Wake Forest Magazine, March 2007 - Past Issues - Wake Forest ...

P R O F I L ESamuel Weber: ‘True ecumenism is telling your story with an attitude of respect.’the Passion of Saint John for parishuse, and responds to occasionalrequests from cathedrals and parishesaround the country for various liturgicalworks.But this is no dour ascetic we’retalking about here. A warm andopen man with a quick smile andsense of humor, he enjoys reading aLouis L’Amour novel or watching acomedy on DVD as much as thenext guy. Precise in his thinking andarticulate in his expression, SamWeber strikes even the most casualacquaintance as one who knows preciselywho he is, who is true to it,and who makes no apologies orcompromises in expressing it.Weber and others also know preciselywhat he represents, and contributes,to Wake Forest and itsdivinity program. It wasn’t too longago that the presence of a RomanCatholic clergyman on the divinityfaculty of a historically Baptist institutionwould have been unthinkable.Indeed, to anyone’s knowledge, heis the first Roman Catholic priestever to be appointed to the divinityfaculty of an institution with Baptistheritage. It is he, along with therabbi and other faculty memberswith diverse theological and denominationalbackgrounds, who giveWake Forest Divinity School its distinctively—and,among its peerinstitutions, uniquely—ecumenicalfocus, and its graduates an informedand inclusive outlook toward otherreligions and beliefs.Born Fred Lewis Weber (“Samuel”is his religious name) in Chicago in1947, Weber was raised by devoutlyCatholic parents in a blue-collarneighborhood. Despite the workingclassenvironment, he attendedBenedictine schools from first gradeon, receiving a liberal educationpermeated with philosophy, Latin,theology, and other classical subjects.“It was a very happy environment;very secure,” says Weber of his homelife and schooling. “At school, weprayed the Canonical Hours andgenerally lived the life of the liturgyevery day. It was a wonderful education.I’m so grateful for it.”Hearing the call of God, Weberentered the monastery in 1963 andprofessed his religious vows in 1969upon graduating from BenedictineaffiliatedSaint Meinrad College inIndiana. He went on to earn aMaster of Divinity degree from SaintMeinrad School of Theology, aMaster of Arts in Greek and LatinLiterature and Ancient Art andArcheology from the University ofColorado, and a Licentiate in SacredTheology from the Pontifical Athenaeumin Rome. He has studied anddone research in Europe, has beena regular lecturer at the SouthernBaptist Theological Seminary in28 WAKE FOREST MAGAZINE