Caldwell College Remembers Father Phil Smith
Rev. Philip Alphonsus Smith, O.P., the 11th President of Providence College and a former Caldwell College faculty member died suddenly on November 4, 2007.
His Mass of Christian Burial was held on Friday, November 9 in St. Dominic Chapel on the Providence campus.
Several current and former faculty and staff in the Caldwell College community fondly remember Father Smith, who was also a Caldwell College commencement speaker and honorary degree recipient in 2005.
Caldwell College President Sister Patrice Werner said, "I have lost a good friend and colleague, having served with him as faculty member at Caldwell College and on the Providence Board of Trustees during most of his presidency."
Sister Maura Campbell, O.P. worked with Fr. Phil for many years and they had offices right next to each other. She said that he had a great passion for social justice. "He practiced it and taught his students to respect life at all levels. He knew that we possess this gift of life in earthen vessels and that power belongs to the transcendent God and not to us," said Sister Maura.
Father Smith came to Caldwell in 1970 and taught in the Religious Studies Department until 1981. Sister Honora Werner, O.P. taught in the Music Department from 1974 to1980 and she remembers fondly how during those years she worked with Father Smith on faculty committees, the Faculty Council and the ASG. "Many faculty members were good friends in those days . We got to know each other well since we all served on several committees and since the faculty was relatively small and full time. When we'd gather for lunch in the cafeteria-philosophers, theologians, artists, sociologists, poets, mathematicians, musicians-our conversations were often deep and wide-ranging and sometimes absolutely hilarious!" Sister Honora said that although Father Smith was not a performer on any musical instrument, "there was no more avid audience member than Father Smith when the Music Department performed! He loved sports - and even in his "walking gait" he exuded such energy!"
Sister Honora remembers how Father Smith also served the sister faculty as chaplain. "We had Mass daily in Rosary Chapel and his homilies provided challenge and nourishment for us all. We were so impressed by the seriousness with which he took his preaching ministry."
Father Smith moderated the Caldwell Chapter of the Third Order of St. Dominic, which consists of Dominican men and women who are married or single, not vowed religious. "Around 1975 he asked me to join him at the Third Order meetings," Sister Honora said. "That experience of collaboration became a powerful prototype for my later full time work in promoting collaboration in the Order."
Father Smith made lifelong friends among the faculty. He also maintained friendships with former students and many of the Dominican Sisters living in Caldwell and elsewhere. As Sister Honora commented, "…one sister remarked, "Father Phil always knew you . . . even if you hadn't worked closely with him. He knew your name!" As a colleague, as friar, and as a friend, Father Smith will live on in many people's memories - and will be missed," Sister Honora said.