Friday, June 5, 2015

Father Leland Lubbers, S.J.

Tomorrow Bob and I will travel out into the countryside to McClelland, IA, to the home of SCOLA, a non-profit educational organization that receives and re-transmits TV programming from more than 140 countries in more than 170 native languages. It was started by the amazing Father Leland Lubbers, S..J. at Creighton University. Bob and I were lucky to be students there at that time and we got to know him. The first thing I heard about him was that he studied in Paris at the Sorbonne. That impressed me. Still does. He was the first avant-garde person I ever met - a priest and artist who did kinetic sculptures from junkyard pieces. Big sculptures with hidden meanings. It was the enthralling opening to unlimited possibilities for my mind. And that's what college should be.
Much later our production company did a video to explain and show what SCOLA did. I remember especially watching Russian newscasts come in. That technology showed me how small and close the world could be.
Father L. died in 2008. Tomorrow is a special memorial and the dedication of one of his sculptures - Smashed Axle - on the SCOLA grounds. I can hardly wait to see it.
First thing, I must remember to take a picture of it.
2nd thing, I must remember how to post it on my blog.
Wish me luck.