Father Schoenig returns

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Title: Father Schoenig returns
extracted text: WELCOME HOME Father ' Lehmeier Father Schoenig Returns REV’. ENRIQUE SCHOENIG, SVD, 53, returned to the Uni versity of San Carlos last November 4 after five long years of absence. During these years he was pursuing his doctoral studies in biology. He came just in time to take part in the San Carlos celebration on the roof garden of the Fathers’ Residence. Father Schoenig is the head of the Biology Depart ment of this University, a position he held before he left for the United States. "UNIQUE HOBBY" Biology has been his hobby since childhood. Among his childhood toys he treasured a pocket microscope and scribbled the scientific names of plants and animals in a notebook in elementary school. Though this hobby was “outlawed” during his seminary years, this deep-rooted interest in biology could never be suppressed. He collected and identified plants and animals, especially insects, whenever he could spare a moment and he was blamed “for sparing” too much time for it. A great man was in the making. FURTHER STUDIES After he arrived in the Philippines in 1940, he studied Zoology at the University of Santo Tomas in preparation for his assignment to the University of San Carlos. He received his B.S. degree in 1942. After the war he taught in Vigan, and in Mindoro. He came to U.S.C. in November 1949. In 1950 he left Cebu for the U.S.A, where he studied at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. For nine weeks (Summer 1951), he took courses in marine biology at the Puget Sound laboratory of the State University of Washing ton. At the end of January 1952 he received his M.S. in Biology degree and returned to U.S.C., to head the Depart ment of Biology. Field work, especially collection trips to beaches, and butterfly hunting, became almost an obsession to Fr. Schoenig. Specimens were accumulated from the heights of Mt. Santo Tomas, Baguio, to the tip of the Mindanao. A lively ex change of biological material was carried on with local and foreign institutions, both universities and museums. The credit for this modern line in biology, which was pursued by the USC through all these years, goes as much to the teaching staff as to Father Schoenig himself. Professor Paulina D. Pages and Professor Julian N. Jumalon in par ticular were the inspiring and driving forces. PH.D. FROM NOTRE DAME The University of San Carlos became known as the lead ing university in natural sciences in the Philippines. To as sure a continuous growth and an ever more scientific trend, Father Schoenig once again returned to the life of a student. (Continued on pui/c 39) REV. FATHER LUDWIG LEHMEIER, S.V.D., recently returned from advanced theological studies abroad. I Father Lehmeier is a tall, handsome, young priest with the j unmistakable features and accent of a German. He was born in ; Munich on February 27, 1929. He obtained his elementary edu! cation, however, war broke out, and he was called to his country's colors, as were all able-bodied males who were at least sixteen i years of age. He was captured and imprisoned at the close of | the war. I When asked how he came to decide on the priesthood, Father Lehmeier said that many things influenced his decision, but the most notable factor was the war. As a soldier, he saw the bes tiality, the horror, and the utter futility of war. He realized that to avoid a third debacle, a vigorous moral and religious uplift among people of all nations was necessary. And what belter way was there of accomplishing this aim than through the priesthood. His philosophical and theological studies were obtained in an ecclesiastical academy in the neighboring town of Freising, followed by further studies at the University of Munich, where he obtained his Licentiate in Theology in 1952. Towards the end of the same year he was ordained a priest of God. An interesting phase about his sacerdotal career is the fact that he was first a secular priest before he became a missionary. His first assignment was as assistant parish priest in Munich, a position which he held for five years. Then followed a two-year stint as prefect in a minor seminary. Then came the turning point. After four years of catechetical work as assistant parish priest, he felt a desire to join the missions, and asked his superiors' per! mission to this effect. Cardinal Wendel of Munich refused his ! request for the reason that there was a great need for parish | priests in their country. He persisted in his pleas, however, until I after several audiences with the Cardinal, his persistence was rewarded and his plea was granted. He then went to Vienna, Austria to enter the SVD novitiate. In December, 1960 the Order sent him to the Philippines. Finishing his novitiate at Christ the King Mission Seminary, he taught religion for same time. Finally, in 1962 he was assigned to USC. In March 1963 he left again, this time for the U.S., where, from September 1963 to June 1965 he worked for a doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C. At the successful completion of his studies he attended workshops in catechetics, modern moral theology, and a biblical institute for priests, all held in Washington. As to his policies as dean of religion, he has this to say: ' Since there seems to be a general dissatisfaction with our course I of theology as taught at present, a gradual revamping of the course is deemed necessary. A greater selection of courses will be offered in the future. Eventually we will work towards the establishment of a catechetical institute which would lead to a bachelor's degree in religious education." As university chaplain he will endeavor to implement the new liturgical changes but, < he said it is a gigantic job which one priest alone cannot ac| complish. He therefore expects the whole-hearted cooperation i of students and staff members alike, but most particularly the religious organizations of this University. January-February, 1966 THE CAROLINIAN Page Eleven THE WORLD WE LIVE IN (Continued from page 27) There's Christian formula that sounds very simple indeed but humanity has never learned it, it would seem. It is as old as Christ himself. "Love your enemies." The formula may hold true to a man of faith but what to a man who has none? Mao would surely change it to: Destroy your enemies! Peace for Red China is the triumph of her ideology over all others. "Love your enemies." It would only make Mao laugh and laugh and laugh until the world laughs with him. A man of Faith, Gerard Manley Hopkins, the priest-poet of the Victorian era but is very much a poet of our time had written a poem called "Peace." His time had not yet experienced the global catastrophes we had experienced in the 20th century. But just the same he was already tired of the alarms of war and of the "piecemeal peace" which was the only kind of peace that he knew. “When will you ever, Peace, wild wooddove, shy wings shut, Your round me roaming end, and under be my boughs? When, when, Peace, will you, Peace? I’ll not play hypocrite To own my heart: I yield you do come sometimes; but That piecemeal peace is poor peace. What pure peace allows Alarms of war, the daunting war, the death of it?’’ But an optimist, he was positive about the coming of True Peace, the kind of peace that we dream to have: “0 surely, reaving Peace, my Lord should have leave in lieu Some good! And so he does leave Patience exquisite, That plumes to peace thereafter. And when Peace here does house He comes with work to do, he does not come to coo, He comes to brood and sit.” Well, that is Father Gerard Manley Hopkins, a tor tured genius of the Church. What this priest had writ ten is always the salient characteristic of the men of Faith. Only Father Hopkins knows how to write poetry while other do not. He has language; he has rhythm; and his theme is universal. Even his most didactic poem does not sound like a sermon; it is a virtue rare to di dactic poets. 5. WHAT IS THE FUTURE of man? What will be the ultimate result of the crisis of our time? The future may either be grim — total annihilation; or it may be a wonderful place to live in — a new Eden. The two possibilities are worth speculating. All of course want the future to be a world of order and not of bloodshed for we have had enough of it. But while we are wishing for the good, humanity, it would seem, is working for the opposite, hence our un easiness. FATHER SCHOENIG RETURNS (Continued from page 11) In 1961 he again took up residence at his Alma Mater, Notre Dame, to work for his Ph.D. degree. His specific line of study and research was the field of medical entomology, especially mosquito genetics for which Notre Dame is a world center, and is closely connected with the World Health Or ganization (WHO). To anyone not familiar with the work, the title of his doctoral dissertation might sound strange or unimpressing: STRAIN VARIATIONS IN BEHAVIOR IN AEDES AEGYPTI. However, it is one of the few existing investigations which combine a quantitative analysis of behavioral traits with the study of their genetic background. This line of investigation is considered vital for the solu tion of many intricate problems which face the WHO in its attempt to control insects, the worst carriers of human diseases. During his studies Father Schoenig attended a number of international meetings of biologists and read a couple of papers on the behavior and genetics of mosquitoes. SCHOLARLY TOUR After his graduation in May 1965, Father Schoenig visit ed various universities in the USA, Europe, India and For mosa (Taiwan). He discussed problems of mosquito control with authorities connected with the WHO: Professor H. Laven, Germany; Dr. M. Coluzzi, Italy; and Dr. U.M. Adhami, India. In Manila he visited the center of the WHO for East Asia with the intention of correlating his future work with the plans of this worldwide body. He intends to work on problems of medical entomology with the view of improving control over these carriers of plant, animal and human diseases. Most of Father Schoenig’s time in Germany was spent in soliciting financial help from government and industrial agen cies for much-needed equipment. Such transactions take time, and their fruits ripen slowly. It will take months, maybe a year, until the tangible results—equipment valued at P50.000 to P60,000—will eventually arrive. FAIR HOPE It is hoped that with the return of its head, and with the arrival of new and better equipment, the Department of Biology of the University of San Carlos will expand its scope of activities, intensify scientific research and put it on a higher level. The great American novelist, William Faulkner, who writes about the evil and the ugly side of man, as serts that man in the future will prevail. Surely it is one of the noblest utterances of our time, a moving declaration of an optimist's refusal to surrender to the ding-dong of doom. Anne Frank, a Jew, who had witnessed the terror of the Second World War and the cruelty of the Nazis was not convinced that such an orgy would last for ever. She clung to the old idea— an optimist as she was — that sooner a new reign would come, and every thing would be all right again. Wrote she: "I see the world becoming a wilderness, I hear the ever-approach(Continaed on page 48) January-February, 1966 THE CAROLINIAN Page Thirty-nine
Date: 1966
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