Alumni News
A Message from Dean Pak to Alumni/ae & Friends (Fall 2023)
Dear STH Alumni/ae & Friends,
As we welcome our students back to campus for the new academic year, we at the School of Theology are especially grateful for generous supporters like you. Your faithful commitment and care make a world of difference, and I hope you’ll make a gift today to help our students start the year strong.
Just how big a difference can you make? Here’s how Aderonke Lipide (LAW’94, STH’23) puts it:
“For years, I avoided answering my call to the ministry because I did not want to take on additional school loans. With this scholarship, God has equipped me with the financial means I needed to attend seminary. I am truly humbled by the generosity of this scholarship.”
We welcome your support for everything we do, but if you’re looking for a specific way to have an impact, please consider one or more of these funding opportunities:
- Financial aid is always a top priority. Your gift to the School of Theology Scholarship Fund will help ensure that our students can pursue their calling without the worry of excessive debt.
- Similarly, our new Manoog C. Peters Chaplaincy Endowment Fund provides financial aid to students in the chaplaincy program, as well as supporting the program’s curriculum and program development.
- Your gift to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fund will augment our initiatives in the essential work of creating a welcoming world for all, as will a gift to the Dean Mary Elizabeth Moore Fellowship Endowed Fund, which provides annual awards to our master’s students who are committed to the empowerment of women in the academy, religious institutions, and the wider world.
Your gift to any of these causes—and to the general School of Theology Fund, which supports many initiatives at the school—helps keep STH strong and vibrant. Our students, our faculty, and the communities we serve are deeply grateful for your support.
Sincerely yours,
Sujin Pak
Dean, Boston University School of Theology
PS: It’s easy to make your gift today at www.bu.edu/give2sth. Thank you!
Bishop LaTrelle E. Easterling (STH’04) issues Statement on Morgan State University Shooting
The following is an excerpt from the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church article "Message from Bishop Easterling in Response to Morgan State University Shooting” published on October 4, 2023.
As we come to grips with the horror of the shooting that took place at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, our hearts break and we pray for those most closely affected. Once again violence has shattered lives and we, as a faith community, struggle to make sense of senseless violence. Five individuals were shot, four of them students, on Tuesday evening during what should have been a time of celebration and festivities.
Morgan State began as a Methodist institution. Its identity is intertwined with our own. The gun violence that broke out at the homecoming celebration reverberates in other incidents throughout our region and nation. While fear is the natural response, we must not allow that fear to paralyze us. Nor can we become so unfazed by these tragedies that we turn a deaf ear to the pain, brokenness and devastation such incidents cause. Thoughts and prayers are not enough. We must respond as if those young people were our children, our flesh and blood, because when any are hurting, all are hurting. United Methodists must take action to curb the epidemic of gun violence. This pain must be our call to action.
Prof. Eunil David Cho named Co-Editor of the Journal of Pastoral Theology
Assistant Professor of Spiritual Care and Counseling Eunil David Cho has been elected the co-editor of the Journal of Pastoral Theology, one of the leading journals in the fields of pastoral theology, chaplaincy, and spiritual care. Prof. Cho’s term as co-editor will run through 2027.
His co-editor, Dr. Mary Clark Moschella, Roger J. Squire Professor of Pastoral Care at Yale University School of Divinity, says “Dr. Cho has recently been elected my new Co-Editor of the Journal of Pastoral Theology. As an experienced editor, David brings a great deal of expertise and energy to the JPT team. I look forward to our work together. David’s scholarship, like my own, constructs pastoral theology through the study of lived religion. In this, we both owe a great debt to BU’s incomparable Professor Emerita Nancy T. Ammerman.”
Reverend Vernon Walker, Jr. (STH’16) Featured in TuftsNow Article on Environmental Justice
The following is an excerpt from the TuftsNow article “Centering Environmental Justice in Climate Solutions” by Laura Ferguson, featuring alum Reverend Vernon Walker, Jr. (STH'16), published on October 10, 2023. The illustration is by Joel Kimmel.
At Boston University, Walker started to connect his spiritual calling with ecology. Later, when he was an associate pastor at the Berachah Church, he was jolted, spiritually and professionally, by the 2018 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report urged world leaders to quicken the transition to net-zero carbon emissions and warned of catastrophic impacts if global warming exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“I was catalyzed to join the environmental movement,” Walker recalled. “I thought I could lend my voice as a faith leader to bring together my commitment to community empowerment and social justice with the most crucial and urgent issue of our time.”
The realization would lead him to Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW). As a program director, he helped build grassroots climate resilience through education, service, and planning.
He worked with underserved communities, including those in Dorchester and Mattapan. One focus was providing workshops to help residents prepare for exposure to extreme heat, the top weather-related cause of death in the U.S.
“People often underestimate the serious risks of high heat to their health,” he said. “In this work, we were saying heat waves are serious—and they are likely to increase in frequency, so get ready.”
Father Dr. Thomas J. Scirghi, S.J. (STH’97) Appointed to Fordham University Board of Trustees
The following is an excerpt from the Fordham News article “Fordham Welcomes Seven New and Return Trustees” by Taylor Ha, featuring alum Father Dr. Thomas J. Scirghi, S.J. (STH'97) , published on October 4, 2023.
Father Scirghi is an associate professor of theology at Fordham, where he specializes in the theology of sacraments and 
liturgy, as well as the theory and practice of preaching. He has taught courses and workshops on preaching for priests, deacons, and lay ecclesial ministers in locations around the world, including Africa, Asia, and Australia. He has taught at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California, and the Jesuit College of Theology in Melbourne, Australia. He also served as the Thomas More Chair of Catholic Studies, in a joint appointment between the University of Western Australia and the University of Notre Dame Australia. In addition, he has published several texts, including Everything Is Sacred: An Introduction to the Sacrament of Baptism (Paraclete Press, 2012) and Living Beauty: The Art of Liturgy (Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2007) with his colleague Alejandro Garcia-Rivera. He holds five degrees, including a master’s degree in philosophy from Fordham; a Master of Divinity degree from the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California; an S.T.L. from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, formerly known as the Weston Jesuit School of Theology; a doctor of theology from Boston University; and a bachelor’s degree from Le Moyne College.
Dr. Bill J. Leonard (STH’75, GRS’75) Serves as Guest Lecturer for 2023 Davis Lectures Series
The following is an excerpt from the Iredell Free News article “Davis Lecture Series to feature discussion about future of religion in America” featuring alum Dr. Bill J. Leonard (STH'75, GRS'75), published on October 5, 2023.
“Bill Leonard is one of our best teachers of American Religious History and astute theological observers of religion in 
America today,” said Dr. Steve Shoemaker, pastor of Grace Baptist Church. “His two lectures will be a stimulating and provocative survey of where we are today as American Christians, and his Sunday morning sermon will be a fascinating introduction to the lectures.”
Leonard is the author of 25 books and a regular columnist and speaker on church history and the changing shape of religion in America. He holds a B.A. from Texas Wesleyan College, a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Boston University. He previously served on the faculty of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Samford University.
In addition, Leonard is an ordained Baptist minister, serving as interim pastor of over 25 congregations. His specialization in American and Southern studies makes him a frequent commentator on popular religion in the U.S., with numerous interviews in newspapers, magazines, radio and television.
His books include “Christianity in Appalachia”; “Baptist Ways: A History”; “The Challenge of Being Baptist”; “A Sense of the Heart: Christian Religious Experience in the U.S.”; and “The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Church History: Flaming Heretics and Heavy Drinkers”. His newest book, “Appalachian Mountain Christianity: The Spirituality of Otherness,” will be published by University of Georgia Press in 2024.
Dr. Paul Detterman (STH’89,’91) Pens Article on Pronouns in Worship
The following is an excerpt from the Church Leaders article "The Potentially Pernicious Power of Pesky Pronouns in Worship” by Dr. Paul Detterman (STH '89,'91), published on September 29, 2023.
Pronouns have always interested me. I listen very carefully for them in many different settings, including pronouns in worship. In conversation between friends and/or lovers pronouns can be very revealing. There is a subtle but critically important difference in meaning between a happily married person saying “I want that for my house” and “we want that for our house.” It might not seem such a big deal on the surface, but as someone who has done his fair share of pastoral counseling, I can assure you, it’s a tell.
Years ago when I was in seminary, the first wave of exorcisms were being focused on the liturgical linguistic of American Protestantism. Worship elements, particularly hymns, with first person singular pronouns were suddenly verboten with very few questions asked, all on the theory that if “I” sang “I” it undermined the integrity of the all-important “we.” To be fair, this came in response to the excesses not only of previous generations of hymn writers but also to the emerging contemporary worship culture. But as with anything from luxury sedans to vegan restaurants, the overindulgence of one era becomes the bane of the next.
Reverend Dr. Calvin S. Morris (STH’67, GRS’64,’82)
This obituary was originally posted by Roth Family Cremation Center and can be found here.
Civil rights leader, educator and minister, the Rev. Dr. Calvin S. Morris, passed away peacefully on September 15, 2023, at Bethel Oaks Memory Care Home in Viroqua, Wisconsin. 
Calvin Morris provided quiet leadership alongside a number of pillars of the Civil Rights Movement. In 1967, he was tapped by the Rev. Jesse Jackson to become the associate director and national coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Operation Breadbasket, now the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. As executive director of Atlanta’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change from 1973 to 1976, Morris was again associated with SCLC as he worked directly with Coretta Scott King. Morris was the guest preacher at the 1974 service at Ebenezer Baptist Church during which an assassin killed Alberta King, the mother of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Morris was born on March 16, 1941, to Dorothy Lee Morris and Abner Williams in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Meade Elementary School and Vaux Junior High School and was awarded a partial scholarship to Friends Select High School, a private Quaker school known for its high standards. One of two black students in his class, Morris graduated with honors in 1959. He then went on to Lincoln University in Oxford, Pennsylvania, graduating cum laude in 1963 with a B.A. in history. While a student at Lincoln, Morris joined the Omega Psi Phi fraternity and remained connected to his “Que” brothers throughout his life. At Boston University, he earned an M.A. in history in 1964 and an S.B.T. in theology in 1967. Morris was also ordained in the United Methodist Church.
He had a distinguished career in academia, first serving as coordinator of the African American Studies Program at Simmons College in Boston. In 1976, he began a sixteen-year professional association with Howard University’s School of Divinity during which he worked as Director of Ministries to Church and Society, Director of Field Education and associate professor of pastoral theology.
Morris earned his Ph.D. in American history from Boston University in 1982. He was executive vice president of Academic Services and academic dean at Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta from 1992 to 1998. After leaving university life, he became executive director of Chicago’s Community Renewal Society (CRS) in 1998. At CRS, Morris presided over two publications, a staff of forty-seven and a budget of $4.5 million. He retired in 2012.
Morris married Judith Anne Kolb in 1966 in Boston, and they had two children together, Dorothy (Dodie) Rebecca Morris and Rachel Elaine Morris, both born in Chicago. Godfather and mentor to many, Morris adored children and doted on his grandchildren, Miranda and Zach, near whom he would live in the years after his Alzheimer's diagnosis until his death.
Known by many as “Doc,” “Rev,” or his childhood nickname “Mousy,” Morris was revered for his sonorous singing voice, generous heart, joyful spirit, bright smile and love of books and reading. An avid champion of the arts, Morris attended numerous concerts, plays and movies, collected local artwork, and enjoyed dancing, taking long walks in the sunshine, and talking with strangers on trains about history and life.
A life-long activist, Morris remained involved in the community, whether attending political and social events, or singing with friends around town, at Bethel Oaks or his dining room table, always dressed to the nines from his straw hat down to his polished leather shoes. A true people-person, he would spend countless hours on the phone with cherished family and friends, keeping up to date on growing families and the latest news.
Morris is survived by daughter Dorothy (Dodie) Morris Whitaker, son-in-law Vincent (Gino) Whitaker, ex-wife Judith Kolb Morris, grandchildren Miranda Rachel and Zachary Henry Morris Whitaker, brother Bernard Richardson and “Number-One Cousin” Barbara Hulin Woods, in addition to countless other cousins, nieces, nephews, Godchildren and friends.
He was preceded in death by his youngest daughter Rachel (1971-1994), a devastating loss to their family, as well as mother Dorothy Lee Morris, father Abner Williams, grandmother Ida Lydia Morris, brother Bobby and sister Glenderline.
There will be a celebration of life in Chicago in March 2024. Memorial donations may be made to a favorite charitable institution.
The Roth Family Cremation Center and Funeral Services is assisting the family.
Pastor, Part-Time, Mainline Protestant: Hyannis, MA,
The Federated Church of Hyannis, MA, a mainline Protestant congregation, is seeking a part-time Pastor. (20 hours)
Salary Range: $51,000 - $56,000
Responsibilities to include;
1. Sunday Worship
2. Member visitations
3. Occasional Bible Studies/Adult Christian Ed.
(Weddings, Funerals, Community Services, if available, would be paid in addition to the above at rates fixed by the Church.)
Church website: www.federatedchurch.org
Church Facebook: www.facebook.com/federatedchurchhyannis
To apply for the position, please send a resume and contact information to:
Office Administrator
The Federated Church of Hyannis
320 Main Street
Hyannis, MA 02601
Or email same to:
info@federatedchurch.org
Interim Youth Group Co-Leader, Part-Time, Unitarian: Winchester, MA
The Interim Youth Group Co-Leader (I-YGCL) will assist the current Assistant Director of Youth Ministries (ADYM) in planning and leading the Society’s programs serving youth in grades 9 through 12 during the Director of Youth and Children's Ministries (DYCM) 5 month sabbatical. The Winchester Unitarian Society (WUS) has a rich tradition of youth ministry through acceptance, respect, and service to others. The I-YGCL assists with energy, inspiration, creativity, fun, flexibility and compassion. The Winchester Unitarian Society Youth Group (WUSYG) is a youth group focused on social justice and service with 20-40 youth per year that come from WHS and high schools from surrounding communities. This position will run from November 1, 2023 through March 24, 2024, approximately 18 weeks at 4 hours per week, $20/hour, plus optional additional hours for events including but not limited to sleepovers, fundraisers, and worship services. To apply, please send a resume and a brief email expressing interest and providing a brief overview of background and experience.
Additional Information: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KazU-YDqvLIBiW4fpEO5Hfr90UzgZ6E8Mw0vENSsIBg/edit?usp=sharing