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Marianists at
the University of Dayton |
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“Finding A Place of Belonging – Communities of One and Many” Patricia W. Meyers, PhD
It’s a great and very humbling honor to represent my Marianist Educational Associate (MEA) colleagues at our commitment ceremony today. Any one of the MEAs in this year’s cohort could just as well be standing at this podium. Together in Marianist community this year we have shared many stories of joy, pain, questioning, and understanding. These stories—and the learnings they stimulate—have brought us together in shared understanding and commitment. And from today forward, we will continue composing our lives to realize the promise of our deeper selves—and what we may give back to others in a Catholic and Marianist spirit. In preparing for today, I asked advice from our Rector, Fr. Paul Marshall. With characteristic wisdom he said, “Just tell your story, connect it to the story of others, and then invite everyone to join the story in their own unique way.” So, I want to thank Fr. Paul for this guidance. I hope that I am able to execute it well enough so that you will have some sense of how profound has been this year’s MEA experience. To begin, let me offer just a few details about my life journey and why it has mattered so very much to me to be among the Marianist Educational Associates over the past year. My dad was a career petty officer in the US Coast Guard. My mom, younger sister, and I went with him on his postings to Washington, DC; New London, Connecticut; the south Florida coast; Argentia, Newfoundland; and Ketchikan, Alaska. Along the way, we experienced many challenges and many opportunities. What sustained me? Well many things, of course. Let me share just two of the most important with you – The first sustainer—and this may at first seem a bit odd at first—was Wonder Woman. As a pre-teen, I read every Wonder Woman comic book I could buy with my allowance. She certainly looked beautiful, strong, and kind to this young girl. Even more important, Wonder Woman stood for helping others and righting injustice – I admired this very much. And, I loved those magic bracelets that could repel bullets, her invisible airplane, and powerful lasso. She was courageous; she did what was right. She was my hero and I wanted to be like her. The second source of sustenance was the many communities of service families. Armed service families naturally form support groups and networks. They help new families settle in, help each other pack up for the next posting, and they often do whatever is needed to assist each other in daily trials and challenges. So, critical during my earliest life journey were Wonder Woman (that is, having a strong and ethical heroine) and being lifted up by a great nuclear family and the many friends who supported us, in the way that military families are proud to do, as we moved across the country and back (in other words, by spontaneous communities). Much later, I was a single parent from the time my daughter and son, Christine and Andrew, were six and three respectively. As a family, the three of us went to school together. My kids went to grade school, high school, and college while I was working two jobs and studying for my MBA and my PhD in business and then while I worked through tenure and the academic ranks at Syracuse University. What sustained me? Again, many blessings but two of the most important were those same themes: heroines, heroes and welcoming communities. One cannot raise children alone. Many hearts, minds and hands helped us along the way. Most significant in my memory are the wise mentors and advisors who reached out to help my kids and me work through tough situations; and they also helped us to set our sites high and be true to core values. These were heroes and communities of another kind – definitely not Wonder Woman – but nonetheless very real and potent compasses and supporters for me and my children along the way. Now fast forward to last year when I was invited and decided to join the Marianist Educational Associates – actually, I truly believe that I was called to do so. I know I speak for all my MEA co-journers (that’s my new word for sojourners in community) when I say it has been a rich and wondrous year together. Together we have explored so much about the Catholic and Marianist traditions, beliefs – and ways of being in community. We’ve articulated a mission statement, a series of values and overarching goals, and we’ve all come to a richer understanding of Marianist community through frequent dialogue with each other – in dyads, small groups and in full discussions when we met as an entire group at each other’s homes. Looking back over this past MEA year, I once again see the two sustaining themes that have repeated themselves throughout my life: heroines and heroes and spontaneous communities. This time the heroine was a very real Wonder Woman – Mary of Galilee. Our theme this year focused upon Mary – discovering and understanding her anew because of her central place in all that is Marianist community. Because of this theme and the presentations and conversations our group had about Mary, I was able to revisit childhood memories of Mary – you probably remember these – Mary of the beautiful, serene face; calm, accepting manner; and (with some very notable exceptions) mostly silent demeanor. I was able to begin building a different, grown up perspective of her and what she represents for an adult woman in today’s world. One day I shared with Bro. Tom Giardino my desire to know more about Mary – especially how she might be relevant for professional women like me today. He recommended that I explore the book about Mary entitled TRULY OUR SISTER written by Elizabeth A. Johnson. What a helpful suggestion! Those of you who know the book know that it is rooted in the feminine world view, post modern and post industrial in the best sense of those terms. The author explores Mary as a true person situated in her own time, with a voice to develop and express, and a life to compose. She has become in my mind now a renewed heroine – a symbol, no longer of disembodied virtues, but rather one that promotes the flourishing of women—and this, in turn, lifts up all the communities of which women and their children are a part. And so today as my fellow Marianist Educational Associates of 2006-07 and I make our vows of commitment, I am once again lifted up by a heroine and a community. Thank you so much for these surprising gifts! These two touchstones will sustain us all as MEAs. And both will help me as I continue on my own course to continue striving to foster awareness and practice of Business as a Calling at UD and in the School of Business. And now for the invitation to all of you – remember, I’m following Fr. Paul’s good advice here for the final part of my presentation. Let me begin this invitation with one final brief story. In the introduction to the book TRULY OUR SISTER, the author tells a warm-hearted anecdote that serves as an invitation to each of us. Here’s how it goes: “Doing research for this book, I requested Jeanette Rodriguez’s book Our Lady of Guadalupe from my university’s library on a sister campus. When it arrived, the student on duty notified me by phone, mentioning, according to custom, the book’s title. Here is what I heard on my voice mail: ‘Dr. Johnson, Our Lady of Guadalupe has come in and is waiting for you at the front desk.’” Elizabeth A. Johnson, 2003 Truly Our Sister, Introduction, p. xvii
One of the author’s colleagues, with whom she shared this humorous message, paused and then responded quietly, “May she be there for you.” -----A striking thought, and one with which I end my talk. Mary, the real woman – the real grown up heroine, the one whose striving and struggles shaped the maturing Jesus. The one who represents the tough journey for each of us as we try every day to find the right actions that will foster the community of all peoples. Mary, whose story highlights the importance of everyday, ordinary life as the essential milieu for living out a good life, minute by minute. May she be there for all of you as she has been for my fellow MEAs and for me during this nourishing and graceful year. Thank you.
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