Page 2 - CROSSROADS - October 1978
FROM THE PRESIDENTS DESK
by Fr. Neil W. Tobin
About six years ago, I became acquainted with a story
which Norman Vincent Peale told about a group of
people, who, at the end of the year, wrote down their
expectations for the coming year. Each sealed the
expectations in an envelope which was to be opened and
reviewed only at the end of the following year.
The results were rather interesting. One man
predicted that all he could expect was more of the same
old miserableness which he had been experiencing. And
that’s exactly what he got. A lady in the group had listed
ten worthy goals: she accomplished nine of the ten.
Another man, basing his expectations upon his birth
sign, Capricorn, anticipated difficulty and frustrations;
he got them. And a woman, with the same birth sign, not
knowing she should expect difficulties, enjoyed a
rewarding year. One man in the group died during the
year. When his envelope was opened, his prediction
read: “Since no one of the men in my family has sur
vived beyond the age of sixty, I expect to die during this
year.”
The message of Norman Vincent Peale’s story is
simple: the results of our endeavors depend very much
upon our expectations. If we expect negative results, we
will produce negative results. On the other hand, if we
expect positive results, we will produce positive results.
I share this story with you not only to encourage my
readers to live a life of positive expectancy, but also to
Fr. Neil W. Tobin
witness to the results of positive expectancy in my own
life at Belmont Abbey College. , As I arrived at our
College four months ago, I anticipated a Christian
community which would cooperate in realizing the goals
and missions of Belmont Abbey College in Catholic
higher education. And that is exactly what I am ex
periencing, whether with administrators who are
working on an administrative chart to facilitate service
to the collegiate community, or with faculty in a
workshop attempting to develop a system of internal
governance which will encourage trust and confidence
among our students, faculty, and administrators. The
students, almost seven hundred in number, manifest a
desire to grow through sharing, whether on a weekend
retreat at the Camp of Our Lady of the Hills in Hen
dersonville, or over lunch in the student dining room, or
in the relaxing home atmosphere of their rooms in the
residence hall. The same cooperation continues to greet
me in the deliberations of our Board of Trustees, in my
weekly visits to our friends in the business, professional,
and civic community, or in the weekend of recreation at
Virginia Beach, with forty alumni of the Tidewater area.
Daily I thank Our Father for the spirit of cooperation
which I am experiencing as a new member of the Abbey
community. At the same time, I am grateful to our
predecessors who incorporated this spirit into our
community and gave it as an inheritance to those of us
who are the Abbey community in 1978.
May God bless us with the same generosity which we
extend to others! > ^..
f UJ 1
Father Neil W. Tobin
President
Abbot Jude Resigns
The Right Reverend Jude
Cleary, O.S.B., who has been a
member of the Belmont Abbey
Community since 1950 and the
Abbot since 1975, announced his
resignation from the office of
Abbot on Aug. 11.
In citing reasons for his
resignation. Abbot Jude alluded
to the nearly twenty years
during which he has held
responsible positions in
Belmont Abbey Monastery and
Belmont Abbey College. He
stated, “There is a reasonable
human limitation to the time in
which a person can effectively
exeicise authority. This seems
especially true in our age.” He
reached his decision after three
months of prayer and
deliberation at Mepkin Abbey, a
Trappist monastery in South
Carolina.
Abbot Jude, a native of
Savannah, Ga., came to
Belmont Abbey in October 1950.
He completed the novitiate and
was simply professed as a
Benedictine monk in November
1951.
As a graduate student in the
Belmont Abbey Seminary, he
served as a part-time instructor
in math and engineering
drawing in the prep school and
the College.
He was ordained to the
Catholic priesthood in June
1956. He continued to teach
math, was chaplain one year,
and academic dean pro tem
pore, beginning January 1959.
He became registrar in March
1961, and, in addition, coor
dinator of development. The
physical expansion at Belmont
Abbey College is due in large
part to his direction. He was
appointed president of Belmont
Abbey College May 24, 1967.
In August 1970, he resigned
from the presidency, but con
tinued to serve as assistant to
the president of the College until
July 1975, when he was elected
the fifth Abbot of Belmont
Abbey by the monks of
Belmont. The election was
confirmed by the Vatican on
November 4, 1975, and the
formal blessing was conferred
on December 19, 1975.
As Abbot of Belmont Abbey,
he also held the positions of
chancellor of the college and
chairman of its board of
trustees.
Abbot Jude’s twenty-eight
years as a dedicated monk and
highly competent college ad
ministrator have won for him
the great admiration of all who
knew and worked with him.
Abbot Jude indicated that after
his resignation, he would return
to Mepkin Abbey for further
reflection and prayer.
The monks of Belmont Abbey
in due time will be following the
ancient procedure of electing a
new Abbot for Belmont Abbey
Monastery.
Is It Right Because It Feels Good?
by Fr. John P. Bradley
1977-78 Operating Fund
Revenues & Expenditures
Revenues
'Tuition and Fees
$1,173,578.34
Auxiliary Enterprises
683,406.57
Gifts
402,524.41
Other
128,199.18
Student Aid
98,450.00
Endowment
43,909.39
Total Revenues
$2,530,067.89
Expenditures
Instructional
$ 711,344.53
Auxiliary Enterprises
683,131.43
Administration
368,875.39
Plant
211,833.06
Student Aid
226,430.63
General Institutional
228,043.52
Debt Service
17,005.00
Staff Benefits
80,063.02
$2,526,726.58
Total Expenditures
Total Revenues
$2,530,067.89
Less Total Expenditures
2,526,726.58
Total Excess Revenues
$ 3,341.31
settle for themselves ethical
questions this can pose for our
society a very serious danger.
Editor’s Note: This article is
second in a series Fr. Bradley is
writing for THE CHARLOTTE
NEWS as a guest columnist.
The young girl smiled
pleasantly as she said with
great conviction, “1 knew it was
right because I felt so good
while I was doing it.” The girl
was not talking about a recent
exotic drug trip or about her
latest far out sexual exploits.
She was talking about her
participation in a particularly
brutal murder. It was Susan
Atkins speaking, a member of
the notorious Charles Manson
gang. -
This is, of course, an extreme
case, but it can serve to draw
our attention to what I judge to
be the modern trend of relying
heavily on feelings to decide
what is right and what is wrong.
It seems to me that civilized
human beings and societies
have throughout history clearly
understood that the answer to j
ethical questions, that is,
questions concerning the
rightness or wrongness of
human conduct, must be
derived from something much
more dependable than mere
feelings. Feelings have their
own proper function in our lives,
but Miss Atkins’ reaction should
alert us to the fact that feelings
are completely unreliable as
ethical criteria. Furthermore,
feelings differ from person to
person and can change within
the same p>erson from day to
day - sometimes from moment
to moment.
In a previous column I
alluded to the concern of many
educators who believe that our
colleges and universities
nowadays do very little in the
way of challenging students to
think. If this is so, and I am one
of those who believe it is, we
should not be surprised that
ethical questions are nowadays
frequently handled by feelings
rather than by the tough
thinking such questions require.
The Harvard curriculum
committee’s recent report
delivered the opinion that not
only are we failing to teach our
students to think, but worse, we
are not teaching them to think
ethically. Dramatic evidence
supporting this opinion was
provided by the testimony of
some of the “highly educated”
White House staff during the
Watergate hearings.
Commenting on these matters
in a recent book, the
distinguished educator Dr. Earl
McGrath laments the disap
pearance of the requirements in
the liberal arts previously
demanded for a college degr^.
The liberal arts aim at giving
the student a vision of what it
means to be a civilized,
enlightened and good human
being. This kind of education
seeks to focus on the “why” of
things rather than the mere
“how,” it probes for sound
values for living, confronting
the student with questions about
the right and the good and
raises for discussion the
ultimate human ,questions:
“Who am 1, and* what is the
purpose of my life?” Un
derstandably, church-related
colleges traditionally regard
liberal arts as an essential
ingre^ent in their philosophy of
education.
With Dr. McGrath I believe
that a leavening of this kind of
education should be mandatory
in all undergraduate education.
This kind of education has
always been needed, but in my
view the need is more critical
now than ever since in our
modem technological age a
person has a harder struggle
than ever to grasp firmly his or
her identity and meaning as a
human being. In otoer wor(k,
there are many different in
fluences at work today creating
the current confusion about
right and wrong, and if
significant numbere of people
are resorting to their feelings to
CROSSROADS
VOLUME VII,
NUMBER ONE
OCTOBER 1978
Editor: Cindy H. Heavner
Contributions:
Fr. John P. Bradley
John P. Briody
Mary Cook
Roger Dills
Charlie Grissom
Fr. Neil W. Tobin
Registered as second class
postage paid in Belmont,
N.C. 28012. This paper is
published bi-monthly
through the Office of In
stitutional Relations.