to win. Little by little, we work to loosen its web. FAITH IN THE REAL WORLD In this feature, an STM alum 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. A Place with Fewer Tears Meagan Fitzpatrick Ph.D. '14 Dr. Fitzpatrick is an infectious disease transmission modeler at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She lives in Maryland with her husband and her two sons.“The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.” – Isaiah 25:8Next >