What our faculty are saying ...

The following remarks are from Jason Pierce, Ph.D., given at the 2004 Chaminade Scholar Brunch. Dr. Pierce is an assistant professor in the UD Department of Political Science.

Welcoming Remarks
August 22, 2004

I want to extend a special welcome to the current and new Chaminade Scholars as well as their parents. As a faculty member I’m honored to be here and excited about what the coming year has in store. I’ve had the privilege of serving on the selection committee for the Chaminade Scholars for the last two years. To the 2004 Chaminade Scholars: hearty congratulations. I’ve got to tell you how much you impress us: your scholastic accomplishments, service to your communities, leadership in your schools, and your desire to intentionally integrate your faith into your collegiate experience are commendable. We are excited to have you on campus and in our classrooms.

I’d like to share a few thoughts with the incoming Chaminade Scholars: The 2002 Booker Prize for fiction went to Yann Martel’s book Life of Pi. Pi is a young boy from India whose father is a zoo keeper. The zoo in India ends up closing, so Pi, his family, and all of the zoo animals board a cargo ship for North America. The ship sinks in the middle of the Pacific and Pi is the only human survivor. The book tells of Pi’s adventures on a life boat, which he shares with a hyena, zebra, orangutan, and a 450-lb Bengal tiger. Now Pi has both Hindu and Christian family members, so one leitmotif is Pi’s struggle to understand these two religions. At one point Pi says the following about Christianity: Christianity is a religion in a rush. Look at the world created in seven days. Even on a symbolic level, that’s creation in a frenzy. To one born into [Hinduism] where the battle for a single soul can be a relay race over many centuries, with innumerable generations passing along the baton, the quick resolution of Christianity has a dizzying effect. If Hinduism flows placidly like the Ganges River, then Christianity bustles like Toronto at rush hour. It is a religion as swift as a swallow, as urgent as an ambulance. It turns on a dime, expresses itself in the instant. In a moment, you are lost or saved. Christianity stretches back through the ages, but in essence it exists only at one time: right now. I think Pi captured a quality to the Christian walk: that there are times in our personal faith journeys when God moves in our hearts and minds in a rush, a frenzy ... swift as a swallow.

Having read the Chaminade Scholar applications, I’m confident that each scholar could recall occasions when a faith moment rushed upon them. Maybe it popped up at an unexpected time, from an unlikely source, in an unconventional way. Maybe a faith moment rushed into your life during a time of personal reflection or study, during a retreat, or a service project. Whenever and however it happened, what’s so compelling about you, the Chaminade Scholars, is that each of you responded in thought, word, and deed. I want to first encourage you to be on the lookout for those faith moments during your time at UD. I hope they will occur. They may rush upon you. Second, your four years at UD also will rush by. UD can be frenzied, so you need to be intentional. Make the friends, take the classes, join the groups that will enable you to better understand and respond to the needs of our world. Let me also encourage you to be intentional in grappling with the questions and issues in your faith journey that may confound or frustrate you. You’ve got the time now to do that. The resources and people are also available. I’ll let you in on a secret: the faculty love to draw alongside students when they grapple with the big stuff, the big questions.

Finally, while Pi captured a rushed quality to the Christian experience, you know that it is a lifelong journey. So don’t lose sight of what each of you, in your own unique way, conveyed in your applications: a desire to explore vocation. In many ways, you’ve got a leg up. You know that your college education is about more than getting a job; it’s more than just a career; you know that this life is about more than just accumulating toys, power, and influence.Be steadfast in that pursuit, particularly over the next four years. You’ll confront all sorts of distractions—some worthy, many not. But be steadfast. We’re honored to share this important stage of the journey with you and await the remarkable, compelling, beautiful, and compassionate things that will mark your years at UD.

Thank you and I wish you all the best.