One of the most memorable moments for me this past year was watching a group of about thirty-five students, staff and community members from STM handle and pray with St. Thomas More’s sixteenth-century psalter, during a special visit to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library arranged by Michael Morand ‘87 ‘93 M.Div., the library’s public relations and communications officer.
At the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, we had the opportunity to leaf through a book that few are given access to, even at Yale. Glossed by More’s own hand as he awaited execution for treason in the Tower of London in 1535, the prayer book records the only version of More’s well-known prayer in which he asks God for the grace to “set the world at nought.” As we prayed these words together in one voice, our group made direct contact with an object that lies at the very heart of our community’s identity. Combining interests that were every bit as scholarly as they were spiritual, this event also served as an example of the surprising connections that can be forged by using Yale’s unique and unparalleled collections in new ways.
For the 2016-17 academic year I had the pleasure of serving as Scholar in Residence at STM, a new position designed to build intellectual bridges between the STM community and Yale’s vast intellectual resources—in terms of both research collections and personnel—related to Catholicism. My position had two aims, one ad extra and another ad intra. Through a series of guest lectures on Dante in the “Catholic Intellectual Tradition” course in Yale College and talks on Catholic topics such as medieval sculpture and Marian theology at the Yale Center for British Art and Yale Divinity School, I sought to enhance the public profile of STM on campus. At STM itself, I sought to build a new space for scholarly collaboration by facilitating regular opportunities for intellectual exchange among students, staff and community members.
Two programs in particular were popular and well-received: Catholic Art @ Yale emerged as a series of monthly conversations about Catholic painting and sculpture, held at the Yale University Art Gallery, while the Catholic Studies Working Group brought together a group of about twelve young writers, scholars, artists and students who met monthly over lunch on Saturday afternoons to workshop writing projects and to share research and ideas. In addition to this regular programming I also helped to organized special one-time events, such as a discussion with students about the novel and film Silence with Rev. James Martin, S.J.
I was thrilled to contribute to STM’s programming in a new area, and to have a chance to use my own scholarly training in a pastoral setting. My hope is that others will continue to build on this programming for many years to come — and in the process, nourish future generations of students and scholars who, illuminated by the light of Christ and infused with the joy of the Gospels, can in turn become evangelists for the entire Yale community.
