Father Robert S. Smith
Encyclopedia
Robert S. Smith the Robert R. Colbert Sr. '48 Catholic Chaplain and Distinguished Scholar at Cornell University, was a Catholic priest, author, and educator. His interests ranged from philosophy and theology to the ethics of medical care to interfaith dialogue. Smith's homilies explored the mystery and challenge of religious faith, the relationship between modern culture and the struggle to pursue Christian life, and the paradoxical, complex nature of the spiritual journey. He founded the Sophia Center, devoted to engendering discourse among diverse scientific, cultural, and religious perspectives. He was the author of In the Image of God.

Early life and education

Born on February 7, 1932 in St. Albans
St. Albans, Queens
St. Albans is a middle class community in the New York City borough of Queens around the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, about two miles north of JFK Airport. It is southeast of Jamaica, west of Cambria Heights and north of Springfield Gardens and Laurelton.The neighborhood...

, New York, a neighborhood in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....

, Smith attended St. Francis Prep in Fresh Meadows, Queens and Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception, also in Queens. Smith studied for the priesthood at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York
Huntington, New York
The Town of Huntington is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, USA. Founded in 1653, it is located on the north shore of Long Island in northwestern Suffolk County, with Long Island Sound to its north and Nassau County adjacent to the west. Huntington is part of the New York metropolitan...

, becoming ordained on May 31, 1958. In that same year, he pursued graduate studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven
Catholic University of Leuven
The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.During France's occupation of Belgium in the...

, Belgium, completing them in 1961, whereupon he became associate pastor at St. Lawrence Martyr in Sayville, New York.

Career

Later in 1961, Smith returned to the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception as professor of philosophy. He taught at the seminary until 1970, then becoming director of the Newman Apostolate in Brentwood, New York and later chaplain at Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...

 in Hempstead
Hempstead
Hempstead may refer to:PlacesIn England:*Hempstead, Essex*Hempstead, Kent*Hempstead, near Holt, Norfolk*Hempstead, near Stalham, Norfolk*Hemel Hempstead, HertfordshireIn the United States:*Hempstead County, Arkansas...

, New York in 1971. In 1975, Smith began 22 years at the State University of New York at Stony Brook
State University of New York at Stony Brook
The State University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....

 as Director of Campus Ministries and Director of Chaplaincy Services at University Medical Center, Stony Brook. At Stony Brook's medical center, Smith initiated an overhaul of the hospital ministry, attempting to incorporate patient perspectives into how care was approached and provided. Father Smith used lectures, plays, music and art to educate medical students in how the sick experience illness. Weill Cornell Medical College's Humanities in Medicine program adopted his ideas in its program.

Smith founded the Sophia Center in 1997, an interfaith and multidisciplinary organization, with the goal of bringing scientific, cultural, and religious discourse together.

In the Image of God

In 1988, Smith published In the Image of God, a book which explored the struggle to pray and enter into the mystery of the spiritual life. The book emphasized the need to engage the depths of our own experience, which was a principal way of coming to know the infinitely different Other that is God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

. Father Smith wrote, "A wise and very human monk once said to me that the things between God and us can be truthfully spoken about only in the way that friends talk to friends. I have tried to write down a partial record of such talk. I hope this book will help you to discover something more of the depths of your own self... in the image of God."

Peter Manchestor of SUNY Stony Brook's Center for Religious Studies noted that, "By profession I have many books to recommend on scripture, doctrine, history. This at last is one I can give to those who ask me about my faith, my struggle to pray, my attachment to the church. A redeeming presence illumines these quiet, intelligent and effortlessly authoritative reflections."

Cornell University

In 2002, Smith retired, moving to Ithaca, New York
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...

. He became the Robert R. Colbert Sr. '48 Catholic Chaplain and Distinguished Scholar. In 2003, Smith became the Director of the Cornell Catholic Community
Cornell Catholic Community
The Cornell Catholic Community is the Catholic organization and parish at Cornell University, providing worship services and community for Catholic students...

, establishing programs in theology, meditation, philosophy, and ecumenism. He founded a Taizé
Taizé
Taizé is the name or part of the name of several places in France and an asteroid:* Taizé Community in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, a monastic order visited by many young people* Taizé, Saône-et-Loire in the Saône-et-Loire département...

 meditation and prayer group, a graduate student study group that incorporated rigorous and complex religious, philosophical, cultural, and scientific books in its reading lists, and a peer ministry program.

During his years as director, Smith, known colloquially as "Father Bob", established the Emmaus Bible Study Groups. Smith believed that the future of the Church lay in small groups sharing the scriptures together. The renewed emphasis on biblical study among the lay faithful reflected the Second Vatican Council's commitment to incorporating scripture more deeply into the life of the Catholic Church, as expressed in such documents as the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation.

Recordings of Smith's homilies were published online by the Cornell Catholic Community
Cornell Catholic Community
The Cornell Catholic Community is the Catholic organization and parish at Cornell University, providing worship services and community for Catholic students...

 on their website and by RSS feed. The homilies commanded widespread respect and interest, integrating philosophical and mystical elements into an exploration of the depths of human experience and longing, as reflected in the Divine Mystery and its quest for intimacy with the human person.

On the 50th anniversary of his ordination as a Catholic priest, Smith inaugurated the Janus Essay Competition on May 31, 2008. The competition sought essays that reflected on life that has already been lived and life still left to live, in accordance with the nature of the Roman God Janus, who looks both backward and forward.

Smith enjoyed great popularity, both within the Catholic community at Cornell and with members of other religions as well as nonbelievers, to the extent that Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi
Pi Kappa Phi is an American social fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg, Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty, Jr. on December 10, 1904 at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina...

, a Cornell fraternity, made him an honorary member.

The Reverend Kenneth Clarke Sr., director of Cornell United Religious Work said, "Father Bob Smith was one of the best exemplars of the integration of the life of the mind and the life of the spirit, of erudition and inspiration, that I have known. His work left a deep impression with the students he served."

Smith died at 78 on July 27, 2010, after chemotherapy treatment for cancer. He is buried in the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury, New York, on his native Long Island.

External links

Part 1
Part 2
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