FA CULT Y P ROF I L E
You were born in China and raised in
Japan. Why was your family living in
Japan?
My mother went to China as a mis-
sion nurse in 1947, where she worked
at the University of Chengdu in Sich-
uan. My father followed her to China
two years later as a Protestant mission-
ary. They met in Hong Kong and were
married in St. John’s (Anglican) Cathe-
dral. They worked together in Chengdu,
where I was born.
Dorothy McCammon’s book, We Tried
to Stay, describes what happened to them
after the Maoist takeover. They witnessed
how those identified with the former
regime were lined up in a park and dis-
patched, one at a time, one bullet to the
back of the head. Eventually all mission-
aries had to leave, and my parents went
to Japan to continue their mission work.
How did growing up in the Japanese
culture affect the development of your
faith? What was it like for you to
return to the United States for your
post-graduate studies?
Growing up in Japan showed me
that my parents’ mission work was not
about trying to impose American cul-
ture on the Japanese, since in many ways
Japanese culture was more refined than
ours. My university studies in Tokyo
gave me a great respect for the depth of
Buddhism and Japanese literature. Yet
something Japan did not have was “the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins
of the world”; and I knew that’s why my
parents were there.
The first time I clearly remember re-
turning to the States was when I was
nine. It took me three months before
I could eat sugary American deserts.
I still loathe cake but love sushi. While
I have learned to enjoy many things
about America, I still sometimes catch
myself feeling a bit like an alien, like
I am not quite “one of us.”
What brought you to Sacred Heart
Major Seminary? How is SHMS
different from the other institutions
where you have taught in the past?
In 1993, after a great deal of reading
and reflection, I became a Catholic.
I was teaching at a Lutheran university
and wanted to serve the Catholic Church.
In 2006, my friend Eduardo Echeverria
informed me about an opening at SHMS,
and I began teaching here in 2007. I took
a slight cut in salary to come here, but
I have never regretted the move. I love our
seminarians and enjoy teaching them.
I also appreciate that philosophy is valued
in Catholic seminaries, in ways that it is
not in many other institutions.
How does a study of philosophy
enhance our Catholic spirituality?
Philosophy provides our seminar-
ians with a foundation, lacking in most
Protestant seminaries, which equips
them with tools for understanding the
world so that they understand not only
what the Church teaches, but why that
teaching makes sense and is rationally
defensible. By learning philosophy, they
are not stuck with appealing to Church
authority, but are equipped to explain
by means of rational arguments why
Church teaching makes good sense.
What do you hope seminarians take
from their classes with you as they
leave the seminary and begin their
lives as priests?
I hope they embrace a life of disci-
plined reading and acquire the habit of
thoughtful reflection in order to avoid
uncritically accepting the cultural and
intellectual fads of our times. Fr. Ser-
tillanges’s The Intellectual Life is a good
guide. I hope they learn to appreciate
the rich resources found in our Catholic
traditions of literature, music, arts, law,
liturgy, theology and spirituality.
You have studied and written quite
a bit on Max Scheler and have been
the acting secretary and webmaster
for the Max Scheler Society of North
America. What draws you to Scheler’s
work?
Scheler was a major influence on
many Catholic thinkers like St. Edith
Stein, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and St.
John Paul II. These thinkers offer in-
teresting new ways of supplementing the
rich Thomistic heritage that Catholics
have in their philosophical tradition.
What inspired you to publish an English
translation of H.G. Stoker’s Conscience:
Phenomena and Theories?
Stoker, a Calvinist, originally wrote that
work as a dissertation under Scheler in the
1920s, when Scheler was considered the
leading philosopher in Europe. Scheler,
a Catholic convert, considered Stoker’s
dissertation a brilliant example of applied
phenomenology and probably the single
most comprehensive philosophical treat-
ment of conscience in any language.
What other projects are you working on?
What would be a dream project for you?
I am working on an article on Immanuel
Kant’s ethical “formalism,” as well as a con-
ference presentation next year on Scheler
and Stoker. More recently, I have found my-
self fascinated by the history of Glossolalia,
which I plan to research in greater depth. A
more longer-term research interest since be-
coming a Catholic has been the debates over
the liturgical changes following Vatican II.
I am intrigued by the surge of interest in the
ancient form of the Roman liturgy sparked
since Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontifi-
cum in 2007, especially among young people.
What is something people would be
surprised to know about you?
In Argentina I learned to love dancing
the Tango, but I haven’t had much oppor-
tunity to pursue this interest in Detroit. I’m
also fluent in Japanese and have 14 grand-
children.
What else would you like to share about
yourself or about your Catholic faith with
Mosaic readers?
I love the Faith. I love the Church. I am
saddened by the confusion experienced
and expressed by so many Catholics at the
current state of the Church. I wish more
Catholics (and Protestants!) realized the
wealth of spiritual resources that Catholic
tradition has to offer, that the Church isn’t
just the Church of this or that pontificate,
but the Church of a whole train of thou-
sands of saints and Catholic heroes and
common folk who have gone before us.
I love the painting by Jean-François Millet
entitled “The Angelus.” It exemplifies—like
the ancient hymn, the “Te Deum”—the
soul-sustaining timelessness of the Faith.
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