Belmont Abbey College - Crossroads Fall 2008

Bulking Up With Brains

Core Curriculum Adds Muscle

125 Years Of Drama

Ten Impressive New Professors Join The College

A First-Rate Scholar Supplements Intellectual Firepower At Abbey’s Core

The Abbey Players Celebrate 125 Years Of Transforming Lives

CrossroaDs the magaZine oF Belmont aBBeY college

Fall 2008

Strengthening OUR CORE The Abbey revitalizes the liberating power of the liberal arts.

From the Editor

BUILDING ON THE ABBEY’S CORE STRENGTHS There seems to be a hollowness at the core of many American schools these days, perhaps most distressingly at some of our most prestigious colleges and universities.

It isn’t hard to find compelling evidence.

One poignant example is Harvard professor Harry Lewis’s recent book on the state of his own school, Excellence Without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education.

Yet another is Anthony Kronman of Yale’s Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life.

A final example is the May 2008 edition of The New Criterion, which devotes virtually the entire

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issue to examining how what once served as the core of our best schools has either vanished or disintegrated into incoherence, including essays like Roger Kimball’s elegiac “What was a liberal education?”

What a privilege it is, then, to be part of a college community whose core has never been permitted to disintegrate, but has instead remained Rock-solid for more than 130 years. (The Benedictine monks helped save Western civilization centuries ago. Maybe here, in their own humble way, they’re helping do so again.) Indeed, these days, the Abbey’s core curriculum — the way the College imparts the liberating powers of the liberal arts to first-year students — is overflowing with new and abundant life, thanks to the hard work of monks and professors who have dedicated their lives to the Abbey for years and to some fresh new minds who have recently joined the College.

Proof of that abundant vitality can be found on virtually every page of this edition of Crossroads.

To see how veteran Abbey professors are looking at the liberal arts afresh and are thus bringing new energy to the way they are being taught, I highly recommend the essays written by Drs. Eugene Thuot, Mike Mcleod and Sara Davis Powell (pp. 7-9).

For an inspiring look at what a fresh new face (and a towering intellect) is adding to the mix, I refer you to our interview with Dr. Gerald

The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

“We invite you to be a part of a community that is good, true and beautiful, right down to its very core.”

Malsbary, the Abbey’s new director of the First-Year Symposium (pp.15-23).

To learn even more about how the Abbey is “strengthening our core,” take a look at the impressive credentials of the new teachers who have joined us in the article entitled “Abbey Continues To Bolster Academic Excellence With 10 New Professors” on pp. 43-44.

Then, for insights on what the “real world” value of the Abbey’s approach to the liberal arts has been in the lives of some esteemed Abbey alumni, I direct you to pp. 10-11.

As always, we invite you to support the important work being done at Belmont Abbey College with your time and treasure, or at the very least, your prayers. And be a part of a community that is good, true and beautiful. Right down to its very core.

Ed Jones

Fall 2008

FEaTurEs

THE MAGAZINE OF BELMONT ABBEY COLLEGE

Fall 2008

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WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT THE ABBEY’S APPROACH TO THE LIBERAL ARTS? Drs. Eugene Thuot, Mike Mcleod, Sara Davis Powell and several Abbey alumni share their thoughts.

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A FIRST-RATE SCHOLAR TAKES THE HELM OF THE FIRST-YEAR SYMPOSIUM Dr. Gerald Malsbary supplements the intellectual strength of the Abbey’s Core Curriculum.

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PLAYERS ON THE THEATRE SCENE FOR 125 YEARS

The Abbey Players celebrate 125 years of transforming lives.

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WILD NIGHTS!

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“GOT MONKS?” CAMPAIGN GOES GLOBAL

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TAKING THE DEVIL

BY THE HORNS

Dr. Peter Kreeft and a powerhouse lineup of speakers make the first Envoy Conference a big hit.

39 Brains Bulking Up With e New

$1.6 MILLION GIFT A TRIBUTE TO FRIENDSHIP, LOVE Adds Muscle Core Curriculum ents e Scholar Supplem

125 Years Of Drama

Celebrate The Abbey Players ming Lives 125 Years Of Transfor

CROSSROADS Ten Impressiv College The Professors Join

A First-Rat r At Abbey’s Intellectual Firepowe

Core

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ege aBBey COll e OF BelMOnT The Magazin

ening ngth StreOu r COrevitre alizes Abbey

The power the liberating arts. of the liberal

Agora evenings help rising Abbey creative stars take chances and grow.

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Cover Issue: How the Abbey is adding muscle to its already strong core curriculum.

Cover illustration by Floyd Coffey.

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DEPArTMENTS

President’s column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 In The Abbot’s Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Monastic News Brother Andrew Spivey Takes Simple Vows . . . . . . . . . 40-41 Crescat Scholarship Awarded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Six Abbey Monks Celebrate 50 Years Or More Of Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

Faculty & Staff News Abbey Bolsters Academic Excellence With 10 New Professors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43-44 Simon Donoghue Receives Adrian Award . . . . . . . . . . . 44-45 Awards/Distinctions, Arrivals, etc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46-47

Campus News Abbey Expands To New/Old Sacred Heart Campus . . . . 48-49 Commencement 2008 Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Honorary Degree Recipients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Mud Run Helps Wounded Warriors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Adoration Chapel Almost Completed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Sports News

Crossroads Crossroads is the official publication of Belmont Abbey College.

Vice President of College Relations Ken Davison Editor Ed Jones Contributors Gary Billings ’66 Dr. Carol Brooks Ken Davison Gayle Dobbs Simon Donoghue Sharon Folk ’68 Gireesh Gupta Renae Heustess Jim Kelley ’69 Daniel Jackson Frank Johnson ’71 Jeb Ladouceur Jillian Maisano Gregg McAllister ’95 Dr. Mike Mcleod Katie Moore Dr. Tom Nolan ’73 Chris Poore Dr. Sara Davis Powell Susan Shackelford Abbot Placid Solari Dr. Bill Thierfelder Dr. Eugene Thuot Richard Walker David Wofford ’97

Men’s Soccer Celebrates Half A Century of Excellence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54-57

Photography Patrick Schneider Photography

Women’s Lacrosse On National Radar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58-59

Cover Illustration Floyd Coffey Illustration

Abbey Paddler Ranked #1 Nationally, #2 In The World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60-61

Design and Production: SPARK Publications www.SPARKpublications.com

Former Men’s Hoops Coach Eastman Scores Big With Boston Celtics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62-63

Printing: Publishers Press 1.800.627.5801

One Spectacular Month In Abbey Athletics History . . 64-65

Alumni News Class Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67-72 In Loving Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Mission Statement of Belmont Abbey College: Our mission is to educate students in the liberal arts and sciences so that in all things God may be glorified.

In this endeavor, we are guided by the Catholic intellectual tradition and the Benedictine spirit of prayer and learning. Exemplifying Benedictine hospitality, we welcome a diverse body of students and provide them with an education that will enable them to lead lives of integrity, to succeed professionally, to become responsible citizens, and to be a blessing to themselves and to others.

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Crossroads

The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

Abbey Mailbag To submit comments about Crossroads, email crossroads@bac.edu or send letters to “Crossroads” Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, NC 28012 Class Notes and Change of Address info should be sent to alumnioff@bac.edu or Office of Alumni and Parent Relations Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, NC 28012 All photos submitted must be high resolution at 300 dpi or higher to be used in Crossroads.

Copyright © 2008 Belmont Abbey College Fall 2008

WHY AN ABBEY EDUCATION IS TRANSFORMATIVE AT ITS CORE

By Dr. Bill Thierfelder One of the most impressive qualities of our alumni is their ability to think in an ordered way which enables them to clearly analyze data, ask penetrating questions, create solutions to challenging problems and clearly articulate their ideas.

They owe much to their professors, many of whom were monks, who taught and mentored them in how to search for and live in response to truth. As John Henry Newman wrote in The Idea of a University, “In order to have possession of the truth at all, we must have the whole truth; and no one science, no two sciences, no one family of sciences, nay, not even all secular science, is the whole truth…” Further on he wrote, “A

build upon this wise approach to educating students. By providing our students with a liberal arts education that prepares them — mind,

minds by arousing curiosity about, as Matthew Arnold put it, the best that has been thought and said. The goal of the Christian university is to arouse and direct such curiosity about the unparalleled synthesis of Athens and Jerusalem, of faith and reason, that is the Christian intellectual tradition. Faith and reason, John Paul II said in his encyclical Fides et Ratio, are the two wings by which the mind rises toward wisdom.”

The lifelong journey to search for and live in response to truth is at the heart of the liberal arts education at Belmont Abbey College. Our concern for each student is beautifully expressed in

“The lifelong journey to search for and live in response to truth is at the heart of the liberal arts education at Belmont Abbey College.” truly great intellect…is one which takes a connected view of the old and new, past and present, far and near, and which has an insight into the influence of all these one on another; without which there is no whole, no centre.”

The Trivium (grammar, logic and rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) comprise the classical understanding of the Artes Liberales that sought the whole truth. Liberal Arts Colleges of today seek to

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body, and spirit — to pursue the good for themselves and for their communities, we embrace Cardinal Newman’s exhortation to pursue the whole truth and offer our students a powerful learning experience that lasts for a lifetime.

In an article in First Things magazine, “A University of a Particular Kind,” Richard John Neuhaus describes the educational institution that transforms lives when he writes, “The task of the university is to form and inform

Ex Corde Ecclesiae, “It is essential that we be convinced of the priority of the ethical over the technical, of the primacy of the person over things, of the superiority of the spirit over matter. The cause of the human person will only be served if knowledge is joined to conscience. Men and women of [learning] will truly aid humanity only if they preserve the sense of the transcendence of the human person over the world and of God over the human person.”

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What does excellence mean at a Benedictine liberal arts school?

By Abbot Placid Solari, O.S.B. Saint Benedict ends his Rule with the following words: “Are you hastening toward your heavenly home? Then with Christ’s help, keep this little rule that we have written for beginners. After that, you can set out for the loftier summits of the teaching and virtues we mentioned above, and under God’s protection you will reach them.” Since this Rule provides the basic identity for any Benedictine institution, we can ask how this passage addresses the issue of excellence. At first glance, there may seem to be little connection between excellence and this passage.

Let us consider it more closely, however. Excellence is a relative term; we are more or less excellent in comparison with some goal or

is to become so fully human, that we regain the fullness of the image and likeness of God in which we were created, and thus come to share God’s life fully.

The second part of St. Benedict’s

their ways of thinking and acting, can become a source of truth. It will become this source if we approach this study with a desire to know the truth and with the obedience to our disciplines of study necessary to find truth. Finally, we must always realize that the certainty of the truth we find does not mean that we have arrived at the whole truth. For a Catholic and Benedictine college, it is always with “Christ’s help,” that is, guided by faith, that we can integrate all the various truths discovered in our study and find their meaning.

Finally, St. Benedict tells us that we are first to keep “this little rule for beginners.” Only when we have mastered that, can we proceed on to the loftier heights. Anyone who

“Excellence is a relative term; we are more or less excellent in comparison with some goal or standard.” standard. This passage from the Rule presents the goal as “your heavenly home.” St. Benedict clearly states that the reason for entering monastic life is “truly to seek God.” The goal or perfection of monastic life is, then, life in union with God in our “heavenly home.” While we often like to think of heaven in terms of a place, we can perhaps get a better understanding of St. Benedict’s intention if we think of “heaven” as a condition, or state of life worthy of God’s presence. According to the Second Letter of Peter, we are to come “to share in the divine nature.” Excellence, in these terms,

words show the way, viz. “with Christ’s help.” In the Incarnation, our humanity has already come to share in the divine nature. We believe that what is possible for the created human nature of Christ is also possible for every created human nature, thus also possible for each of us. Furthermore, by taking on a created nature, the Son of God confirms the teaching of the Book of Genesis that God looked at everything He had made and saw that it was very good. Because of this conviction of faith, we believe that the study of the world around us, the study of human beings and

has attempted to live according to this “little rule” can testify to its demanding challenge. Excellence, however, builds on mastering the seeming little things first. We are kidding ourselves if we think we can skip over the simple and elementary steps. This emphasis on his “little rule” is in keeping with St. Benedict’s prime virtue of humility, by which we come to a truthful and accurate appraisal of both the strengths and the weaknesses we each have.

The pursuit of excellence in a Benedictine school, therefore, will include not only an honest and disciplined investigation of human continued on page 13

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Fall 2008

Musings on a Summer Day from a Lover of Liberal Learning

By Dr. Eugene Thuot Many years ago, a Catholic priest — the wisest and kindest among several extraordinary teachers that I have benefited from — somewhat hesitantly gave me a printed copy of a six-page commencement address

by Leo Strauss entitled “What is Liberal Education?” My mentor’s slight hesitation derived only from an exquisitely educated sense that a teacher should do no harm. The contrary, of course, occurred upon my reading of Strauss’ reflections.

They clarified — inflamed even — a nascent spirit of inquiry. Indeed, to this day I periodically return to these thoughts in order to ponder the meaning and implications of views that are not widely accepted in the academy of our times.

awareness that there are matters that we do not know adequately enough — especially the greatest or most important matters. Among these — to mention only a few — are God, the ultimate purpose of

we have regarding what it can accomplish. On the one hand, there is cause to delight in the fact that persons who become acquainted with various modes of learning and who have read intensively in theology, philosophy, literature, and history are much more likely to avoid falling into the constricting lives of “specialists without vision and voluptuaries without heart.” But in light of the fact that liberal learning at its best requires days, nights, and months of quiet study, it would not be realistic to expect that later life will generally allow the kind of leisure and reading so central to the college experience. What we can hope for is a kind of learning that will have introduced us to our total situation

“[An] author that i became acquainted with long ago reminds us that liberal learning is also a training in boldness.”

The thrust of Strauss’ teaching was that the apex of liberal learning consists in a constant intercourse with the greatest minds. Such learning, he observed, is also a training in the highest form of modesty and at the same time a training in boldness.

The modesty Strauss alluded to has to do with a sense that some authors have risen to unparalleled heights of subtlety and insight with regard to fundamental human problems and that it is possible to learn not only about but from such authors.

To do this, it seems to me, it helps a great deal to have a Socratic

human life, what it takes to improve our souls and our communities.

Moreover, an appropriate modesty in the experience of liberal learning would entail the realization that what is available to us is not wisdom simply, but progress towards wisdom, towards some understanding of the most important things, and that such progress varies among us in accordance with natural gifts and the resoluteness of our efforts.

Additionally, if liberal education is approached in the preceding manner, we can be both enthusiastic and sober in the expectations

(the “big picture”) and to some of its complexities. Such learning can give impetus to and enhance the progress that our understanding can make throughout life in ways other than the careful analysis of texts. Some examples of these other ways of learning would be the reading of very good (if not great) books, enriching exposure to the fine and performing arts, openness to and taking part in substantive conversations with friends or acquaintances, allowing ourselves to be schooled by proverbial hard knocks. continued on page 12

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Science in the Liberal Arts

By Dr. Mike Mcleod Sir James Frazer, in his Gifford Lecture “The Worship of Nature” at the University of Glasgow, described the way we understand the world by saying that “On the one view, the world is essentially material; on the other it is essentially spiritual.” While this is rather limited, it does point out that there are many ways to observe and comprehend the world that we live in, and our place in the world.

In my time at the Abbey I have always had the impression that most faculty and students see the liberal arts as the domain of the humanities even though the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music), the higher level of the seven liberal arts of the medieval world,

Thoreau or Wordsworth and not see an appreciation of the natural world. Science also explores the natural world, but with different methods than other disciplines.

to approach an understanding of the fundamental relationships in nature, the underlying principles of chemistry and physics that dictate the associations of matter and energy, and the interactions between living organisms. As much as other disciplines try to answer the most fundamental questions, so, in our own way, do the sciences. Our conversation uses methods that are different from the other disciplines.

Aristotle, in De Partibus Animalium wrote that “…in the investigations of the natural sciences there must be agreed upon general rules by which the acceptability of the methods may be tested independently of whether the statement is true or

“[T]he Great Books course [is] a conversation with the great minds of the past. Science, in its best form, is a conversation with nature.” was mostly math and science. In the science division we understand that we are a necessary component of the liberal arts, and also a legitimate and necessary component of the search to understanding our existence.

Scientists approach the study of the world in different ways than other disciplines. I was taught that the purposes of literature and art are to explore the human condition and to illustrate nature.

It is difficult for me to read Shakespeare or Robert Burns, and not come to an understanding of human nature, or to read

The methodologies of theology, philosophy, or the humanities are valid and illustrate human existence in ways that science cannot approach. In science we also strive to understand the world, and we do it by observing the beauty and elegance inherent in the structure and symmetry of the world we live in and the greater universe of which we are a small part.

At the Abbey we have described the Great Books course as a conversation with the great minds of the past. Science, in its best form, is a conversation with nature. In our conversation we try

false.” The agreed upon general rules we use emphasize observation and empirical testing of hypotheses.

Because of this, science looks at different questions, or at questions differently, than philosophy, theology, literature, art, or other disciplines. Those disciplines explore issues of morality, the values of truth and justice, the nature of God, and aesthetics which reflect the world and the human experience. Science, in exploring the fundamental symmetry of nature, the patterns and the tempo in the evolution of organisms, the structure of the atom, and the essential relationships continued on page 13

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Teacher Preparation within a Liberal Arts College

By Dr. Sara Davis Powell Teacher preparation within a liberal arts college provides an ideal balance as future teachers gain the knowledge and insight that creates a broad context for their chosen profession, and for life itself. At Belmont Abbey, the Department of Education mission statement reflects this balance by declaring that, “The primary mission of the Department of Education is the preparation of teachers who are liberally educated, professionally competent, personally and socially mature, and acutely aware of the responsibilities and privileges entailed in their involvement with public and private education.”

Study of the liberal arts forms the

inherent in the complexities of the classroom.

Life is not lived in 45 minute discrete segments of math or history or science. Effective teachers

Written and verbal communication skills, the capacity to solve complex problems, the ability to work with others, adaptability, and the stamina to persist in the face of obstacles are traits that increase the likelihood of individuals contributing in positive and productive ways. Not only are these traits desirable in the workplace, but also in individuals’ personal lives. Teachers, charged with educating children and adolescents and preparing them for life and the possibility of higher education, must themselves possess these traits.

The core course requirements at Belmont Abbey College provide a foundation for entering specific

“Being a teacher is a continual act of love — love of knowledge, love of students, and love of… growth and progress.” foundation for development of all of these desirable characteristics.

As teachers, we have the responsibility to address the whole child. Courses within a liberal arts context, and the meaningful dialogue associated with them, not only enhance cognitive aspects of the individual, but also touch the emotional, social, and spiritual facets of life. While knowing content and practicing instructional strategies are part of preparing to be a teacher, the wisdom that grows out of study within the rich tradition of the liberal arts prepares future teachers to meet the challenges

help students make connections within and among subject areas.

A liberal arts education provides a rich context that helps future teachers not only connect the old with the new and the past with the present, but also fields of study with other fields of study. Teaching in integrative ways shows students the interdependent nature of concepts and actions.

Our mantra in the Department of Education is “Teachers make all other professions possible.” Recent research has shown that employers are looking for much more than technical skills in their employees.

teacher preparation coursework with the benefits inherent in the liberal arts so that upon graduation, teachers can indeed make all other professions possible.

In the Department of Education we have long recognized that teaching is a calling. It is not for everyone. Being an effective teacher requires more than going through the motions of planning lessons, choosing strategies, and dispensing information. Being a teacher is a continual act of love — love of knowledge, love of students, and love of all that is encompassed in growth and progress. Each teacher continued on page 13

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WHAT “REAL WORLD” VALUE DOES THE ABBEY’S approach to the LIBERAL ARTS HAVE? Abbey Alums Weigh In Frank Johnson ’71

I have no pearls, except to say that the way the Abbey benefitted me was for three basic reasons: the fellowship, the family and the liberal arts style of education. By the term liberal, I don’t refer to politics, although the liberal arts education I received encouraged me to make up my own mind as opposed to accepting the status quo.

The liberal arts mantra insinuates there is a program that educates, not just trains. I have always been proud to say that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. I am continually searching for answers that I would not be asking had it not been for the Monks and other teachers at the Abbey. That inquisitiveness has stayed with me and rewards me daily with new things I never knew before. Sometimes it gets me into trouble, but most of the time it is profitable in lots more ways than money. As the Benedictine nun Joan Chittister says, we are all called to question as humans.

She was primarily referring to faith and reason. A liberal arts education calls you to question almost everything from math to metaphysics. It makes life fun.

Mr. Johnson is President of JMS Southeast Incorporated, a past Alumnus of the Year and past Trustee of the College.

David Wofford ’97

The best thing about a liberal arts education is that you can do anything with it. The bad news is that you can do anything with it. It may become a daunting task to figure out which path to pursue once your formal training ends. A background in liberal arts allows you to step right in to many fields in the business world, jobs in the public and private sector including government, non-profit and for-profit. It provides an excellent background to pursue advanced degrees in law, medicine, education or business. Perhaps the most interesting thing that a liberal arts education provides is an intellectual curiosity that will instill a life-long journey of learning through reading, travelling, and working.

It’s a great place to start and I look forward to seeing which path you choose.

Mr. Wofford is owner of Bruce’s Iron and Metal in Gastonia, NC. He is a member of the Abbey’s Board of Advisors.

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The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

Tom Nolan ’73

When I entered medical school in 1973, I was surrounded by individuals from Ivy League schools and very prestigious schools in Virginia and North Carolina. As I went through my freshman year of medical school, I wasn’t the strongest student in the sciences, but I had been given more than adequate preparation from the Abbey. However, the advantage that I had in comparison to my colleagues was the breadth and depth of knowledge that I had retained in such diverse areas as theology, philosophy, European literature and the social sciences. The curriculum at Belmont Abbey was more rigorous for science students, requiring 140 hours to graduate rather than the traditional 120. The school catalogue stated that the need for a strong liberal arts background for scientists was because they could impact society (positively and negatively) more with their discoveries!

As I have gone through my medical career, I have served on a multitude of committees that have dealt with ethics of life issues like support or withdrawal, abortion and other difficult situations.

I helped set up the first ethics committee at Portsmouth Naval Hospital while I was a medical resident there. As a senior administrator, I daily deal with difficult decisions such as termination of employees and medical students, and I am also required to discipline physicians and providers. I have spent my career in service to my country, the underserved and the indigent. I have been very lucky that I have been well compensated in my professional life; however, the main distinction that made the difficult decisions I’ve had to make easier was the liberal arts education I received at Belmont Abbey. Many individuals, even in high levels of authority, are rudderless — they will follow the direction that may be the easiest and the most expedient rather than making unpopular, hard decisions. At times my decisions have not been popular among my colleagues and at times that probably held my career back.

But overall, in the long haul, I think that individuals noted for well thought-out positions, grounded in a humane and compassionate fashion, framed by a liberal education, eventually come to the forefront. One has to remember that life is not a sprint, but a marathon and that during the difficult times, the only true value that an individual can bring to the table is openness, truth and fairness. A well-established grounding in the liberal arts is important in understanding the historical, religious and social elements that shape human nature. For these reasons I fondly look back on my education at Belmont Abbey, because it gave me a chance and allowed me to be a more complete individual.

Dr. Nolan is Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Lousiana State University.

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SHARON FOLK ’68

I believe that everyone would benefit from a liberal arts education, regardless of whether they have been called to a profession out in the world or to make a contribution at home. My liberal arts education has broadened my horizons, taught me how to think, has presented opportunities to explore topics I might never have been exposed to, has helped me see the bigger picture and has challenged me with questions I couldn’t have been asked anywhere else. The presence of the monks at the Abbey provided opportunities for interaction and exploration of spiritual issues that made my liberal arts training of even greater value in my life.

Sharon Folk is owner of the Andrew Johnson Golf Course and currently serves on the Abbey’s Board of Trustees.

Jim Kelley ’69

I graduated from the Abbey, with a degree in Political Science, in 1969 and have practiced labor and employment law, representing management, going on 35 years. In its narrowest sense, my job can be described as negotiating collective bargaining agreements, advising my clients on their rights and obligations in the employment arena and defending their interests in federal and state court and before governmental agencies, against lawsuits and other charges brought by unhappy employees and their representatives. That is, at best, a summary description.

On a day-to-day basis, my job requires me to be an advocate, a fact finder, a subject matter expert, an educator, a philosopher, a draftsman and a communicator.

Not one day goes by that I do not draw on lessons learned from the liberal arts curriculum at Belmont Abbey over 40 years ago. Principles of political theory, philosophy, economics, human experience and careful writing are as relevant today as they were in the 1960’s. The center of my business is the human dynamic. Granted, I have to be attentive to economic indicators and understand the economics and operational realities of my clients’ business but my primary job is to discern how people think, to assess their conduct motivators, to devise a course of action that is responsive to my clients’ needs and employees’ wants and to communicate how reasonable employers and employees deal with those same issues in other comparable working environments. Positive labor relations and human resource interaction is informed by continuing research and reading to better understand the world in which we live and work, the business and operational demands of my clients and the wants and legitimate needs of my clients’ workforce. The connection between those everyday factors and the scope of a liberal arts education is obvious.

The intangible addition at Belmont Abbey is the Benedictine influence and its emphasis on ethics, discipline, fundamental fairness, equal rights and the value of the human soul; lessons at the center of debate in liberal arts but rock solid in the Benedictine tradition.

Mr. Kelley is Senior Partner of the global law firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius L.L.P. He was honored on the Abbey’s Wall of Fame at Homecoming 2008.

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Gary Billings, Ph.D. ’66

I was fortunate to attend the Abbey in the early sixties when there were no hedge funds, no promise of big money on Wall Street, and certainly no Masters of the Universe to emulate. As a result I was able to pursue a liberal arts education free from the lure of money. This in turn gave me a greater perspective on the world I lived in than I would have ordinarily received had I majored in Business or Finance, or some other applied major. I did eventually embark on a career in business but along the way I explored many different subjects as an undergraduate at BAC and as a masters and doctoral student at UNC Chapel Hill. This helped me both personally and professionally. I developed a life long interest in reading books on a wide variety of subjects, especially history, political science and psychology. More significantly, my liberal arts background helped me become more effective as a business leader by enabling me to become a better learner and thinker.

Why is this important? Two of the most salient features of American business today are, most companies are continuously changing in order to meet the needs of customers and most companies are manufacturing IDEAS, not PRODUCTS. In this environment the most important core competencies are thinking and learning skills. I learned this first hand as the Chief Human Resources Officer of a leading financial services firm. One of my department’s most important functions was recruiting and hiring thousands of people a year to staff a rapidly expanding enterprise competing for market share in a highly competitive environment.

What we looked for were individuals who were fast learners and who had the ability to think. I am not saying knowing a debit from a credit or understanding a supply chain or comprehending the latest marketing fad were not important concepts. But they were not nearly as important as the ability to quickly adapt to change and the ability to solve problems — two qualities I believe are the net effect of a liberal arts education. For this and other reasons I recommend that anyone contemplating earning an undergraduate degree is well advised to pursue a liberal arts curriculum, then specialize later in graduate school. I am very glad I did because it enriched my life and enabled me to succeed once I decided upon a career in business.

Dr. Billings retired as Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer of AXA Financial in 2002.

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GREGG McALLISTER ’ 95

On the surface, I would not have thought that liberal arts had such a great impact on my life but the more Kathleen ’94 and I discussed it, the more we realized how pervasive it has been. First, my wife, Kathleen, an Abbey Grad was influenced by the Abbey’s liberal arts education and five to ten of my closest friends in Charlotte were liberal arts trained. These are the kind of people I associate with and that has defined my life. In my profession, which is real estate development and running a contracting company, I can see differences between the way I run our company and the way other companies are run. I believe that we look at the ethical issues that impact our day to day business. I think that this is an extension of beliefs and values learned throughout my life. My liberal arts education at the Abbey was really an extension of the Catholic education I had since first grade.

The Abbey reinforced values learned when I was younger.

This education prepares you for life; what do ethics and history

have to do with my life? What is English going to do for me?

Another way that a liberal arts education prepares you is that it rounds you out and prepares you for any field you will go into; it is not so specialized that it misses the importance of teaching you how to think and express yourself. I think a lot of students today who don’t have a grounded home base really benefit from a liberal arts curriculum; it instills values and provides a sense of stability.

I was really guided by Fr. Chris who taught theology and who pushed me into extra-curricular activities, like SGA and sports. I was forced to put myself out there, extend myself, do public speaking in front of 200 people at age 20 or speak to the graduating class at the seniors dinner in front of students, faculty, and dignitaries. Being in a small community presented me with opportunities some of my family and friends did not have who went to large institutions. I was given rare opportunities and I had faculty who cared about my development as a well-rounded individual.

Mr. McAllister is President, Real Estate with the McAllister Group in Charlotte, NC.

Dr. Eugene F. THuot’s Column continued From page 7

On another level of things, the author that I became acquainted with long ago reminds us that liberal learning is also a training in boldness. Here Strauss elaborates. Such an education, he says, “… demands from us the boldness implied in the resolve to regard the accepted views as mere opinions, or to regard the average opinions as extreme opinions which are at least as likely to be wrong as the most strange or the least popular opinions.”

Not surprisingly perhaps, Leo Strauss was himself a practitioner of such boldness in exemplary fashion. It is the kind of boldness inherent in the examined or philosophic life. But as he had learned from Plato’s Socrates, the examined life is not one we can simply declare to be available or in our possession. It seems to be limited to rare human beings, requires extraordinary discipline, and is best accompanied by upright character and sound judgment — especially sound political judgment.

Thus, while liberal learning can in the ordinary course of things contribute to the emergence of thoughtful human beings, the examined life as Socrates practiced it is a most elusive way of life. To shorten a very long story, I limit myself to noting that Socrates was prudently concerned about the perils of philosophy (for himself and for others) and that he courageously sought to safeguard genuine philosophizing by 12 Crossroads

exposing pretended wisdom or pretended love of wisdom as masks worn by those whose primary loves were to do battle or gain a reputation or make money.

In a related vein, we are often told that liberal education liberates by helping to develop “critical thinking.” This is undoubtedly the case. But a moment’s consideration of the Greek etymology of “critical” (kritikos) underlines the fact that its primary meaning in an educational context involves analyzing, discerning, and judging well; not above all contending, blaming, or accusing. Circumstances, to be sure, sometimes warrant or require the latter. But as I reflect upon the noble endeavor that the most excellent education can be, what I see as essential and most seriously at play are love of truth and friendships which arise in seeking together this most precious good.

Admittedly, working to encourage and occasion such a lofty undertaking is difficult at any time and in any place. Learners and the settings of learning are not immune to what St. Paul referred to as the groanings of a creation in labor. Nonetheless, in the various educational communities that I have observed and taken part in, there have always been individuals who have understood the heart of the matter. Such students and educators are one good reason to be hopeful. Moreover, in having encountered over the years in the halls of

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academe individuals — young and notso-young — who have been remarkably touched by grace, I cannot but think that there is hope beyond hope.

In truth, the range and limits of the effects of a liberal education require a much fuller accounting than my sketchy remarks can provide. Were this to be attempted, at least two thoughts relating to the notoriously controversial German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, could be included. One would address his understanding of education — an understanding we are given a brief glimpse of when he says the following: “we cannot subtract dancing in any form from noble education; the ability to dance with feet, with concepts, with words: need I add that one must also be able to dance with the pen — that one must learn to write?”

Implied in this statement is the judgment that liberal education entails (but, I would add, is not limited to) experience and attainment of what is beautiful. The other thought warranting consideration is that thinkers like Nietzsche, Machiavelli, and others like them are not generally regarded as on the side of the angels and yet were extraordinarily liberally educated persons. But I am concluding with what really needs to be another beginning. Such musings, however, must await autumn days.

Dr. Thuot is the Director of the Abbey’s Honors Institute.

Fall 2008

Abbot Placid’s Column continued From page 6

Do you know where your will is?

life and the world around us, but will seek to integrate the results of that investigation into the larger meaning provided by the human being’s ultimate destiny of eternal life with God. Furthermore, a Benedictine school will conduct this investigation with a careful attention to all aspects, even the most fundamental and basic, of a common search for truth conducted with integrity and charity.

“Excellence…is to become so fully human, that we regain the fullness of the image and likeness of god.”

Making Sure Others Know Where Your Will is Located is as Important As Making One.

Dr. Mike McLeod’s Column continued From page 8

between matter and energy, tries to understand the physical universe, and to enhance the appreciation of the beauty and elegance of our world.

I have always argued that the sciences are an integral part of the liberal arts, and that all of the liberal arts contribute in a necessary way to understanding.

To quote from Aristotle’s De Partibus Animalium again “…we only ascribe universal education to one who in his own individual person is thus critical in all or nearly all branches of knowledge, and not to one who has a like ability merely in some special subject.” Our students benefit from understanding the different methods of exploring and appreciating their world in ways that a more narrow education cannot approach.

Dr. Mike Mcleod is Chair of the Biology department.

Leave a Lasting Legacy Please send me a free copy of your Wills Guide.

Please send me your E-Newsletter with financial planning news.

I would like to talk with someone about bequest planning.

Mr. /Mrs. /Miss Street: City:

State:

Telephone:

E-mail:

Fall 2008

Zip: Dr. Sara Davis Powell’s Column continued From page 9

labors as directed by a personal philosophy of education. The liberal arts help us define and refine our philosophies of education, and our philosophies of life in general.

Within a liberal arts college environment, future teachers are grounded, inspired, and pushed toward excellence. We all benefit.

Dr. Sara Davis Powell is Chair of the Education department.

Crossroads

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The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

Fall 2008

A

First-Rate Scholar Takes The Helm of the

First-Year Symposium Dr. Gerald Malsbary has a doctorate in Medieval Studies. But he’s really more of a Renaissance man.

He’s taught philosophy and theology on a college level, and greek and latin at a seminary. He’s a wellrespected translator in several languages. He even knows how to take apart a car engine and put it back together again. Crossroads recently talked with him about his undergraduate days at Berkeley, his goals for the first-year symposium and much more.

Fall 2008

Crossroads

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Crossroads: You grew up in Oakland,

we hear. Do you come from an academic family — one that was passionate about the liberal arts?

Malsbary: Yes, I grew up in Oakland — the place famous for Gertrude Stein’s comment: “There is no THERE there” — but it was in the neighborhood of some very interesting places. My family was very practical, and not professionally academic. But my parents taught me to

Greek at college I thought I could get the real, foundational education that was assumed for so many centuries, but was increasingly neglected, so I rebelled, like a good hippie, against modern education in order to get to the roots of words and things, to be radical (as in Latin radix, “root”).

Crossroads: The ’60s and ’70s was a

time when a lot of people were searching for answers, wasn’t it — maybe more so

“I was in high school and an undergraduate at Berkeley during the late ’60s and early ’70s and the air was alive with questions. the foundations of human society and civilization were being questioned.” work hard and do things well. My father was (still is) an expert mechanic. He made me take apart the engine of my car and put it all back together again. He used to take me, my brothers and our friends on backpacking trips to Yosemite, where we could see the hand of God in the grandeur of nature.

Crossroads: What first drew you to the liberal arts as your field of study?

Malsbary: I think I found them through a process of confusion and wondering and searching. I was in high school and an undergraduate at Berkeley during the late ’60s and early ’70s, and at that time especially, the air was alive with all kinds of questions. The foundations of human society and civilization were being questioned. And I found my humanities and liberal arts courses helped me explore those questions.

I was pretty good at German in high school, and when my high school German teacher told me that ancient Greek had the same four cases as German, I thought, “Cool. I can learn to read Homer in the original someday.”

I decided a good hippie kid like me really needed to work to “get myself together.” So by studying Latin and 16 Crossroads

in places like Berkeley and San Francisco than elsewhere. And it seems that so many found answers in the wrong places, didn’t they?

Malsbary: Yes, and I’m afraid I

searched in some of those places for answers, too. I remember carrying Mao’s “Little Red Book” around for a while!

Soon you find you’re going from one pseudo-answer to another, trying to drink from what turn out to be empty cisterns.

But that was Berkeley and San Francisco at that time, where you had all of these ideas floating around, bordering on religious cults. They’d call them “new age” now, I suppose… they didn’t really have that name for them then. But most young people were delving into anything that seemed “transcendental” so I don’t claim any uniqueness for doing the same.

Crossroads: So experimentation was in the air and in the water…

Malsbary: Yes, and I think my getting into the Latin and Greek classics was directly related to that, because down in the murky water there, I saw something shining and went for it. Something with some stability and timeless wisdom to it, and sanity.

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Crossroads: Was there a particular

professor at Berkeley who was influential in pointing you in the direction of the classics?

Malsbary: Yes, indeed there was. I will praise him to the skies — may he rest in peace! Elroy Bundy was his name. He died young. He was somebody who was not only just an amazing Greek scholar - especially in the poetry of Homer and Pindar - but he had also done a lot of reading in the works of Etienne Gilson and Eric Voegelin and medieval and Catholic philosophy, even though he wasn’t a Catholic. This is something very unusual for your typical modern Classicist. But he had a mind that could pull all of these disparate strands of thought together, and he was also a classroom poet, a natural orator, with solid learning in the philosophical and rhetorical tradition. One of the most important things I remember him saying that had an effect on me was this: “Every fact is a judgment.” It was like a riddle, an oracle.

Crossroads: What did he mean by that?

Malsbary: My response exactly! When I first heard him say it, I thought, “Wait a minute, we’re just getting into relativism here. Reducing FACTS to judgments?”

And yet, when I thought further about what he said, and did more reading, I began to understand, and it led me into the ultimate epistemological issues that have confounded our age, starting with the nominalists and even more since the triumph of mathematical science and technology. We forget that facts are actually … human things! It requires a human mind even to think or say that one plus one is two. To maintain this, is not to disvalue “fact” or say it isn’t possible, or something. It is to locate truth in the human soul’s ability to grasp reality, and express confidence in the human experience. It’s a judgment (“in here,” but also — through communication — “out there”) that something (whether in here or out there) is true. Now that judgment may be questioned and reflected upon, and if it really is true, new facts will emerge … or it can be Fall 2008

refuted or corrected. This explains the growth of modern science. If there is a real fact out there, some human mind somewhere, some time, discovered that fact. So we admit the possibility of truth, but we explode this rather easy distinction between fact and opinion, where it’s very easy to line up facts as if they were dead, with so-called “objective” things like numbers and statistics and physical things on the one hand, and opinions with something subjective and merely mental on the other. That viewpoint traps us in the mind. The Greek word mathematics means “knowable” things — a certain kind of judgment.

Computers actually “make” no such judgments, they just apply them. There has to be a human element in that — oh! so impersonal! — and “objective” truth we call mathematics. I am not denying the validity or truth of mathematics when I say this. I am emphasizing it, and praising it. Like Plato. But then Thomas Aquinas goes on from there to teach that the intelligibility of reality is graspable in part by human minds, but in full by God alone, whose knowledge is so perfect that it causes the very existence of all things.

Complete knowledge of reality ever eludes us. But in our practical reasoning about what we do, we cause something to be, in our own freely chosen actions, where our practical grasp of “what is good to do” molds our intentions, and forms our souls, by habits. Here is where virtue enters the picture. Every FACT is a theoretical judgment, and every ACT is a practical judgment! We cause goodness to exist in ourselves and in the world by doing a good action. This is Thomas Aquinas’ teaching. To see this helps tie reality and the human mind together, so that objectivity, or truth-value, is not devalued or taken for granted but understood and treasured as an awesome power of the human subject, and our ability to reflect back critically on what we “think” we know makes possible our attainment of the truth, our constant need to distinguish appearance from reality.

Crossroads: So what were some of

your classmates like at Berkeley? Did they fit the stereotypical images that some

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“…objectivity…[is] an awesome power of the human subject and our ability to think back critically on what we ‘think’ we know makes possible our attainment of the truth, our constant need to distinguish appearance from reality.” might conjure up of “long-haired hippie freaks”? The reality must have been that there were all types of students there…

Malsbary: Sure, there were. You

name it, we saw it. But there were other friends doing other, more normal things at Berkeley. My brothers were there, too. The main obstacles to education for anybody there were usually not financial (in-state tuition was about $200 per quarter) but moral — drugs, promiscuity, beer, laziness. But finding an academic interest saved me from a lot of that. I played guitar and sang for what must have been a hundred parties — Everly Brothers songs, Beatles, Bob Dylan, all that. And we felt the draft, of course — it blew real hot for a while, but the lottery came in, in 1971. Eventually, I found my future wife, not in a college classroom, but actually in a church, because I started wandering into Catholic churches.

Crossroads

Crossroads: Really? What was the lure of the Catholic Church to you?

Malsbary: Well, I was baptized, and raised as a Presbyterian, but I dropped church going when I left home for college… I think it was my study of the Greek poets and philosophers, along with various personal influences that stirred up certain longings.

And then as I gradually came to appreciate the Romans through Horace and Virgil, I became more interested in the greatness of institutions with long, colorful histories. And I realized that here is the only Church that goes all of the way back in time to the beginning, to Christ Himself. For me, that meant that was an indication that it must be the real Church.

Crossroads: So did you start reading the church fathers and so on?

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Malsbary: Yes, a little. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas…reading them was an important part of my development. The second volume of Copleston’s History of Philosophy was a key book for me. But my classics training, and the friendships I made in those days, were essential to my personal and moral preparation for accepting faith in Jesus Christ. Now, when you get into advanced classical studies at most universities, you find that there tends to be a disjunction set up between the ancient world and Christianity. Jesus Christ in the midst of ancient history is the elephant standing in the room which many high-minded scholars prefer to ignore. A lot of Classicists are in fact rather hostile to the Church. So at Berkeley in graduate school, as the number of students who were staying in the doctoral program started to dwindle, among the more serious people there — including most of the professors — I found less and less of an interest in bridging the two worlds of ancient and modern and more of an interest in concentrating and specializing in the ancient world, which for many “cuts off ” at a certain time and puts blinders on them about the beginnings of the Christian tradition, which is when many people (not just Classicists) think Western civilization plunged into the Dark Ages. The History of Philosophy courses jumped from Aristotle to Descartes with only a nod or two given to Thomas Aquinas. That prejudice is still widespread today and for me, it made it very difficult to continue in my studies. In fact, I dropped out of graduate school for a while, and worked in a local café.

But then I audited some courses from another professor named Peter R. L. Brown.

Crossroads: Tell our readers a little about him.

Malsbary: He teaches at Princeton now, but he wrote a famous book, Augustine of Hippo: A Biography, and with that and his other famous books such as The World of Late Antiquity he put the whole field of late Antiquity on the map for the English-speaking world. Of course the Germans already were very 18 Crossroads

“Jesus christ in the midst of ancient history is the elephant standing in the room which many high-minded scholars prefer to ignore. a lot of classicists are in fact rather hostile to the church.” familiar with Spätantike [pronounced Shpate — antíkuh]. He was a brilliant teacher — an Irishman who had studied at Oxford with the great historian Momigliano and came to Berkeley for a few years, in the late seventies — just the right time. What he did for me was dynamite a kind of “hole” in the thick wall of the classics field, and showed the way to a more immediately influential period for the modern world situation, when Christianity comes into the classical world and transforms it. This also happens to be the time of St. Benedict.

Crossroads: Is Peter Brown Catholic?

Malsbary: I don’t think so, but in his

particular case and in this particular area it doesn’t seem to hurt his scholarship in the least. He has such an amazing grasp of the area of late antiquity that he is recognized as an authority by most scholars, even on difficult Catholic subjects like the cult of the saints and the transitions of late antiquity, where Islam is developing, et cetera. He is a superbly entertaining writer and thoroughly acquainted with the original sources - in Syriac and Arabic, as well as in Greek and Latin — you just have to listen to what he discovers. He showed me that I could study ancient Christian writers, obscure or famous, just as seriously as classical ones, and that it can be academically respectable to do so even in secular contexts.

Crossroads: So was that the doorway

that led you into concentrating more on the medieval world? And how you felt as if you were home, when you got to this point?

Malsbary: I’m afraid it wasn’t that easy! Yes, thanks to Brown, I could

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now see a way out of the box that I felt Berkeley’s Classics program was putting me in, a way to pull it all together and perhaps become a professor. But it’s hard, because to become a professor, you need to find advisors, you need to find a program, and unfortunately, Brown left around this time. He couldn’t stand Berkeley.

Crossroads: Why? Malsbary: The way he put it was because so many people there were “walking around with their brakes on.”

Crossroads: And what did he mean by that?

Malsbary: I think he meant they were trying really hard to be “cool.”

Crossroads: Striking a pose and sort of self-censoring?

Malsbary: No, there seemed to be rather little serious self-censorship, in the moral sense. More like: not knowing whether what you say might offend someone (an early stage of “PC”), and letting that be the main worry in conversation, inhibiting the search for truth. At least that’s what I think he meant. So he went back east, to Princeton, and eventually so did I, since we wound up in Philadelphia, where we have been for the past seventeen years.

Crossroads: So when he went out of your life, what happened?

Malsbary: Oh, he left but other people and things came in too, right at Fall 2008

that same time. As I say, I wasn’t even in the program anymore because I wasn’t sure how I was going to specialize in the classics. But I loved the Greek and Latin that I had acquired along the way, and at this time I encountered a great book by E.K. Rand called Founders of the Middle Ages, which I would still recommend. It’s more than an introduction to patristics — it is also an introduction to the whole ancient Christian world, complete with ancient Christian poetry, and the great figure of Boethius, and a whole range of other people whom he called the founders of the middle ages. E.K. Rand had been a Harvard professor, he was from the G.K. Chesterton generation or older, but his book was very solid and it showed a classicist doing this, so that was very important. But this book also introduced me to the poet Prudentius, whose work I fell in love with the way Bob Dylan fell in love with Hank Williams or Robert Johnson. Prudentius is known as the “Christian Virgil and Horace.” And I just fell in love with his poetry because here was a Christian writing Christian things in the classical poetic mode I had worked very hard to appreciate.

But there was nobody at Berkeley who seemed interested in Prudentius or in this fascinating world I’d stumbled into. It was just something I had found in books.

But several things happened. I became a practicing, praying Christian, wanting vaguely to be a Catholic but not really knowing how to go about it. I found my future wife, who was also actually further along on the same kind of journey. She also was trying to become a Catholic.

A couple years after we were married we were received into the Church. It surprises people to tell them this, but before we were Catholics but wanted to be, and we didn’t really have any particular faith community to be married in, we had to elope. I was moving to Champaign — Urbana, Illinois because I had just applied for and received this arrangement, it was like a scholarship and teaching assistantship, to get back into a doctoral program and classes at the University of Illinois. And right about this same time, Katherine and I “plighted our troth” to each other — but what to do now? Well, we started driving to Illinois Fall 2008

and along the way there is this state known as Nevada, where it was very easy to get married. [laughter]

Crossroads: That’s what we hear.

Malsbary: So, it was kind of funny because we ended up getting married in the Silver Dollar Saloon. [laughter] Which only cost $20 for the judge and another $20 if you wanted to splurge for a piano player. So as Kathy says, we met in a church, but got married in a bar. Just the opposite of what most people do.

Crossroads: Did you go back and

reformalize the marriage by any chance?

families: John and Dia Boyle (now at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota), Dave and Cindy Twetten (at Marquette), Timothy and Colleen Noone (at C U of A), and others. Fortunately for my family, I was in demand as a Latin teacher for the other medieval studies graduate students, so that gave me an income. I was finally at a place where I could just learn from everybody and critically fit what I studied into a personal and Christian synthesis. There were just so many great people there. There was a nun, Sister Frances Nims, who was an expert in medieval literary theory. There was the great Father Boyle, the paleography and

Malsbary: Well yes, because a couple of years later we were received into the Church and then we had a blessing on our marriage when my parents were out to visit us. We already had three kids (including a set of twins) by that time, which was kind of interesting. But it was very low key, no tuxedos or anything; it didn’t cost anybody a cent.

Crossroads: That’s good.

Malsbary: Of course that first secular ceremony had been very pricey — $40 for that piano and the judge. [laughter] Crossroads: So, you end up at Illinois and then what?

Malsbary: We were mostly involved

in starting a family there, and although I was in a classics program with some great people, it wasn’t really holding my interest anymore because I wanted to study the medieval period, seriously.

And then I found out about the Medieval Institute in Toronto. So we ended up going to Toronto.

I finally finished my Ph.D. in 1988.

Crossroads: Did you find another great role model like Peter Brown or Elroy Bundy in Toronto?

Malsbary: It was different now. I had many magnificent teachers, and we also made lifetime friends there, graduate students who were also starting Crossroads

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codicology expert who soon became the Vatican librarian. And there was James Reilly, a philosophy teacher who used the Socratic method like a Jedi master: I studied Thomistic ethics under him.

John Corbett, who became my advisor, was a Peter Brown disciple, learning Syriac himself and very interested in late antiquity. There were courses in art and architecture, liturgy, canon law, vernacular literature, in a program established earlier in the century by the great French scholar Etienne Gilson. I was ready for it.

Crossroads: What did you end up doing your dissertation on?

Malsbary: It was on an epic poem on the life of St. Martin of Tours, written in the late 5th century A.D. in Latin — a quasi-Virgilian epic you might say, but very much in a new style — formed by the new cult of heroic Christian sanctity.

In studying it, needless to say, I was very dependent on Peter Brown’s book, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity. St. Martin lived in the fourth century, but this poem was written about 100 years after his death (around 475) and I thought it showed the development of the cult of St. Martin. My interpretation and partial translation of the poem tries to show this development within the social and mental world, as reflected in the poem: that the poet was bringing out what the saint meant to lay people in their everyday lives, you know — this was the beginning of the Christian pilgrimage culture, a forerunner of the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and the background assumed by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales about a thousand years later.

Crossroads: Fascinating.

Malsbary: Yes, and this poem is possibly the first example of a genre that would become dominant in medieval literary culture, the hagiographical epic.

So it’s really combining, or synthesizing the classical epic poetic tradition with the Christian saint.

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Crossroads: What actually do you think drew you to Belmont Abbey College? What attracted you here?

Malsbary: Oh, well this is some fast-forwarding, now! Once I had my doctorate, my professional goal was to teach Latin and Greek language and literature, classical and medieval, in a Catholic Christian educational context.

So, after two brief positions in Vermont and in Munich, Germany, I was very fortunate to land a more permanent job in Philadelphia. But there is another problem that it is important to mention: if the Church is neglected by the Classicists, it is also true that the Classical world and the supreme educational value of the Classical tradition (including above all the study of the Latin language) is seriously (and painfully) neglected by Catholic education today. This was probably the result of liturgical changes after Vatican II, coupled with the general trend of educational culture in recent decades against tradition, rote learning and conscious rational discipline. If Latin was no longer being used in the Mass, why would anybody need to learn it? A very narrow view indeed — apart from the fact that Vatican II, in elegant Latin documents, asserts that Latin is the language of the Roman rite, it completely neglects the role of Latin study and the importance for Christians to understand non-Christian or pre-Christian truth.

But as I say, I was most fortunate to land a job at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where Latin and Greek are a firm part of the required undergraduate curriculum.

For seventeen years there I taught a succession of fine young men from all over the country eager to re-evangelize the world, and I am privileged to think I have helped that cause in some small way.

Eventually the Charlotte diocese started to send their men to St. Charles and I heard about Belmont Abbey first from (now) Father Patrick Cahill, just ordained last year.

Crossroads: He was a Hintemeyer scholar here.

Malsbary: I then made the acquaintance with Bill Thierfelder

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at a Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Convention in Washington D.C. concerned with the future of the Catholic liberal arts college. I remembered his name from that conversation with Pat Cahill, and after speaking with Bill and David Williams who was there with him, I began thinking of making a move — totally on my own, without any concrete offer or anything. I learned that Belmont Abbey had certain needs, especially in the area of Classical languages from the Catholic perspective, and I started inquiring more seriously into the possibility, sending a letter of inquiry.

The kids had grown, we weren’t really Philadelphians, and the time was right to look for something else. For seventeen years, I had had the privilege of working in one of the great Catholic institutions of this country, making some great friends there whom I shall miss terribly for the rest of my life. But the drawback was that I also had to do a lot of part-time work to stay ahead of my bills. At other colleges in the area — Villanova, Neumann College, Widener University, and Alvernia College — I taught rhetoric, Spanish, French, German and Italian; English and American literature; history, philosophy (especially ethics), theology — whatever was needed. I also translated some books and started an intensive summer Latin and Greek program at Ivy Hall, (that’s an important new center of Catholic culture in Philadelphia founded and led by Dr. John Haas). My training in Classics and Medieval Studies prepared me very well for these rather wide-ranging assignments. I also did strictly Classics teaching in Greek mythology and tragedy at St. Joe’s. I suppose you could say I was making a virtue of necessity, because frankly, I needed the money.

But all the driving was wearing me down. I was afraid I would fall asleep at the wheel some night coming home. So I started actively seeking a place where I could combine my various skills into a single job, with Greek and Latin at the core of my work, but with a Catholic vision of the liberal arts surrounding that, and not as a specialty of only academic relevance.

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Crossroads: Right, exactly. The

Classics should be part of something ….

Malsbary: They should belong in the middle of something larger, as LeClercq points out so clearly in his great work, The Love of Learning and the Desire for God. The Christian transmission of the Classical tradition within the context of an integral human and supernatural way of community life is one of those bedrock realities of the Benedictine tradition hidden at the base of the modern western psyche.

Crossroads: Right, exactly. The liberal arts should be part of something that sets you free to do something else, as part of something bigger than just themselves, right?

Malsbary: There are those who say that unless you learn that stuff (Latin grammar, classical literature) when you’re in grade school you’re never going to learn it. Not true: I started studying Latin and Greek as a college freshman.

Crossroads: Did you really?

Malsbary: Yes. I was very lucky to be able to stick around in graduate schools long enough to pull a vision together, but what I am interested in is saving other people time. In a well-ordered culture, the study of Greek and Latin within a Christian context can be connected and combined with practical education. It should not be reserved for specialists, but offered to people who are going to be business majors and teachers and lawyers and doctors. There’s no reason why young professionals, if they choose to, can’t acquire key elements of a fairly sound classical background as an elective part of an otherwise excellent, well-rounded undergraduate program.

This would help their professional competence and give them rich materials for a lifetime of intellectual engagement with everything they do. If you think of lawyers and doctors, especially, the concepts are right there, with the vocabulary; and in a Catholic context the ethics are naturally emphasized too, the sense of being a responsible civilized Fall 2008

person in a professional area, with a solid initiation into an occupational field, but humanly well-rounded and open to a relationship with God. This is what we need. Greek and Latin should be closer to the center, seen as interesting and practical electives, and not even as working toward a major, but just to strengthen and focus a good program

four “numerical” studies were usually considered more advanced than the other three (grammar, rhetoric and logic, all dealing with words), they were first developed by Pythagoras, who like the other Greek philosophers was rebelling against the then — traditional heroic/ gentleman culture of the Homeric sagas — seeking timeless truth as opposed to

“The christian transmission of the classical tradition within the context of an integral human and supernatural way of community life is one of those bedrock realities of the benedictine tradition.”

already in place. So, when I heard about the opening for the First-Year Symposium Director here, I was very interested, having done 10 years in a similar firstyear program at Villanova. The program there is not identical with the Belmont Abbey course: it is a two-semester affair, with a somewhat loose “great books” structure, and a focus on St. Augustine rather than St. Benedict. But it meant dealing with incoming freshmen, trying to associate their academic learning with their own experience as soon as possible, and to get them on the right track for a Catholic liberal arts education.

Crossroads: So let’s take what

you’ve learned during your fascinating intellectual journey and pose a fairly large question: why do you suppose the liberal arts were created in the first place? What gave rise to them?

Malsbary: The tradition of the liberal arts is founded on the seven liberal arts of medieval Christendom, which were all originated by the classical Greeks but not really standardized into the “medieval” seven until Roman Late Antiquity.

The components and order of them is important. Probably the oldest group was the Quadrivium, the four quantitative sciences of arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. Although these

mere fables. They found that stable truth in the order of numbers as realized in the counting of things and natural shapes, in the proportions of music and the cyclical patterns of the stars. Plato accepted this whole-heartedly, and took the further step (following Socrates’ lead) of seeking an eternally transcendent foundation for the whole gamut of human experience, of all natural qualities and human actions that the human soul can know and set into order, going beyond numbers to the Forms. Aristotle brought Plato’s flights of dialectic down to earth in the systematized doctrine of logic (for him this system was the “tool” or organon for the human mind to grasp the things that exist). Unlike Plato, Aristotle neglected mathematics as more of an empirical biologist at heart, and also made one more contribution: he accepted the art of rhetoric as legitimate (instead of mere sophistry). Another important Greek named Isocrates helped establish rhetoric as a fully respectable cultural program, very closely approximating modern humanities or English language and literary education.

But by the late fifth century A.D. (we’re getting close to Benedict’s time now) the logic of Platonic and Aristotelian origin and the rhetoric of Aristotelian and Isocratean origin have been set up alongside something still

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older, the study of the heroic poets (that’s what grammar was — basic literacy in order to read the poets). That formed the Trivium, or “triple road.” Then the Quadrivium, originating from the philosophers who preceded Socrates, was appended by the Neo-Pythagorean fashion of late antiquity as a way to introduce the divine as revealed in nature and the universally, eternal mathematical truth as opposed to mere human culture and language. Because the Trivium came first in order of learning (not in order of origin) it eventually gained the nickname of being the “elementary” or “easy” and thus the word “trivial” was coined (much later) to mean something unimportant, or even tautological (“that which goes without saying!”). But the Trivium is not trivial! The first one of the three, the ars grammatica, was essentially instruction in Latin, and from the Roman Empire all the way through the late nineteenth century, Latin was the recognized basic standard for education in the part of the world that we belong to. Latin is still as important as it ever was. Just read Harry Mount’s new book, Carpe Diem, if you are skeptical on that count. This would be true (in my opinion) even if it wasn’t also the official language of the Roman rite of the Catholic Church, which it is. So there are several reasons to learn Latin, and

these reasons will never go away. Latin is also an efficient educational instrument because it includes many things in one subject: mental discipline, critical thinking, history, literary appreciation, and word roots. But — standing back at a more general point of view — we can see much of the modern liberal arts implicit in this ancient system of the liberal arts: linguistic and logical or critical skills (in rhetoric and logic); mathematics and natural science (the whole Quadrivium, except that music has changed its status somewhat, and biology was part of the practical art of medicine); and finally the “Great Books” and ethics (this is implicit in the study of grammar, which was intended to introduce reading and appreciating the poets, the poets in turn also being studied largely to instill virtuous examples and history). What’s missing? Natural sciences were not developed mathematically and empirically until the Renaissance, and the social sciences were not developed until the Enlightenment, but theology could be said to come into the picture in Late Antiquity, with the Christian adaptation of this ancient educational schema.

Crossroads: That makes sense. Who

in essence Christianized the liberal arts, if that’s an appropriate term?

Malsbary: If you take the liberal arts to mean all the culture they make possible, the Christianization begins with the early Apologists and Fathers of the Church.

Learning was so crucial a tool that Julian the Apostate persecuted the Church by prohibiting Christians from working as liberal arts teachers. The lesson I take from this is that Catholic colleges only persecute themselves when they neglect the liberal arts tradition! Without a sound education, Christian (Catholic or Protestant) writers and teachers cannot engage rationally or effectively in the presentation, defense and development of their faith. St. Augustine explains in the De Doctrina Christiana how study of the scriptures requires a training in the liberal arts. In this way of looking at it, the whole system of natural and human knowledge becomes midrash, an interpretative tool for exegesis. That is pretty deep 22 Crossroads

The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

Christianization, but it also encourages the development of the sciences for their own sake: the better the science, (eventually) the better the exegesis, if not vice versa.

But the abiding Christianization of the liberal arts as a practical educational tradition was carried out mainly by the Benedictine monasteries of Europe and the British Isles from the sixth century through about the twelfth century, when leadership in the job was largely taken up by the new university centers and the Scholastics. The Renaissance Humanists took over from them (downplaying logic, but emphasizing rhetoric and including Greek). The humanist education was common to both Catholic and Protestant Europe and provided a foundation for the development of science and technology.

But in the last century the de-Christianization of much of American culture has operated hand in hand with an exaggerated vocationalism. Colleges have become utilitarian “vocational” schools — using “vocation” in a very weak sense here. Of course education should be practical. But it should also be morally informing, culturally enriching and spiritually energizing. Believe it or not, that was the job of the old liberal arts tradition — it was natural, human, and divine — the whole thing.

Crossroads: Why do you think so many colleges and universities seem to be de-emphasizing or even abandoning the liberal arts as their core? You look at Harry Lewis’s book, Excellence Without a Soul: How a Great University Forgot Education, about Harvard — there’s no core there anymore…nothing that says this is what this college is all about. It’s just little pieces of excellence per department or whatever but no shared curriculum. Why would that be? Is it just politically incorrect to say that a strong core curriculum is valuable or something? Why would that happen?

Malsbary: This is a huge thing.

There are a lot of different factors at work here. In defense of the current situation, these universities and colleges could say, “Well, we do have specialists in all these areas. We’ve got top-flight Fall 2008

professors in medieval studies, English and philosophy. We’ve got all the people there and we even have ‘requirements’.”

They call them breadth or distribution requirements. More or less they might have them there but there is something left out, the soul is missing, I quite agree.

I think one big thing that happens is that it’s disorganized. There’s not a sense of the order of all these things. And another problem is the loss of agreement about, and confidence in, what a truly educated “gentleman” or “lady” is.

Crossroads: Exactly.

Malsbary: But the largest single problem, I think, is the intentional rejection of the classical tradition and the ancient liberal arts (as traditionally conceived) as the authentic and still valid core of education. This rejection did not take place thirty years ago.

It took place one hundred and thirty years ago, when Harvard under the leadership of Charles Eliot erected the pure elective system in its place. This was a radical move at the time, and it was connected with the desire to incorporate the new, quickly expanding modern sciences into the undergraduate curriculum. Within decades all the major universities and colleges in the country followed suit. But then the reaction began, attempting to restore some center of commonly studied subjects.

This led to many projects over the course of the first half of the twentieth century at Columbia and Chicago and the Great Books curriculum, St. John’s College, and so on. Catholic liberal arts colleges tended to retain the older system more faithfully, into the twentieth century, and only gave in in the sixties, when the “spirit of Vatican II” swept so much tradition away. We have moved beyond the original dilemma of the 1870s only to the extent that everybody is convinced we need some core of required courses. But how large that core is, what it should comprise, and in what order, are all up for grabs.

Crossroads: In your opinion, is

anybody doing the “core curriculum thing” really right?

Malsbary: Oh yes, I think there are a lot of good things happening. I’ve been Fall 2008

seeing several programs that are working things out in a way that gives us all hope.

I would mention the University of Dallas (where two of my daughters attended) which I think is doing a great job of combining a strong core curriculum with majors. Thomas Aquinas College doesn’t have any majors. They have a very interesting, sound, and universal curriculum but there are no majors there. Other places have majors, but maybe their core curriculum isn’t that strong, or that well organized. Franciscan University in Steubenville has really been cooking lately — they have a strengthened classics program in place and they combined the majors with a fairly strong core curriculum.

Crossroads: What strengths do you see in the Abbey’s liberal arts program that we can build on?

Malsbary: Three things. First, there is already a very strong tradition of a core at the Abbey. It’s in place. You know, you’ve got Business majors right alongside English and Theology majors, but as far as the core goes, they are all doing the same thing for about half of their schedule, and I think that’s great actually.

They’re all in the same core. So in other words, promoting the liberal arts here doesn’t mean pitting one major against another. Second, I have also been very impressed with the degree of cooperation and communication in a common task of helping the students. There is an amazing harmony of diverse interests and skills with a magnificent unity on the main job of really helping students. People seem to be thinking, constantly, “What need are we serving here? Whom are we trying to help and what are we trying to help with? Let’s try to work from there back.”

I honestly have not experienced that very much as an institutional characteristic, in my years of working in higher education.

Third, there are wonderful resources here. Both established and new faculty, and both the administrators and staff, are really competent people.

I’m just starting to see some of the great work — you walk down the hall and see the things in the display case.

You see patents, you see CDs, you see

the latest book on the Information Commons, there’s so much … I mean, how could you not appreciate that and be very humbled as a newcomer on the scene?

Crossroads: What are your top three goals for the First-Year Symposium?

Malsbary: I have come to a tradition that is already strong and want to make it stronger. The First-Year Symposium is actually quite a complex affair. It has several essential components — introduction to liberal arts, introduction to this campus, to the Benedictine tradition, and trying to set the tone for the wonderful educational experience students will have if they stay for four years. To give them a genuine taste of what they are going to be doing here and to let them realize the reasons why they should be doing this. Some aspects are very subtle, such as initiation into a campus culture that is morally sound and academically challenging. To show that good friendships are a key to success in college and in life, and to expose the students to the friendship that is offered to them every day through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, whether they are Catholic or Protestant or not Christian at all. Other aspects are easier to grasp right away: they will work together on a campus work project called “Love the Abbey Day” and they will play together at the Whitewater Center, and they will attend cultural events together with their teachers. They will get first-hand tours of the monastery given by the monks, and library training sessions. The most important factor in all of this, however, is having good teachers teach the course and having them love to teach it. That’s what I am working to achieve. Besides that, I am interested in trying to teach well within the existing core, but I do want to introduce a new stream of courses in Greek and Latin to add to that, rather than promote any one major.

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Players On The Theatre Scene For 125 Years The Abbey Players celebrate 125 years of transforming lives.

I

By Susan Shackelford

n 1885 when Abbot Leo Haid, O.S.B., arrived at what would become Belmont Abbey, there was little to recommend it.

Maryhelp Abbey and Saint Mary’s College consisted of a smattering of unremarkable buildings on an unproductive farm in a rural state. It was also isolated in another way. There were few Catholics in the area. North Carolina had the largest protestant population of any state in the nation at the time.

So perhaps it was no surprise to Abbot Haid that the handful of monks 24 Crossroads

and students at the Abbey already had a modest drama program, something he would greatly expand.

“The place was so isolated that they needed entertainment,” says Father John Oetgen (’45), O.S.B., who served as a theatre director at the College in the 1950s and ’60s and has been an actor with the Abbey Players for decades. “It was an event to go to Belmont (named Garibaldi back then) and a safari to go to Charlotte.”

Dramatic readings of plays, philosophical pieces and other texts began at the Abbey as far back as 1879,

The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

about three years after the mission monastery was established. Then in 1884, the year before Haid’s arrival, the campus formed the Saint Benedict’s Dramatic Association, which put on a play a year for the next six years, according to the book, “Blessing the Years to Come,” by Father Paschal Baumstein, O.S.B. Today the Abbey Players trace their start to that date, 1884 — which makes them 125 years old this 2008-2009 season.

To celebrate, the Abbey Players are staging six plays and a special holiday Fall 2008

The Mount Rushmore of recent Abbey Players directors: (from left) Father John Oetgen, O.S.B., Eugene Kusterer, Father Kenneth Geyer, O.S.B. and Simon Donoghue.

1876 — Belmont Abbey, then known as Saint Mary’s College, is founded.

Also, Leo Haid writes his first play, “Major John Andre,” while a monk at St. Vincent’s in Pennsylvania.

1879 — The College begins dramatic readings, or “dialogues,” delivered by students and faculty at school assemblies.

1884 — The College’s theatre group, the Saint Benedict’s Dramatic Association, performs the first of six annual plays.

1885 — Father Leo Haid, O.S.B., arrives to lead the campus (he will become abbot) and takes an active interest in theatre.

1890 — The drama group changes its name to the Saint Leo’s Dramatic Association and begins doing two productions per year.

1907 — The College opens a state-of-the art theatre on the third floor of St. Leo’s Hall.

1920s — The drama group becomes The Piedmont Players.

1937 — The Piedmont Players take their current name, the Abbey Players 1940s — Paul Neal, a public school educator in Belmont, puts on plays at Belmont Abbey.

1947 — Father John Oetgen, O.S.B., joins the faculty as an English teacher.

1950s-70s — Father John, David J. Gorney, Father Cuthbert Allen, O.S.B., Father Kenneth Geyer, O.S.B., and Eugene Kusterer stage plays at the college.

1976 — Simon Donoghue becomes Abbey theatre director.

1979 or 1980 — The Abbey Players begin staging plays in The Haid, formerly the school’s gymnasium.

1987 — The Haid is renovated to be a true theatre.

1991 — The Belmont Community Theatre begins using the College’s theatre space.

1995 — The Belmont Community Theatre merges with the Abbey Players.

Gary Sivak becomes technical director for the Abbey Players and teaches related academic course.

2005 — Belmont Abbey begins offering both a minor in theatre and the Father John Oetgen, O.S.B. Excellence in Theatre Scholarships.

Jill Bloede joins the theatre program as a teacher and play director.

2007 — Belmont Abbey graduates its first students with theatre minors.

2008-2009 — The Abbey Players celebrate their 125th anniversary.

Sources: “Blessing the Years to Come” and “My Lord of Belmont,” both by Father Paschal Baumstein, O.S.B.; Simon Donoghue Fall 2008

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event, Christmas at the Abbey. The play season (see sidebar) features the return of “Copenhagen,” a highly acclaimed production from 2003 as well as the next installment of the Shakespeare series, “Measure for Measure.” Most of all, though, today’s theatre director, Simon Donoghue, celebrates the Abbey Players’ ongoing, pivotal role at the College.

“Theatre continues to be what Leo Haid wanted it to be — transformative, transforming the lives of people who are a part of it,” Donoghue says.

That the theatre has played an important role since the early days of the college is no surprise to associate professor David Williams, who heads the College’s theology department and acts in Abbey plays. “I think there is something unique about meshing theatre with a Catholic education,” he says. “Theatre creates on a little stage a window on part of the world and, if it’s done well, that window is a way to see the truth of things and the glory of God in a new way.”

Donoghue has similar thoughts.

“Theatre is a reflection of the beauty of God,” he says. “To me, that’s the most important thing. There is a power you have in theatre over the audience. You are speaking someone else’s words, and they have impact. You have an obligation to do it right.”

Do it right he does. Since Donoghue became theatre director in 1976, the Abbey Players have been a consistent, vibrant force and have become recognized among the top community theatres in the region.

“They are a well-kept secret in Charlotte,” says Mike Collins, who appears in Abbey productions and is a well-known radio talkshow host in Charlotte. Though Donoghue sends notice of each season to area theatre critics, he “doesn’t promote it,” Collins says.

“He’s about the process, the work and the students.”

Educating students is primary. “A lot of community theatres fall into the trap of light, frothy comedies, shows that don’t have a lot of heft,” says Millie Hopkins, ’94, who has acted in Abbey plays both as a student and alumna. “The shows we do make you think. I feel our plays, even the comedies, work on a deeper level.

I appreciate that. It’s like going to a movie that leaves you talking afterward.”

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For Patti Rizza Armstrong, ’84, the impact of the Abbey Players was even greater. “What I loved the most — and it’s hard to say this without sounding cheesy and corny — but the theatre is one of the few places on campus where anybody could be accepted,” she recalls. “In high school, I was like the perennial nerd — no friends, no dates. I was this shy, introverted, skulkingaround-the-corner type who didn’t want anybody to talk to me.”

But that changed when Armstrong volunteered at the theatre hoping to gain free admission, something she didn’t realize students received anyway.

She went on to serve as stage manager and assistant director for all but one play during her four years there, she says. “You could walk into the theatre and people talked to you like you were one of the crowd and everybody was accepted. It was a very nurturing environment.”

In addition to contributing to the growth and edification of students, the Abbey Players play another key role: They bring together students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the community to focus on a common endeavor. Such interactions generate the satisfaction of achieving a goal and broaden life experiences. “The theatre crosses all orbits,” Williams says.

26 Crossroads

Abbot Haid realized that when he arrived in 1885. One of the first things he did was emphasize the drama program to invigorate the struggling school. He’d been interested in theatre at his previous monastery, St. Vincent’s, where he had been a teacher and written his first play, “Major John Andre.” He later wrote “Saint Hermenegild of Spain,” which was performed not long after he arrived at the Abbey.

In 1890, the Saint Leo’s Dramatic Association replaced the previous dramatic association, and the new group began to produce plays twice a year and on special occasions. In 1897, the College opened a new theatre space in Jubilee Hall, replacing the initial space in the College Building.

Ten years later, Jubilee Hall gave way to the first formal theatre, which was located on the third floor of St. Leo’s Hall — “outfitted with generous fly space, extensive wings and brilliant painted landscapes of both interiors and exteriors,” says Father Paschal’s book, “Blessing the Years to Come.” Notes Donoghue, “For its day, it was hot stuff.”

The space in St. Leo’s also marked a change in the tenor of the school’s productions, which became more serious.

Abbot Haid “wanted plays to inform the students and to express values; he spoke of theatre as an art, and whether the production was comedy, mystery or drama, he expected the boys — despite their rural setting, young age and inexperience — to bring sophistication and professionalism to their performances,” according to “Blessing the Years to Come.”

The dramatics association became The Piedmont Players in the 1920s and took on their present-day name, the Abbey Players, in 1937.

During World War II, a public school educator named Paul Neal became an instructor at the College because of the shortage of teachers during the war. He also put on plays. “They were well done, and he was a quite popular, prominent person in Belmont,” recalls Father John, who joined the faculty as an English teacher in 1947.

Father John also remembers fellow English teacher David J. Gorney leading theatre productions in the ’50s. “He was our first truly professional director,” Father

The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

John says. Gorney increased the frequency of productions and expanded the types of plays produced, says “Blessing the Years to Come.”

After that, Father John, Eugene Kusterer, Father Kenneth Geyer, O.S.B., and Father Cuthbert Allen, O.S.B., led productions from the mid-50s into the 1960s.

Father John staged his first play, “Othello,” in the mid-’50s after returning from Oxford, England, where he had studied Shakespeare. Father Kenneth, a talented pianist and musician, mounted a memorable production of “Roaring Camp” in the late ’50s.

Father John also produced “Antigone,” “Mary, Mary, A View From the Bridge,” “The Hasty Heart” and “Candida.” He starred as (Martin) Luther in the play by the same name. “It drew a great audience,” he remembers, noting that area Lutheran ministers came to see how Luther was portrayed by a Catholic institution. “John Osborne’s play was a very balanced, sympathetic portrayal.” he says. Today Father John continues to act with the Abbey Players, most recently portraying the doctor in “Macbeth” during the 2005-06 season.

In 1964, Eugene Kusterer was dean of students when a student expressed interest in theatre, which was dormant at the time.

“I said, ‘I don’t know much about it but I have been in a couple of plays — it’s probably something we ought to be doing,” remembers Kusterer, who had acted in productions as an Abbey student. As dean of students, he also was directing the glee club and producing The Abbey Review, a variety show that featured everything from fencing exhibitions, to trios (popular because of the Kingston Trio) and dancing and comedy routines.

Within a year or two, Kusterer recalls, he staged “Twelve Angry Men,” using a homemade light board made by Father Francis Forster, O.S.B., and a makeshift stage on the first floor of St. Leo’s Hall, in what was then the student center. The former theatre space on the third floor had fallen into disrepair. “The (new) space was really strange because there were poles all around, but the stage was in a corner and it kind of worked,” Kusterer recalls. “Twelve Angry Men takes place in just one room, a jury room.”

Fall 2008

2008-09 Theatre Season

“Theatre continues to be what Leo Haid wanted it to be — transformative, transforming the lives of people who are a part of it.”

Simon Donoghue

“Copenhagen,”

by Michael Frayn Simon Donoghue, Director August 14-16, 21-23 Dedicated to Father Paschal Baumstein, O.S.B.

“The Mousetrap,”

by Agatha Christie Jill Bloede, Director September 25-27, October 2-4 Dedicated to Father John Oetgen, O.S.B. “Little Women: The Musical” Music by Jason Howland Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein Book by Allen Knee Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott November 13-15, 20-22 Dedicated to Abbott Leo Haid, O.S.B.

After that, Kusterer and Father John would take turns directing plays, some of them one-act productions. Eventually, Kusterer left the Abbey to teach in Connecticut and wound up focusing on the dramatic arts and an education career.

Later he returned to Charlotte, where he performed in community theatre and served as the director of the Little Theater of Charlotte (now Theater Charlotte) for eight seasons.

Donoghue, who grew up doing theatre in New York, volunteered to produce a play in 1976, when Father John was out for medical reasons and plays were largely an annual occurrence, according to “Blessing the Years to Come.”

The following year Donoghue expanded the program to multiple plays a season and soon moved productions to The Haid, the school’s former gymnasium and current location.

Initially The Haid was less than ideal.

The space was partitioned, the audience sat in folding chairs and the stage was thin plywood. Later, the College transformed The Haid into a true theatre, opening the renovated space in 1987. Four years later, the Belmont Community Theatre began Fall 2008

using the location, and by 1995, merged with the Abbey Players.

Along the way, Donoghue has built a reputation that attracts theatre participation from the campus and the community.

“Simon is a great director,” says actor Mike Collins. “He cares about the play, the words and the acting. He intuitively knows what actors need and can communicate it.” Catherine Smith, a Charlotte-based actor who also appears in Abbey productions, concurs. “I feel smarter just sitting beside him. He is so well read and articulate.”

Today the Abbey Players perform five or six plays per season, drawing from multiple directors. The school also awards theatre scholarships and offers a theatre minor, led by Donoghue and faculty members Jill Bloede and Gary Sivak, who also work with the Abbey Players.

“Most theatres wouldn’t even attempt many of the plays they do,” says Smith, noting this season’s “Copenhagen” as an example. “They are willing to challenge their audiences. Belmont Abbey realizes the contribution the theatre makes, how important it is. It’s a powerful statement about how the College sees its role.”

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Christmas at the Abbey An Abbey Players tradition, an evening of music and festive readings December 6 Dedicated to the Abbey Players “Measure for Measure,”

by William Shakespeare The 2008-09 Shakespeare Series Simon Donoghue, Director February 19-21, 26-28 Dedicated to Father Cuthbert Allen, O.S.B. “Scapino!”

Adapted from Moliere

by Frank Dunlop and Jim Dale Jill Bloede, Director April 16-18, 23-25 Dedicated to Eugene Kusterer “Rock ’n’ Roll,”

by Tom Stoppard Simon Donoghue, Director June 11-13, 18-20 Suggested for mature audiences Dedicated to Johnnie Lowry

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HOW BEING AN ABBEY PLAYER TRANSFORMED MY LIFE

B A former New York Senate candidate and member of Gov. Mario Cuomo’s State Arson Task Force, the writer is founder and publisher emeritus of The Fire News, circulated among New York firefighters since 1973.

In addition, Mr. Ladouceur is the author of the acclaimed novels, ‘Frisco,’ and ‘The Palindrome Plot.’ The third book in his trilogy, ‘Calamity Hook,’ is expected before Christmas. Contact him at JebLadouceur@aol.com.

ack in 1955 — 1956, having been newly discharged from the U.S. Air Force, I was fortunate enough to spend my freshman year at the Abbey.

Though I was required (for myriad reasons) to transfer thereafter to St. John’s University near my Long Island home, that formative experience in Belmont is one I shall always remember with the utmost appreciation and fondness.

I had been a mediocre high school student at best, so when the G.I. Bill presented itself, I was frankly ambivalent about pursuing an undergraduate degree. But after fortuitously discovering the academic and social gem which is Belmont Abbey, I decided to give college a try.

To my astonishment, the learning came fairly easily, and my classes were actually enjoyable … especially rhetoric … even Latin! Moreover, a variety of extra-curricular activities (notably involvement with the school newspaper and radio station) proved both emotionally and academically rewarding. I was pleased with my decision, and blessedly relieved.

However, the single event that changed my collegiate experience more than any other before or since, came when I spotted a notice on a communal school bulletin board (likely in Father Matthew’s English Composition class). The Abbey Players were mounting an ambitious production of Shakespeare’s Othello, and tryouts were taking place that week.

Why in the world I showed up for the reading, I simply do not know. I had never delivered a line on stage in my life … never looked out over a row of multi-colored footlights … didn’t even know the term “proscenium.” My only “qualification,” I suppose, was a mysterious admiration for an English actor named Olivier. Thus armed, and attempting to convert my Yankee accent to semi-British, I introduced myself to a tall, thin, scholarly looking man wearing Harry Potter eyeglasses. He was, of course, the play’s director … Father John Oetgen. Without fanfare of any sort, he assigned me a role.

We got along passably, Father John and I, though there were times in rehearsal when my summary dismissal from the otherwise well-cast company seemed inevitable.

For example: my opening line (in fact the opening line of the play as Father John had configured it) was, “But you will not hear me,” and during an early run-through I voiced it conspiratorially to “Roderigo” as we entered from stage right. Immediately, our esteemed director’s sonorous voice resonated from the shadowy recesses in back of the theater, “No, and neither will anyone else if you don’t open your mouth!”

Whatever criticisms of Joseph Ladouceur’s “Iago” might have been leveled after that near-hara-kiri inducing incident, I seriously doubt that “too-timid delivery” was among them.

More than fifty eventful years had passed between our Abbey Players production of Othello and my reading Father John’s moving and eloquent comments in “The Glories of a Benedictine Education” [in the Spring 2008 issue of Crossroads] the other day. I am pleased to note that he looks hale and hearty, and is obviously as sound of mind as ever … which is saying something!

Joseph (Jeb) Ladouceur

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Fall 2008

arts at the abbey 2008-09 our gift to the community

September 29, 2008 8:00 PM The Roth Duo. Famous husband and wife team and Charlotte Symphony musicians Wolfgang & Bette roth perform a concert of music for violin and harp.

October 20, 2008 8:00 PM Carolina Pro Musica -high Baroque: Music of Bach and rameau.

The ensemble will use the Abbey’s Kingston harpsichord.

November 11, 2008 8:00 PM Travis W. Alexander, organ. Faculty member at North Carolina A & T State University plays music of Bach, Lübeck, Widor and Franck. he will be assisted by Dr. Stanley F. Battle, lyric baritone and chancellor of North Carolina A & T University.

December 5, 2008 8:00 PM Holiday Concert with the Abbey Chorus and carols for all to sing.

Karen Hite Jacob, directs.

February 17, 2009 8:00 PM Acoustic Dessert. Kate Steinbeck flute and Amy Brucksch guitar.

Combining finesse with superb artistry, these classically-trained musicians perform music from Bach to Bossa Nova.

March 31, 2009 8:00 PM Carolina Pro Musica, Steve Ellington, lute: Ayres and Dances from the Time of Elizabeth I. Belmont native Steve Ellington joins the Abbey’s ensemble in residence for Renaissance delights, music from Shakespeare’s plays and melancholy songs of John Dowland.

April 20, 2009 8:00 PM Ensemble Argos (Mellasenah Edwards, violin; Christina Placilla, viola; Kenneth Law, cello) performs Beethoven, Schubert, and Dohnanyi.

May 3, 2009 3:00 PM Spring Concert with the Abbey Chorus and other campus musicians.

All concerts are held in the Abbey Basilica.

Admission is free.

Donations are gladly accepted.

For more information or to make a donation visit www.belmontabbeycollege.edu/ performing arts or call Karen Hite Jacob at 704-461-6813.

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Wild Nights!

Agora Evenings Help Rising Abbey Creative Stars Take Chances, Grow.

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Wild nights! Wild nights!

Were I with thee, Wild nights should be Our luxury!

-Emily Dickinson

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f you’re an aspiring creative artist here at the Abbey, where do you go for encouragement and inspiration?

That’s easy to answer: You go to Agora.

And what exactly is an Agora?

Okay, that’s not so easy to answer — at least, if you insist on being too linear or left-brained in your thinking.

In one way, Agora is simply the College’s delightfully unique literary magazine.

In another respect, Agora is a kind of sacred space where up and coming Abbey creative artists can meet and try out new material without fear of rejection — sort of like those lesser-known comedy clubs on the Sunset Strip where rising comedians go to experiment, but without the alcohol-fueled hecklers; or the coffee houses where the Beat Generation poets once, like, went to do their crazy thing, daddyo, but without the bongos. (Agora evenings aren’t just for creative types. Everyone who loves the arts is warmly invited.)

The dictionary definition of the word Agora, on the other hand, happens to be this: a popular political assembly; the chief marketplace of Athens, center of the city’s civic life.

Whatever in the world an Agora is, though, it sure seems to be working.

Ever-increasing numbers of students and faculty members have been showing up to take part in the evening creative conclaves. The quality of the writing and photography that’s ending up in the magazine is improving with every issue. And everyone involved in this club — or magazine or whatever this wonderful label-defying thing is — just seems to be having a lot of good, clean, contagious fun.

So how did all of this come about? Who’s making these “wild nights” possible?

If there’s one person in particular who can be credited with Agora’s renewed energy and success, all agree, it’s Dr. Rebecca Munro, Assistant Professor of English at the Abbey, and someone whose passion for the verbal, visual and musical arts is palpable.

“Before Rebecca became the advisor of Agora, the publication was languishing,” says Dr. Michael Hood, Chair of the English department. “I don’t mean any criticism of previous advisors — I was one of them back in the eighties — but Rebecca has brought a new level of enthusiasm to Agora, not only in terms of the publication itself, but also in the four Agora evenings we have each academic year.

They are lovely evenings that bring like-minded faculty and students together to celebrate the arts, especially literature

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crafted poems; a ninth century hymn is sung by Munro and accompanied on flute by Dr. Hood; a passage from Othello is recited, as is a Shakespearean sonnet; and much more.

So what are Munro’s hopes going forward for Agora?

“I guess I hope for Abbey students that they find there are some things that we do for ourselves,” she says, “not for any obvious gain we can get out of them except for the pleasure they bring us, a special kind of pleasure that appreciates beauty and intelligence in words and music — in poetry, story, and song — even beauty that is satiric or dark or funny or sad. Agora events have had some memorably hilarious moments. We have some truly creative souls among the students at our school and some true lovers of the arts; my hope is that Agora will tap into and help nurture that creativity and love, to bring it into the light so it can grow in students’ personal lives as well as our own and the life of our college community.”

and music. In addition, Rebecca meets weekly with a group of students who write creatively and comment on each other’s work. Some of the works written from this group eventually end up in the magazine. So this is a most promising time for Agora.”

Munro has created an environment where just about any kind of creative expression is met with applause and sincere enthusiasm — and it’s remarkable to behold what creative people are capable of when they are given that kind of encouragement and acceptance.

On this particular spring evening, for example, a zany, impromptu romantic play is staged, complete with swordplay using comical props; prior to that a young man sings a rousing version of Simon and Garfunkel’s song I Am a Rock; later, a stirring passage from J.R.R. Tolkein’s Return of the King is read aloud — as are several newly 32 Crossroads

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2008 Recipient of the Agora Art & Photography Award Title: Afloat By: Augustin DuSablon

To Her Overbearing Lover A Response to Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress” Possessed you wisdom or compassion You would not woo in hurried fashion, Boldly rushing toward the fray To conquer love without delay.

Spurred by passion’s fiery heat Thou the ancient Fates would meet, Wrest and ravel my fleeting thread, And quickly hop into my bed.

There lays your mark of manhood won, Perchance the honor of a son.

In all events, my bridal dower Would make for you a handsome bower In which to weave such manly tales That modest virtue fearfully quails!

To you I am another sport More tender than the game you court, Yet the fever of deadly chase I often glimpse upon your face.

I am to you another way Of seizing pleasure where you may.

But wisdom comes to those who wait, And patience is a better mate

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For maidenhead and virgin heart Than boastful youth’s alluring art.

Of time’s swift passage thou dost treat Possessed of Mercury’s winged feet.

Thou warns of pale and ashy lips, Faded eyes, gelid fingertips, As if the grave’s wide-yawning maw Could virgin dreams of freedom flaw!

For I treasure this maiden-time headier than your Bacchant wine, A pause on life’s determined road Before I take a woman’s load.

Now let me sport me while I may Before you swoop as bird of prey For little independence lays Between bed-sheets and laundry days.

Let me roll my strength and all My sweetness up into one ball To hide away against the strife Beleaguering a woman’s life.

Thus, though I cannot choose my sun, It’s fitful warmth I will not shun.

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2008 Recipient of the Jean S. Moore Award Title: To her Overbearing Lover By: Esther Vish

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“GOT Monks?” Campaign goes globaL

Ben Safranski (’06) Awarded Prestigious Lilly Fellowship Recent Abbey alum Ben Safranski (’06) is one of fifteen top graduate students nationwide who have been selected for the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program. The program is in its first year of existence, making Safranski a member of its inaugural “cohort.”

Safranski, who received a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Notre Dame this past spring, will be entering the Catholic University of America to begin a Ph.D. program in Church History.

According to its website, the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program was created to support “well-qualified Protestant and Catholic young men and women…who are interested in becoming teacher-scholars in church-related colleges and universities in the United States.” Lilly Graduate Fellows are selected from an elite group of students who are entering Ph.D. or equivalent graduate programs in the humanities and arts. Over a three-year period, the Fellows, with the 34 Crossroads

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help and guidance of two senior mentors, will communicate and collaborate with each other in the areas of research, teaching, and professional development. Each Fellow also receives three annual stipends of $3,000 which can be used at the discretion of the recipient.

Safranski has already chosen as his mentors Dr. Michael Beaty from Baylor University and Dr. Jane Rodeheffer from St. Mary’s in Wynona, Minnesota. “Both are philosophy professors, and Dr. Rodeheffer also teaches literature,” says Safranski. “I hope to learn from their experience — trying to integrate faith and an academic vocation (after all, that’s what the whole fellowship is about) and to learn about how they approach faith through their fields of study, since neither of them is in theology as I am. Also, one teaches at a Catholic university and the other at a Baptist university, so it should be interesting to get those differing perspectives, as well.”

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All photos taken by Abbey freshman Weston Dennen.

Safranski gives great credit to his Abbey education for preparing him for the intellectual challenges he has faced, as well as for helping him find his true vocational path: “The Lilly fellowship is for people interested in integrating their faith with an academic vocation, and the theology department at Belmont Abbey is so committed to approaching theology from a faith perspective, that as I began to be drawn more and more towards the academic track, I always had great examples of how an academic career could be integrated with faith.”

He also counts two individuals at the Abbey as profound influences in his intellectual and spiritual life.

“Dr. David Williams was (and still is) an inspiration as someone who combines scholarly and intellectual rigor with obvious devotion to the Church and the faith,” he says. “Also, Abbot Placid Solari has always encouraged me when I haven’t entirely believed in myself. Without the two of them, there’s no way I’d be where I am now.”

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Taking the devil by the horns

by KATIE MOORE

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Fall 2008

dr. peter kreeft and a powerhouse speaker lineup make first envoy conference a hit

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he devil tempted me in so many ways during my first year of college,” said Emily Eby, a rising sophomore at North Carolina State University.

“I definitely had my moments of weakness and times where I was falling fast from the church,” she said.

Like Eby, many young people on college campuses throughout the country are faced with moral challenges that put their faith to the test on a daily basis.

Now there is a support system in place that will reinforce the teachings of the Catholic Church on college campuses and beyond.

The first ever Envoy Institute Conference, “Combating Relativism and the Culture of Death on College Campuses, in the Media and Beyond,” was held at Belmont Abbey College July 11-13.

“The goal of the first annual Envoy Institute Conference was to introduce the institute and make people aware, not only of our existence, but also of what we hope to accomplish — what our goals are,” said institute director Patrick Madrid.

Known for his work in Catholic apologetics, Madrid is the author of 12 books on Catholic themes and the publisher of Envoy Magazine, a journal of contemporary Catholic thought.

He founded the Envoy Institute last summer through a cooperative effort with Belmont Abbey College.

“

“I have high esteem for Belmont Abbey College and so one benefit, of course, is to be allied with a very prestigious and solidly Catholic institution of higher learning,” he said.

Dr. William Thierfelder, president of Belmont Abbey College, agreed, noting that the presence of the Envoy Institute has been a positive addition to the Belmont Abbey community — “a community that seeks truth and lives in response to it,” he said.

“It is clear to me that the perfection, the excellence and the virtue we strive to attain at the Envoy Institute of Belmont Abbey College is to glorify God and serve humanity through good stewardship of our gifts,” said Thierfelder.

The conference featured a powerhouse line-up of Catholic speakers who tackled the issue of relativism in relation to their particular fields of expertise.

“I believe everyone who spoke was equally effective in that he or she allowed God to work through him or her so that when the entire weekend is reflected upon as a whole every talk and message seems to flow together as one long story that God wanted to share with the participants,” said Eby. Each of the speakers strived to achieve the goals of the institute — “to fortify Catholics so that they can be better Catholics and be more effective in sharing, explaining and defending the faith,” said Madrid.

Opposite page: Dr. Peter Kreeft plays “devil’s advocate.” Above (from left): Kreeft, Jim Burnham, Chris Aubert, Gail Buckley and Hector Molina take part in a panel discussion.

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Dr. Paul Thigpen, a convert to the Catholic faith, tackled the tough issue of evangelization with his presentation, “Evangelization by the Ounce,” which offered 10 simple suggestions for incorporating faith-sharing techniques into everyday situations.

Thigpen is a professor of theology at Southern Catholic College in Dawsonville, Ga., and editor of The Catholic Answer, a national bimonthly magazine that answers questions about Catholic faith, practice and history.

“Not even one ounce of evangelization was ever wasted if it was poured out on a thirsty soul,” he said.

Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life of America and editor-in-chief of the organization’s magazine, The American Feminist, addressed the culture of death in American society and traced the history of the feminist movement from a pro-life perspective.

“Feminisim is a philosophy that embraces the rights of all human beings without exception,” she said. “The truth that every woman knows in her heart of hearts is that women deserve better than abortion.”

Hector Molina, director of the archdiocesan Office of the New Evangelization for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Mo., talked about how the core of evangelization is rooted within the history of Catholicism.

“Evangelization is a thoroughly Catholic thing,” he said.

“It is an obligation for every single one of us to embrace and accept.”

Participants came away from the weekend armed with the tools needed to effectively convey their faith to others.

“For the first time in my life I am not only fearless of standing up for my faith, but am burning to share it with others,” said Eby. “This conference provided the evidence and the arguments to defeat the lies, making it clear that there are objective truths and God wants us to know them,” said Kathy Schmugge, Family Life Coordinator for the Diocese of Charleston, S.C. “I left filled with the hope that with the grace of God, we can bring light to the present culture and turn it around,” she said.

Although the Envoy Institute was initially set up to address the needs of Catholic students on college campuses,

Patrick Madrid, Director of the Envoy Institute.

the conference itself was geared toward “Catholics of all ages,” according to Madrid.

“The purpose of the Envoy Institute of Belmont Abbey College, fundamentally, is to help people get to heaven,” said Madrid.

“In the meantime we want them to have as good and full and as holy a life as a Catholic as possible,” he added.

Eby certainly came away from the conference with a new perspective.

“The Envoy Institute Conference has changed my life and re-ignited a passionate spiritual flame within me that about a year ago had almost been completely extinguished,” she said. © The Catholic News & Herald, July 25, 2008 Katie Moore is the staff writer for the Catholic News & Herald.

This article is reprinted with her permission. To get a copy of the Envoy Conference talks in either DVD or CD format, go to www.envoyinstitute.net.

“Evangelization is a thoroughly Catholic thing, It is an obligation for every single one of us to embrace and accept.”

Hector Molina

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Photo in 2001: Neil Darragh, Abbot Placid Solari, O.S.B., Larry Hartsell ‘70

$1.6 million gift a tribute to long-standing friendship, love

By Dr. Carol Brooks

I

n 2001, Neil Darragh named Belmont Abbey College a beneficiary in a Charitable Remainder Trust (CRT).

He became acquainted with the Abbey through two different paths. First, Darragh’s brother was a member of St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Garden City, SC, which was founded by the Right Reverend Abbot Edmund McCaffrey, O.S.B. On occasion, Neil would dine with Fr. McCaffrey, who had been Abbot of Belmont Abbey from 1970 to 1975. Second, through Darragh’s accountant, Larry Hartsell ’70, who attended the College when Fr. McCaffrey was Abbot, Neil saw the College through the eyes of an alumnus and an Abbey baseball team member. Not only did Darragh and Hartsell have a common passion in the Abbey, but they shared a love for baseball. After WWII, Neil played professional baseball in the minor leagues and became a dedicated supporter of youth sports programs.

As a devoted Catholic, Darragh was a long-time supporter of Catholic charities, notably Catholic education.

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He appreciated the Abbey’s Catholic values, its reputation and its ecumenical mission of educating anyone who came to be part of the Abbey community. Over the years, his growing relationship with Abbot Placid Solari, O.S.B, served to confirm his confidence in the College.

Abbot Placid last met with Neil in February of 2008. When Neil passed away in mid-August, Abbot Placid celebrated the funeral Mass, with the burial in the Abbey cemetery.

Neil Darragh studied at St. Michael’s Catholic School in New York City and after a career as a wholesale meat distributor, retired to Myrtle Beach, SC. At the time of his death, his gift amounted to approximately $1.6 million.

Larry Hartsell acted in many varied roles as Neil’s health declined. His only regret is poignant — as only true devotees can feel — that, because of the nature of Neil’s illness in the last couple of years, they were not able to watch and talk about baseball together. They both would have enjoyed that.

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MONASTIC NEWS

Simple Vows, Serious Commitment

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n July 11th, 2008, appropriately the Feast of St. Benedict, Brother Andrew Spivey took his simple vows as a monk in front of the monastic community and his family in the Abbey Basilica.

A monk typically spends a year as a novice before deciding to take his simple vows, and these vows signify a serious commitment to live and work in the monastic community for a three-year period. After those three years of continued formation, the monk takes his solemn (in essence, final) vows.

Crossroads recently caught up with Brother Andrew and asked him to share his thoughts on the process of becoming a monk, Belmont Abbey College and more.

Crossroads: What was your life like before you entered

the monastery?

Brother Andrew: I was probably the most boring person in New York City. I lived in the city for 9 years. I worked for the New 40 Crossroads

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York Academy of Medicine and then at the New York University School of Medicine. In both positions I was in charge of curriculum development for the library.

New York and I had a love-hate relationship. In the end, I was happy I lived there. There are so many opportunities in New York, and so many interesting people to meet there.

Crossroads: Are you a native New Yorker?

Brother Andrew: I am actually a native North Carolinian.

I was born here and was educated here until the 6th grade. My family then moved to West Virginia, where I went to junior high and high school, and then I got my undergraduate degree [in French] at Georgetown University. I lived and worked in D.C. for seven years, then I moved back to North Carolina to attend graduate school at UNC-Chapel Hill, where I got my Masters in Library Science. After graduate school I worked at Duke University in a temporary position, and then I took a full-time position in New York City.

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MONASTIC NEWS

Crossroads: What were your thoughts during and after the Vows Ceremony?

Brother Andrew: It’s kind of hard to remember, to be honest!

The monastic vows are the public part of something that is already interiorized. I was already prepared for this significant step by my year as a novice. I was actually the most anxious about singing in public! It was truly a joyous occasion. I had a selection of my family there, which was very nice.

Crossroads: We hear you are working at the library. Do you have any other duties?

Brother Andrew: I do. I am the sacristan of the Abbey Basilica.

That means I am in charge of the sacred vessels, vestments, and so on. I also handle setting up for weddings, funerals, baptisms, and any other event that may take place in the church.

Crossroads: We also hear you are interested in teaching. Is that

in your future?

Brother Andrew: It’s on the table. Right now, being a librarian is a good fit. I am actually “teaching” my first class this week on library instruction to the freshmen, as part of their First-Year Symposium. I am excited, but at the same time I’m thinking “what did I get myself into?”

Crossroads: Is being a monk everything you thought it would be?

Brother Andrew: It is very different from what I thought

it would be. It’s both better, and harder. By harder, I mean challenging — kind of a “put your money where your mouth is” challenge. St. Benedict teaches us to “see the divine in the ordinary.” As a novice, I have given up my old life, my former network of friends — in essence, my independence — and have

entered into a life of prayer and community. It’s the pragmatic things you have to get used to.

Had I not been looking for this lifestyle, I would not have been accepted by the monastery, nor would I have accepted them. But I believe my becoming a monk was in the end inevitable, almost preconceived — although I did try to avoid it earlier in my life. I am still discovering so many things, and I am trying to cultivate enough openness to change in this environment. Every day you begin again, but not without challenge and hard work. So, yes, today being a monk is what I thought it would be.

Crossroads: Having been at places like Georgetown and

NYU and UNC-Chapel Hill, what do you think of Belmont Abbey College?

Brother Andrew: I am still kind of getting to know the College. What attracted me to Belmont Abbey College is that it is a liberal arts institution which emphasizes the integration of mind, body and spirit. It values educating the whole person.

It is the philosophy of Belmont Abbey College that I find so appealing.

Crossroads: How did you first come to know about Belmont Abbey College?

Brother Andrew: I actually applied for a job with a small

liberal arts college called Belmont Abbey the same time I applied for a job at the New York Academy of Medicine. I think it was the path that eventually brought me here, but only when I was ready. I had some more living to do.

I knew of the Benedictine tradition and knew of the role of the monks in this area and in this state. I also knew I wanted to be in a monastery that values someone with an education apostolate. It was a process of elimination. It was spiritual, but also just good old-fashioned research!

BELMONT ABBEY AWARDS $100,000 CRESCAT SCHOLARSHIP TO SAVANNAH, GEORGIA STUDENT Belmont Abbey has awarded its prestigious Crescat Scholarship to Savannah native Shannon Summerlin, a senior at Benedictine Military School.

The value of the four-year scholarship exceeds $100,000 and the recipient is chosen by the monks of Belmont Abbey.

Summerlin competed against an impressive array of other applicants from Benedictine high schools from around the nation. Other nominated students are granted an Academic Excellence Scholarship of at least $8,000.

The criteria for determining the Fall 2008

winner are quite exacting, according to Father Christopher Kirchgessner, O.S.B., Chair of the Crescat Scholarship Committee. “We look for academic excellence first and foremost,” Kirchgessner said. “But seriousness of intent and the candidate’s involvement in extracurricular activities are also key.

Shannon Summerlin stood out in all of those areas.”

Summerlin’s record at Benedictine Military School was exceptional: Honor Roll every semester since the beginning of his freshman year; captain of the

varsity wrestling team; recipient of numerous awards for both his English and math prowess; and achievement of the rank of Brigade Commander at the military school.

“We feel blessed to have a young person of Shannon Summerlin’s caliber coming to Belmont Abbey College,” said Father Kirchgessner. “The last recipient of the Crescat [which in Latin means ‘Let it grow’], Ann Cook from the Chicago area, is a phenomenal student and human being. We feel confident that Shannon will carry on in that tradition.”

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MONASTIC NEWS

living the benedictine vow of stability

6 Belmont Abbey monks celebrate 50 years or more of commitment

Clockwise from top left: Father Raymond Geyer, O.S.B., Father Matthew McSorley, O.S.B., Father Kenneth Geyer, O.S.B., Father David Kessinger, O.S.B., Father Francis Forster, O.S.B., Abbot Oscar Burnett, O.S.B.

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his year, Father Raymond Geyer and Father Matthew McSorley celebrate sixty-five years of monastic profession, Fr. Kenneth Geyer celebrates fifty-five years of priesthood, Abbot Oscar Burnett and Fr. Francis Forster celebrate fifty years of monastic profession,

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and Fr. David Kessinger celebrates fifty years of priesthood. The Abbey will celebrate a Mass and have a reception to honor them on November 16, to which the entire community is invited.

We in the Abbey community can’t express our gratitude to these good and faithful servants enough.

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Faculty & Staff

Abbey Continues to Bolster Academic Excellence With 10 New Professors

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ne has a J. D. from Harvard Law School, another a Ph.D. from Cambridge, still another a doctorate from the University of Toronto, and yet another a Ph.D. in Sacred Theology from the Alfonsiana in Rome.

Many of them are experts in at least two fields.

That’s just a quick snapshot of the group of ten new professors who have joined the Abbey’s already strong faculty this fall. And when one looks closer at the talents of these remarkable individuals, the picture becomes even more inspiring.

For example, Dr. Gerald Malsbary, who will be heading up the Abbey’s First-Year Symposium program, has a doctorate in Medieval Studies, holds an M. A. in Greek (from the University of California at Berkeley), has taught Philosophy and Theology at the college level, as well as Greek and Latin at a seminary, taught in Villanova’s Freshman Year Program for ten years, has run nationallyrecognized Latin camps in the summer, and — to top it off — is a well-respected translator in several languages.

The Abbey’s new English Professor, Svetlana Corwin, who holds a doctorate from Emory in Comparative Literature, speaks Russian, English, and German, and did her original collegiate studies in St. Petersburg.

One of our new Theology Professors, Dr. Grattan Brown, who holds both a Master’s degree in English and a Ph.D. in Sacred Theology, has written on death and dying, done hospice work in Italy, specializes in bioethics and is an expert on medical policy.

Perhaps Travis Feezell, a new professor in our Business Department, has one of the most unexpected combinations of talent. He will be teaching Sports Management (he has a doctorate in Education), but earned an M. A. in Medieval British Studies from the University of Wales.

These talented professors and their equally gifted colleagues will be adding to the Abbey’s strength in the following Departments: Business, Education, English, Mathematics, Political Science, Sociology, Theology, and the First-Year Symposium.

“I think they are an impressive group — the kind of individuals that any school anywhere would be fortunate to have recruited,” said Dr. Anne Carson Daly, Dean of Faculty.

Here is a complete list of the Abbey’s new professors’ names, their prospective rank at the Abbey, their fields of expertise, as well as where they earned their academic degrees:

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Dr. Gerald Malsbary — Director of Freshman Year Symposium Ph.D. in Medieval Studies, University of Toronto M.A. in Greek, University of California at Berkeley B.A., in Classical Studies, University of California at Berkeley Mr. Jeff Thomas, Associate Professor of Business — Department of Business J.D., Harvard Law School BBA, University of Michigan Business School Dr. Ronald Thomas, Assistant Professor of Theology — Department of Theology Ph.D. University of Cambridge Master of Divinity, Emory University B.A., Philosophy and Psychology, The University of Memphis Dr. Grattan Brown, Assistant Professor of Theology — Department of Theology Ph.D., Sacred Theology, Accademia Alfonsiana, Rome, Italy M.A., English, University of Memphis Bachelor of Sacred Theology, University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy License in Sacred Theology, Accademia Alfonsiana, Rome, Italy B.A., English, Washington and Lee University Dr. Svetlana Corwin, Assistant Professor of English — Department of English Ph.D., Comparative Literature, Emory University M.A., English, Appalachian State University B.A./M.A., English and German Philology, Herzen State University Dr. Travis Feezell, Associate Professor of Business — Department of Business Ed.D. in Education from University of Idaho M.A., Medieval British Studies from University of Wales, Cardiff, Great Britain B.A., English, from University of Wyoming Mr. Travis Cook, Assistant Professor of Political Science — Department of Political Science ABD, Political Science, Loyola University Chicago Crossroads

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Faculty & Staff

M.A., Political Science, Boston College B.A., Political Science, University of Maine Dr. Igor Strugar, Associate Professor of Mathematics — Department of Mathematics Ph.D., Mathematics from University of Toledo M.S., Mathematics from University of Belgrade B.S., Mathematics from University of Montenegro Dr. Carroll Helm, Associate Professor of Education — Department of Education

Ph.D., Educational Leadership/Administration, Psychology Collateral, East Tennessee State University M.S., Education Administration and Supervision, University of Tennessee B.A., Psychology and History, Carson-Newman College Dr. Steven Arxer — Assistant Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology Ph.D., Sociology from University of Florida M.A., Sociology from University of Miami B.A., Sociology, Barry University

Simon Donoghue receives much-deserved adrian award for excellence in teaching Mr. Donoghue’s acceptance speech provoked both laughter and tears — and sometimes both simultaneously. Herewith, an excerpted version of that speech: When I first came to the Abbey in 1974, it was literally to the monastery.

I arrived as a postulant directly after taking my B.A. in medieval history from the University of Virginia, a move that prompted my father to observe that at least I was doing something with the degree.

This evening, with your indulgence, I would like to discuss two Benedictine values that have played a large role in my life. The first may surprise those who know me, especially my wife: it is humility. And the second may appear so obvious that it doesn’t bear mentioning: stability.

St. Benedict says in the Rule that the true test of a potential monk is his desire for humility, that is, the submission of his will to God’s.

By that definition, I had none. Or to put it more precisely, I had no conscious desire for it. In fact, I suppose when I arrived I had some idea that I was doing the Abbey a favor. After all, I was giving up so much by embracing monastic life — surely God was impressed. I know I was.

Two things happened during my earliest days here that went a long way toward opening my eyes to see the virtue of humility all around me. The first was funny.

In those days the elderly priests celebrated a private Mass in the infirmary 44 Crossroads

chapel each day, and it was one of the duties of the postulants and novices to serve at it. Shortly after my arrival, a junior monk took me down to serve.

I breezily informed him that I had been an altar boy in my distant youth — I was twenty at the time — and that it was probably a skill like riding a bicycle — once learned, never forgotten.

One of the regular concelebrants at the infirmary Mass was Father Maurus, by then in his early nineties. Father Maurus was confined to a wheelchair, and had lost clarity of speech, so he usually confined himself to monosyllables.

Sharp monosyllables. The monk who had brought me down instructed me to put his stole on — this is a long piece of cloth that a priest wears around his neck when vested for Mass — so that Father Maurus could concelebrate from his chair. I dropped the stole on him, and had turned away when I heard him say, “kiss.” I turned back to discover that he was glaring at me. “Kiss,” he said again, this time with much more force. I stared at him for a few seconds, then shrugged, said “Alright!” and bent down and planted one on his cheek. As I drew back I noticed that, if anything, his glare had increased in laserlike intensity to the point that I should have

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been incinerated on the spot. I also noticed that the junior monk had collapsed into a pew, his shoulders shaking as he doubled over with mirth. Finally he managed to gasp out, “he wants to kiss the stole before you put it on him, Simon!” I lifted the stole off and let him kiss it, but from that point on I noticed that Father Maurus was visibly nervous when it was my turn to assist at the infirmary Mass…

My second introduction to humility was a lot more serious than a dent to the ego, and far more lasting. Very shortly after my novitiate began one of the monks entered the last stages of cancer.

On the night of my 21st birthday, my fellow novices had cajoled a cake from the kitchen, and we were happily devouring it in the community room when the telephone rang. I answered it, piece of cake in hand, and the infirmarian, Brother James, told me that Brother Stephen had just died. Could someone come downstairs to help him lay out the body? I turned around to discover that I was suddenly alone in the community room, and trudged off to the infirmary. I remember particularly that such was my sang-froid that I ate the piece of cake on the way.

Brother Stephen lay on the bed under a covering sheet, and Brother James was busily counting out pills on the dresser opposite. I joined him, and started straightening up, our backs to the bed.

Directly in front of us was a large mirror.

Imagine my surprise when I lifted my head Fall 2008

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and saw Brother Stephen’s hand twitching off the sheet.

“James?” I asked the infirmarian.

“Not now, Simon, I’ll lose count.”

“No, really . . .James?”

He looked up in exasperation. “Simon, I told you I would — oh my God!” Brother Stephen had come out of his coma and was back with us. He lingered for another week. During that week the novices took turns in his infirmary room so that Brother James could either sleep or attend to his other patients.

Now, Brother Stephen had a particularly painful form of cancer.

During his last week he drifted in and out of consciousness, but we were told that when his eyes were open, he would want to see a crucifix. So we novices dutifully knelt by the side of his bed, ready for those brief moments when he would awaken. During those minutes we held the cross directly over his face.

Occasionally he would whisper “oh, dear”; at those times we understood the pain to be acute. He would murmur prayers before he was once again engulfed by oblivion.

It was a powerful experience for a callow 21 year-old, and I have never forgotten it. I knew that if it had been me in the infirmary bed, you would have heard me in Mount Holly, and I would not have been saying “oh, dear.” It taught me an important lesson, one that I happily rediscovered in the Nicomachean Ethics when I began teaching Great Books. We become what we become through habitual submission to a higher good. A lifetime of surrender to God’s will made Brother Stephen’s journey home easier…

I am being honored as a teacher tonight, but from my point of view I have spent my life as a student. My education has come through the men and women of Belmont Abbey and Belmont Abbey College, and the marvelous opportunities life at this institution provides for conversations and experiences that daily reveal how much there is to learn.

Some of this education has taken place in the classroom, working with students to appreciate the great texts of the western canon; more of it has taken place in the theatre as the actors and I, along with the incomparable Gary Sivak, Fall 2008

“I am being honored as a teacher tonight, but from my point of view I have spent my life as a student.” have struggled to uncover the truths of the plays we present…

Theatre is a wonderfully rewarding enterprise. Because theatre holds a mirror to life, all human experience is grist for its mill, so to speak. A theatre provides an arena (similar to a classroom) in which certainties can be tested. The cast and audience take a journey together toward a deeper understanding of human nature.

Moreover, a good play contains the force of good ideas. What could be more humbling, for instance, than the concrete realization that ideas have consequences, that they do not exist in a vacuum, and that actors and directors have a responsibility to convey those ideas truthfully and well? Theatre is an exercise in humility just as surely as monastic life can be. We work together toward a common end that is greater than any one of us, and yet is of monumental importance to each of us. I have learned so much from the hundreds of actors who have worked in the Haid these past three decades. It would be a false humility if I said that they had not learned from me, but I am sincere when I say that it has been a reciprocal process, and I am grateful to them for it…

The second Benedictine virtue that has impacted my life is stability.

Although I left the monastery when I discerned that I was not called to the formal religious life, I can still testify that a vow of stability was one of St. Benedict’s better ideas. It can be as facile a concept as remaining in one place for life, but I think Benedictine stability runs deeper than that, and as such it pertains to all of us who are associated with Belmont Abbey College.

In our lives we seek a grounded center, the Crossroads

sense of what is truly important, valuable and necessary for happiness…

Of course our ultimate stability lies in our relationship with God. As with every relationship, there are moments when we fail to see its constant presence, underpinning and nurturing us. That has been true in my life, certainly. But in the end He asserts Himself through grace that reminds us that He is indeed there.

Stability makes it possible for us to affirm that which is good. I think it is easy to overlook as a virtue in the normal peanut-butter-and-jelly-ness of our day-today lives, when we unconsciously accept stability as a given. Perhaps we only notice it in the absence. But if we acknowledge stability as a virtue, and pursue it until it becomes a part of our character, stability will enable us to get through those difficult times when the world seems chaotic.

I once heard Stephen Sondheim, the greatest living composer/lyricist in American theatre, talk about an encounter with Oscar Hammerstein toward the end of Hammerstein’s life. Hammerstein had been immeasurably kind to Sondheim during his childhood, taking the boy in when he was effectively rejected by his own family. He had taught the young Sondheim what it meant to be a composer/lyricist, drawing upon his own experiences as the writer of Show Boat, Oklahoma, South Pacific and many other classics of the American musical theatre. Sondheim had come for lunch, and they both knew that Hammerstein’s life was drawing to a close. Hammerstein had a stack of head shots on the desk in his study. When he saw that Sondheim had noticed them, he asked him if he wanted one. Certainly, said Sondheim, of course, and could it be inscribed? Sondheim remembered that Hammerstein hesitated for a minute, unsure of what to say, and then wrote a few lines. It was only after he had left that Sondheim read it. Hammerstein had written “To Stevie, my friend and teacher.”

Almost forty years later Sondheim choked up as he recalled this moment, but he understood what Hammerstein had meant. Learning continues throughout our lives. I thank you all, my friends and teachers.

Mr. Donoghue is an Associate Professor of English and Director of the Abbey Players.

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Faculty & Staff

Awards/Distinctions

By Jillian Maisano

Mr. Gireesh Gupta, Associate Professor of Computer Information Systems, and Marcia Makl, Director of Information Technology, were asked to present an article the two collaborated on entitled, “Implementation of Two Instructional Technologies at a Small Liberal Arts College.”

The conference at which they presented was the Campus Technology Summer 2008 Conference held in Boston, MA on July 28-31, 2008.

Dr. Judith McDonald, Assistant Professor of Education, helped forge a partnership between Gaston Country Schools and Lowes Foods that will feature nutrition-related field trips for elementary school students.

Dr. Melinda Ratchford, Associate Professor of Education, has been selected to deliver a full week of staff development for a large cohort of the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching on Ocracoke Island. A widely recognized expert on the Titanic, Dr. Ratchford will share both her expertise and her extensive collection of Titanic artifacts with the teachers — exemplifying ways to teach history through the lens of a single memorable event and the circumstances that ensued.

Ms. Benette Sutton, Instructor of Education, has been elected president of the Gaston Literacy Council.

Dr. Randolf Tobias, Visiting Lecturer in the Education department, has written a book entitled Ensuring Success in Math and Science Curriculum and Teaching Strategies for At-Risk Learners, which has been selected by District Administration: The Magazine of School District Management, as one of the most useful resources for K-12 education. In addition, the Association of Education Publishers chose Dr. Tobias’s work as a finalist for its Distinguished Achievement Award for 2008 for three areas: school class management, teacher resources and adult learning. (Publisher: Solution Tree, Bloomington, Indiana.)

Ms. Karen Tyson, Adjunct Professor of Education, has been named the Association for Retarded Citizens of Gaston County’s Teacher of the Year. An educator in Gaston County for more than 22 years, Tyson has been teaching “Introduction to the Exceptional Child” and “Classroom Management” at the Abbey since 2000.

Dr. William Van Lear, Chair of the Economics department, appeared on the popular local NPR program “Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins” to talk about his book The Next American Century for the full hour of the program.

Friday, October 3, there was a Faculty Appreciation On Reception and Book Signing. This event coincided with the 46 Crossroads

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College’s Homecoming Weekend. The following faculty members signed their new books: Dr. Sara Davis Powell, author of An Introduction to Education: Choosing Your Teaching Path, Publisher: 2009, Merrill Prentice Hall/Pearson, Donald Beagle, author of The Poet of the Lost Cause: A Life of Father Ryan (co-written with Dr. Bryan Giemza), Publisher: University of Tennessee Press, Dr. Judith McDonald, who served as a consulting author on three new recently-published Teacher Handbooks: on Physical Science, Earth Science, and Life Science, Publisher: SRA Informational Texts, Dr. William Van Lear, author of The Next American Century, Publisher: University Press of America, Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Dr. Robert Lover, author of Elementary Logic: for software developer, Publisher: Springer, Dr. Randolf Tobias, author of Ensuring Success in Math and Science Curriculum and Teaching Strategies for At-Risk Learners, Publisher: Solution Tree, Bloomington, Indiana.

Arrivals:

anielle Blanchard has been promoted to Assistant D Director of Admissions. Originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Danielle graduated from the University of Louisiana-Monroe with a degree in Business-Marketing.

After graduation, she worked for a book publisher in the marketing department. Danielle joined the Office of Admissions at as an Admissions Counselor in July of 2007.

Katherine Blume has joined the Office of Admissions as an Admissions Counselor. Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Katherine graduated from Meredith College with a degree in Communications and a minor in Spanish. She joined the Belmont Abbey College community in December. ooper Gallimore has also joined Admissions as an C Admissions Counselor. Cooper hails from Belmont, North Carolina, and graduated from St. John’s College in 2005 with a B.A. in Liberal Arts. After graduation, he worked for his alma mater as an Admissions Counselor.

Jeffrey Jost has joined the Office of Admissions as an Assistant Director. Hailing from Huntington, New York, Jeffrey graduated from the University of Charleston (West Virginia) in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology.

After graduation, he worked for his alma mater as the Senior Admissions Counselor, before taking the position as International Admissions Counselor at Barry University in Miami Shores, FL in 2001. In 2002, he and his family moved to Charlotte, where he was the Assistant Director of Admissions at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

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Erin Walker Nelson has returned to the Abbey as the Coordinator of Residence Life and the Coordinator of Community Service.

Erin graduated from Belmont Abbey College in 2003 with a degree in English and a minor in Philosophy. In 2004, she joined the Abbey’s Office of Admissions as an Admissions Counselor. In 2006, she moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where she graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Master’s degree in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. While at Tennessee, she worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Writing Center tutor.

Meagan Smith has also joined the Office of Admissions as an Admissions Counselor. A Sparta, North Carolina native, Meagan graduated from Appalachian State University (ASU) in May of 2007 with a degree in Public/Organizational Communication. After graduation, she worked for the Office of Admissions at ASU as a university representative. Meagan joined Admissions in December of 2007.

Melissa L. Wilson has joined the Abbey as a Human Resource Generalist. She holds a Master’s of Education degree in Adult Education, a Bachelor’s degree in General Studies, and a minor in Psychology from Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia. She has also served five and a half years in the United States Air Force. Most recently, Melissa held the positions of Director of Recruiting (Advanced Enterprise Solutions), Program Analyst and Assistant Operations Manager (L-3 Communications), Employment Representative/Recruiter (Northrop Grumman Corporation), and Human Resources Generalist (United Therapeutics Corporation).

Ode to Belmont Abbey Belmont Abbey You are the temple of learning You are home to spiritual monks, learned scholars, young minds eager to learn, and beautiful people.

Your soil is composed of excellence and virtue the air is filled with scholarship the basilica, the monastery, and the gentle monks bring out the divine in us.

Your beautiful red-clay brick buildings remind us of the inspiring monks who built you with hands and divine guidance and nourished you with their labor of love.

For 132 years you have inculcated values, character, spirituality, wisdom, and knowledge in young minds and nurtured altruistic citizens.

O dear beautiful Abbey Your heart embraces those eager to learn your imprints of goodness are global, fortunate and grateful am I I received scholarship from you my life is indeed meaningful because of fellowship with you.

By Gireesh Gupta, Associate Professor of Computer Information Studies

From Left to Right, Cooper Gallimore, Katherine Blum, Meagan Smith, Danielle Blanchard and Jeffrey Jost Fall 2008

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CAMPUS NEWS

EVERYTHING OLD

IS NEW AGAIN

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Campus news

A rendering of the proposed new signage.

E

record enrollment causes abbey to expand to new/old sacred heart campus

verything old is new again, it seems. Particularly when it comes to the special relationship Belmont Abbey has always enjoyed with the Sisters of Mercy.

That mutually supportive friendship was revitalized recently when the Abbey and the Sisters jointly announced the opening of Belmont Abbey College’s new Sacred Heart Campus just in time for the 2008-2009 school year.

To fully grasp the significance of this joint venture for both the College and the Sisters, it might help to know a little history. In 1892, the monks sold a portion of their land to the Sisters of Mercy so an all girls’ school could be started there.

That school came to be known as Sacred Heart College, which complemented the all-male College the monks had built.

In 1969, a collaboration between the two colleges was formalized, when both signed an agreement allowing students to have access to classes offered by the two institutions.

Following the closing of Sacred Heart College in 1987, several of Sacred Heart’s academic programs were transferred to Belmont Abbey College, including the education department and the Adult Degree Program.

Now, as the 2008-2009 school year has begun, the Sisters of Mercy are leasing back to Belmont Abbey College three of the stately buildings that once housed Sacred Heart College. After the renovations of the three connected buildings are complete, the facility will house 27 classrooms and 32 offices. Members of the Abbey’s education faculty will have their offices on the Sacred Heart Campus. And many education and Adult Degree classes are returning to their original home.

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Why the need for the additional space? Between 2004 and 2008, student enrollment at the Abbey has increased from 800 to over 1400. The number of course sections offered by the College has grown by 36%, from 343 in fall 2004 to 468 scheduled for fall 2008. Between 2004 and 2007, the number of full-time faculty increased by 26%, and with 10 new faculty members having been hired for fall 2008, and with more faculty searches and hires scheduled for the next year, additional space for faculty offices is a critical need.

“This lease agreement is one more sign of the close relationship we have had with the Sisters of Mercy,” says Abbey president Bill Thierfelder. “We are so grateful that they are a part of the dramatic growth of Belmont Abbey College.”

Sr. Pauline Clifford, a member of Belmont Abbey College’s Board of Trustees, says that the Sisters want to see Belmont Abbey continue to grow.

“It is the only Catholic college in North and South Carolina, and we are happy to be a part of it,” she said. “We are very glad to again have an education department of an institution of higher education located here.”

Sr. Paulette Williams, president of the Sisters of Mercy Regional Community of North Carolina, is also delighted that college students are returning to the campus.

“We are particularly excited that the education classes are coming home,” she said. “The department of education began on this campus, and the good news is that they’re returning.

This is wonderful.”

Amen, sister.

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Campus News

Commencement 2008

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CAMPUS NEWS

Commencement 2008 Honorary Degree recipients Serrin Foster

Serrin Foster has led Feminists for Life of America since 1994. Under her leadership, FFL has successfully advocated benefits for poor and pregnant women and worked to prevent poverty and coerced abortions due to threats to withhold child support.

Foster served on the National Taskforce Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, which worked to pass the Violence Against Women Act in 1994.

The same year, Foster, who received her Bachelor of Arts in Speech from Old Dominion University, began lecturing on college and university campuses about the more than two hundred years of pro-life feminist history. As president of Feminists for Life, she also serves as editor-in-chief of FFL’s magazine, The American Feminist.

In 1997, Foster moderated the first Pregnancy Resource Forum in the country at Georgetown University. FFL’s Pregnancy Resource Forums have helped to redirect the abortion debate toward woman-centered solutions.

Since then, Foster has lectured and moderated Pregnancy Resource Forums at top colleges and universities across America, including Harvard, Stanford, Notre Dame, Wellesley and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and internationally at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, among others.

At the annual Life Conference held in 2000 at the Parliament Buildings at Stormont, Northern Ireland, Foster presented “The Feminist Case Against Abortion.”

This speech has been included in an anthology on Women’s Rights edited by Jennifer Hurley as part of a series published in the fall of 2001 by Greenhaven Press entitled “Great Speeches in History.”

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge

Bishop Michael F. Burbidge was born in Philadelphia,and graduated from Cardinal O’Hara High School in Springfield, Pennsylvania. After distinguishing himself academically at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Villanova University and Immaculata College, he was ordained a priest in 1984. From 1986 to 1992, he served on the faculties, successively, of Cardinal O’Hara High School, Archbishop Wood High School, and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, where he also served as Dean of Students.

After being named Administrative Secretary to Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia, Burbidge was made Honorary Prelate to His Holiness, Pope John Paul II with the title of Monsignor. In 1999, he was appointed Rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, and in 2002 he was ordained an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia.

On June 8, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI named Burbidge the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh.

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Campus News

Down and Dirty Mud Run raises $13K for wounded Marines

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By Daniel Jackson

mud run just doesn’t have the authentic boot-camp feel without a barking drill sergeant, and volunteers for an event recently at Belmont Abbey College certainly got into character.

“Savor the flavor. Just savor it,” shouted a volunteer, as the first team of runners did 10 push-ups face down in a pit of red muddy water.

The second annual Marine Mud Challenge attracted more than 400 runners and 200 volunteers, which is roughly twice the crowd that came out for the inaugural event last year.

The mud challenge raised roughly $13,000, all of which benefits wounded Marines recovering at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune.

The mud run was even longer this year, with more than 4 miles of on- and off-road running, plus 18 obstacle challenges highlighted by the nasty mud pit.

Jared Vermilya of Clarksville, Ga., said he’s competed at mud runs in Greenville and Columbia, S.C., and Belmont Abbey’s course is definitely the toughest.

“It takes a lot more endurance. It was a lot more physically straining than the other ones,” said Vermilya, who competed with a team of friends dressed up like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Teams also were judged on their costumes.

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Each team of four is required to compete and complete the race together. So if one team member is hunched over in the mud hyperventilating — which did happen a few times — the rest of the team has to wait for them to recover.

Each team crossed the finish line hand-in-hand and at least one team was carrying an exhausted teammate when they finished.

“You’re only as strong as your weakest link,” said Union County resident and former Marine Steve Pangalos. “That’s one thing they always taught us in the Marine Corps.”

In addition to military groups, the event also included public safety, corporate, college and ROTC teams.

The Gaston County Police Department Emergency Rescue Team had 16 officers on four teams, who ran the course and finished together.

They were only required to compete in separate teams of four, but Capt. C.J. Rosselle said they didn’t enter the race to win — the goal was to cement their bond as a team.

“We chose to start together, to finish together and pay attention to each other,” Rosselle said. “We’re already a group in the department. This just brings us that much closer together.”

Reprinted with the permission of the author who is a reporter for the Gaston Gazette.

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Abbey’s New Powerhouse Of Prayer Is Almost Complete

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n opening Mass for the St. John Adoration Chapel was celebrated at the beginning of the school year

by Abbot Placid, and a formal dedication and consecration of the altar is planned for later this semester.

Some additional finishing work and accessories for the Fall 2008

interior are still needed before the Chapel is 100% complete, so additional donations for these purposes will be most appreciated. To make your donation to complete this worthy project, please use the envelope you’ll find elsewhere in this magazine.

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SPORTS News

Abbey Men’s Soccer Celebrates Half A Century Of Excellence.

50 Years and Still Kicking When Abbey men’s soccer began in 1958, a linguistically challenged Republican was president, the Russians were making warlike noises, and Stanley Dudko was the Abbey’s star player, scoring all 9 of the team’s goals that first season.

Today, 50 years later, a linguistically challenged Republican is president, Russia is making warlike noises, and Stanley Dudko, dressed in his old Abbey playing duds for today’s photo shoot, still looks like he could dazzle the Abbey’s opponents with an old-school move or two.

For those of you who may not be well versed in Abbey soccer lore, Dudko was not only a Hall of Fame player for the Abbey; he was also a Hall of Fame coach, and he remains a beloved Economics professor and mentor to boot. In his ten years as coach, he compiled a 120-47-12 record and was Coach of the Year in District 26 for nine of those ten years.

So when he talks about the hallmarks of Abbey soccer – superb conditioning; an intense desire to win, tempered by exemplary sportsmanship; a “band of brothers” feeling of loyalty among teammates, not just during their playing years, but forever after – he knows whereof he speaks.

And on this hot summer day, current coach Stuart Brown, a stellar player (at Brevard College) and coach in his own right, is only too happy to listen.

The inaugural season was tough, Dudko says, as most first seasons are for any team. One difficulty was finding enough opponents to play. “Very few schools in our region played soccer at the time: UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, Davidson, Emory, 54 Crossroads

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Pfeiffer and Belmont Abbey. Sometimes we’d play each other twice.”

Within a year, the club had a winning record.

And from day one, the Abbey community was 100% behind their team, come rain or shine, win or lose.

“We always had good crowds,” Dudko says. “We played in the quad in those days…”

One key to the team’s early success was their superior conditioning, something Dudko was a stickler for as coach – and which coach Stuart Brown carries on to this day.

“Father Bertrand Pattison was our tactical coach. He was from England, so he knew a lot about soccer, and he taught us techniques and skills,” he says.

“And then coach Al McGuire [the legendary basketball coach] would put us through physical training: a lot of sprints and also distance running, a lot of jumping, running up and down stairs and up and down the hills here on campus. We were in very good shape.

“I remember we were playing Emory in Atlanta and we were behind at halftime by 2 to 0. Humpy Wheeler, Sr., who was the Athletic Director, was traveling with us and he gave us a fired up motivational speech. We came back and won that game 5 to 3, in no small part because of our conditioning.”

After graduating from the Abbey in 1960 and then going on to graduate school, Dudko returned to his beloved alma mater as a professor and was made head soccer coach in 1967. And he took the team’s conditioning up a notch – or two. “I felt bad for Fall 2008

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my players sometimes, because I’d run the you-know-what out of them,” he says. “But in those days, I’d keep up with them; I was doing what they were doing and more.

“I was teaching full-time, I had no assistant coaches, but I did have great support from the monks, the administration and the faculty. In 1972, Father Bradley gave us the first scholarship money I was able to work with: $1,000.”

Working closely with the Admissions department, Dudko was able to recruit top-notch international players from Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Columbia, South Africa, England, Nigeria, Liberia, Libya, Saudi Arabia, the United Emirates and Bahrain.

“I actually had three princes on my team: Khalid BandarAl-Rashid from Saudi Arabia, Khalid Al-Khalifa from Bahrain and Mishal Al-Rashid Talal. I also had a sheik. I would cultivate young men from all over and ask them whether they had brothers. That’s how I got the Soussi brothers to come to the Abbey, including Bill, one of our best players ever, who scored 134 goals for us. Soussi’s father was a senator in Libya before Qaddafi took over. The brothers went to a high school in Lebanon, and I remember when I was talking to Fikri Soussi on the phone, I could hear gunfire in the background. I suppose some things never change.

“Another of my very good players, Walter Achumba from Nigeria, who went on to get his Ph.D. in economics, was captured prisoner in the Biafran War and was told to dig his own grave by a guard who was going to shoot him. He overcame the guard with a shovel, escaped and in 1993, he was made a Knight of St. Christopher.

“At times we had as many as eight or nine different nationalities on our team, including me, the Polish coach,” Dudko says with a smile. (Dudko emigrated to the U.S. from Poland as a 10-year-old; as a boy he had been forced to work in a Nazi labor camp, sweeping German Panzer tanks.)

When Dudko had players from Saudi Arabia, or other Middle Eastern nations, he would go to High Point or Crowders Mountain with some of those players to buy two or three lambs, transport them to his back yard, and then have a feast according to certain Middle Eastern customs. “It was almost a kind of religious ritual,” he says. “The lambs’ throats would be cut, their bodies would be hung upside down on one of my trees, then a hole would be cut in one of the hooves, and air would be blown through that hole with a straw to separate the skin from the meat. That night we’d cook the meat and have a party, complete with Arabic music played on a boom box.

Those were the days!”

Father Raphael Bridge, O.S.B., the then-Faculty Athletic Moderator would go to all of the games, and before every match-up, the team would make a circle and say the “Hail Mary.” If the team won on the road, Dudko would hand out water pistols on the bus home just for fun. “Sometimes we sprayed Father Raphael, too!” Dudko says with a chuckle. “He LOVED to win and hated to lose.”

Many of Dudko’s players were named All-District and All-South, and several became All-Americans as well, including Florida native Richard Hoefling (‘71), now the Abbey’s chief legal counsel, who was a walk-on. “He was fast and learned his skills very quickly. I remember on the day he took his LSATs in Columbia, South Carolina, he was sick as a dog – with pneumonia. He took the test, came back to the Abbey the same day, and played in a key game and won the game for us.”

(Other standout players that Dudko remembers fondly this day include: Randy and Bob Schambach, Mosadak Soussi [in addition to his brothers Bill and Fikri,] Brian and Jack Murphy, Donald Betts, George Desloge, Joe Mertes, Louie Rodriguez, Ed Mancheno, Jim Almon, Chris McDonald, Joe Feeney and Michael Fallon.)

“What fueled our team’s success wasn’t the scholarship money,” Dudko says. “It was dedication and loyalty to the Abbey, to the glory of soccer and to one another.”

The Torch Is Passed.

As the inheritor of the Abbey’s rich soccer tradition, Stuart Brown has proved to be a worthy successor to Stanley Dudko and all of the other coaches who have worked hard to make the program so successful. An all-conference, all-region player himself at Brevard College, Brown had already developed a special tie with the Abbey long before he became a coach here.

“My family moved from D.C. to Charlotte when I was a kid,” he says. “I had some of my Confirmation classes here at the Abbey. And Clive Burger, an Abbey alum, coached me in club soccer during my high school days.”

But a chance discovery is what really attuned Brown to what makes Abbey soccer unique.

“When I was first named head coach,” Brown says, “ I found a filing cabinet in my new office full of Abbey soccer history, including a comprehensive file on alumni compiled by

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Sports News

former head coach Paul Staunchman – it was a pet project of his and there were old photos and scrapbooks in there. That’s when I found out about the legendary coach Dudko, and I said to myself, “Wow, this program has a heckuva history. This is the real deal.”

Brown now uses the old photos and scrapbooks and newspaper clippings he found as motivational tools for his players. “I showed some players those photos and clippings today, as a matter of fact, to bring home to them the uniqueness of the program they’re in,” he says. “Anyone can talk about tradition, but when you’re able to show it to them visually and let them literally touch and feel it, it makes a difference. We also have some old photos on the walls in the locker room, and sometimes you can sense the guys telling themselves, ‘We have a great legacy to uphold here.’

“Helping our teams live up to that legacy is something I feel I owe to the great Abbey players and teams of the past.”

Brown also has another special motivating tool he can use specifically for this year’s team: the opportunity for Abbey soccer to reach the milestone of 500 wins.

“Yes, we’ve brought that milestone up to the guys a couple of times, but we’ve also vowed we’re not going to live our season by it as well,” he says. “If we take care of business – doing good, healthy things training-wise, academically, socially – all of which we talk about a lot – the wins will come. But if we make those wins our focus, we’ll lose our focus on things that are more important.

“To me, soccer is only 30% of the picture. We talk about our priorities and number one is faith, second is family, number three is academics and fourth is soccer. That’s the order we live by.”

This year Brown has 18 returning players and 21 newcomers. How has he been so successful with both recruiting and retention? He’s quick to give his assistant coach Seth Lowther (’07) and part-time assistant Gregg McAllister (more about him later) credit for the spirit and cohesiveness of the team. And he’s also thankful for the support the Abbey’s administration has given the program.

“Fortunately, Richard Dull, our Athletic Director, and Dr. Lucas Lamadrid gave us the means to recruit far and wide last year. And it really paid off,” Brown says. “We’ve got five great English guys on the team this year as a result, all of whom bring a wealth of soccer knowledge to us. With them and the blend of other terrific players we have from California and Texas 56 Crossroads

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and the 12 or more we have here from the Carolinas, we have people from all over the place now. They call it the world’s game for a reason. Encountering different people from different places and backgrounds is a huge part of the college experience – you learn so much from one another.”

Brown also believes there’s another key attraction that helps a great deal in recruiting: “The Abbey sells itself when players come here and have a chance to see how beautiful the campus is,” he says. “But when prospects see the caliber of people we have on the team – not just their qualities as players, but as people – that’s what really sells them.

“Obviously, we sell our proximity to Charlotte and why a school the size of the Abbey is such an ideal place to get a great education. And we sell the campus – how could we not?” he continues. “This is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. But again, it’s the character of the guys on our team and the camaraderie we have that really closes the sale. And that’s something that goes with tradition. The guys who are here now learned how important camaraderie is from the guys who came before them, who in turn learned it from the players who came before them.

“I’ll take a recruit to downtown Charlotte and show them a building an Abbey alum owns, or a place where Abbey alums work – and they see these people are still involved with our program. When I have a large recruiting group come in, I get alums to talk with them. One of the people I get is Tatum Borque, a two-time All-American who lives in the area. All he has to say is a few words. And one year Tatum’s mother was here with him, vouching for all of the things he said. Talk about perfect! You’ve got Tatum talking about wanting to send his kids here. You’ve got his mom talking about how great it was to send HIM here. And then you have these recruits, many of whose moms have come with them for the trip – you don’t get any better than that!

“We show recruits what they can do after they leave here by showing them what current alums are doing in the workplace, and how they keep coming back here and have their eye on you. Soccer alum Gregg McAllister [‘95] does a particularly great job for us, volunteering to talk to recruits – and he also does a fantastic job helping place Abbey grads in the Charlotte area in jobs. Thanks to him we have five guys from last year’s graduating class working in the Charlotte area. He does resume work with our guys and practice interviews.”

Thanks also to a group of generous ex-players, including Rich Hoefling, Michael Daniels, Dennis Clare and Dr. Kevin Soden, the $25,000 Stanley Dudko Soccer Scholarship was established in 1987 – a fund from which one player receives $1,500 every semester.

And so the special “band of brothers” bond of loyalty among Abbey men’s soccer players young and old continues.

No one is happier to see that tradition continuing than Stanley Dudko.

“The team today has the same traits that made our teams special all of those many years ago: dedication and loyalty to one another, to the glory of soccer and most of all, to the glory of the Abbey,” he says with an obvious sense of pride.

Which is why the Abbey men’s soccer program continues to be one of the great glories of Belmont Abbey College.

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Sports News

Former Two-Time All-American, Olympian Imler Has High Expectations As New Women’s Soccer Coach

By Richard Walker

Given Erik Imler’s background in soccer, high expectations come with the territory.

Imler will certainly have them in his first season as Belmont Abbey College’s women’s soccer coach as the Lady Crusaders are favored to again win Conference Carolinas. Of course, with six returning starters off a team that went unbeaten in league play and didn’t allow even a single goal to league opposition, that should come as no surprise.

Just don’t get the impression the Abbey won’t be driven this season to overcome some failure. After all, while the Lady Crusaders’ defense was spectacular — it ranked among the country’s best — Belmont Abbey’s 2007 season ended in heartache as rival Queens won 3-0 on penalty kicks in the conference tournament final after a scoreless tie. The loss ended a streak of tournament titles for the Abbey at two years — and proved to be coach Glad Bugariu’s final game when he left to become head coach at NCAA Division I South Carolina State in the spring.

Imler inherits a roster driven to avenge that defeat and a program that has gone 190-90-5 in its 14-year history with seven regular-season and five tournament titles to its credit.

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Two-time all-conference selections Danielle Kubinski and Anna Wells are among the top returnees. Amanda Maddock, Celene Molera, Kristin Voirin and Lindsay Palm also return after all-conference seasons. Four of those performers were first-team picks — Kubinski and Maddock at defender, Molera at midfielder and Wells at keeper.

Those players, along with several other newcomers and returnees, will be getting their direction from an accomplished player and coach in Imler.

A 1993 Virginia graduate, Imler played on three NCAA champions at his alma mater in addition to being a two-time All-American. He also played on the United States Olympic team in 1992 and professionally in the MLS — on the titlewinning D.C. United of 1996 and the following year for the New England Revolution.

As a coach, Imler was an assistant at Virginia when the Cavs won the 1993 NCAA title and later at The Citadel. Most recently, he co-founded Charlotte’s Boot Room Soccer School in 2005.

(Permission to reprint his article was granted by Richard Walker, sportswriter for the Gaston Gazette) Crossroads

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SPORTS NEWS

NCAA Division II Coach of the Year Shaun Williamson Puts

Abbey Women’s Lacrosse on

National Radar Screen

By Susan Shackelford

The women’s lacrosse team at the Abbey may be only three years old, but it’s already played its way onto the national radar screen.

Last spring, after leading the team to its first national ranking and its first appearance in the conference championship game, Coach Shaun Williamson was named NCAA Division II Coach of the Year by WomensLacrosse. com. “A lot of the girls sent e-mails congratulating me,” Williamson says. “I wrote them back to say it’s because they are doing a good job, they are listening and that the credit really belongs to the players. They are performing.”

Returnees include two-time All-American defender Theresa Nolan and All-region midfielders Shannon Farden and Laurie Jordan. Those three players, plus attackers Tara Chmil and Brianna Dignan, won 2008 conference honors as well. Nolan, Jordan and Chmil made first team all-conference, and Farden and Dignan made second team.

Nolan, a senior this season, is also a Father Pop Martin Award winner at the Abbey, an annual recognition that goes to 58 Crossroads

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the top all-around student-athlete. Farden and Jordan are both past recipients of the school’s female freshman athlete of the year award.

The Abbey gained national attention last spring when it upset seventh-ranked Pfeiffer early in the conference season.

The Crusaders rallied from a 5-0 deficit in the first six minutes to pull within two goals at halftime, trailing 8-6. Then they outscored Pfeiffer 5-2 in the second half to win 11-10.

The team went on to finish the ’08 season with a 12-7 record and second place in the regular season and conference tournament, trailing only national power Limestone in each instance. The Crusaders also tied for 10th in the year-end national rankings. That was a leap from the 8-10 records of the first two seasons, and Williamson attributes it to recruiting talented players, having fun on the field and tapping the drive of the players.

“I have a group of kids who are definitely motivated internally to be successful, not only on the field but in the classroom — that really helps,” he says, “As a coach, I’m not a big ‘in your face’ coach. We lay the groundwork and say, ‘OK, ladies, let’s go play.’”

The team has had a collective grade-point average of over 3.0 in all three years of the program, and five players made Fall 2008

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the academic all-conference team last spring, an honor open only to juniors and seniors. The Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association recognized the entire team on its academic honor squad.

Williamson, 30, has been fortunate to recruit talented players from the start. After launching the women’s lacrosse program at his alma mater of Lees-Mcrae, he spent two and a half years there before arriving at the Abbey in February 2005.

“Lees-Mcrae was going through some transitions that made it hard to recruit, and I was familiar with the athletic program at Belmont Abbey,” says Williamson, who played lacrosse at LeesMcrae and grew up in orlando, Fla. “My wife was also born and raised in the Charlotte area (Indian Trail), and I was ready to come to a bigger place.”

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the team has had a collective grade point average of over 3.0 in all three years of the program.

he recruited 15 players his first year at the Abbey, and eight are still in the program. The first team in 2006 was respectable, but his second team “showed we were headed in the right direction,” he says. Both teams posted the same record, 8-10, but the second team achieved it against stiffer competition. In 2007, the Crusaders narrowly lost to the powerhouse programs of Stonehill (two-goal loss) and Limestone (one-goal loss) and split with their main rival, Queens. “They were ranked in the Top 10 in the country when we beat them (15-13),” Williamson recalls.

Each year during the summer and fall, he travels to visit players in the hotbeds of girls’ lacrosse, the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeast. One locale that’s had a major impact is the Annapolis area, specifically Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The Crusaders have nine players from that county, including All-American Nolan. Last season they played a game there, going against the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, which won the national Division II title in 2007 and was runner-up in 2008. over 150 Crusader fans turned out. “We joke that our biggest home game last season was in Maryland,” Williamson says.

Chances are, though, if the Crusaders keep rolling up accolades, their biggest crowds will one day be on campus.

They are expected to compete with Limestone and Pfeiffer for the Conference Carolinas crown this spring.

They would also like to sweep rival Queens in their three meetings and be one of the three teams from the South invited to the NCAA Division II tournament. “This is what we’re eyeing,” Williamson says. The team is aiming high, and that’s no surprise.

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Abbey Paddler Ranked #1 in the U.S., #2 in the World

By Jillian Maisano

On On July 13, 2008, rising Abbey junior Colleen Hickey pulled off a stunning feat, winning a Silver Medal in the women’s whitewater slalom single canoe event (CW-1) in the Pre-World Championship in La Seu d’Urgell, Spain. Previously, she had won first place in the Pan American Championship, and earned a spot on the USA National Team.

Crossroads recently caught up with her to find out more about her amazing ride.

Crossroads: So how does it feel to be ranked #2 in the world

in your sport?

Colleen: It is almost impossible for me to grasp the reality

of being second in the world. My dad tells me that I won’t fully understand how monumental this is for women in this sport for awhile. I believe he is right. It’s hard to comprehend that every time I race, and any time any C1 [Single Canoe] women race, we are making history. We are the pioneers.

And the women who follow are going to remember us. It is an unbelievable thought.

Crossroads: The competition was called the “Pre-World Championship.” How is that different from the actual World Championship?

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Colleen: Pre-Worlds and Worlds are basically the

same event. The event is only known as the “Pre-World Championship” in an Olympic year. In other years, it is called “The World Championship.” They are held on the same course and roughly the same people come to the race. This year a lot of the Olympic-qualified athletes in other paddling events did not attend because they were preparing for the Olympics.

But that did not have any effect on the C1-W class, because all of the top C1-W competitors in the world attended.

Crossroads: Did you have any idea you would do so well going into the event?

Colleen: Actually, I was relatively unprepared this year going into the trials. In fact, a handful of others and I never even thought the U.S. would name a C1-W team this year. We found out only two weeks before the trials were held at the U.S. Whitewater Center in Charlotte. The reason they named a team this year is because Spain stepped up and realized it was time for C1-W to be included in this international competition and included us in the Pre-Worlds. So not realizing what was at stake until two weeks before trials, I had trained hard to stay in shape and be prepared for the water. To be honest, though, I could have trained a lot harder in the gates.

Crossroads: Tell us more about the lead-up to your remarkable ride. How early did you get to Spain to check out Fall 2008

Sports News

the course? What tips did your dad or someone else give you that helped you?

Colleen: We got to Spain about a week before the race. The course was a lot different from any course I have ever trained on. I have done most of my training right here in Charlotte at the U.S. National Whitewater Center, and the course in Spain was the complete opposite. It threw me off a bit. Charlotte has big pushy water. Spain’s course is small and technical and very narrow. When you look at the course in La Seu d’Urgell you think, wow this looks easy. But, the water plays tricks with you and it proved to be really challenging. My dad always gives me great advice, though. He told me, “Colleen, you need to get in the zone. Once you’re there, you won’t need to fight the water. Everything will fall into place.” It’s great advice because I believe that once I get in the zone I become two times the racer I am when I am not in it.

Crossroads: What other challenges did you face?

Colleen: The competition was tough. I had a different coach

to work with because my regular coach, Cathy Hearn, had to work with one of the Olympic boats in Beijing. It is always a challenge to adjust to a new coach. Also, the water proved to be really challenging and the gate sequence that was set for the race was one I struggled with all week. It is hard to be a C1er because you always have the disadvantage of an offside, as opposed to a kayaker who does not have an offside. I struggled with the move because it was a lefty move and I am righthanded. The girl from the Czech Republic [who won the Gold] was outstanding. She also happens to be one of the top kayakers in the world, and she is powerful. She has a ton of experience

every now and then. For the Brit, it is her tactic to go slow and make every gate. For me, I’d rather go fast, give it my all, and if I miss a gate, I miss a gate. But I’m not going to learn anything by playing it safe. I have to constantly push my boundaries.

Crossroads: What does this all mean for your Olympic prospects in 2012?

Colleen: Well, I am now #1 in the U.S. and #2 in the world.

I hope to stay there. I am a bit ahead of the other girls in the U.S. when it comes to skills on big water and strength, so I hope to maintain that edge. But at the same time, I wish I had someone from the U.S. who was neck-and-neck with me so he or she could push me to be better. So for now, and in the years to come, I’m going to train and train hard. I want to be the best and I want to reach my Olympic goal. I graduate in 2010 and after that I plan to take two years to train as hard as I possibly can, on the water and off, and mentally and physically. My biggest problem when it comes to slalom, and whether or not I have a good race, is not the water or the gates, it depends on where my head is that day and if I am mentally prepared. I have a lot of work to do in that department and I hope to find ways to improve my mental game. The sport is a head game.

You have two runs per day and you can have a great run and the worst run all in the same day, when nothing on the course has changed. The only thing that might be different is how you have prepared mentally. I need to find what gets me in the zone, and be able to replicate it for every race. That is my biggest challenge right now.

Crossroads: Why hasn’t the news of your Silver Medalwinning performance been bigger — at least in your hometown?

and I think I can learn a lot from her style. She knows how to get the boat on line and keep it there. All week she seemed to be unreachable, but in the last race I proved to myself that I can catch her. I just need to keep training and I will get there.

The girl from Great Britain [ranked #3 in the world] does not have a lot of speed, but she knows how to make all the gates.

Sometimes that is all that matters. Normally, if you miss a gate, you just hand over the race. But all of the C1-W’s are still learning and growing in our own styles, so we still miss a gate Fall 2008

Colleen: Once people find out that history is being made every time a woman in C1 races, I think more people will turn their heads. Actually word has spread pretty quickly in my hometown. A couple of articles have been published in the Belleville News Democrat, and I just recently appeared on KSDK Channel 5 news in St. Louis, Missouri. It was exciting. People at home are finally starting to grasp the concept of what I have been doing all these years. It wasn’t me just being a silly teenager chasing an unrealistic goal. It is very real and I’m going to reach it. They understand that now.

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Sports News

Former Men’s Hoops Coach Eastman

Scores Big With Boston Celtics

By Chris Poore

“I never would have been on a world championship bench had I not made a stop at Belmont Abbey College.”

Those words, spoken by former Belmont Abbey Athletic Director and Men’s Basketball Coach and current Boston Celtics assistant coach Kevin Eastman, rings with pride and a feeling of accomplishment after earning his first title of any kind in a 25-year coaching career at the collegiate and professional levels.

Eastman, who served as the Abbey’s Director of Athletics and Men’s Basketball Coach from 1986-1989, is fond of his time at the 62 Crossroads

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Abbey, the school that gave him his first head coaching job, and he readily admits he would not have been a part of the Celtics 17th NBA Championship had he not made a stop here.

“As an assistant coach, you make a lot of suggestions, but as a head coach you have to think them through and be quick on your feet, and that is what the head coaching position at Belmont Abbey afforded me the opportunity to do,” Eastman said. “At this level, even as an assistant coach, you have to be quick. It is a fast-paced game and it is an unforgiving level. If you don’t know what you are Fall 2008

Sports News

“I never would have been on a world championship bench had I not made a stop at belmont abbey college.”

talking about, the players FOR SURE will let you know, and let you know quickly.”

After spending eight years as an assistant coach at three different colleges, Eastman applied for the job at Belmont Abbey, which was open after the departure of Eddie Payne, who left to become an assistant to George Felton at the University of South Carolina. Eastman was jumping at the chance to become a head coach, and he knew all about the Abbey tradition. He joined the Abbey from the University of Richmond, his alma mater, after serving as an assistant coach, and he knew this could be a good place for him and his family.

“I knew the school had tradition and I knew that Eddie Payne had done a good job and left the program in good standing, and in fact it was,” Eastman said. “It was a great program historically that had won just about every year, so you knew that if you did your work and did it properly, you would have a great shot at continuing to win.”

And when he first stepped on campus, his impression of the Abbey was solidified.

“When I first arrived on campus, I was impressed with the physical plant,” Eastman recalled. “I knew it was a small place, but it has uniqueness to it, especially for a school down south.

So when I got there, I knew that if they offered me the job, I would take it. After meeting with (then President) John Dempsey, I knew he would be behind the athletic department and do what he could to help, within reason, any of the teams.

So he was the key for me in terms of getting my frame of mind to say yes.”

Eastman found out early in his coaching career that to move up the ladder, you had to become a head coach.

By coming to the Abbey, he eliminated the possibility for future schools to say no to him because he didn’t have head coaching experience.

“The level of competition there is a great one. You have to do everything. You have to sweep the floor, paint the locker room, recruit the players, put in strategy and do in-game adjustments. Everything from A to Z has to be done at that level.”

That might seem like a daunting task for a first-time head coach to have a laundry-list of responsibilities off the floor, but Eastman had plenty of support from the administration and the monastery.

“Father Chris and Father Raphael were both very supportive from the get-go,” Eastman said. “Mike Reidy was someone who had been there for quite some time, and I always felt comfortable going to him to find out some answers about things.”

On the floor, Eastman was successful, and he easily recalled the road win over High Point in 1989 that allowed the Abbey to advance to the NAIA National Championships. And as Fall 2008

the old saying goes, good players make good coaches, and this was no exception.

“I always remember the players from those days,” Eastman said. He counted them off like he just coached them yesterday. Dip Metress, who is now the coach at Augusta State, after a solid playing and coaching career at Belmont Abbey. Mike Gurley, a successful head coach at the high school level. Darrell Reed, who just passed away, and LaVar Curry, “who was a terrific scorer. I remember all of those guys.”

After leaving the Abbey, Eastman joined the staff at the University of Tulsa as an assistant coach for one season, and then jumped right back in as a head coach at UNC Wilmington for four seasons, where the Seahawks women’s coach during that time was current Belmont Abbey coach Susan Yow. After four successful seasons on the coast, Eastman accepted the head coaching position at Washington State, where he spent five seasons.

His post-Washington State career featured a venture in private business, which he continues to this day with the Kevin Eastman Basketball Camp, as well as spending a year as Nike Basketball’s National Director of Skill Development. From there, he joined the Celtics for his second stint as an assistant coach, and his first year back on the bench brought the Celtics an NBA title.

“For the organization, it was tremendous for the new ownership that took over the team. They had already won 16 World Championships and the name of the ownership group is Banner 17. From day one, that was THE goal.

Danny Ainge (Celtics General Manager) did a terrific job of building assets, getting young players in the draft and trades that were utilized in getting Kevin Garnett.”

The Celtics featured the renowned “Big Three” that featured Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, but Eastman says they were just a big part of a team effort.

“Last year’s team was very unique in that it was truly a team. Everyone bought into all we had to do was our role, whether it was a coach or a player. We couldn’t worry about being individually-oriented.”

For Eastman personally, it was very rewarding to know that all of the work, the effort, the time away from his family was well worth it.

“The NBA is the highest level in the world, so when you have the opportunity to be on a team that can win a world championship, you know you are going to be in a select few, historically speaking.”

Eastman’s first year at the Abbey was 1986, the last time the Celtics won the title prior to the 2007-08 season. Flash forward 22 years. Eastman was on the bench for Banner 17.

From the Abbey to NBA Champion.

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SPORTS NEWS

Spectacular

One Month in Abbey Athletics history This past April, five out of six Abbey teams finished either first or second in their conference tournaments.

Two teams climbed to new heights in the national rankings. Several Abbey players were named first-team All-Conference. And more.

The following are just some of the headlines our teams made during this history-making month.

Men’s Golf Wins 2008 Conference Carolinas Championship April 22, 2008 The Belmont Abbey men’s golf team won the 2008 Conference Carolinas Championship by two shots over Barton College to claim an automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA regionals. The Abbey fired a team score of 293 today and finished with a three day score of 879 to win the title. The 293 was the lowest round of the day by two shots....

Women’s Golf Finishes Second At Conference Carolinas Championships April 22, 2008 The Belmont Abbey women’s golf team finished second at the 2008 Conference Carolinas Championships, falling by two shots to the Pfeiffer Falcons. The Abbey finished with a team score of 941 (+89) after posting a 306 today....

Michael Brown Named National Player Of The Week By Inside Lacrosse Magazine April 22, 2008 Belmont Abbey junior attackman Michael Brown has been selected as the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Magazine Men’s Player of the Week for NCAA Division II....

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Women’s Lacrosse Ranked Tied For Tenth In The Nation In Coaches Poll April 22, 2008 The Belmont Abbey women’s lacrosse team is ranked tied for tenth in the nation according to the latest IWLCA/ Under Armour national poll for week number ten of the 2008 season....

Men’s Lacrosse Ranked Tenth In The Nation In Coaches Poll April 21, 2008 Crusaders Ranked In The Top Ten For First Time In The Program’s History Fresh off of upsetting the nation’s third-ranked team to claim the 2008 Conference Carolinas title, the Belmont Abbey Fall 2008

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men’s lacrosse team is ranked tenth in the nation according to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association Coaches Poll, which was released today. The ranking marks the first time in the program’s three year history that the Abbey has cracked the top ten national rankings. The Crusaders went from unranked in the poll last week to tenth as it received seven points.

Sunday, the Abbey upset the third-ranked and previously unbeaten Limestone Saints 11-10 on its home field to capture the 2008 Conference Carolinas Championship, marking the first time since 1999 that the Saints had not won their Conference Tournament championship…

Men’s Lacrosse Shocks Third-Ranked Limestone, 11-10, To Capture Conference Carolinas Championship Junior attackman Michael Brown scored the go-ahead goal with 11 seconds left as the Belmont Abbey men’s lacrosse team upset the third-ranked Limestone Saints 11-10 on its home field to capture the 2008 Conference Carolinas Championship.

The Abbey won its ninth-straight game as it improves to 9-4 while handing the Saints its first loss of the year, as they fall to 12-1. The Crusaders claim their first Conference title in the program’s three-year history. Today marks the first time since 1999 that Limestone has not won its conference tournament title.

Three Abbey Men’s Lacrosse Players Earn All-Conference Honors; Dietsch Named Coach Of The Year April 14, 2008 Three Belmont Abbey men’s lacrosse players were named all-Conference Carolinas and head coach Jim Dietsch was named Coach of the Year in a vote by the league’s head coaches. Goalkeeper Mark Kelske was named first-team, while attackman Michael Brown and defender Tristan Keas earned a spot on the second team.

Baseball Advances To Championship Game With 6-0 Win Over Pfeiffer April 19, 2008 John Meritt allowed just three hits over seven scoreless innings, and the Belmont Abbey offense scored three runs in the top of the ninth as the Crusaders shutout Pfeiffer 6-0 to advance to the Conference Carolinas Tournament Finals tomorrow afternoon. The Abbey improves to 35-18 and will face top-seeded Mount Olive tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. The Crusaders must defeat the Trojans twice tomorrow to win the Conference Championship and the automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals....

Katie Hobbs Named Second Team All-Conference April 17, 2008 Belmont Abbey junior centerfielder Katie Hobbs earned a spot on the Conference Carolinas second-team according to a vote of the league’s head coaches and announced tonight on the eve of the 2008 Conference Tournament....

Alex Castellanos Drafted By The St. Louis Cardinals In Tenth Round Of 2008 Major League Baseball Draft

First Crusader Drafted Since 1972; Highest Selection In School History Belmont Abbey second baseman Alex Castellanos was drafted in the tenth round, 305th overall, by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2008 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft.

He was the first Conference Carolinas player selected in the draft. He is the first Belmont Abbey baseball player to be drafted since 1972, when Henry Holmes was selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the 13th round.

Castellanos, a draft eligible sophomore, and an all-region selection, finished the 2008 season with a .390 average with an NCAA Division II leading 31 doubles, three triples, 12 home runs and 54 runs batted in. In his two year career, he slugged Fall 2008

53 doubles, 28 home runs and drove in 103 runs. He was an All-America and allregion selection in 2007.

The Abbey ended the 2008 season with a school record 41 wins, posting the first 40+ win season in school history, and its first NCAA Regional appearance since 2001.

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CLASS NOTES

By Gayle Dobbs These notes are based on information gathered from January 1 through July 31, 2008. They reflect information from alums and friends of Belmont Abbey.

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John mcguire ’45 graduated from the University of Miami with a B.S. in Chemistry, received other degrees over the years and ended up with a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Florida. He worked in the Research and Development laboratories with GE and W.R. Grace, and spent the rest of his working career in R&D with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.). In the late ’70s, he and his team developed an analytical method that is still the basis for organics analyses in environmental samples. He has been active in the Knights of Columbus for many years and has served both as the State Deputy of Georgia and the Master of the Georgia District. He and his wife Harriet are both Commanders in the (Papal) Equestrian order of the holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. They are currently retired in a community of other “old-timers” in a suburb of Atlanta near their five youngest grandkids and, incidentally, their parents. John was Editor of the Contact (forerunner of the Crossroads) when he was at Belmont Abbey Prep during WWII. John and Harriet had one son who attended the Abbey, Fr. David v. mcguire ’82, who is now serving as Chaplain in the service. After Fr. David graduated from the Abbey, he entered the Monastery, was ordained and was transferred to the Richmond Abbey, when the Richmond Priory became an Abbey. He left the Order to become a priest in the Richmond Diocese. He served as pastor of several parishes, and just as he was about to be too old to serve in the military, he joined the USAF and was deployed in late spring.

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Tom Campbell ’48 is retired from IBM and USMCr, however he stays busy as owner of Flagpoles & Flags Company in Mount Pleasant, SC. he and his wife Mary Ann have 6 children and 11 grandchildren. Tom and former classmates george mcClancy ’48, Tom Crowley ’48 and ron renwick ’48 continue to stay in touch with each other.

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In late spring, bob siebert ’63 traveled to the famous Incan ruins, Machu Picchu, of Peru. This urban creation of the Inca Empire, which appears to have been naturally cut in the continuous rock escarpment, is an area of outstanding natural beauty encompassing patches of high altitude habitats and associated wildlife.

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Henry underhill ’63 and his wife Mary recently retired and moved to Seattle, WA to be closer to their son and daughter and two grandsons, Nathan and Adam.

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michael Daniels ’67 and his wife Reni are living in Montana and loving it! Michael coaches and referees the high school boys’ soccer games. He says the only drawback is that it is so far from the Abbey and the reunions.

Go Abbey!

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kevin murphy ’68 is “hanging it up” after thirtyeight years of working for the government. March 31, 2008 was his last day and retirement is looking good!

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louie rodriguez ’68 became a grandfather for the first time. Grandson, Jack (Jackson) rodriguez-Gray was born on May 2, 2008.

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george ’69 and Theresa (goodwin sHC ’71) Englert have been married for 37 years and have three sons. Brian is in his second year at Ave Maria School of Law. Kevin is a CPA with Harmon International and Drew is an Army Captain serving in Iraq. George owns and manages a financial services firm in Fairfax, VA. Each day he carries fond memories of his years at the Abbey.

58

al Franklin’s faith in action has brightened the future of families in need of decent, affordable housing. on May 1, 2008 the habitat for humanity of horry County, Myrtle Beach, SC, honored Al’s contributions over the years with the Faith in Action Volunteer of the Year award. This award recognizes volunteers who rely on their faith as a catalyst for service to the greater community. Since 1999, Al has volunteered over 2,000 hours for habitat for humanity and has played an integral role in the construction of more than 50 homes. Not only has the habitat been the beneficiary of Al’s experience, he has also taught more than a 1,000 individual volunteers over the years. Those volunteers under Al’s tutelage and guidance have proven to be tremendous assets themselves, accumulating more than 22,000 volunteered hours. Al and his wife Barbara reside in North Myrtle Beach, SC and are both avid volunteers in the community.

Fall 2008

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The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

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Class Notes

By Gayle Dobbs

69

Chuck Miller ’69 is in his eighth year coaching the varsity girls’ basketball team at The Severn School in Severna Park, MD. He has been named the Anne Arundel County Coach of the Year by the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and Annapolis Capital newspapers in 2004 and 2008. In 2004, 2005 and 2008 his team was the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland Champions.

Chuck’s eight year record is 147-53.

70

Charlie Martin ’70 has retired and is home again to spend time with his wife, Dot, and precious grandchildren.

74

David Bowers ’74 was elected Mayor of Roanoke, VA on May 6, 2008. Bowers served on the Roanoke City Council from 1984-2002 and previously served two terms as Mayor from 1992-2000. After graduation from the Abbey he received his Juris Doctor Degree from Loyola University Law School in New Orleans in 1978. Bowers will continue to practice law in Roanoke.

visited TK and Andy in China for about six weeks at the end of school last year and were able to see Beijing and the Great Wall.

TK and Andy moved to S. Florida a few years ago to work at a school where fellow alum, Michael Rossi ’81, was the Headmaster. Michael and Andy were fraternity brothers in Phi Kapp where he was his big brother and TK was his little sister.

“The Abbey stays near and dear to our hearts. Anyone who comes to Shanghai needs to look us up and contact us at the school (www.saschina.org).”

83

Ed F. Jenkins ’76 of Princeton, NJ has a new job working at Princeton Plasma Physics Lab at Princeton University.

Michael ’83 and Kerrie (Farren ’83) Sijon of Greer, SC have two sons, Michael, 22 and Andrew, 18. Michael graduated from the University of South Carolina in May 2008 and will continue at USC in the fall for graduate school. Andrew has graduated from high school and will be attending Clemson University in the fall of 2008.

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76

William J. Imus is a business owner for Minglewood Farms in Westfield, NC. They grow organic vegetables for area restaurants. His wife owns Minglewood Florist Shop, which is close by.

Verne F. Deason ’85 of Gastonia, NC is moving up! He recently left Carolina Commerce and will now work with Community One bank.

81

Debi Rick ’81 writes that her son Justin H.H. Rick, age 21, received his culinary degree from Johnson & Wales University where he made the Dean’s list. He has worked with TV chefs Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck and is presently working on a bachelor of science degree in business management.

He plans to transfer to Belmont Abbey at a later date.

82

TK (Dennehy ’82) and Andy ’81 Ostrom both live and work at the Shanghai American School in China, where TK is the Director of Admissions and Andy is a teacher of middle school PE. This is the second year of a three-year contract with the school. They both stay quite busy, with TK traveling twice a week to the school’s second campus (approximately 2800 students on the two campuses), and Andy coaching baseball, soccer, and softball. Their two sons are both in college, Colin at University of North Florida, and Patrick at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. Patrick and Collin 68 Crossroads

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Photo is of John Boa ’90 and Chris Cook ’90, taken in Liverpool, England on January 19, 2008. Both Chris and John played soccer at the Abbey for four seasons (1986-89). The two were in England with their wives to enjoy the soccer games; they are pictured here with the “European Cup”, which Liverpool Football Club won for the fifth time in 2005.

Fall 2008

Class Notes

By Gayle Dobbs

98

91

Jim F. Johnson ’91 and his daughter attended the BAC-Livingstone basketball game while visiting the Abbot.

93

Jonathan ’93 and Laura Axtell announce the birth of their son, William Christopher, born May 6, 2008. He joins big sisters Emily Grace (7) and Sarah Catherine (4).

93

Mark Matthews ’93 and Stacey-Rae Simcox announce the birth of their daughter, Sophia Rae Simcox Matthews on March 15, 2008.

95

Brian ’95 and Jenny Armour announce the birth of their first child, Abigail Ellen Armour on Tuesday, July 1, 2008.

95

Jenny (Dowd ’95) and Ed ’96 Breuer announce the birth of their daughter, Cassidy Elizabeth on January 6, 2008. Cassidy joins older sisters and brother, Molly, Shannon and Colin.

95

Neal and Kate (Zachow ’95) Thivierge of Charlotte, NC welcomed their newborn daughter, Reagan Thivierge on November 2, 2007. Congratulations!

97

Patrick “Tubz” Tubridy ’97 is currently in NYC, managing the nightclub venue, Libation. Most weekends, he can also be seen spinning the tunes at Metro53 on East 53rd St off of 2nd Ave., and Saloon on York Ave. between 83rd and 84th Streets. During his time off he hops a flight back to Ft. Lauderdale to bask in the sun and scuba dive or he takes a trip to Charlotte to get back to his Abbey “Rootz!”

Fall 2008

Robert Utsman, d.d.s., ’98 married Raquel Alvarez on December 22, 2007 in Costa Rica.

Abbey alumni in attendance were Tim Yetzina ’99, Constantino Diaz ’99, Illija Tomasevic ’97, Jose “Peop” Chang ’97 and Pedro Montoya ’99. Also, Utsman, DDS was recently accepted into a two-year specialty program at the University of Minnesota in Orofacial Pain/TMJ/Oral Medicine, which started in May 2008.

99

Jessica (Roberts ’99) and Anthony (Tony) Citro ’00 are the proud parents of Eric Anthony Citro, born on April 8, 2008 at Gaston Memorial Hospital in Gastonia, NC; he was 7lbs. 8oz. at birth. Eric’s baptism took place at St. Michael Catholic Church in Gastonia on June 14. His grandparents, aunts and uncles were in attendance from Charlotte and the Daytona Beach area of Florida.

Also in attendance were Belmont Abbey alumni: Eric’s Godmother Sarah (Bratsch ’98) Miller and her family, Eric Bates ’99 and his wife Le, and Fran (Kirk ’99) and Felipe ’99 Pineros.

Jessica, Tony and Eric reside in Mt. Holly, NC.

99

Billy ’99 and Judy Miller announce the birth of their second child, Alexis Nicole, on January 18, 2008. Alexis, and her older sister, Kaitlyn, live with their parents in North Olmstead, Ohio.

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The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

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Class Notes

By Gayle Dobbs

00

Photo of Stephanie (Capozzoli ’00) Inch and daughter Emily taken on Easter.

02

Michael Ey ’02 was married to Kristen DeVoe in 2005 and they have a beautiful daughter, Peyton Caroline, who was born April 12, 2008. Michael is currently a manager with Bank of America and they make their home in Rosedale, MD.

00

John Wilding ’00 was married to Rebecca Holewinski in January 2005 and in that same year, started a company with his father. The window and door company, FAS Windows and Doors (website www. faswd.com), is located in the Orlando, FL area. John and Rebecca are proud to announce the birth of their son Logan John Wilding, born on January 26, 2008. His weight was 6lbs 15oz and he was 21 inches long. Rebecca recently retired as a Database Coordinator at Rollins College in Winter Park and is enjoying her new job as a stay-at-home mother.

01

James Harte ’01 and April Sigmon ’02 were married on October 13, 2007 in the Abbey Basilica.

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02

Ryan Allen ’02 and Jamie Gibson ’04 were married at the Abbey Basilica on May 31, 2008 with the reception being held at the U.S. National Whitewater Center. Father Chris Kirchgessner, O.S.B., officiated the wedding.

Fall 2008

Class Notes

By Gayle Dobbs

02

Daniel Hutchinson ’02 is in his second year of Ph.D. work at Florida State University and plans to take his comprehensive exams in the Fall 2008 semester. Research for his dissertation topic has begun and he is hoping to complete his Ph.D. during the 2009-2010 academic year. In addition to studies, he taught his first history course at Florida State last year and finds it rewarding in many ways. As if this were not enough work to keep him completely busy, he has also found time to publish a couple of articles. He recently participated in a panel at the 2008 American Historical Association meeting in Washington DC which pleases his college peers. Florida living, with the exception of the humid days of July and August, is good; he sends his best to Dr. Frank Murray, Dr. McGee, Dr. Cook and other faculty members.

02

John ’02 and Kate (Matthews ’03) McCune announce the birth of their second child, Patrick Benedict McCune, on April 18, 2008. Patrick weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz.

02 02

04

Amy (Heishman ’04) Graham has been accepted in the NC State graduate school and recently signed a Teaching Assistantship with the English Department there. She and husband, Kevin Graham ’04 moved to Raleigh, NC in July (they had been living at the beach, and, while sad to go, are happy for the change).

04

Matt ’04 and Lori (Woody ’04) Tortorich welcomed their second child on March 19, 2008.

Catherine Elizabeth has been getting lots of love from her parents and older brother Matthew Joseph. The Tortorich family resides in Lowell, NC and is very excited about “everything the Abbey has going on.”

Michele Sander ’02 was married to Steve Richardson on July 14, 2007.

Betsy Kiefer ’02 was married to Charles T. Shores, III on April 19, 2008 in the Abbey Basilica; Abbot Placid Solari, O.S.B., officiated the wedding. Betsy’s dad, Phil Kiefer ’68, gave her Fall 2008

away, and Kate (Dunlevy ’02) Winters and Sarah Holmes were bridesmaids in the wedding. Betsy is employed with Charlotte Center City Partners in marketing and she and Charles live in Cornelius, NC.

06

Angela Kisbey-Green ’06 was married to Chris Ascherman on June 30, 2007. They had a wonderful wedding and were fortunate to have 22 of their dearest family members from South Africa present for the celebration. All of Angela’s bridesmaids, except for her sister, Katie (a current senior at BAC), were her cousins from home. After spending a year in Atlanta, GA Angela and Chris live in Huntsville, AL and look forward to starting a family. Congratulations!

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The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

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Class Notes

By Gayle Dobbs

06

Donella (Haywood ’06) and David Vignolini ’06 are the proud parents of their first child Donnabella Joy Marie, born February 22, 2008 and weighing in at 6 lbs. 15 oz.

06

Michelle Leek ’06 is one native North Carolinian who is passionate about food.

“I love going to the market, getting a bunch of great food, putting it all out on the counter and seeing what I can create from it,” she says. Leek graduated in 2006 and is a sales associate for Grateful Growers, a local, sustainable farm in Denver, NC, that humanely raises chickens and pigs. Some of their pork can be found in Charlotte eateries like Customshop and Carpe Diem. She says the story is actually quite funny: “I am an English major, but I have always been interested in food. I used to go to Grateful Growers booth at the farmers market, and we just got to talking. And it grew from there. I like knowing where my food comes from. Food tells a story.

It tells our story, and it’s good to know the people who help write that story.”

07

Jeannette Johansson ’07 was accepted by the Department of Sociology at Oxford University in England (declined by the Anthropology Department the day before). One of the two papers she sent along with her application was part of the Thesis she wrote under the guidance of Dr. Frank Murray. “Apparently we are good enough for Oxford,” she says.

07

Henry Mitchell ’07 writes that he is a proud BAC graduate and sent an update of the activities he has been involved with after graduation. He is currently stationed in a town called Saydiyah in Southern Baghdad. Mitchell is a Platoon Leader for a group of 30 Infantry soldiers who are responsible for maintaining the current stability of Saydiyah.

Their missions range from engagement patrols to raids on big target suspects. He writes, “Things are interesting over here, and very hot. I hope all is well in Belmont, and take care.”

06

Noemi Santana ’06 has kept in touch with many of her former classmates at the Abbey through her work at Expeditors International and recently completed the U.S. Compliance Officer Exam. This year Noemi will be celebrating her five year wedding anniversary to Jose.

06

Leslie Christiansen ’06 and Tim Hetzel ’07 were married on March 29, 2008 at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Chapel Hill, NC. Lisa Aguilar ’05 served as Maid of Honor and Andrew Achter ’07 as Best Man. Other members of the wedding party included Caitlin Sanaga ’07 and Erica Mistretta ’07 as bridesmaids. Catherine Mobley ’07 and Aaron Condon ’99 were also in attendance.

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Class Notes

By Gayle Dobbs

In Loving Memory 1935 – R ichard D. Darby, Gastonia, NC March 1, 2008 1937 – William J. Gearon, Newport, RI April 13, 2008 1942 – Gust N. Chagaris, Gainsville, GA May 5, 2008 1942 – Nicholas Anthony Gettino, Kansas City, MO April 14, 2007 1949 – Bill N. Pharr, Charlotte, NC April 5, 2008 1951 – Harry Edwin Brown, Savannah, GA June 10, 2008 1955 – Skip Marshall McDonnell, Colleyville, TX April 8, 2008 1955 – Yvonne M. Torres Doerge, Lundenhurst, IL January 9, 2008 1960 – Thomas T. Fritch, Billings, MT February 21, 2008 1962 – Barbara Athey Chapman, Davidson, NC March 29, 2008 1962 – Sarah P. Bumgardner, Raleigh, NC May 14, 2008 1962 – Carol Ann Tesi Kantor, Dayton, OH May 15, 2008 1966 – Henry T. Drake, Wadesboro, NC July 30, 2008 1967 – Daniel Talley, Blacksburg, SC March 15, 2008 1969 – James J. Gallagher, Commack, NY June 15, 2008 1970 – David F. Halik, Ringwood, NJ May 14, 2008 1971 – Charles J. Kelley, Jackson, NJ March 24, 2008 1972 – William H. Welch, Charlotte, NC January 17, 2008 1988 – Kathleen T. Neilson, Charlotte, NC June 1, 2008

Sanctuary of the Church Church is the

dwelling of the Almighty Father

house of thanksgiving to our loving Creator

sanctuary of hope to those in despair.

Church is the sanctuary of freedom

granting us

freedom from ignorance and foster knowledge

freedom from ego and foster charity

freedom from distress and foster happiness

freedom from ill-will and foster good-will.

Church is the sanctuary of oneness and peace

at the interfaith service children with innocent faces

people of different races

join hands and hearts with each other

and affirm their unity together.

Church is the sanctuary of union

at its altar occurs

union of man with woman in holy matrimony

union of the child with the church

union of our minds with the divine union of the soul with the supreme soul.

O holy Church

you see no difference between the king and the subject

you give comfort to the rich and the poor

your love is pure and unconditional

your house brings hope to all.

Your walls glorify the Father’s beauty

the air is filled with piety

I pray in your sanctum

drive away the darkness of ignorance

and illumine the path of my life.

1988 – Stan A. Pitman, Gastonia, NC December 21, 2007 1992 – Tracy Smith Riddle, Belmont, NC March 15, 2008 1996 – Gayle P. Schneck Hanft, Matthews, NC May 12, 2008

By Gireesh Gupta, Associate Professor of Computer Information Studies

2001 – Cathy Roepke, Gastonia, NC May 26, 2008 Mary S. Cook, Newton, NC June 14, 2008 BAC former employee

Fall 2008

Crossroads

The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

73

Class Notes

By Gayle Dobbs

2008 St. Patrick’s Day Parade Mo Chairde (Dear Friends), The Annual 2008 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Charlotte and in New York City took place on Saturday, March 15 in uptown Charlotte and March 17, 2008 in New York City. Spectators were on hand to view the Belmont Abbey College clan march through the heart of both cities to the

sound of pipes and the cheers of families lining the streets.

The combination of flags, floats, kids, and pipe band music made everyone smile and be Irish for the day! After the march everyone found their favorite meeting place to enjoy traditional corned beef and cabbage and comrade!

Erin Go Bragh (Ireland Forever!)

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The Magazine of Belmont Abbey College

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