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| 標題：
Fr. Demers: IN REMEMBRANCE OF PIERRE DEMERS, SJ
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| 提供者：Nicholas Koss, OSB,
Fu Jen Catholic University |
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The first section of "Burnt Norton," the first of T.S.Eliot''s "Four Quartets," ends with these lines:
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind.
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
Fr. Demers, however, could indeed "bear very much reality" and though there has been an apparent end, he will be "always present."
Fr. Demers'' book on T.S. Eliot opens with these words: "We no longer speak of the greatness of an artist; we speak of his significance." So too today, Fr. Demers would not want anything to be said of "greatness" but rather of "significance."
The present generation is fortunate in that it has not, at least in this part of the world, had direct experience of war. Fr. Demers, however, is from a generation that knew war only too well. As a young man, he served in the Canadian Air Force at the time of World War II. Next, as a young Jesuit, he was in Peiping in 1948 working with young students who barely had enough to eat when the Chinese Communists were slowly surrounding the city. Then, after many years of training and study during his formation as a Jesuit, Fr. Demers began to work in Vietnam in the 1960s, and once again he encountered a time of war. The student hostel in Hue that he was running would be periodically bombed. Finally, in 1968 or so, he came to Taiwan, which was to be his home for the next thirty years.
Gerard Manly Hopkins, a Jesuit like Fr. Demers and another poet studied by Fr. Demers, writes in a poem:
To seem the stranger lies my lot, my life
Among strangers.
During his stay in Taiwan, Fr. Demers in some ways was a "stranger . . . among strangers," but that was not all. Many are the stories I could tell about him but I think that one of his very special qualities, one of his "significances" was that he did not intentionally draw attention to himself.
One of the many things that Fr. Demers taught me was that we only have so much time on this earth and that we must use this time well and in a way appropriate for who we are. Fr. Demers at some time in his life must have decided that for him to use his time well on earth means to be of service to his students.
In East Coker, the second of the Four Quartets are these lines:
O dark, dark, dark. They all go into the dark,
…
And we all go with them, into the silent funeral
…
I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God.
…
I said to my soul, be still, and wait
. . .
. . . faith and love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Fr. Demers'' "waiting" was done with his students. It was for his students for whom he worked so hard, to whom he dedicated his years in Taiwan, and with whom he manifested "faith and love and hope". When he was the Chair of our Fu Jen English Department (1974-1982), the light in his office was always on until late into the night, during which time, among other things, he would be correcting assignments for the many classes of composition he then taught. (At that time, if a teacher could not be found to do a course, the chair did it.) He was determined that writing English well was to be a characteristic of our English department students. I still quote his instructions to me as to what must be stressed in teaching writing to our students.
Along with correcting compositions, another significant way Fr. Demers spent his hours outside the classroom was advising students who were writing theses or dissertations. He read each thesis with great care, devotion and intelligence. At least two generations of English professors now teaching in Taiwan have benefited by his advice and direction.
Fr. Demers was also a teacher who kept in contact with his former students. At first I could not understand how he found the time to do this. Then I learned that, disciplined person he was, he spent his lunch time each day corresponding with former students.
A very special significance of Fr. Demers was that he could give good advice in time of difficulty. If students (or teachers) were facing problems too serious for most of us to deal with, I always knew that Fr. Demers would have good and practical and realistic suggestions as to what to do.
Gerard Manley Hopkins has also written of nature and God''s creations.
The world is charged with the grandeur of God
Look at the stars! Look, look up at the skies!
Nothing is so beautiful as Spring
I seldom saw Fr. Demers more happy than when he returned from a walk looking at the stars and moon in the sky, or from a drive in the Taiwan countryside. He saw so much more than mere trees and leaves and sunlight in creation.
Another important significance of Fr. Demers was the need for us human beings to aim high and not to settle for the second rate. He wanted our English Department to be the best in Taiwan. In establishing our Graduate Institute of English Literature the model he used was the tutorial system at Oxford University. As Chair, he would say that we had to motivate our students to do the best of which they were capable, and not to be satisfied with anything less.
I have many images of Fr. Demers but one that I will always be fresh is that when he was chair of our English department, a dance was part of the senior dinner for teachers, and the first dance was always led by Fr. Demers. He danced that dance as if he were the father of a bride.
But Fr. Demers was not sentimental. He could quickly cut through to the truth of a matter or the reality underlying a situation.
Since the 16th-century the Jesuits have been sending some of their most intellectually gifted members to China. Father Demers'' significance is to be a part of this noble tradition. Yet, he nonetheless remained an individual as well.
To conclude, allow me to read from "Little Gidding," the last of the "Four Quartets."
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning
. . .
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
. . .
And all shall be well
. . .
And the fire and the rose are one.
Fr. Demers has returned to the place where he started.
These reflections were delivered by Nicholas Koss, OSB during a memorial service for Fr. Demers at Fu Jen Catholic University. |
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