Two members of the Saint Vincent College and Seminary faculties are bringing their years of experience as writers, editors, teachers and as priests, to a new venue — the Internet — where they will provide weekly commentaries on the Sunday gospels on the Saint Vincent Archabbey home page. Both natives of Carrolltown, Pennsylvania, Father Campion P. Gavaler, O.S.B., and Father Demetrius R. Dumm, O.S.B., are looking forward to the venture.
“I hope our suggestions for homilies will help a lot of people experience the Sunday gospels as good news, much as people did when these gospels were first heard,” said Father Campion, who is currently a member of the Saint Vincent College faculty.
“In the larger view of life, the words of the Sunday gospel may very well be the most significant words we hear all week,” said Father Demetrius, of the Saint Vincent Seminary faculty. “We should ponder this challenge, therefore, and be encouraged by this message of hope.”
Father Campion and Father Demetrius both bring a wealth of experience in writing and editing to the web page project. Father Campion is the editor of A Benedictine Place, the Saint Vincent Sesquicentennial book published in 1995. The 120 page hardcover book features essays and photos of Saint Vincent through the years, tracing the history of the campus from the days of its founder Boniface Wimmer, O.S.B., to the decision in 1983 to make Saint Vincent College a coeducational institution. He wrote the script and was one of the editors for the Saint Vincent Sesquicentennial video. One of his most frequently cited articles, “Theology of the Sermon as Part of the Mass,” may be found in Worship (March, 1964).
Father Demetrius, now at work on his third book, is the author of Cherish Christ Above All: The Bible in the Rule of Benedict (1996) and Flowers in the Desert: A Spirituality of the Bible (1987, reprinted in 1998). He is a major contributor and one of the editors of the Collegeville Pastoral Dictionary of Biblical Theology and has contributed to the New Jerome Bible Commentary. He has written numerous articles for The American Benedictine Review and The New Catholic Encyclopedia.
The former provost of Saint Vincent College (1980-1985), Father Campion served as acting president of the college from 1980-1981, and as academic dean from 1975-1980. He has also been a visiting professor at Seton Hill College and Pennsylvania State University, chairman of the Religious Studies Department of Saint Vincent College, chaplain of Saint Vincent Preparatory School, a member of the Seminary faculty and chaplain for the college. He has held memberships in the College Theology Society, American Academy of Religion, Eastern Association of College Deans and the Pennsylvania Deans Association.
He received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from St. Francis College, Loretto, in 1950. He studied theology at the Pontifical Institute of Sant’ Anselmo, Rome, earning his S.T.L. in 1962. He also studied liturgy at the University of Notre Dame (1958-1963), and chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh (1951-1952). Father Campion graduated from Saint Vincent Seminary in 1959. He made simple profession of vows as a Benedictine monk July 2, 1953 and solemn profession of vows July 11, 1956 at Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica. He was ordained a priest May 23, 1959 in Greensburg by the late Bishop Hugh Lamb.
A former rector of Saint Vincent Seminary (1963-1980), Father Demetrius has taught Sacred Scripture at the Seminary since 1952. He was also Seminary vice rector from 1955 to 1963, taught Biblical Greek from 1952 to 1959, was Professor of Hebrew from 1959 to 1961, and Seminary Director of Spiritual Life from 1989 to 1993. He has given lectures and retreats throughout the world.
Father Demetrius graduated from Saint Vincent Preparatory School in 1940. He received a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Saint Vincent College in 1945, and attended Saint Vincent Seminary from 1943 to 1946. He received a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree in 1950, from the Pontifical Institute of Sant’ Anselmo, Rome. He studied at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem, from 1950 to 1952, after which he received a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Vatican City. He entered the Benedictine Monastic Community of Saint Vincent Archabbey in 1942. He made simple profession of vows on July 2, 1943, and solemn profession of vows on July 11, 1946. He was ordained a priest at Subiaco Abbey, Italy, by the Most Rev. Lorenzo Salvi, O.S.B., on December 7, 1947.
The Saint Vincent Archabbey web page, with the URL of Archabbey Home Page expected to be online at Thanksgiving, will also feature an events calendar, information about the archabbey and its facilities, vocation information, a history of Saint Vincent and even a little humor, with a cartoon drawn by a Saint Vincent College student. A Saint Vincent Seminary web page is in development.
