Growth
and Change
1969 - 1970
Perhaps we should point
up here what is implicit in the description of the first two
years of The American Teilhard de Chardin Association, Inc. Many
brilliant academic and theological minds were contributing to
the spread of Teilhard's vision, but it was Minna Cassard's energy,
warmth, humor, and sense of style that gave shape to the Association
and unified it.
She gave a lot of time
to endless details. Great care went into choosing stationery
of good design, providing stemmed glasses rather than plastic
ones for the sherry to be offered to visitors, arranging to have
the new brochure designed by the Graphics Department of the Museum
of Modern Art, furnishing the office with a handsome Parsons
table in black marble formica made by a member's husband, and
handsome black and chrome stacking chairs purchased at a discount,
answering all letters promptly, and planning every detail of
the Annual Meetings. Needless to say, it was all accomplished
on the proverbial shoestring. Underneath the efficiency there
was a great religious dedication and if, at times, Minna could
seem bored or disappointed with the talks and discussions, and
a rather severe critic of any book that did not come up to the
standard of Teilhard's own work, it was because she herself had
delved deeply into the Christological meaning of his insights
and had little or no interest in the wide-ranging probings of
the modern intellect. If some scholars felt slighted, it was
also true that without Minna the center would not have held.
Actually, both strands were necessary to make an effective Association.
All too soon the still-young
association had to suffer departures of some of its most active
directors. Dr. Dansereau in July of 1968 was appointed Professor
of Ecology in the faculty of Environmental Design at the University
of Montreal, and he resigned as President. At the Second Annual
Meeting, held at Essex House in New York on April 26, 1969, Dr.
Theodosius Dobzhansky, the world famous geneticist of Rockefeller
University, replaced him. The annual speaker that year was Fr.
George Maloney, S.J., whose topic was "The Cosmic Christ
from St. Paul to Teilhard." Later that year Michael Murray
moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico, to work with Ivan Illich and to
become rector of the Episcopal Church there. Beatrice-Bruteau
went to North Carolina to continue her writing (she had a contract
to do her book on Teilhard and the Hindu Traditions) and
to set up her Philosophers' Exchange. The Rev. Pieter de Jong
replaced her as Second Vice-President. Another departure was
that of Advisory Board member, Dr. Melady,who went to Africa
as American Ambassador to Burundi.
If there were departures
there were also arrivals. Bernard Towers, M.D., Chairman of the
Executive Committee of the British Association, and one of the
editors of The Teilhard Study Library, returning to England
after a period of research work at the University of California,
stopped off in New York to give a public lecture in March of
1969. This was another link with the Association across the Atlantic
(Dr. Dobzhansky had already been elected a Vice-President of
their Association) and with Bernard Towers personally, for he
was to come onto our Advisory Board a few years later when he
moved permanently to California. His talk made evident to all
how he had successfully defended Teilhard against Sir Peter Medawar's
attack in the famous B.B.C. debate which had taken place a few
years earlier.
Two new members came
to the Board that year: Gertrud Mellon (a Trustee of the Museum
of Primitive Art and member of the International Council of the
Museum of Modern Art) who had become interested in Teilhard while
studying with Ewert Cousins at Fordham (indeed, she returned
to the Catholic Church as a result of reading Teilhard), and
Lauren Surget (of the Technical Staff of Bell Telephone Laboratories).
Bob Francoeur was Chairman of the Executive Committee, and Anna
Francoeur was Treasurer. Some new names appeared on the Advisory
Board of persons who would later become officers and Board Members:
Alice Knight and R. Wayne Kraft, whose book The Relevance
of Teilhard had been published in 1968.
In November the Association
presented a two-day conference on Process Thought: From Cosmogenesis
to Christogenesis at Drew University Theological School in
Madison, New Jersey, with Pieter de Jong, Clarence Decker, Robert
Francoeur, and Ewert Cousins among the speakers.
That fall was to see,
also, the first of the series of evening discussions and seminars
that the Association would henceforth offer at its headquarters.
Though it is not possible to record here all the evening programs
that were given throughout the years, some of them will be listed
so as to indicate the range of subjects and the approach to Teilhard.
This first program consisted of the following: "Exploring
Teilhard," led by Sr. Anne Martin, "Applying Teilhard's
Insights to Contemporary Challenges," led by Larry Surget,
and "Church, Eucharist, Grace, Sin in the Thought of Teilhard,"
led by Fr. Almagno. The Association at that time owned only fifteen
fragile, old folding chairs, and we were pleased that they were
all taken and that none collapsed.
A project dear to Minna's
heart was teaching Teilhard's ideas to young people. Alice Knight,
who had been giving a course on Teilhard to a group of ninth-grade
students in the Sunday School of Christ Church, Greenwich, Connecticut,
and also an adult class in the parish, convened a group of interested
members. Dora Chaplin, Professor of Christian Education at The
General Theological Seminary in New York, Sister Élise,
C.H.S., of St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's School in New York; Bradford
Hastings, Rector of Christ Church in Greenwich, Connecticut;
Sister Anne Martin, who was now studying for a doctorate at Union
Theological but had formerly taught Teilhard to children in a
depressed area of Detroit; Sister Mary Thérèse
McVicar,Instructor in Education at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry,
New York. These and others compiled a set of Teaching Outlines
which the Association offered for sale for one dollar. Sales
were good, and it was felt that another and important facet had
been added to the Association's program.
The great problem of
the Annual Meetings was to find a place that would not be so
ruinously expensive that we would have to charge too much for
the luncheon tickets and thus defeat our purpose. Minna found
a solution that served for a number of years, the Parish House
of the Church of the Holy Trinity on East 88th Street in New
York. It had a spacious library, a suite of bare but sunny Sunday
school rooms, and a large auditorium. It also had an excellent
cook and adequate kitchen facilities. A Hospitality Committee
arranged the 1970 luncheon, setting up the tables the day before,
arranging for buying of the food, filling the wine glasses, arranging
flowers. It was a lot of work but worth all the effort. Ninety
people came from as far afield as Chicago, Boston, Baltimore,
and Schenectady; old friends were greeted and new ones made.
Renée-Marie Parry, Honorary Secretary of the British Association,
was guest of honor. Dr. Dobzhansky consented to serve another
term as President, Ewert Cousins joined Pieter de Jong as Vice-President,
and the Secretary and Treasurer were reelected. Romano Almagno
and Alice Knight became Directors, and Donald Gray, a future
officer, was among those elected to the Advisory Board. About
150 persons were in the afternoon audience to hear the talks
given by Mrs. Parry on "Teilhard and the Contemporary World
Scene" and by Dr. Dobzhansky on "Evolution and Man's
Conception of Himself."
That fall Donald Gray
gave a seminar on The Phenomenon of Man (a wonderfully
clear exposition of that difficult book) and Larry Surget brought
his technical knowledge of remote sensing devices to his popular
discussions of "Building Mankind" and "Human Energy."
In Connecticut Professor Alfred Stiernotte conducted a scholarly
workshop at Quinmpiac College on "The Thought and Mysticism
of Teilhard de Chardin," an inquiry into Process Philosophy,
Teilhard's Christology, and the Mysticism of Process.
About this time Minna
made a study of the geographical distribution of the members
and reported as follows: *Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, *Iowa,
*Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
*Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, *Nevada, *New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, North Carolina, *North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon,
Pennsylvania, *Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas,
*Vermont, Virginia, *Washington, *West Virginia, Wisconsin, Canada,
*Burundi, France, *Italy, *Korea, *Mexico, *Peru, and *Yugoslavia.
Ages spanned from that of a 17-year-old student to a New York
lady of 92. (The asterisks signify only one member.)
In October 1970 Minna
wrote of a problem that has always been at the core of the Association's
existence:
I am gravely concerned
about the Teilhard Association. Money is tight all over the country
as you know and our membership renewals are not coming in too
well. We are getting a few new members but just about enough
to make up for losses, if that... . We need money for rent,
postage, printing, everything... . The wear and tear on me is
really too much. It has gone on for four years now and is very
debilitating.
Later that year Jean
Houston and Alexander Wolsky came onto the Board. But there were
still more departures: Fr. Romano Almagno was transferred to
a Franciscan study center in Italy, for six years, as librarian
at the Collegio International S. Bonaventura. Happily for the
Association he not only continued to compile his scholarly bibliography
on Teilhard (as yet unpublished for lack of funds) but he returned
each summer to teach a course on bibliography at the University
of Pittsburgh and stopped off in New York long enough to give
a series of weekly lectures during the month of June. Some friends
and admirers were always on hand to listen.
Late in the fall Larry
Surget and his new wife set off on a pilgrimage to India. And
then, early in 1971, Dr. Dobzhansky himself retired from Rockefeller
University and moved out to the University of California at Davis.
But, if the Association
seemed to be at a low ebb it was not for long, for 1971 was to
see a resurgence of energy and interest, culminating in the very
successful conference held in New York City on "Hope and
the Future of Man."
