you better become vincentian

On April 20, 2012, I gave this short presentation as a panelist on how the Vincentian mission of St. John’s University has transformed me. Here were my comments:

Greetings and salutations. Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. Normally as a professor, I’m usually lecturing for an hour and forty minutes. I’m told that I only have 5 minutes to present. You’re so lucky! I’m here to make only one point.

You better become Vincentian

You see my story is of a country boy becoming a big city prof. I grew up in South Dakota (I have to remind my students that it is not in Canada, yet there are more cows than people). Even in my small town I kept asking the big question, is there a God and is there any meaning to my life? Seeking to answer the question, I pursued a doctorate in theology and now teaching others how to think theologically through these big questions. My training was rather abstract and speculative, like thinking through the implication of the traditional trinitarian taxonomy and the importance of the doctrine of the filioque. So when I began teaching at St. John’s University, I wasn’t yet a Vincentian.

Dora

I had Dora all wrong. When I first began here, Dora took my class, The Mystery of God. Because of the way she appeared and acted in the course, I had typed her immediately as an average student with average ambitions. For example, her first paper in my course was handed in on loose leaf paper and was handwritten. You see, I typed her because she did not type her paper. She did alright in my class. She was interested in the topic and readings. She asked some questions, but she didn’t impress me as the anything but average. I thought I wouldn’t see her again. And then she took my next semester’s course. She was transformed. She came to the class professional in manner and thought. She performed very well in the class and my attitude changed. I was impressed now. Then she took my next semester’s course. She was transformed even more and exceeded well beyond any expectations I had for an A student. I learned from her later that she earned all As at St. John’s except for that initial class with me where she had earned a B. I have also learned that in that initial class that her husband had died in a crime and that she was left alone to care for her two children. I can imagine several people quiting college in that situation, but not Dora. You see, since taking my classes, St. John’s has transformed her from a struggling single mother into earning an internship at the UN. She has even turned down a job offer there so that she could pursue her law degree and achieve an even better position at the UN.

When I first met her, she did not look like like an inspiring UN technocrat and I treated her initially as another average student with average goals. Boy, was I wrong. The deal with Dora is that I wasn’t yet Vincentian in how I viewed my students.

Two Vincentian principles

Programs are for persons, not persons for programs.

When we begin a new position, we are often presented with the programs that are our responsibility. The unfortunate consequence is that we become servants to the program rather than servants to people in our programs. When we look at Vincent de Paul’s life, he of course creates many programs to serve the poor, but as he brings other people into the mission of the program, it is for the service of the person not the program. The other aspect of this principle is that if there is not a program for a person being served, then work to create and craft the program needed to serve our people. In my own pursuits with others here at St. John’s, we’ve realized that some of our students are deeply interested in learning about Catholicism across disciplines because Catholicism touches all disciplines. So several of us has committed to developing a new robust program in Catholic Studies. You better become Vincentian.

Do not wait for the script.

When I think about the new way of work, I think that the old ways of work of being a good bureaucrat or a good note taker is no longer enough. It’s no longer possible to wait for the script. It won’t be created for you. It will only be created by you. There is no more script for the new way of work. The new way of work means this—create art or get out of the way. Now we all know that in its essence art is a new thing made to change someone for the better. The human person desires art and art is a thing made to change the person for the better. It takes extra effort and means becoming a gift giver with little possibility for repayment and probably not applause. This is how I view my teaching. Sure, I’m leading them on a path to a degree through my service to the core curriculum. Sure, I’m helping them learn to think critically and theologically, but in my teaching there is so much that I do not have to do. I could become just another professor / bureaucrat, but I desire in my teaching to create something new that will change someone for the better.

And here’s the last thing. If its art we must be creating, then we must bring our emotional involvement into the work. To create art, we can’t hedge our bets, but only lean in. When Vincent saw the poor as they really are, he created a new thing that changed them for the better. He did not wait for the script. He created art. He didn’t work to get by, but he worked to go beyond the possibilities. Don’t wait for the script. There won’t be one. Within your realm of responsibility in line with the trajectories of the mission of the university, create art.

Pablo Picasso’s Le Soupe

The last thing I’d like us all to consider is a work of art. At the MET, a new exhibit presents the Steins Collection. Gertrude Stein was a great patron of several important artists, including Pablo Picasso. One work caught me—it was (Picasso’s Le Soupe)[http://uploads6.wikipaintings.org/images/pablo-picasso/the-soup-1903.jpg].

Here the older woman, with her eyes closed offers the gift of soup to the open-eyed girl who jumps up eager to receive the gift. Notice the older woman and how she cradles the bowl of soup. She’s offering it, but also protecting it. Caring for it, while also giving it. This work of art is how I view my teaching as a gift, a valuable gift that I wish to protect and give. My students maybe are not outwardly enthused like this girl, but since they are human and therefore desire to know the truth, do the good, and enjoy the beautiful, they are interiorly running toward the gift. They are hungry like this girl for the gift of le soupe. This work of art captures Vincentian teaching as a gift given with protection and compassion, with trust and purpose.

I encourage you to take time to mediate on this work of art to help you better become a Vincentian.

doctorsutton speaks at stj rally for religious freedom

Greetings and salutations.

Here is a video of my speech at the St. John’s University Rally for Religious Freedom on March 22, 2012. The rally was in response to the current administration’s redefinition of religious institutions such that they would have to violate their conscience. For details about the specific controversy, see the USCCB.

Here is my speech:

Here is the NY1 news report

Please leave comments below.

doctorsutton letter of recommendation policy

If you are viewing this page, you are probably a student of mine and have asked me for a letter of recommendation. I have directed you here to help you and me make this letter the best it can be.

I am glad to recommend you so that I can help you pursue your goals and dreams in your professional life.

Please read the follow these guidelines

• Please take the time to read and follow these directions because I will be taking time to write this letter for you.
• Please give me at least two weeks of notice. Given my other responsibilities, I might not be able to write a good letter for you. The best is three or four weeks for a good letter of recommendation.
• Please be clear about the date this letter is due. Here's your chance to give me a due date!
• Please understand that I write for people reading your letter so I prefer that you do not review the letter before it is sent. A letter not reviewed by a student usually carries more weight to the reviewer of your application.
• Please give me all the details about where the letter needs to go, either an email address or web address if it is to be submitted electronically. Double-check that these details of submission are correct. Please also check if a stamped, pre-addressed envelope is necessary and provide me with it. If there is a particular person to whom the letter should be addressed tell me that too. Forms, envelopes, and other paperwork can either be brought to my office (SJH B20-27) during my office hours or left with an administrative assistant (SJH B20-26).
• Please tell me something about why you are pursuing the object of the recommendation: why are you applying for this program, award, honor, or career position? The more you can tell me about this point the better my letter. The more generous and enthusiastic you are with your own prose the more I'm likely to be with mine. A personal statement or cover letter, if you have one, is a big help in this regard.
• Please email me an electronic copy of an essay or project that you completed in one of my classes and tell me why you're proud of it.
• Please email me your GPA, resume, or curriculum vitae. The more I know about you the better my letter will be.
• Please send me an email reminder a couple of days before the recommendation is due, just to make sure.
• Please respect my decision if I say no: I will only write for students I feel I can endorse strongly, and trust me, you don't want a letter that will be lukewarm. I want to only recommend the best. And if I recommend you, you must be the best.
• Finally, please let me know how it turns out! I can't wait to find out so please let me know.

gratefully adapted from Dr. George H. Williams

modern places of marian devotion: fatima, medjugorje, and kibeho

Here is the text of a presentation I gave last year to the university and church community as part of the Three Things series. Presented at St. John's University, April 16, 2011

The theme of my presentation was this:

As we examine the modern places of Marian devotion we find that modern twentieth-century conflicts were preceded by Marian apparitions imploring for conversion, peace, and compassion. What does that tell us about Mary and her role in the twenty first century?

Fatima

Pope John Paul II said that "Fatima encapsulates the twentieth century." Mary's message of conversion, peace, and compassion is more important now than at any time because as you look at the twentieth century you will see that it was the most violent and deadly. In many ways, it really was the worst century to be a human. If in any century we needed the message of forgiveness, peace, and compassion this past century was it.

Let's begin with the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1917, the world was suffering from the destruction caused by the First World War, which in the end killed 20 million people. The beginning of the year 1917 was devastating. Only later in the year when the US entered the conflict did the ruin abate. We should also remember in 1917 the world saw Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicate in face of the Russian Revolution by the Bolsheviks which began in February and concluded decisively in October.

Right in the middle of the chaotic waters of 1917, Pope Benedict XV began a novena of prayer for peace. On the 8th day of that novena, the Feast of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament May 13, Mary appeared to three children of sheparding families in the country outside Fatima, Portugal. They were Lucia dos Santos (10), Jacinta Marcos (7), Francisco Marcos (9).

Lucia said of this visit that she saw a lady "all dressed in white, more brilliant than the sun, radiating a light clearer and more intense than a crystal glass filled with clear water pierced by the most burning rays of the sun."

Mary said to them, "You are then going to have much to suffer, but the grace of God will be your comfort." She also said to them, "Do not be afraid. ... Recite the rosary every day in order to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war."

Every 13th of the month until October, Mary appeared. Her final words to the children were essential to understanding the meaning behind the apparition. She said, "I want to tell you that a chapel be built here in my honor. I am the Lady of the Rosary. May you continue to pray the rosary every day. The war is going to end and the soldiers will soon return to their homes." After these words of course there followed the great miracle of the dancing sun that was witnessed by about 70,000 people.

To this day, Fatima, Portugal has become the place for devotion to Mary through the rosary for reconciliation.

Pope Benedict XVI like his predecessor has called our attention to Fatima when he went on pilgrimage on May 13, 2010. He said there, "At this time when the human family was ready to sacrifice all that was most sacred on the altar of the petty and the selfish interests of nations, races, ideologies, groups, and individuals, our Blessed Mother came from heaven, offering to implant in the hearts of all those who trust in her the love of God burning in her own heart."

Here in Fatima we saw Mary compassionate toward the world at war.

Medjugorje

Between 1992 and 1995, former Yugoslavia erupted in a horrific war of bitter fighting, indiscriminate shelling, systematic raping, and ethnic cleansing. In the genocide, over 100,000 people died and about 2 million people were displaced.

We should remember that one of the most devastating months during the conflict was the Sprenica Massacre during July 1995 when over 8000 Bosniaks, Bosnian Muslims, were killed by the Serbian army.

Fourteen years before this massacre and not far from Sprenica, Mary began appearing on June 24, 1981 and has been appearing almost daily in the evening since then. She delivers messages through the visionaries on the 2nd and 25th of every month. She said to the visionaries, Ivan, Marja, Vicka, Mirjana, Ivanka, and Jakov, that she wishes to come here to convert and reconcile the whole world.

When asked what Mary looked like, Marina said, "I consider words very, very weak to express what we experience with our lady. For instance when we say Our Lady has a gray dress, this is not exact. Our Lady's dress is of a certain color that does not exist on earth. ... Everything we use to describe our lady is beyond words."

The urgency of prayer is central to the experience of Medjugorje. Mary has said "Pray as much as you can, pray however you can, but pray more always."

Here in this place of pilgrimage you can learn that the four basic messages of Medjugorje are prayer, peace, fasting, and penance. But if you had to choose one word, it must be the word of compassion. Just as the conflict of the Bosnian war was beginning in 1992, Mary's message to the Bosnians was very urgent. "I am with you and your suffering is also mine."

She is the Lady of Compassion, the one who suffers with the world at war.

Kibeho

In 1994, the mass genocide in Rwanda killed at least 800,000 people. The Hutu-led government instigated by an inflow of armed Tutsi refugees unleashed mass killing of the Tutsi minority. In 1995, Kibeho was the site of a refugee camp for displaced Hutus resulting from the civil war. In an act of revenge, the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Army closed in on the camp and opened fire. At least 4000 people in the camp were killed.

Fourteen years before that, in 1981 in Kibeho, Mary appeared to three school children, Alphonsine, Anathalie, and Marie-Claire. Later a few more would see her. Mary spoke to them that they needed to pray to prevent a terrible war. They needed prayer to prevent the river of blood that was shown to one of the visionaries. Sadly, some of these visionaries died in the genocide.

Mary asked the children to pray with her as the Lady of Sorrow, as the Lady who suffers with her people. One of the visionaries said that the message of Kibeho is that Our Lady "will console you; she hears the prayers of all who call on her, and she watches over you. ... She says 'Love my son, love each other, and care for the poor and the sick. Do not let jealousy and anger into your hearts; fill them with kindness and be willing to forgive. If you are weak in spirit or lacking in faith, pray to me, and I will bring you comfort and strength.'"

When the visionaries were asked what she looked like, they said that she seemed "the most lovely woman she had ever beheld emerge from a cloud, floating between the floor and the ceiling in a pool of shimmering light. She wore a flowing, seamless white dress with a white veil that covered her hair. Her hands were clasp in front of her in a gesture of prayer, her slender fingers pointing toward heaven. ... Waves of love emanated from her."

Mary said to Anathalie, "If you will work with me, I shall give you a mission to lead those lost souls back from the darkness. Because the world is bad, my child, you will suffer - so if you accept this mission, you must also accept all the sufferings I send you with love, joy, and patience." Again, we see that Mary's message is that she suffers with us.

The central devotion of the apparition is the praying of the rosary of Our Lady of Sorrows. At the end of the rosary, we pray, "Mary, who was conceived without sin and who suffered for us, pray for us."

Our Lady of Compassion

In the twentieth century, we must learn that Mary's apparitions contain within them the message of compassion. And so it will be for the twenty-first century. Mary is compassion. She suffers with her son and with us.

In each apparition we've talked about Mary has invited people into her compassion, into her suffering with twentieth century humanity.

This is her role revealed to us at the crucifixion of Jesus depicted in the Gospel of John. Here the Mother stands by her son weeping, suffering with her Son. Not powerless but faith-filled, not inanimate but compassionate, she holds her son, she holds humanity close to her heart. Without judgement but only forgiveness, without aggression but only compassion, she invites us to be comforted by her and to be compassionate to others.

As our world slips deeper in its passion, our response must imitate Mary. We must respond to greater suffering with more intense compassion. To be present to the sufferings of humanity in the twenty-first century means we must suffer with them.

May we accept Mary's compassion so we may create a culture of compassion.

why st. john's

Recently, I was asked to write a brief statement about why I teach at St. John’s University. I thought I would share with you what I wrote:

I enjoy teaching and working at St. John’s University because I have found the mission and culture match with who I want to be in my professional life. I want to serve the poor through education. I want to teach Catholic theology as a way that tries to answer the deepest questions of the human person. I also want to live in a diverse urban environment because of all the goodness and challenges this environment brings. St. John’s provides me all of these areas with its mission to be Catholic, Vincentian, and Metropolitan university because it offers the Catholic faith and the Vincentian Heritage as a way that gives a diverse urban culture a humanistic education that trusts in the good, true, and beautiful as the answers to the deepest questions of humanity and our time.

Last but not least, I teach at St. John’s University because of our amazing students. These students can sing.