We Shall Not Forget Them

Norm,

Like you, I can only speculate about why the graves are there. When I took the photos this year in early March, the two adjectives I would use to describe the graveyard would be beautiful and evocative. amdg. bill 

Now this is a website I never heard of!

Thanks, Crystal, bill

Your photos are lovely, Bill, and make one wish they could visit the site to honor the Jesuits buried there.  I especially like the photo of the chefs-to-be enjoying a meal in the former chapel under symbols of our spiritual food, the Eucharist.  Both foods for the journey as you say.  We can be grateful for the wisdom of the Jesuits who maintained ownership and control over the cemetery and Our Lady of the Way chapel and the CIA for its part in maintaining this treasure.  This aft. I thought about this as I was viewing an art exhibit  of contremporary art works of local Native Americans.  The theme of much of the exhibit was the devastation of Native Americans via alcoholism, drug use, poverty and violence.  Theirs is an ongoing struggle with their culture and religious faith often at odds with "progress" in the larger community.  One of their most sacred beliefs has to do with honoring their dead in holy ground.  And this belief has come into conflict here over the need for a dam......progress in a drought prone county ....and the discovery of Indian bones and artifacts in the area where the dam is to be built.  How does one resolve such conflicts??  These are painful decisions that have to be made and thankfully, one that was avoided by the Jesuits and CIA!

Janice,

The arrangement between the Culinary Institute of America and the Jesuits is one that is win/win for each group. The agreement is a credit to everyone involved and the photos would lack their appealing beauty if the Culinary Institute had not provided generous funds (millions, I suspect) because otherwise there would have been the deterioration seen in too many Catholic buildings sold to other groups. And neither the Jesuits nor the Catholic Church could have afforded the restorations that occurred over many years. So I hope readers of AMERICA will support the Culinary Institute, and make reservations for one of their truly ambrosial meals when in or near Poughkeepsie.

Thanks for giving us another reminder of the strong emotions evoked by burials-Norm Costa made some insightful comments about this, too.

In following the news this week, the highly tense deliberations over the possibility of building a Mosque and Islamic Center near Ground Zero brought out many raw and powerful emotions. bill 

I don't know if the caption to your post was intended to be ironic, but it seems somewhat sad to me that the Jesuits were not disinterred when the seminary changed hands and then reinterred in another Jesuit cemetery. Perhaps this was not possible for various reasons, or perhaps the order never considered moving its deceased (thinking that Teilhard and his companions are again missionaries at what has become a secular institution), but if you know anything about why the cemetery remains at the CIA, I'd be interested in hearing about it. Thx.   

No irony. We couldn't get some of my photos up here. I've created a blog to honor the Jesuits as well as the beautiful work the Culinary has done to preserve the heritage:

http://jesuitseminarydays.blogspot.com/2010/04/one-of-windows-recently-refinished.html

Sadly, this has been up for months with hardly any visitors!

The Culinary has done a painstaking job of preserving the Jesuit heritage and tradition, something they weren't required to do. The Chapel ceiling was redone by the same restoration firm that redid Grand Central station. There are still pelicans and symbols of the Eucharist on the inner dome 60 feet above where the altar used to be.

The Jesuit Martyrs are remembered in a series of stained glass windows that were sent out for artistic restoration-again, by the Culinary Institute of America.

The Academic Dean is a psychologist who has a Ph.D. from Fordham!

Please, check out the blog and let me know what you think:

http://jesuitseminarydays.blogspot.com/2010/04/one-of-windows-recently-refinished.html

bill 

p.s. Here is a word from Gerald Blaszczak, S.J., who attended St. Andrews. I offer it not as a review of my own little project but as encouragement for others to remember these great men:


I wish to say a simple but heartfelt word of thanks to my friend of many years, Bill van Ornum, for keeping alive in our minds and hearts this special patch of ground. May the images and words and memories shared give us hope and courage to live today in the spirit of the men who built St. Andrew-on-Hudson.

It is good to visit the great men who were called to eternity after a fruitful accomplishment of their task here on earth. The Jesuits who were buried on the holy-ground of St. Andrews (now the CIA) including that great “brain”, Teilhard de Chardin whom we studied in our philosophy formation years, need to be honored by all. A visit to the graves of these great and holy men of God by all and sundry, most especially the new generation, will help instill some sense of enthusiasm, zeal and urge in them to strive to be like them in the future. Thank you Bill.

I wonder how many buried at the now-CIA are FBI?

Sorry Jim, no FBI, NSA, NIA, HS, etc-have to be Company, either this one

www.companymagazine.org/

or the other one

https://www.cia.gov/

LOL bvo 

Whenever I go to the CIA I always go the the students dining room(the old chapel) and am always inspired. The cemetery particularly Teillard"s bring back old memories of philosophy and theology classes at Fordham and the wisdom of a man of science and faith.

Thanks for the link to your blog honoring the Jesuits of St. Andrew's. It is remarkable that the CIA is working so hard to preserve the Jesuit history of the former seminary. One hopes such an attitude will continue when, inevitably, the buildings and grounds change hands again. Thank you for this post. It's always worthwhile to learn something new and to have one's preconceptions challenged. 

Thanks for getting the discussion going. When I moved out here, I was very surprised, too, at what the Culinary had done. Sometimes those old buildings carry many memories. Loyola in Chicago is tearing down Damen Hall, where I studied-when I heard this, I was surprised to discover how much the old building meant to me. best, bill

Norm,

I'm going to get the book you recommend. Glad that Continuum is publishing this good work, it was a great honor for me to serve as an acquisitions editor for them in the 1980s and 1990s. They are good folks. bill 

Dear Dr. Ryan:

Thank you for reading this blog and responding.

I have had many wonderful lunches and dinners at the Culinary.

I particularly admire the discipline and attitude of helpfulness that you inspire in chefs-to-be.

All of us who have benefitted from Jesuit education are thankful for all you have done to keep the Jesuit Tradition and Heritage alive.

Gratefully,

William Van Ornum, Ph.D.
Full Professor of Psychology
MARIST COLLEGE
 

Nice photos at the blog!  I noticed they have him at Find-a-Grave too  :) ....
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GScid=1532807&GRid=6725251&