Reflections Magazine Issue #57 - Spring 2002 | Page 7

Veritas: Dialogue Day
centers on truth
ruth matters,” Dr. Kimberly Blessing said March 20 at the kick-off
of Siena’s 2nd annual Common
Dialogue Day, organized around the theme
of Veritas.
“And the quest for truth matters”. Common
Dialogue Day was all about that quest.
Blessing, assistant professor of philosophy,
said the quest “begins and ends with philoosophical inquiry. By nature, we desire to
know. Learning begins with wonder.”
“There is no single approach” to the search
for truth, keynote speaker Jamie Phelps, OP
‘69 said, but most Christian theologians “start
with human experience and the simple questions of a 2-year-old: Why? Why? Why?”
Dr. Phelps teaches theology at Loyola University in Chicago.
Drawing on the four foundations of Dominican life, academic dean Sharon Weber, OP

‘69 noted that the search for truth starts with
study as well as prayer, and is pursued in
community with others. “Our understanding
of truth should lead to action, which is ministry; and finally, our reflection on the action
should lead us back to study.”

From the
Heights

7
business, music, leadership, technology and
the Bible.
Dialogue Day was a “tribute to the intellectual curiosity of the University community,”
President Artman said afterward.

Veritas has been a
core
Dominican
value since the 13th
century, Dr. Weber
said.
Before and after
the lectures, students, faculty and
staff participated
in breakout sessions that explored
truth from many
perspectives
including truth in
history, wartime,

Students and faculty spoke with Jamie Phelps, OP ‘69 (far left) after her keynote presentation.

2

All’s well with M !
r. Miriam Michael Stimson ‘36
is alive and well, but Patty Marr
‘72, ‘79/MA “sure had my doubts
when I first saw the burned out shell of her
little white house.” Sister Miriam Michael,
professor emerita of chemistry and past director of graduate programs, now lives at the

Dominican Life Center. She still attends
occasional research presentations on campus,
but waits for a ride instead of walking.
The site of Miriam’s former home