Biography
Father Dease earned a B.A. degree in Latin and philosophy from The Saint Paul Seminary in 1965, an M.A. degree in counseling psychology from the University of St. Thomas in 1972, a M.Div. degree from The Saint Paul Seminary in 1973, and a Ph.D. degree in systematic theology from the Catholic University of America in 1978. He was ordained a priest in 1969. [1]
A Master of Arts is a person who was admitted to a type of master's degree awarded by universities in many countries, and the degree is also named Master of Arts in colloquial speech. The degree is usually contrasted with the Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree typically study linguistics, history, communication studies, diplomacy, public administration, political science, or other subjects within the scope of the humanities and social sciences; however, different universities have different conventions and may also offer the degree for fields typically considered within the natural sciences and mathematics. The degree can be conferred in respect of completing courses and passing examinations, research, or a combination of the two.
TheCatholic University of America (CUA) is a private, non-profit Catholic university located in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by the U.S. Catholic bishops. Established in 1887 as a graduate and research center following approval by Pope Leo XIII on Easter Sunday, the university began offering undergraduate education in 1904. The university's campus lies within the Brookland neighborhood, known as "Little Rome", which contains 60 Catholic institutions, including Trinity Washington University and the Dominican House of Studies, as well as the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
He was associate pastor at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Hopkins, Minnesota, taught theology at the University of St. Thomas [2] and served as spiritual director and dean of formation at The Saint Paul Seminary. From 1985 to 1991, he was rector of the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis. [3] He is a tenured faculty member at The Saint Paul Seminary.
Hopkins is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, located west of Minneapolis. The city is four square miles in size and is surrounded by the larger, west suburban communities of Minnetonka, Saint Louis Park, and Edina. Hopkins is about 98% developed with little remaining vacant land. The population was 17,591 at the 2010 census.
Father Dease, who is a priest of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, was one of 54 applicants for the University of St. Thomas presidency. Of the four finalists, two were not from the local archdiocese. During Father Dease's presidency, St. Thomas under his leadership continued its growth in programs and facilities, adding six major buildings to its St. Paul campus and establishing a Minneapolis campus of four buildings for its Opus College of Business, Schulze School of Entrepreneurship, School of Education, Graduate School of Professional Psychology and School of Law. He also established nationally recognized Centers for Catholic Studies and Irish Studies. He opened a residential campus in Rome and semester-abroad programs in Rome for Catholic Studies majors, in London for business majors, in Paris for liberal arts majors and in Glasgow for English majors. In addition, he has established several faculty and student exchange programs with universities throughout the world, including a covenant with the University of Havana in 2000 which was celebrated by a series of baseball games played both in Havana and in the Twin Cities. [4]
The Opus College of Business is the business school for undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education students at the University of St. Thomas with campuses in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota.
The University of St. Thomas School of Law is one of the professional graduate schools of the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) and is one of three law schools in the Twin Cities. It currently enrolls 434 students. St. Thomas Law is accredited by the American Bar Association. It is also a member of The Association of American Law Schools. The University of St. Thomas School of Law is the second highest ranked law school in Minnesota amongst the state's three law schools.
Rome is the capital city and a special comune of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region. With 2,872,800 residents in 1,285 km2 (496.1 sq mi), it is also the country's most populated comune. It is the fourth most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the centre of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4,355,725 residents, thus making it the most populous metropolitan city in Italy. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of the Tiber. The Vatican City is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city: for this reason Rome has been often defined as capital of two states.
Father Dease has served on numerous boards and committees, including the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, the Minnesota Private College Council, Research Foundation and Fund, and The Catholic Digest, all three of which he has chaired. He also has been a board member of the National Catholic Education Association, has served on the Priestly Life and Ministry, Domestic Policy and Education Committees of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and serves as a consultant to the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace. [5] He also served as the American representative on the International Federation of Catholic Universities board and on the Policy Analysis and Public Relations Committee of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities board.
The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU) is a voluntary association of delegates from Catholic institutions of higher learning.
Catholic Digest is an American Roman Catholic monthly magazine founded in 1936 which has a circulation of 300,000.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (USCC), it is composed of all active and retired members of the Catholic hierarchy in the United States and the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. In the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the bishops in the six dioceses form their own episcopal conference, the Puerto Rican Episcopal Conference. The bishops in U.S. insular areas in the Pacific Ocean – the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Territory of American Samoa, and the Territory of Guam – are members of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific.
He is active philanthropically in Armenia, serving on the Board of Directors of the Cafesjian Family Foundation, and in Uganda, where he founded and chairs the Board of Directors of Hope Medical Clinics (HMC), headquartered in Kampala. HMC consists of two clinics and a hospital.
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located in Western Asia on the Armenian Highlands, it is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia to the north, the de facto independent Republic of Artsakh and Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran and Azerbaijan's exclave of Nakhchivan to the south.
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East-Central Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate.
He serves on the boards of Packaging Incorporated and Premier Banks in the Twin Cities, and formerly served on boards of Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America and the former American National Bank of St. Paul. Father Dease served as a founding member of the board of directors of Southern Catholic College in Georgia from 2001 until its closing in 2010 due to lack of funding. He has served on the board of trustees of St. Thomas since 1982.
On Oct. 6, 2008, Father Dease received the National Catholic Educational Association’s highest honor—the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Award—in recognition of his lifelong work as a Catholic educator. [6]
Father Dease retired as St. Thomas president on June 30, 2013. He was succeeded by Dr. Julie Sullivan on July 1, 2013. Prior to her election to the presidency of St. Thomas, Dr. Sullivan had served as executive vice president and provost of the University of San Diego. She is the first woman and first lay person to serve as St. Thomas president.
Honorary doctorates:
- Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, 2013, St. Catherine University.
- Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, 2013, St. John’s University.
- Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, 2013, University of St. Thomas.
Awards:
- Society of the Arches Socius Fidelissimus Award for Contributions of Time and Talent to the University Community, University of St. Thomas Alumni Association.
- Distinguished Alumnus Award, 2013, University of St. Thomas Alumni Association.
- Justitia et Lex Award, 2013, University of St. Thomas School of Law.
- Dean’s Medal of Excellence, 2013, University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.
- ELS International Pathways Award for Lifetime Contribution to International Education, 2013, ELS Educational Services.
- Opus Sancti Thomae Award, 2013, Saint Thomas Academy.
- Legacy of Leadership Award, 2013, Saint Paul Chamber of Commerce.
- Honorary Membership in Recognition of Professional Achievement, 2013, Beta Gamma Sigma, University of St. Thomas-Minnesota Chapter.
- Recognition Award for Contributions to the People of Uganda, 2010 Ugandan North American Association.
- For Delivering Keynote Address to the DICOTA Convention 2010 and Unmeasurable Contribution to the Tanzanian Community Diaspora Council of Tanzanians in America.
- Partner in Hope Award, 2009, Hope for the City.
- Elizabeth Ann Seton Award, 2008, National Catholic Education Association.
- Recognition for Outstanding Dedication, Commitment and Leadership, 2008, The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission.
- Pope John XXIII Award, 2004, Viterbo University.
- Certificate of Appreciation: “Recognition for encouragement of the next generation of business owners,” 2003, Saint Louis University.
- “Good Neighbor Award,” 1991, WCCO Radio.
- Harriet P. Burns Award, 1990, College of St. Thomas Faculty of Professional Psychology.
- Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, 1987.
Elizabeth Ann Bayley Seton, SC, was the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. She established the first Catholic girls' school in the nation in Emmitsburg, Maryland, where she also founded the first American congregation of religious sisters, the Sisters of Charity.
Mount St. Mary's University is a Catholic liberal arts university near Emmitsburg, Maryland. The campus includes the second largest Catholic seminary in the United States. Lay students can pursue a Master of Arts in Theology at the seminary.
John Ireland was the third Roman Catholic bishop and first Roman Catholic archbishop of Saint Paul, Minnesota (1888–1918). He became both a religious as well as civic leader in Saint Paul during the turn of the 20th century. Ireland was known for his progressive stance on education, immigration and relations between church and state, as well as his opposition to saloons and political corruption. He promoted the Americanization of Catholicism, especially in the furtherance of progressive social ideals. He was a leader of the modernizing element in the Roman Catholic Church during the Progressive Era. He created or helped to create many religious and educational institutions in Minnesota. He is also remembered for his acrimonious relations with Eastern Catholics.
Harry Joseph Flynn is a prelate of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States and Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, where he served from September 8, 1995 to May 2, 2008, when his resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI. Previously, Archbishop Flynn was the fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette in south-central Louisiana.
St. Mary's Seminary and University is a Roman Catholic seminary located within the Archdiocese of Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland; it was the first seminary founded in the United States of America after the Revolution.
Daniel Austin Dowling was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the first bishop of the Diocese of Des Moines and the second Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
John Gregory Murray was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Saint Paul from 1931 until his death in 1956, having previously served as Auxiliary Bishop of Hartford (1920–25) and Bishop of Portland (1925-32).
William Otterwell Ignatius Brady was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Sioux Falls (1939–56) and Archbishop of Saint Paul (1956–61).
The Archdiocese of Newark is an archdiocese of the Catholic Church in northeastern New Jersey, United States. Its ecclesiastic territory includes all of the Catholic parishes and schools in the New Jersey counties of Bergen, Union, Hudson and Essex.
The Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle, better known as the Paulist Fathers, is a Roman Catholic society of apostolic life for men founded in New York City in 1858 by Servant of God Isaac Thomas Hecker in collaboration with George Deshon, Augustine Hewit, and Francis A. Baker. Members of the society are Paulists, and identify themselves as such by the use of the initials C.S.P. after their names, for the Congregation of St. Paul. The Society's mission is to evangelize—preach the gospel or give information with the intention of converting people to Catholicism—the people of North America in a manner suited to the continent's culture.
The National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) is a private, professional educational membership association of over 150,000 educators in Catholic schools, universities, and religious education programs. It is the largest such organization in the world.
Saint Paul, Minnesota contains many educational institutions. A number of educational "firsts" have happened in Saint Paul. Hamline University, the first and oldest college in Minnesota, was founded in Saint Paul in 1854. In 1991 Minnesota became the first state in the United States to pass legislation allowing the existence of charter schools. The following year, the first charter school in the nation, City Academy High School, was established in Saint Paul. The oldest library in Minnesota, the Minnesota State Law Library, was opened in 1849.
Katarina Schuth, O.S.F., is an American Religious Sister, who has been a member of the Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, Minnesota since 1960, through most of which she has been a faculty member in higher education institutions. She is a leading figure in the fields of Pastoral Theology and the Sociology of Religion. She holds an Endowed Professorship for the Social Scientific Study of Religion at The Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity, in St. Paul, Minnesota, part of the University of St. Thomas.
Alexander Joseph Brunett is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Seattle from 1997 until his retirement in 2010. Brunett previously served as the Bishop of Helena from 1994–1997 and after his retirement he served as apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Oakland, California from 2012–2013.
Daniel Eugene Sheehan was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Omaha from 1969 to 1993.
Gaetano Aldo "Thomas" Donato was an Italian-American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He notably served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey.
Lee Reuben Anderson Sr. is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the owner and chairman of the Minnesota-based APi Group Inc., a holding company for numerous construction and fire-protection firms. His charitable interests include children's health, higher education, and the welfare of American military veterans.
Andrew Harmon Cozzens, is a bishop of the Catholic Church in the United States. Since 2013 he has been an auxiliary bishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.
Jeffrey Gros was an American Catholic ecumenist and theologian. A member of the De La Salle Christian Brothers, Gros had served as a high school history teacher, university professor, associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; director of Faith and Order for the National Council of Churches; and president of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. He is the author or editor of over 20 books, 310 articles, and an uncounted number of book reviews. He died of pancreatic cancer in Chicago, IL, on 12 August 2013 at the age of 75.
