Education
in the Light of UNITY
This year’s Luminosa Award recognized Sacred Heart
University President Anthony Cernera. A two-day conference
in education in the Focolare’s little city set
the tone for the event.
“Focolare’s aim in education is to overcome
fragmentation, not only among persons, but also among
and within the methods and contents of modern academic
disciplines.” With these words David Schindler,
director of the John Paul II Institute for the Family,
addressed those attending in November 2000 as Chiara
Lubich received her honorary doctorate in Education
from The Catholic University in Washington.
Fast
forward to this year, and education continues to be
a focal point for the Focolare community.
The
Luminosa Award for Unity was presented June 1, 2008
to Dr. Anthony
Cernera, president of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield,
Conn., before an audience of 250.
East
Coast Focolare Directors Marigen Lohla and Terry Gunn
offered tribute to Cernera’s lifelong commitment
to excellence in education and his dedication to interreligious
dialogue, as witnessed by his creation of, and ongoing
support for, Sacred Heart’s Center for Christian-Jewish
Understanding.
In
a message on behalf of the Focolare, the Movement’s
co-president, Rev. Oreste
Basso, wished “that this day, lived in the joy
of full communion, may strengthen our common commitment
to work towards making the world one family,”
and recalled the “deep ties of friendship”
and the common ideals shared with the university president.
“I
accept this award with great humility,” stated
Cernera in his acceptance speech. “I
also accept the award with a promise that I will do
all that I can both in my professional capacity and
my personal capacity to help make the vision and the
dream of Sophia University Institute a real one, because
not only will it be good for the Focolare, but it will
also be good for all Catholic higher education and for
the world.
I
am privileged to be a part of it.” Cernera’s
tenure as president of the International Federation
of Catholic Universities— which comprises more
than 200 colleges and universities worldwide—
makes him an authority in the field of higher education,
as does his position as a noted scholar and writer in
the field. He
underscored the importance of unity among educators
and in higher education.
“The
search for unity is an imperative. As
educators, we need the experience of coming together,
to understand one another in this atmosphere of respect
and mutual understanding,” he said.
The
Morning Panel A discussion on education before the award
ceremony featured Dr. Russell G. Pearce
of Fordham University School of Law, whose transformative
experience as a Jewish faculty member in a Catholic
university helped change his fear of Christianity to
respect and love.
“In
teaching, I became more self-conscious of treating my
students with respect and using methods that make students
partners in moral deliberation,” he said.
Reflecting
on religious diversity as an opportunity to promote
unity, Pearce concluded, “I thank God for the
opportunity to honor Dr. Cernera
for promoting the vision of Catholic higher education
that has transformed me.” Professor at the University
of Oakwood in Alabama and follower of Imam W.D.
Mohammed,
Dr. Hameed El-Amin, made striking remarks on the unity
of faith and intellect in the Muslim tradition.
Dr.
Judith Povilus, provost of Sophia University Institute
which offers the Foco- lare’s new master’s
and doctoral degree program, discussed its latest developments.
Based
on the successful seven-year Sophia Summer School Project,
she explained that the goal of Sophia is to “foster
in each student a quest for the truth in the light of
integral knowledge and to help form mature and integrated
future leaders and intellectuals, capable of responding
to the challenges of our times.” The Two-Day Conference
The award ceremony marked the conclusion of a two-day
conference entitled “The Search for Unity: The
Role of Religiously Affiliated Colleges and Universities,”
and jointly sponsored by the Center for Catholic Education
at Boston College; Fordham Law School’s Institute
on Religion, Law and Lawyer’s Work; and the Focolare’s
Center for Education in Dialogue, which was founded
by Chiara Lubich in 1998.
“The
impetus for this conference,” explained Dr. Michael
James, director of Boston College’s Center for
Catholic Education, sprang from “the inspiration
of Chiara Lubich to establish a university animated
by the charism of unity.
It
comes at a moment in our contemporary society where
we are looking for opportunities to form students in
an understanding of the unity of knowledge, notwithstanding
the diversity of all the disciplines.” Dialogue
among participants was lively and profound.
“Our
conversations clarified in a number of ways how important
unity is, but also raised difficulties about what it
means to maintain a particular religious identity, while
at the same time cultivating dialogue and interaction
with other religious traditions that, in different ways,
also strive for unity,” said Dr.
Boyd
Coolman, professor of theology at Boston College.
There
was consensus among participants that a new, constructive
paradigm for education is necessary.
“We
deeply need to have a vision, a constructive idea of
what the world can become, and practical strategies
for getting there that can be witnessed in persons who
are living that vision,” said David O’Brien,
former Loyola professor of Catholic Studies at College
of the Holy Cross (Massachusetts).
“As
educators, this weekend was a model of what we are called
to do in the world,” affirmed Dr.
Linda
Specht, associate professor of business administration
at Trinity University.
“The
reality of unity that we’re searching for in education
is one that we need to participate in ourselves,”
concluded Dr. Cernera.
Susan
Kopp
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“The
Magsaysay awardees of 2008,” says RMAF (Ramon
Magsaysay Award Foundation) President Carmencita T.
Abella,
“are indeed pathfinders in a changing Asia, charting
new ways to address persistent, often intractable problems
in their societies.