Paul Morman
2004 Recipient of the Lackner Award
Acceptance Speech
I want to begin
by extending my congratulations to Pat Detzel on her many years
of dedicated service to the university. She has been an
excellent example of the Marianist spirit in action. I also
want to thank Fr. Gene Contadino and the members of the Rector’s
council, as well as all the previous honorees of the Lackner
Award. Special thanks to my family. I am delighted that by
brothers and sisters have joined me this evening with their
wives and husbands … (introduce them). I have been blessed
all my life with a large and supportive family. Thanks for
taking time to share this honor with me.
And we also have the three special people in my life. My son Erich Morman is here from Washington and my daughter Carla Morman made the trip from downtown Dayton. Your presence makes this evening special. And finally there is Patricia…or Pat as we know her…the special love of my life. Thanks for always being my strongest advocate and loyal partner. Your love makes all the difference.
I appreciate the honor of this award and the attention it affords, but I prefer that we make this is an evening to remember the Marianists, and so I invite you to join me on a mental pilgrimage this evening in search of Elmer Lackner and his legacy. As you might recall from Chaucer, a pilgrimage is a journey to a place of special significance. Under ideal circumstances a pilgrimage is also an opportunity for building community by sharing stories and gaining insight. And so I invite all of you to listen to my personal, auto-biographical tale as we journey in search of Elmer Lackner.
Our first stop is up on Salem Avenue right here in Dayton. It is a small cemetery on the grounds of the Maria-Joseph Center. The grave markers are simple, nondescript stone tablets embedded at ground level. There is nothing ostentatious about this scene; its beauty arises from simplicity rather than elegance. All the names share common titles, reflecting a communal identity. There is little here to strike the curiosity of the causal visitor, but four makers in particular hold special significance for our journey. They mark the graves of Sister Emelita, Sister Noella, Sister Stanislaus, and Sister Bernice.
All are Sisters of the Precious Blood and there was a time, a half-century ago, when these four women ran an elementary school in Columbus Grove, a small rural community in northwest Ohio. Here in four crowded rooms, each holding from thirty to forty students, these dedicated women ran St. Anthony’s Grade School. That’s right…eight grades in four rooms. The overhead was minimal; the instruction was basic; and the values were timeless.
For most of the day, there was the usual emphasis upon the three “R’s”, but no opportunity was lost to instill the three “C’s” of Catholic education: Character, Commitment, and Community. The nuns had a mission to develop in their young charges the capacity for moral discernment and the strength of character to follow one’s convictions. Commitment to the faith and service to God, country, family and neighbor were paramount. Vows were to be respected and promises were meant to be kept. Strength of character and personal commitment were essential for developing in these youngsters a capacity for community; not community as “feel good therapy”, but community as sacrifice for the common good. Rugged farmers faithfully paid their taxes and reached down deeper to support the parish school. They sacrificed to provide their sons and daughters with a Catholic education. The nuns returned the favor, dedicating their lives to the children, while living a simple, communal existence of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
The next stop in our journey takes us north to the banks of the Maumee River. Here, just west of Perrysburg Ohio, the Divine Word Fathers have in 1956 established a seminary high school for young men seeking to explore a missionary vocation in the priesthood. The site for the school is on a high bluff overlooking the great rapids and in the distance, across the expanse of river, can be seen the historical site commemorating the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Here in 1794 General Anthony Wayne defeated the Indians under Little Turtle and Blue Jacket thereby opening the Ohio territory. By the 1830’s immigrants were pouring into northwest Ohio and Anton Morman left his native Germany to settle a farm in Glandorf, Ohio. Now his great-great-grandson was entering high school under the direction of the Divine Word Fathers.
The men were now in charge, priests and brothers with names like Father Rudolph, Father LeSage, Father Hoetze, Brother Camillus and Brother Stephen. The classical curriculum was more demanding, but daily life still revolved around the formation of character, the exercise of commitment, and the practice of community. Latin and Greek were at the foundation of a rigorous curriculum, but the priests and brothers were also fond of quoting the evangelist Mark to remind everyone “that it would little profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul.” Mere words, perhaps, to a young teenager, but one could not deny the authenticity of the messenger as these priests and brothers dedicated themselves to the education of young men while living in a shared community that practiced poverty, chastity and obedience.
Our journey takes us back to the Miami Valley and the bustling campus of an emerging university. It is the early sixties and buildings are springing up everywhere to meet the growing demands of a Catholic population for higher education. The Marianists are in charge and the names are now Father Roesch, Brother Mann, Father Collins, Father Burns, Brother Lucier and Brother Lackner. They all live in a Marianist community, exercising a daily commitment to poverty, chastity, and obedience. They are dedicated to education and the formation of youth. Their daily sacrifice makes it possible for young men and women to have something denied to their parents; a College degree that will launch careers as doctors, lawyers, engineers, educators, and business leaders. But it is also an education with a difference, because these Marianists also believe it is the job of a Catholic university to build character, foster commitment, and sustain community. Yes this is higher education, but it is higher education with a difference; it is the face of Catholic higher education in America.
And so this evening I stand before you to accept this award on behalf of the Sisters of the Precious Blood, the Divine Word Fathers, and the Marianists. The gifts of leadership it has been my privilege to share with you over the last fourteen years have in no small measure taken shape and derived substance from the work of these men and women of vision, individuals like Elmer Lackner who gave definition to Catholic education. Their legacy finds expression every day in the lives of thousands upon thousands of men and women across this country and across this world; men and women who came from hardworking, immigrant families, but who were fortunate to have Elmer Lackner and his brothers and sisters as mentors and teachers. This legacy would not have been possible without vision, dedication, and great personal sacrifice. Men like Elmer Lackner understood character, commitment, and community; they were the heart and soul of Catholic education.
But a legacy, like an inheritance, is a fragile child of history. The “prodigal son” has taught us that an inheritance can quickly become a fleeting memory; and so also with a legacy. Respectful memory, strategic vision, commitment and strength of character are essential to sustaining a legacy. Against the cruel winds of history, we must negotiate the delicate dance between tradition and change or soon a legacy will be nothing but a footnote for the historians.
The once prosperous convent up on Salem Ave. has now become a home for the elderly. The Sisters of the Precious Blood no longer exist in sufficient numbers to teach the Catholic youth of northwestern Ohio. Developers have leveled that once proud seminary high school on that beautiful bluff overlooking the rapids of the Maumee in order to build luxury homes for the affluent. The Divine Word Fathers continue to prosper, but almost all of their priests and brothers come from third world countries.
On the other hand, history has been kind to the work of Brother Lackner and his peers; a dynamic University of Dayton stands as this special place of our pilgrimage, a precious gift from these Marianists. Their story of sacrifice and vision is a grand legacy, and this university is our collective inheritance. But like the Sisters of the Precious Blood and the Divine Word Fathers, the Marianists are no longer in sufficient numbers to both plan and execute a vision for Catholic higher education. That essential task and responsibility falls to all of us in this room.
As we plan for the future to build a reputation for academic excellence, we must also understand our traditions and respect the substance of what made this university possible. National recognition has its place, but “character, commitment, and sacrifice for community” are not the usual stuff of national rankings. This university, like the Catholic Church in America, is at a critical point in history. Elmer Lackner and his Marianists brothers have provided the legacy; we the laity must now provide the vision and the creative leadership. Our task is to work with the Marianists to reinvent Catholic higher education for future generations.
And so in this month as we celebrate the Marianist Heritage, and particularly on this evening as we honor Brother Lackner, let us remember what made all this possible. Let us build on this legacy to create not only a great university, but a great Catholic university. I ask that the Marianists use the $5,000 stipend that comes with this award to support the growing US Catholic Collection in the Roesch Library. Nicolletta Hary is working with great diligence to build an archival collection that will preserve the historical record of those priests and nuns who gave so heroically to build a vibrant Catholic Church in America. I ask that she use this money to support the purchase archival materials so that future scholars will be able to keep this powerful legacy ever fresh in our minds. And I ask all of you to cherish this inheritance and use your talents to give it continued vitality…for it, indeed, will be of little profit if we gain the whole world and suffer the loss of our soul.
Thank you Elmer Lackner; and thank you, our Marianist brothers and sisters.