Alumni News
Sister Mary T. Quinn, D.Min., (STH ’85, ’96)
Sister Mary T. Quinn, 73, beloved member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, died in Springfield on November 14, 2021. Born in Cumberland, RI she was the daughter of David L. and Florence V. (Carr) Quinn.
Sr. Mary served as President of the Sisters of St. Joseph from 2005 – 2011. She also served as Director of Vocations, Coordinator of Initial Formation, and Vice President of the Congregation. She taught at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart in Springfield and at St. Joseph Central High School in Pittsfield. She also worked in Student Services at Elms College and as a therapist at the Berkshire Counseling Center. Sr. Mary worked at the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department holding a variety of positions over the many years she served there.
Sister Mary was preceded in death by her parents. In addition to her Sisters in community, Mary leaves to mourn her loss, three brothers and a sister; David and Ann Quinn, Stephen Quinn, Elizabeth and Marc Quinn-Lacroix, and Kevin and Marie Quinn .She also leaves several generations of loving nephews and a niece, as well as a host of grateful students, dear colleagues and special friends who will forever remember the warmth of Mary’s laughter.
All services for Sr. Mary will take place on Friday, November 19, 2021 at Sacred Heart Church in Springfield. The Wake will be held from 9:15 to 10:45 am with a prayer service at 10:00 am. The Liturgy of Christian Burial will follow at 11:00 am. Burial will be in Mont Marie Cemetery in Holyoke.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Sisters of St. Joseph, 577 Carew St., Springfield, MA 01104.
Arrangements entrusted to the Sampson Family Chapels.
Rev. Glenn W. Martin (STH ’54)
Glenn W. Martin, age 97, passed away peacefully on November 17, 2021. He is preceded in death by his parents, William and Mabel, wife, Margaret, second wife, Jeanne, and daughter, Deborah.Glenn was known for his writing, including articles for local newspapers and church publications, radio, television, short stories, and educational curriculum for church schools, confirmation training, and church camps. He was very proud of the seven books of short stories that he wrote and published. He also conducted Bible studies, small group leadership programs, and retreats.
After retirement in 1987, he returned to his love of music as a drummer in many musical groups, and enjoyed time with family and friends. He also did freelance writing and speaking, and taught senior study classes.
Glenn was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and friend, and his spirit lives on in the hearts of those who knew and loved him. He is survived by daughters, Christine (John) Dartt, Carol Hendricks, Judith (Gene) Kovacs, and Jane (Brian) Rethlake; grandchildren, Amy, Jason, Justin, Leah, Amber, Jenny, Josh, and Jessica, and many great-grandchildren.
A Service of Remembrance will be held, Friday, 12/10 at 10 AM, Centennial Methodist Church, 1524 County Rd C2 W, Roseville. No visitation will be held. Interment will be at Fort Snelling. Memorials are preferred to UMCOR, Heifer International, and Feed My Starving Children. Washburn-McReavy Funeral Home, 612-781-6828.
Dr. Joseph A. Perez (STH ’55)
Dr. Joseph A. Perez (STH '55) passed away on 11/15/2021 .
Mrs. Patricia McNeil (STH ’67)
Patricia Ray McNeil, 78, of Greensboro, NC, passed away at home on November 9, 2021, surrounded by loved ones as she left her body behind and returned to universal energy.Excited about the changing opportunities for women in the 1960's, Pat became a leader at Florida Southern University, where she was president of the Women's Student Government Association and her sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta, graduating in 1965.
Following college, Pat married and moved to Boston where she earned a master's in Christian education from Boston University School of Theology. Although she was interested in the ministry, women were unable to be ordained in the United Methodist Church at the time. She worked with the YWCA in metropolitan Boston before moving to Hartford, Connecticut, where she mothered two daughters and deepened her interest in Quakerism. In 1973, Pat moved to Winston-Salem, NC and married Bill McNeil, expanding a relationship that started as a friendship in Hartford and grew into a 48-year love affair.
Pat had a long career in executive leadership and development work. In Winston-Salem, Pat served as the first director of the Forsyth County Council on the Status of Women. As executive director of the Winston-Salem YWCA in the 1970's, she oversaw a merger of racially-separate YW's into a unified organization and guided the YWCA through a building campaign, allowing the YWCA to continue its independence and focus on women, and cultivating administrative and fundraising skills that she carried with her through the next stages of her career. She served in the development office of Guilford College, guiding campaigns that led to the construction of the Frank Family Science Center, the Hege Library and Weller Gallery. Pat continued her fundraising career at the NC School of the Arts, the Childrens Museum in Raleigh, which later became the Marbles Kids Museum, and the Environmental Defense Fund. Following retirement, Pat and Bill settled in Greensboro, where they renewed friendships and membership in New Garden Friends Meeting.
Pat had a deep spiritual, intellectual and loving partnership with her devoted husband Bill. She loved her daily phone calls with her sister, found joy in her two daughters and grandchildren, and loved holiday celebrations with family. She was an avid reader, and loved engaging conversations from the state of the world, to politics, to spirituality, to art.
Pat leaves behind her husband of 48 years, Bill McNeil; her sister Peggy Kinder of Gold Canyon, AZ; her daughters Kristie Bailey of Pretoria, South Africa, and Angie Bailey of Raleigh, NC; three grandchildren, Annah Bruno Bailey of Wilmington, NC, Leah Kaifan Bailey of Greensboro, NC, and Jacob Renk of Raleigh, NC; as well as Jacob's father Scott Renk; and her first husband, Raleigh Bailey of Greensboro, NC.
With the commitment of her husband, Pat was able to remain at home during her last year in declining health. Our family expresses deep gratitude to Hospice AuthoraCare of Greensboro, especially to Maura and Shirley Ann for their care during this time.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m., November 20, at New Garden Friends Meeting, to remember Pat's presence in our lives and to share the Light that was within her and within all of us, surrounding us with a loving energy that flows from generation to generation.
Instead of flowers, people may make memorial gifts by contributing to the Guilford College Forward Fund (5800 West Friendly Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27410) or the Piedmont Land Conservancy (1515 W. Cornwallis Drive, #205, Greensboro, NC 27408).
Rev. Donald S. Worth, (STH’70)
This obituary was originally published by Tribune Review on Dec. 2, 2021, and can be found here.Dr. Dorothy G. Rogers (STH ’91) Publishes “Women Philosophers”: A Two Volume Set About the History of Women in American Philosophy
Women Philosophers: Education and Activism in Nineteenth-Century America
Illuminating a significant moment in the development of both American and feminist philosophical history, this book explores the pioneering thought of the women in the early American Idealist movement and outgrowths of it in the late-nineteenth century.
Dorothy Rogers specifically examines the ideas of women who entered philosophical discourse through education and social activism. She begins by discussing innovative educators, some of whom were members of the influential Idealist movement in St. Louis, Missouri in the eighteen-sixties and seventies. She then looks at the ideas and impact of women who were independent scholars and social and political activists. Throughout the volume, Rogers explores how Idealist thought developed, matured, and was transformed over time – across lines of race, culture, and socio-economic class. Several of the women discussed were ardent feminists and activists: Mary Church Terrell, Anna C. Brackett, Grace C. Bibb, Ana Roqué, Ellen M. Mitchell, Lucia Ames Mead, Jane Addams, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Luisa Capetillo.
By providing exciting new insights into the work of these early women philosophers and introducing the next generation of women who shared the same ideals and influences, Rogers deftly elucidates the genealogy of women's thought as it developed across North America.
Click here or the book cover to get your copy of Women Philosophers.
Women Philosophers, volume 2: Entering Academia in Nineteenth-Century America
Tackling the intellectual histories of the first twenty women to earn a PhD in philosophy in the United States, this book traces their career development and influence on American intellectual life. The case studies include Eliza Ritchie, Marietta Kies, Julia Gulliver, Anna Alice Cutler, Eliza Sunderland, and many more. Editor Dorothy Rogers looks at the factors that led these women to pursue careers in academic philosophy, examines the ideas they developed, and evaluates the impact they had on the academic and social worlds they inhabited.
Many of these women were active in professional academic circles, published in academic journals, and contributed to important philosophical discussions of the day: the question of free will, the nature of God in relation to self, and how to establish a just society. The most successful women earned their degrees at women-friendly institutions, yet a handful of them achieved professional distinction at institutions that refused to recognize their achievements at the time; John Hopkins and Harvard are notable examples.
The women who did not develop careers in academic philosophy often moved to careers in social welfare or education. Thus, whilst looking at the academic success of some, this book also examines the policies and practices that made it difficult or impossible for others to succeed.
Click here or the book cover to get your copy of Women Philosophers Volume II from Dr. Rogers.
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Dr. Dorothy G. Rogers (STH '91) is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion at Montclair State University, USA, teaching interdisciplinary courses on women, religion, ethics, and political thought.
BUSTH Announces Faculty Publications for December 2021
The School of Theology is pleased to announce the following faculty publications for the month of December 2021:
- Jonathan Calvillo
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“Religión comunitaria y opiniones divergentes del barrio” in Formas de creer en la ciudad. Edited by Hugo José Suárez, Karina Bárcenas Barajas, and Cecilia Delgado-Molina. Published by UNAM.
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- David Schnasa Jacobsen
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“Ephobounto Gar: Fear, Wisdom, and the Homiletical-Theological Task of Speaking Gospel in Crisis Situations.” Essay. In Shouting above the Noisy Crowd Biblical Wisdom and the Urgency Of Preaching, 63–72. CASCADE BOOKS, 2021.
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Introduction to the Essays of the Consultation on Exploring Intercultural Instructional Communication for Homiletical Pedagogy”. Homiletic 46 (2):4-5. https://vurj.vanderbilt.edu/index.php/homiletic/article/view/5219
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Jacobsen, David Schnasa. 2021. “Un-Mastering Homiletics Interculturally: Gospel, Belonging, and Communion for In-Class Sermon Feedback”. Homiletic 46 (2):41-47. https://vurj.vanderbilt.edu/index.php/homiletic/article/view/5223
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Jacobsen, D. S. (2021). Tito Madrazo, Predicadores: Hispanic Preaching and Immigrant Identity. Homiletic, 46(2), 75-76. Retrieved from https://vurj.vanderbilt.edu/index.php/homiletic/article/view/5237
- as Guest Editor. Homiletic 46 (2). https://vurj.vanderbilt.edu/index.php/homiletic/issue/view/237
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- Mary Elizabeth Moore
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“The Hidden Force of Gender and Sexuality,” Religious Education, October 2021 in online pre-publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00344087.2021.1985758
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- Steven Sandage, et al
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James Tomlinson, Steven J. Sandage, Peter J. Jankowski & Laura E. Captari (2021). Religious diversity and well-being in positive psychology: implications for clinical practice, Counseling Psychology Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/09515070.2021.2001312
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Captari, L. E., Sandage, S. J., & Vandiver, R. A. (2021). Spiritually integrated psychotherapies in real-world clinical practice: Synthesizing the literature to identify best practices and future research directions. Psychotherapy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000407
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- Wanda Stahl
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Healing Our Divide with the Non-Human World: Theological Foundations and Pedagogical Practices within the Wild Church Network, Religious Education, DOI: 10.1080/00344087.2021.2003079
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A Message from Dean Pak: Thanksgiving 2021
Beloved Community,
A little over a month ago, you may recall, Boston University officially celebrated the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day. This—along with the addition of Juneteenth to the holiday calendar—are among critical steps taken to better honor a diversity of persons and experiences. Such actions also help acknowledge gaps or even inaccuracies in the ways histories have often been named.
Thanksgiving is another one of these holidays with a troubled history. While the holiday is loosely based upon real events, the constructed Thanksgiving tale conceals a larger painful history. Native Americans have objected to the holiday for many years. Particularly as the global health pandemic has acutely illuminated historic racial inequities, there is an even greater call to name problematic histories. As one author writes, “The holiday arrives in the midst of a national struggle over racial justice, and a pandemic that has landed with particular force on marginalized communities of color. The crises have fueled an intense re-examination of the roots of persistent inequities in American life.”
Moreover, many may not be aware that Native American communities are among those most hard hit by the health pandemic. Last year, a New York Times article reported that Native American populations in Phoenix have been affected by COVID-19 at four times the rate of the white population. Similarly, Native Americans in New Mexico (who comprise only 9% of the state’s population) accounted for forty percent of cases of the virus.
Now, I imagine you might be groaning at this point either because I am interrogating a beloved tradition or simply because you are tired—utterly exhausted!—and you just want to have a fun and restful holiday away. I get it, and I’m sorry.
There is need always to make time for intentional gratitude. Cultivating a posture of gratitude is one of the most powerful tools to promote health and wellness, hope and healing. May you find beautiful, life-giving time to remember and express deep thanks for the many experiences, resources, and people who have blessed your life and supported you in your journey.
Hold in remembrance, as well, current Native American communities and the continued profound racial and health inequities they face.
I also invite you to reflect and celebrate differently this year. Some reflections to consider include: How does the health pandemic make you think differently about Thanksgiving? Hold a time of silent remembrance of the history of Native Americans in this country. You might use the Native Land digital map tool to search about the history of the land on which your home or neighborhood resides. Hold in remembrance, as well, current Native American communities and the continued profound racial and health inequities they face. What might you do in response? I invite you, as well, to consider cultivating practices of environmental justice to foster a more waste-free Thanksgiving holiday.
As a community committed to social justice, there is need to be open to inconvenient, hard disruptions of usual practices. I truly wish for you a day of rest and gratitude. And, I hope we as community will foster practices that seek to name histories honestly and continue actively to seek justice and wholeness for marginalized communities.
G. Sujin Pak, dean
Women Need More Than Your Affirmation by Laura Ellis (STH’21)
This article was originally published on the Baptist News Global, and the full article can be found here.
A networking community called The Pastor’s Common, whose council is made up entirely of men, drafted three resolutions for the Baptist General Convention of Texas on advocating for leadership among young ministers, unity across divides and the affirmation of women.
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I admit that I agree with every word in the “affirmation of women” resolution. Yes, let’s affirm women’s value and recognize their contributions to the kingdom of God. Women, like all people, deserve to be affirmed, seen and valued. But let’s not confuse this with what women really need.
Women need spaces where they are affirmed with more than lip-service and given the opportunity to thrive and flourish.
Women need spaces where they are not diminished because of their gender.
Women need spaces that earnestly embody the truth that women are made in the image of God just like men are.
Women need spaces where they can be more than props to a smokescreen version of equality and equity.
Women need spaces where they can fully live into the person their Creator made them to be.
Women need spaces where they are safe to work and minister without fear of being assaulted or abused.
Women need spaces where they can live out their God-given calling to lead, to love, to minister, to preach and to serve.
These kinds of spaces are far too rare.
Read the full article here.
Laura Ellis is the project manager for Baptist Women in Ministry. She is a former Clemons Fellow with BNG and previously served in ministry with Safe Havens Interfaith Partnership against Domestic Violence and Elder Abuse. She lives in Texas and earned a master of divinity degree from Boston University School of Theology.
Associate Dean Bryan Stone Mentioned in Christian Daily Article on Pastor ‘Burnout’
The following is an excerpt from the article “38% Of Protestant Pastors Want To Quit Due To ‘Significant Burnout,’” by Olivia Cavallaro, published on November 17, 2021 by Christian Daily. Read the full article here. Associate Dean Stone’s profile is found here.
The Christian Century magazine editor Rev. Peter Marty remarked that the COVID pandemic made a challenging situation even more difficult and stressful for pastors in the last couple of years. Rev. Marty, who also serves as a senior pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Davenport, Iowa, explained that even before the COVID pandemic, the church had already been going through some “remarkable” changes.
On top of that, the COVID pandemic “introduced a whole new ste [sic] of stresses,” for a lot of clergy who “suddenly found themselves unavoidably becoming online content creators and video producers.” These church leaders, who were used to in-person ministry, found it challenging to be isolated in their new role.
Meanwhile, Boston University’s School of Theology associate dean of academic affairs and Church of Nazarene pastor Rev. Brian P. Stone cited a new “consumer” attitude among churchgoers that made it difficult for pastors to carry out their jobs. He remarked that churchgoers nowadays expect a “megachurch” type of experience in small town congregations with just some 50 or so people.