Spiritan Oral Histories Lend Unique Voices to History, Campus Prepares for Founders Week

A day in the life of a Spiritan priest can involve anything from starting a credit union, youth center and a high risk maternity ward in Africa to serving the homeless in the United Kingdom to administering a hospital amid the starvation and havoc of Nigeria’s Biafran civil war.

Routine, Spiritans might say. But others call these stories insightful, interesting, unique.

During the 2016 Founders Week: Live the Spirit, several members of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit will share their stories with the campus community. Duquesne’s archivists are working with Spiritans based at the University and beyond to capture these stories in a more permanent collection so that Spiritan parables are preserved for the congregation, academic and religious communities, other Catholics and historians.

Because of their mission of service, “Spiritans have traditionally been more interested in what they are doing with people and in communities than in documenting their own history,” said University Archivist Thomas White.

Inspired by an interview that former University Librarian Dr. Laverna Saunders conducted with the Rev. Edmund Supple, C.S.Sp., before his death, White and the University librarian secured funding and consulted an advisory committee before starting to record Spiritan oral histories. Since January 2014, oral historian and alumnus Megan DeFries has interviewed the Rev. Sean Hogan, C.S.Sp., president of the Duquesne University Scholarship Association and former vice president of student life; the Rev. James Okoye, C.S.Sp., director of the Center for Spiritan Studies; the Rev. Naos McCool, C.S.Sp., former assistant dean for student formation in the School of Education; and the Rev. Donald Nesti, C.S.Sp., former University president.

“The mission of the project is to record the history of the Spiritans in their own words,” DeFries said. “This includes biographical sketches about their development as Spiritans and work they’ve done—how they’ve lived the mission as a Spiritan.”

The priests’ personal stories reflect changes in the church, their faith communities and the world. The bigger historical context includes intersections such Hogan’s with Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first prime minister. The stories add a human voice to the historical record, provide a first-person account and can inspire others to serve.

“They’ve had a wide range of experiences that many of us couldn’t imagine,” said DeFries, who added that because Duquesne is the only American Spiritan-founded university, it is appropriate that they capture, preserve and share these histories.

While people may be reluctant to talk about themselves, DeFries pointed out, “Everybody’s story is part of the historical record, collectively. If they aren’t telling these stories, who will?”

Spiritans interested in participating in the oral history project should contact DeFries or White. Audio recordings are conducted in a convenient, quiet setting and generally last about an hour per session.