![]() What conspired to suggest that decision? i) Given my age and my ongoing treatment for cancer, this is probably not a good time to launch out into a new mission ii) my ministry and work for the past 15 years has been here so what makes the most practical sense is to simply continue here iii) the programs I most want to teach in are here in our Spirituality Institute iv) I am better resourced as a writer and theologian when I am in an academic milieu and being on faculty here provides that v) I am already directing a number of students in their PhD theses and do not want to abandon them vi) I am very much still responsible for our Forest-Dwelling program here which I believe is an important program and which I want to help thrive and grow vii) finally, and not least, I am living within a good Oblate community and working at a school which is doing important Oblate work. In discerning what I should do after stepping down as President here a number of signs converged to suggest that I stay here and continue to work at Oblate School of Theology. I am a two-time cancer survivor, still undergoing ongoing chemotherapy, so I leave it to God and the wonderful cancer specialists in South Texas to determine how long that will be. The plan is to stay here at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas, as long as my health permits me to be productive. I will, of course, continue to write my weekly column and plan a series of articles for The Tablet on “Chastity as our Lost Virtue”. The book will complete the trilogy of The Holy Longing and Sacred Fire. But the freedom from administrative tasks will afford me much more quality time to write and, beginning already next week, I will start to work on a book on what is asked of us in our autumn years and how, in the end, we are asked “to give our deaths away”. I will remain here at Oblate School of Theology as a full-time faculty member and will continue to teach within all three levels of our Spirituality Institute, particularly in our PhD program where I will also be directing theses. I will still be working, full-time, except no longer in administration. Not exactly, and not even close! I have stepped down as President, but not into retirement. What’s next for me? The word on the street is that I “have retired”. I am proud of where the school has grown to, and I am happy with what those fifteen years have brought into my own life in terms of Oblate community, Oblate ministry, friendships, opportunities for growth, and graces of every kind. ![]() The fifteen years here have been good years. ![]() I leave this office with a feeling of gratitude. I stepped down from that position last week, handing the keys of office to my successor, Dr. For the past 15 years, I have had both the privilege and the responsibility of being the President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. ![]()
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