St Francis College - Motus Yearbook (Biddeford, ME)

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20 Commenting on the apathetic curriculum of Theology on too many Catholic college cam- puses, a friend of mine once said, If theology is the reason for setting up separate colleges, then the Catholic college, no m'atter how strong it may be in the humanities and sciences, fails if its theology fails. This statement in no way implies that educa- tional experience should be made subservient to the development of virtue. Saint Francis Col- lege or any other Catholic College will be able to justify its existence as a Catholic college only by first being a good college. Although God has destined that we someday become citizens of heaven, the fact remains that He also has willed that, while on earth, we live as citizens of earth bringing all things under subjection by the sweat of our brows. Only if the inculcation of virtue and the transference of knowledge be brought to a harmonious blend will any Catholic institution develop psychologically whole and spiritually holy individuals. Education essentially prepares man for what he must be and for what he must do here below, in order to attain the sublime end for which he was created. The Theology curriculum must catalyze the conquest of the internal and spirit- ual freedom to be achieved by the individual Christicn-the man who must think, fudge and act constantly and consistently in accordance with right, reason and faith in Christ. For many students, fulfilling their Easter duty and attending Mass on Sunday is the extent of their participation in a religion which they find not too inconvenient. For altogether too many the power of the living Christ has been vulgarly and gratuitously debased to the pose ture given an ordinary historical figure. Catholie cism has become merely a part of their social inheritance devoid of belief in a personal God. Yet a Catholic college graduate must be con- ditioned by the dogmatic norm of his Catholi- cism. He must be able to extricate himself from the flagrant materialism that is so characteristic of contemporary American society. He must be able to pierce through the isolation of scholarly theses on disciplinary measures of the Councils, the penitential practices of matrimonial law or administrative organization, to the world of union with God through worship in Christ. As in other Catholic colleges, the theology program at Saint Francis College is presently being challenged by these very pressing de- mands and it will prove itself equal to the task only if, in the spirit of Christ, it adapts itself to the modern intellectual atmosphere which has undergone significant changes. The challenge confronting the community of scholars at. the Second Vatican council is quite the same as that confronting the Division of Theology at Saint Francis: they must be committed to the scientific investigation of truth and to the maintenance and extension of knowledge and its application to life both private and public.

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college students today, and most institutions are at a peak enrollment. The report con- tinues, America's well being and security directly depends upon our capacity to culti- vatetexcellence in our educational institutions. Based upon the Findings of an exhaustive study by the Education Researches Services, Inc., the Franciscan Fathers administering the policies of Saint Francis desire to improve the amount and quality of all facilities in order eventually to accommodate the number of students t800l which will permit development of a sound, fully accredited liberal arts under- graduate curriculum. They desire to do this and yet remain small enough to retain the friendliness, intimacy, and devotion to purpose of a small college. In order to attain these goals, from the standpoint of added physical facilities, a ten year program has been drawn up during which time the following new buildings must be con- structed: nine residence halls, a library, class- room buildings, on arts center and auditorium, a monastery and chapel, and a gymnasium and field house. We the members of the class of 1963 have much to hope for in the future of our school. We shall never forget our soiourn at Saint Francis during which time we took on new physical, moral, social, intellectual and spirit- ual dimensions. We are proud to belong to the history of Saint Francis College. We shall be forever thankful to the Franciscans who have dedicated their lives to make such an institu- tion of higher Catholic learning accessible to us. We are grateful also to the other faculty members who gave of themselves in an eftort to transmit to us the richness of the cultural and social tradition into which we were born. We thank all of our teachers for giving to us the independence, as it is spoken of by Aristotle, which is granted to men by intelli- gence and wisdom as the perfection of a human being. The class of 1963 hopes that in the near future the day will come when Saint Francis College will have taken its place among the foremost institutions of higher learning, wherein, to quote John Henry Cardinal New- man, All branches of knowledge are, at least implicitly, the subiect matter of its teaching; that these branches are not isolated and in- dependent one of another, but form together a whole or system; that they run into each other, and complete each other, and that, in proportion to our view of them as a whole, is the exactness and trustworthiness of the knowl- edge which they separately convey. -FRANCIS P. LEBEAU Current plan for Future development, June 1962. Construction of the new building tSaint Francis Ham in 1949. 19

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Although there is need of improvement in the Religious Program, to say that Saint Francis has been completely by-passed by the spirit of ecumenism would be to greatly belie the actual situation. To some extent we can measure the opportunities given by Saint Francis to the stu- dent to mature in a directly religious way. In addition to the four year theology curriculum which undeniably includes much of the philos- ophy courses, these opportunities are many and fruitful. The principal organizations devoted to the students' spiritual development are the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Future Priests Club. However these' groups are select and total membership is relatively small. The gen- eral opportunities attorded the entire student body are the daily services in the student chapel including Mass, confession and the weekly serv- ices with Benediction and the Way of the Cross. Also the religious on the faculty provide especial advantages for personal friendships, frequent consultations and casual discussions. As a natural consequence of the present Ecumencial Council and from the awareness of the need for Christians of all denominations to commit themselves continually to the search for knowledge which makes action possible, Saint Francis College sponsored a Symposium on April eighth and ninth entitled The Christian In the Modern World. Under the able organizational quarterbacks David DeTurk and Alfred Poulin, Jr., the Symposium stimulated thought concern- ing the role of the Christian in our world and gave impetus to the burgeoning Catholic- Protestant dialogue in the New England Area. The representative and appreciative attendance left no doubt that Saint Francis College had the potential to become a foremost institution of theological concern and had succeeded in foster- ing and maintaining an ecumenical spirit, the Spirit of Christ. We, the graduates of 1963, hope that Saint Francis College will always remain united to Holy Mother Church in her attempt to foster an ecumenical attitude which accepts the Testa- ment's teaching on Baptism that all who are validly baptized are members of the Mystical Body of Christ. Dialogue about and examination of the common heritage of our pluralistic society will inevitably lead to the union in worship of all confessions to the same Truth. The joy derived from what We share will enable us to come closer and closer in the love which is Christ. Saint Francis College will succeed as a Catholic college if it otters the student opportunities for scholarly theological pursuits and aftords him the opportunity to worship God in a vital and personal dialogue. In this way it will give him, what we the graduates are thankful for, a posture in the great Graeco-Judaic-Christian intellectual tradition and the illumination of his role in its development by the fire of Pentecost. e FRANCIS LEBEAU.