From Spelling Bees to World Religions

One Jesuit's Path to Faith

By Kelly Schramm
Photography by Laird Bindrim

     The man who once considered entering a monastery but decided to be “a man for others,” has spent the last 40 years tackling spiritual issues through the Jewish- Catholic Institute.
     As an 8th-grader at a parochial school in Philadelphia, Fr. Don Clifford, SJ, won his school’s spelling bee, sending him on to the championship held at Saint Joseph’s Preparatory School. There he would compete against winners from all over the archdiocese for the top prize: a full high school scholarship. At $200 a year, the opportunity meant a great deal to many families, Clifford’s included, who were struggling through the Depression. Although quick to admit that his impressions of the Prep were not all positive — at first he was turned off by the suit jackets and ties worn by its students — his mother convinced him to compete. Round after round, Clifford passed through.
     “It was pretty miraculous. The other kids were getting words I couldn’t spell,” he remembers, “but when my turn came around, I always got easy ones.”
     He made it all the way to the final round to take the top prize. The winning word was “ubiquity” — present everywhere at once.
     Winning the spelling bee gave Clifford his first contact with the Jesuits and a chance to play basketball for a team in 1947 that would go on to be the last in Philadelphia history to win the Catholic League and City Championships. The winning season earned the starting five players, including Clifford, a full scholarship to play for Saint Joseph’s University. Again, a series of fortunate events guided Clifford on his path.
     At Saint Joseph’s, Clifford switched majors from accounting to liberal studies and found himself among a new crowd of students, who pronounced him “badly in need of some culture.” He began reading religious-themed books and gained a fondness for author and Trappist monk, Thomas Merton. Considering entering the monastery, Clifford spent several days among the monks, even seeing Merton there, but decided it wasn’t for him.
     “Being a monk is a difficult way to be a priest,” he says. “What intrigues me about the Jesuits is their understanding that God is everywhere, and in all things. One doesn’t need to escape the world, as the monks do, to find God.”
     After graduating from college in 1951, Clifford entered the Society of Jesus. During his Jesuit formation, he had the chance to study under great Jesuits such as John Courtney Murray and Gustave Weigel and gained respect for their work. After his time at Woodstock College in Maryland, he traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, where he conducted research at the World Council of Churches and joined a group preparing a document on ecumenism for the 31st General Congregation of the Society of Jesus, which had just elected Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, as its superior general, in 1965.
     Clifford’s study of the relationships among different Christian religions set the stage for his work with the Jewish-Catholic Institute at Saint Joseph’s University. Upon his return to Philadelphia in 1967, Fr. Terrance Toland, SJ, university vice president, asked Clifford to direct a new institute devoted to encouraging dialogue among Catholics and Jews. The institute is one of the first Jewish-Christian study centers to be established in the U.S. and creates the opportunity for dialogue between the two religions. Since its inception almost 40 years ago, the institute has had only one director: Father Clifford.
     “The goal of the institute is to educate people about other religions because ignorance causes division,” Clifford explains. “Ignatian spirituality plays an important role in interfaith dialogue. We are a worldly religion, not an otherworldly religion. We must address the problems in this world in order to prepare for the next.”