Echoes from the Bell Tower

Dan Conway, C'71,O'75 accepted the Distinguished Alumnus Award at the 2025 Alumni Reunion. These were his remarks after receiving the award.

Last year, on Tuesday, November 5 (Election Day), I received a letter from Father Denis informing me of my selection for this prestigious award. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Father Denis asked if I would accept this honor. In response, I immediately sat down and wrote the following:

I am pleased to accept this honor on behalf of the monks and lay men and women who formed me during my time as a student, and who partnered with me during my years in the Development Office. The gifts that they generously gave me during my years “on the holy hill” are so precious that I have been compelled to share them with my family, friends, and co-workers, and with the parishes, dioceses, schools, and other Catholic organizations that I have been privileged to serve throughout my professional life.

It is not false humility, but the plain truth, for me to say that, by myself, I have no business accepting this award. But I am pleased and proud to stand here today in the company of so many others.

It would be impossible for me to acknowledge everyone who stands with me today, but I do want to name some of those who are no longer with us. Please bear with me as I recite what Pope Francis might have called “a Litany of Saints Next-Door.” (Most of these folks literally are “next door” in the monastic cemetery at the bottom of the hill!)

Here are my saints next-door:

Alaric Scotcher

Aurelius Boberek

Blaise Hettich

Camillus Elspermann

Columba Kelly

Colman Grabert

Conrad Louis

Cyprian Davis

Daniel Buechlein

Eric Lies

Gabriel Verkamp

Gavin Barnes

Gerard Elspermann

Gregory Chamberlin

Hilary Ottensmeyer

Justin DuVall

Martin Dusseau

Nathaniel Reeves

Raben Hathorne

Rupert Ostdick

Simeon Daily

Timothy Sweeney

Thomas Ostdick

Vincent Tobin

And from outside the cloister walls:

Benedictine Sister Mary Alice Lawhead

Dennis Gill Ring

John S. MacCauley

Gregory G. Kempf

Jesuit Father Paul J. Reinert

Nathan Mitchell

And last, but definitely not least, my classmate, roommate, and dear friend, Father Noah Casey

These “saints next-door” were not perfect, of course, but they were extraordinarily kind and generous to me, and they were passionate about this monastic community and its seminary schools. They reached out to me. They loved me. And they taught me many things.

Here is a summary of what they taught me:

• That God loves me as I am, even as He calls me to be better than I am,
• That Christ died for me personally, and His self-sacrificing love freed me from the power of sin and death,
• That the Church (with all its faults) is my spiritual home, and that I belong here (in spite of all my faults).

They also helped me to discern God’s will for me—my vocation. With the help of these saints next-door, and many others, I learned that I was not called to be a monk or a priest in spite of the fact that I dearly love the Benedictine way of life, and I revere the men who serve our Church as priests. My vocation is to take all the gifts that I have been given—by my parents and grandparents, by the Jesuit priests and Notre Dame Sisters who taught me in elementary and high school, and by the people I came to know and love here at Saint Meinrad—to take these abundant gifts, develop them and share them generously with others.

My vocation is to be a grateful, generous, and responsible steward. I am called to develop and share my gifts, first of all, with my beautiful wife, Sharon, and with our children: Suzanne, Catherine, Margaret, Mary, and Dan. And with our granddaughter, Jocelyn, and our large extended family spread all over the country.

The gifts that were developed here during my 20 years as a college student, novice and junior monk, theology student, and as a development officer, must be shared. I have committed myself to sharing these gifts with dioceses, parishes, schools, seminaries, religious communities, and other Catholic organizations for more than four decades, and I have no plan to stop as long as God gives me the strength to continue.

So, on behalf of all those I have mentioned, and many others, thank you. May God continue to bless Saint Meinrad.