To read the full copy of text, click on the pdf file below. The Editor's Note has been included here to whet your appetite for the wisdom contained in this issue of Marianist Soundings.
Editor's Note
“New times call for new ways.”
Yes, this Marianist saying, adapted from Blessed Chaminade’s wisdom, is sometimes overused and cliché, but at NACMS we truly have found ourselves in new times, and this issue of Marianist Soundings is a first fruit of our new ways. Cheerfully, and at times reluctantly, we have crossed the digital divide and increased our use of technology and digital publishing. A new website devoted to digital documents might not seem like a grand leap forward, but for those of us in the “print” business—lovers of the written word and physical books—it is as if Neil Armstrong first bounded on the moon, with one small step forward and one giant leap into something unknown.
Yet printing and shipping costs and the expansion of technology in society have ushered in a new era in publishing.
So, let us know your thoughts about our new endeavor and share your own musings or fears related to this shift to digital printing and computer-oriented information. We’d love to hear from you, as Marianist Soundings is to be just that . . . a sounding board into issues relevant to Marianists.
This issue of Marianist Soundings focuses on education and explores ways that we Marianists educate through word and action. In “Marianist Family Spirit: Developing a Culture of Home,” George J. Cerniglia, SM, with assistance from Stephen Glodek, SM, examines education via four traits of a culture of home: knowing how to listen, knowing how to welcome, knowing how to be equal and inclusive, and knowing how to hope and to love.
In “Working at a Marianist University and Embracing the Role of Educator” Joan McGuinness Wagner ponders how Mary educated Jesus and plumbs the depths of former Superior General David J. Fleming’s 2003 circular on education. Referring to this circular, she states, “Although his letter was directed to vowed members of the Society of Mary, it has implications for all who work in the field of education, those inside and outside the classroom. The early Marianists, as well as contemporary Marianists, embraced the belief that we are all invited to be educators, teaching through example and knowledge.”
Capping off this edition is Joanne Beirise’s book review of The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister. It is a sobering reminder that in the latter years of life our spirituality is shaped by the experiences that we’ve had, the burdens and blessings that come with years, and the hunger of the human heart to be intimately connected with God.
May God’s love and kindness shine brightly upon your face throughout all your years and all the ways you educate.
Daniel M. Jordan
Editor
