I grew up in a house with lots of love but no religion of any kind. My oldest brother died at 10 years old a few years before I was born, and that experience of loss pulled my parents away from the Congregational church where they had previously been teachers and worshippers.
I was a faith seeker as a child, so curious about this God world I knew nothing about. I went to church with a Catholic friend when I could, but I knew very little about what it was all about. When I arrived at Westfield State College in 1981, I was very curious about Father John Dean and the brand-new Albert and Amelia Ferst Interfaith Center.
Father Dean was so popular on campus, and many of my friends attended the Interfaith Center regularly.
I very much wanted to accompany them, but it never occurred to me that I would be welcome. I thought you had to know something I didn’t know. I thought you had to believe something I didn’t believe. I somehow missed the open invitation in the Interfaith Center name.
I am reflecting on this lost opportunity because the Albert and Amelia Ferst Interfaith Center turns 35 this year, so I am taken back to its roots—and my roots. Leadership of the faith center is also in transition this year, and Father Dean, who officially retired several years ago but has been leading services and offering counsel regularly, is now joined by Father Warren Savage, the University’s new Catholic chaplain.
Alaina Leary ’15 has offered up stories both on Father Dean and Father Savage in this issue, on Page 18, and her story of Father Dean touched me in particular.
Originally a history teacher at Holyoke High School, Father Dean was later drawn to the priesthood and to campus ministry. He was Westfield State’s first permanent chaplain.
Alaina writes that she met Father Dean in the dining hall, and I, too, have so many memories of watching him interact with students, my friends, in the Scanlon Dining Hall. He was always laughing and smiling with students, sitting with them, taking meals together.
I was particularly struck by a story Father Dean told Alaina, which she recounts in her feature about him.
He said he was crossing the campus to get his mail in Parenzo Hall one day, when he was approached by a student who wanted some counsel. The student asked him when Father Dean was available to talk.
Father Dean offered himself up at that moment, prompting the young man to confess he was Jewish. “That doesn’t matter,” Father Dean said.
I wish I was not too young and naïve to understand that that same openness existed back when I was a student. I wish I understood that the whole mission of an interfaith center was to serve people of all faiths—people seeking a faith along with Catholics, Episcopalians, Jews, Muslims, etc.
My faith did grow up some while I was at Westfield State. I was a dancer in the Musical Theatre Guild’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar. While I have since learned what most everyone else knows about that musical—that the story is based on the Bible—it was sure a surprise to learn that back then.
I remember wishing I could take my thoughts and questions to Father Dean, but I was sure that because I wasn’t a Catholic, he wouldn’t want to spend his time with me. I can see clearly now how wrong I was.
So, on behalf of Fathers Dean and Savage, I offer up a welcome to the Interfaith Center. I offer to anyone with questions around faith, anyone who is seeking, anyone who is on a faith journey or looking for a faith home: Take what is on your mind to these compassionate men who are absolutely there for you.
The Interfaith Center is celebrating a landmark anniversary. It is there for faculty, staff, students. It is there for people of all faiths and no faith. Feel the invitation.
