Tag: St. Bonaventure University

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The Franciscan Journey

This morning began early when I woke up unable to sleep anymore at 6:30 am. A shower and then getting dressed for graduation at St. Bonaventure University. The steady rain forced me to put my cap and gown in a makeshift barrel bag covering and then a twenty-five minute drive to campus. With the help of custodian in the Reilly Center I found a spacious classroom where we could stow our gear. I got gowned and capped and then stood in line waiting with hundreds of others grads and undergrads prior to our procession into the Reilly Center arena. As I turned the corner following my classmates I saw than one each side of the center aisle were the faculty of St. Bonaventure University who greeted us as we processed. Early in that procession my eyes misted a bit as I remembered my Franciscan roots at St. Pius X Grammar School where I graduated 45 years ago.

My adviser Dr. Gibbs, who is also head of the Department of Educational Leadership extended his hand. “Congratulations, Don.” Next to him was my friend Brother Kevin Kriso, OFM. Kevin looked resplendent in his red robes.  My humble friend is actually a Doctor of Counseling Psychology; next was Dr. McDonough who taught me so much about curriculum and data analysis; then there was Dr. Anne Claire-Fisher who explored the Secular Franciscan life; Fr. Bob Struszynski, OFM who is actually a Doctor of Theology; Fr. Dan Riley, OFM who is one of my dearest friends; Fr. Michael Calabria, OFM a lovely friar and Facebook friend who heads the University’s Islamic Studies program.

One of the professors that I didn’t know was wearing a Tau. I had two on this morning but they were under my gown. At St. Bonaventure University we are all Franciscans. Today was one of those peak experiences that define our lives.  I cannot begin to describe all that I experienced today but I can tell you that I am honored to be a St. Bonaventure Alumni. I had been looking forward to shaking Sister Margaret Carney, STD, OSF’s hand and I did today. Sister Margaret embodies all that one would want to be. She is so personable and hospitable. I can think of no one else who more embodies what it means to be a Franciscan.

Today I graduated with an MSED in Educational Leadership and that is very important and meaningful to me. More importantly I graduated from St. Bonaventure University an institution that embodies all that I treasure. I am a Franciscan and receiving a degree from a Franciscan institution is great blessing.  Words cannot adequately express all that is in my heart tonight.

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Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This quote from Jeremiah has been with me lately. It’s one that I keep meditating on. In a few hours I’ll graduate from St. Bonaventure University. What will I do with my new certifications and skills? Will I lead a school or school district? Will I continue to be a technology coordinator? What did the Holy Spirit have in mind when it influenced me to enroll at St. Bonaventure University a couple of years ago? The spirit will lead as it always does and I will do my best to follow it, listening with the ear of my heart.

It is quiet this morning as I sit here keying in these words that have come to me. It is raining again and whenever it rains I think of Thomas Merton. Rain is the best metaphor for the grace of God and the Holy Spirit that I can think of. I am surrounded then by God’s grace and enveloped in that loving spirit as I have been throughout my life.

I came up here from the monastery last night, sloshing through the cornfield, said Vespers, and put some oatmeal on the Coleman stove for supper. It boiled over while I was listening to the rain and toasting a piece of bread at the log fire. The night became very dark. The rain surrounded the whole cabin with its enormous virginal myth, a whole world of meaning, of secrecy, of silence, of rumor. Think of it: all that speech pouring down, selling nothing, judging nobody, drenching the thick mulch of dead leaves, soaking the trees, filling the gullies and crannies of the wood with water, washing out the places where men have stripped the hillside! What a thing it is to sit absolutely alone, in the forest, at night, cherished by this wonderful, unintelligible, perfectly innocent speech, the most comforting speech in the world, the talk that rain makes by itself all over the ridges, and the talk of the watercourses everywhere in the hollows!

Nobody started it, nobody is going to stop it. It will talk as long as it wants, this rain. As long as it talks I am going to listen. — Thomas Merton, “Rain and the Rhinoceros.”

So this morning I listen to the rain as it talks to me. I am glad to be here and glad that it is raining otherwise I might miss the voice of the Ruach.

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Graduation

Tomorrow I graduate from St. Bonaventure University with a Master of Science in Education in Educational Leadership. Two years ago there was no thought about such a reality but in the past 22 months something happened. I have been on “The Good Journey.” In less than two years I have completed 35 graduate hours. I’ve completed 831.5 hours of internships in Special Education, Curriculum, Assistant Principal and been an assistant to a superintendent. My daughter, Dara who graduated in December 2010 from St. Bonaventure University has been an inspiration to me. She graduated from State University College at Fredonia, Summa Cum Laude with a 3.98 gpa a couple of years ago and then graduated from St. Bonaventure with a 4.0 gpa. Through God’s grace and good fortune I too have made that mark. In the process I have been nominated to Pi Lamda Theta and graciously accepted.

On the road to this degree I have met with many wonderful classmates whom I will miss a great deal. I have been blessed to have a great adviser and great professors from whom I have learned. Where does the road lead now? I really don’t know. I do know that I have enjoyed these last almost two years and I am proud to be graduating from St. Bonaventure University tomorrow. Franciscans have played a tremendous role in my educational life. From grade school, high school and now a graduate degree from St. Bonaventure University.

Tomorrow I become an alumni of an institution that I have admired much of my life. I remember looking at the tiled rooftops forty-plus years ago when I sat in study halls at nearby Archbishop Walsh High School. I came to basketball camp here. It was here too that I came on a first date with my wife. We came with our family to enjoy many basketball games. Bonaventure is home to Thomas Merton too. I have reflected often in these past months of how I was studying in the same library that Thomas studied in.   Words cannot express all that is in my heart. This has been an incredibly fulfilling journey. Pax et Bonum!

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The Good Journey

Saturday will be my last official class at St. Bonaventure University. It has been twenty months since my first class which actually occurred at St. Bonaventure’s Buffalo Campus at Hilbert College in late August of 2009. In that period of time I have completed a Master of Science in Education in Educational Leadership. I was nervous at that first class and I’ll be a bit nervous on Saturday too. No matter how old I get I still have those jitters that some students get. I’ve done my work well this semester. I was enrolled in 8 credit hours. Two of them were in a Practicum and that is complete now. The other six have been in School Finance and Supervision. I thought I would enjoy the finance class and I have but I never had any idea how much fun the supervision class would be.

These last twenty months have been full of surprises and new opportunities for learning. I would never have guessed that I would have completed over 830 hours of internships and learned so much in the process. More than the learning though has been the growth of the Franciscan charism within me and my love for the University itself. This has been a wonderful experience and one that has been such a blessing in my life. Words cannot adequately express the sum total of all that I have experienced. I have gained new friendships from my classmates and from the professors too. Saturday will be bittersweet.

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Sit finis libri, non finis quaerendi

The Latin phrase, “Sit finis libri, non finis quaerendi,” comes from the end of Thomas Merton’s, “Seven Storey Mountain.” Merton’s books and thinking have animated much of my adult life. In a couple of weeks I’ll be officially finished with my studies at St. Bonaventure University but it won’t be the end of my journey. The last nearly two years since I decided to enroll at St. Bonaventure University have slipped by quickly and in that time I have met many interesting people and learned a great deal about educational administration.

One of my goals two years ago was to see if Franciscan principles could be applied to the world of education and in my case public education. The good news is that they can and that they might in fact point a new way forward. If not a new way, then a road less traveled. Our social fabric as a nation has been torn asunder by economic change that has seen the near death of an American middle class, the exploitation of the poor and the disenfranchised in our midst. While there are pockets of wealth and abundance in our country there are also pockets of poverty and disillusionment. Teachers, doctors, and other professionals stand in this gap on behalf of those we serve.

As I close the book at St. Bonaventure University I can’t help but think how I can use this Franciscan education and principles to serve the world around me. I am praying for God’s will and direction and I covet your prayers too. This is a link to my recently completed leadership portfolio at St. Bonaventure University.

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Good news

Today I wrapped up an internship and received good news that I had passed my comprehensive examinations at St. Bonaventure University. It’s late and I’m tired but I’m also very grateful. I want to thank all the people who prayed for me and for my wife for putting up with my worry. The last 21 months have been a journey of self-discovery and homecoming. It has been a metanoia and it is still unfolding. One of my younger co-workers said to me today, “Why don’t you retire?” How old are you anyway? I told him I was 58 years old and not ready to retire. He seemed incredulous. This young man is perhaps 35 at most and to him I seem moderately ancient, but to me it’s relative.

I got some good news too in the last couple days. One of the students for whom I have prayed a lot has received been selected to attend “Upward Bound” at Houghton College. I wrote a recommendation for him when no one else would. When his counselor told me he came into her office excited to be going I was thrilled and deeply moved. This young man and other young men and women like him are what keep me animated and moving forward. I’m tired tonight but grateful and I wanted to record these thoughts. Deo gratias!

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Happy Birthday Fr. Dan

This is about a day late, because it was at Mass this morning that I learned that this is the birthday of a beloved Friar and the protector of Mt. Irenaeus, which has become my second home in the past eleven years. Sixty-eight years ago William Francis Riley was born and raised in Rochester, New York. He often speaks of his public school legacy but eventually he would find his way to St. Bonaventure University and graduate from there and later become Fr. Daniel P. Riley, OFM.  If he hadn’t disclosed his age at Mass today most folks would think they were talking to a man twenty or thirty years younger. He has a vitality that is unmatched and a personality that attracts others easily. I first met him nearly eleven years ago when I began attending Mass at Mt. Irenaeus. I had been away from the active practice of my Catholic faith for nearly thirty years at that point. One Sunday morning in February 2000 I called the Mountain and learned how to get there. My wife and I made that first trip and it’s one that I’ve been making nearly every Sunday since. Dan has been so much a part of that journey. It was his vision to build this off campus retreat center in the hills of Allegany County in Western New York. Mt. Irenaeus is almost thirty miles from the campus of St. Bonaventure University.

From my first visit to the Mountain I felt welcomed and ultimately attracted but it was something Dan said early in my journey’s there that made me realize that I had finally come home. Mt. Irenaeus is home to many people like me who are looking for a place apart a place where solitude and the Gospel are celebrated. Mountain spirituality welcome all who come there and all are transformed by the hospitality that knows no bound. Everyone regardless of spiritual tradition is welcomed and they all know it soon after arriving.  This video embedded here was made a couple of years ago and it pays tribute to this wonderful man who is a brother and father to us all.  Happy Birthday Fr. Dan! We love you.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbCVbCn2Z4c]

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Halt the Lion of War

I just watched a great video from TEDx which is one of my favorite sources of information and education. Consider how William Ury’s approach which is based in Abraham could work. This fall as a graduate student at St. Bonaventure University I read one of William Ury’s books, “Getting to Yes.”
[ted id=1017]

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Care for Kids

I’m finally getting a chance to write. Wow! What a summer it’s been. I have been a busy boy, but it’s been a good kind of busy and it’s not over either. A year ago I enrolled at St. Bonaventure University in their Educational Leadership program and as part of that program I have been working in two different internships. One as a curriculum director and the other as an assistant principal. Four days a week this summer I rolled out of bed at 6AM, showered, dressed and climbed in my Rav4 and drove over to summer school at the Ellicottville BOCES Center. Students from four area school districts came everyday too for summer school. I got to work with a great staff of teachers and I had a great mentor who supervised me and gave me lots of keen insights and practical experience of what it’s like to be a principal at the middle and high school level.

I have lots of thoughts about where I’m going from here and it may be that I’ll just keep being the technology director that I am but maybe someone will give me a chance to lead or maybe I’ll get to do both. I really enjoyed working with the students and some of them challenged my ideas while others seemed to respond to my empathic outreach. I told many of them that one summer I had to attend summer school too, because I wasn’t the world’s best geometry student. I tried to help the students to see that failure is a part of life and that all lives include failure at some level and that being perfect isn’t the object, but that acceptance is what is most important. Some of the students responded to that and maybe the others did too. One of the hard to reach students nicknamed me “big bird.” No doubt someone my size and deportment looks a bit like Big Bird. I think I surprised this young man when I failed to take issue with his nickname. He was startled when I responded one morning with, “is that your nickname for me.” From the look on his face I could tell that he was shocked and a little embarrassed that I had heard him, but he was more shocked when I failed to respond negatively.

Many of the students who came to our school had lots of trouble in their lives and I tried to accommodate them while at the same time provide a positive direction for them. In addition to my co-principal duties this summer I worked with our curriculum director who is also in charge of writing grants and one of those grants centered around researching the demographics of our community and in the process becoming acutely aware of the demographic of those students I was working with. Cattaraugus County is home to some of the most beautiful flora and fauna in New York State. This summer has been an exceptionally beautiful summer. However it is home to increasingly disenfranchised rural poor and a middle class that is teetering. This fractured social fabric cries out for attention. The safety net here has gaping holes in it and generations are at risk. My heart ached for many of our students this summer and for the students during the regular school year. I often thought how can we reach these children? How do we impact them and their families. It’s easy to point fingers and assign blame but far more difficult to provide answers and change the culture. There are many desperate situations that cry out for attention.

Yesterday, in my reading I came across a program which I recommended to all the school administrators I worked with this summer. It’s called “Care for Kids” and it’s been successfully implemented in Louisville, Kentucky. I’d like to try it here and though I’m not in a leadership position currently I’m going to lead from where I am and as much as possible use the principles of this unique program to care for kids in my own sphere of influence.

Care for Kids Video


[brightcove vid=207598747001&exp3=85476225001&surl=http://c.brightcove.com/services&pubid=69222501001&lbu=http://www.edutopia.org/louisville-sel-video&w=300&h=225]

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Summer thoughts

Today started out rainy and I even made it all the way up to Mt. Irenaeus only to turn around and drive back down the hill.  I wasn’t ready for everyone. I have days like that. Instead I opted for a nap in Cuba, New York and then a drive to St. Bonaventure University where I eventually wound up sitting in the University Chapel enjoying a quiet time.  I learned from my boss that I’m an INFJ and this was one of those introvert moments or maybe days when I needed more introspection than that provided by attendance at the Eucharist.  I’ve been very busy this summer volunteering as a summer school principal intern in partial fulfillment of coursework I am completing at St. Bonaventure University.  On Wednesday of this week I’m scheduled to give a talk modeled after TED to a group of educators at a local teacher’s conference too. I’m a bit hyped by that too. The theme is, “What the world needs now.” I have some ideas but a life of perfection can be daunting as I’m sure you know.  One of the quotes that will form the basis of my talk comes from Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, “sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.”

It seems appropriate to these days of bewilderment and systemic change. Deepak Chopra has written about the creative impulse and how it is invited by the presence of uncertainty. I know that both Rumi and Chopra are right because I’ve witnessed it myself. Creativity is the fruit of uncertainty and these are uncertain times.  Just last night we found ourselves a couple of miles away from the path of a tornado. I don’t mind telling you that it was frightening. There is a metaphor in the violent storm we witnessed and the events in the world around us and my visit to the Chapel at St. Bonaventure University. I’ve come here before and sat in the quiet of this lovely spot.

Once again I think of the words of Thomas Merton about the road ahead.

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think that I am following
your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.