1998 Volume 121 No 1–4 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

THE CARDINAL PRINCIPLES
Friendship: More than words
By Rev. David Turner,aS.B.
Editor's note: One of the goals of General Council President Robert
Deloian is to return to the Fraternity's founding principles. some years ago. Robert HodgeU did a marvelous piece tided
and growing, I keep thinking about a woodcut I purchased
With that in mind, we thought it appropriate to ask Fr. David "The Preacher." In the preacher's hand was his Bible. HodgeU
Turner, Minnesota '70, a former General Council member and then had "WORDS" in a variety of typefaces, and these were
chaplain of Benedictine University, to begin a series of columns coming from the preacher's mouth! There must have been 30
on living our principles. Fr. Turner welcomes comments from or 40 of the single expression "words" in these various typefaces.
The message was obvious: anything said can be regarded
readers. Write him at Benedictine University, 5700 College Road,
Lisle Illinois 60532-0900 or e-mail: dturner@hen.edu. as "just words."
As I WORK WRITING THIS FEATURE ARTICLE, IT IS A
quiet time on the Benedictine University campus.
This is the week when student knowledge is
measured through that nemesis of all academic
life: final examinations. Students bounce in and
out of my office, some seeking solace after what
they believe was a "bad final,"while others desire
to express their farewells. Some will go off to the
world of work only to return on occasion to the
campus as alumni. Others are promising to return
next fall with renewed vigor for study and
campus activity and interaction.
My office seems to have an extra amount of
activity since I was away for the week before finals
began attending the Princeton Forum on Youth Ministry, a
week-long program that brings together an interesting crosssection
of people involved in ministry to youth and young
adults. What attracted me most to the program was the presence
of Dr. William H. Willimon, the dean of chapel at Duke
University, as a main speaker.
Dr. Willimon is a member of Pi Kappa Alpha, and an article
that he wrote for his own fraternity's publication was sent to
me when the editor of the Scroll firstapproached me about
writing this feature. I made reference to the book Dr. Willimon
wrote with Thomas H. Naylor in our last issue's feature. In ad-
' dition to his two formal evening lectures at the conference. Dr.
Willunon offered an afternoon workshop "From the Top of
Mount Pisgah: Preparing Youth to Cross Over into College."
The reference to the biblical Mount Pisgah recalls the scene in
the book of Deuteronomy where God speaks to Moses and instructs
him to "go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up your eyes
westward and northward and southward and eastward..." As
Moses does this, he sees the promised land and is assured that
Joshua will lead the people there.
As I sat in Willimon's afternoon workshop and then later
listened to his evening lectures, I continued to ask myself how
we in Phi Delta Theta would lead our brothers into the promised
land and bring to them that very important element of
friendship, where it would be a true gift of friendship and
something more than mere talk. Working as I do in an academic
environment, I hear a lot of talk! As the talk keeps going
Fr. Turner
From the time I was a junior in college and
took a course in the psychology of education, I
have been interested in the ways in which we effect
behavioral change, where the change is truly
something more than talk! My 1970 doctoral dissertation
at Minnesota focused on the topic of
"group behavioral change." After one of the
evening sessions, I approached Dr. Willimon with
a copy of the Scroll in my hand. I wanted him to
know that I had read The Abandoned Generation:
Rethinking Higher Education, that I had referred
to this work in an article, and that I was concerned
about our Fraternity's values. I told him I
was aware of his position that what was needed
most in collegiate life today was friendship. He then told me
that this was the focus of what he planned to talk about at
Duke University's Baccalaureate Service.
In Coretta Scott King's collection of her late husband's statements
published as The Words of Martin Luther King, Jr., we
have a sobering reminder: "One of the great problems of mankind
is that we suffer from poverty of the spirit which stands in
glaring contrast to our scientific and technical advance. The
richer we have become materially the poorer we have become
morally and spiritually." Dr. King's words find a real resonance
in the topics we discussed in the Princeton Forum. What
pleased me most was that there was no moaning about the music,
the mores, and the manners of the current generation of
collegians. The questions that did arise centered on ways in
which we can support people as they seek to form firm friendships.
Since we, in Phi Delta Theta, consider the ancient Greeks
as holding out sound goals and values for our lives, perhaps we
can keep in mind that the philosopher Aristotle noted that
"Without friends no one would choose to live, though he or
she had all the goods in the world."
Here is part of what Dr. WOlimon told this year's graduating
class at Duke: "Aristotle believed that higher education was a
form of training in the virtues of friendship. He believed that
there was no way to teach anything important to anyone who
was not your friend—only friends know how to hurt you in
the right way. True education is often painful. Time and place
are important, because friendship takes time, frequent oppor-
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