Parting words from Robert M. Randolph

Friends, on August 30th my time as Chaplain to the Institute ended.

John Wuestneck will serve an interim role while a search for a permanent chaplain gets underway.

I have been honored these last nine years to serve as the first Chaplain to the Institute. MIT is home to a diverse and vibrant community of believers and seekers in the varied realms of spiritual endeavor. From the grand traditions of faith to the small communities of what is happening now, MIT does what it always does. It creates vibrant centers of those who seek to understand the varied spiritual traditions and their search for meaning.

As it always has, MIT hears many voices and tries to muffle none. Sometimes this leads to cacophony; on other occasions the symphony comes into tune. Billy Graham gave us that image drawing on the Christian tradition from the podium in Kresge.  I find it an equally valid descriptor for the multifaceted community that is MIT.  We listen and learn from each other.

That has been the joy of this last near decade. The Chaplains have learned to work together holding close their unique views and hearing from others the values they hold in greatest esteem.  They represent a true learning community: respecting difference and holding dear the values they share. Students learn from them and in a variety of ways replicate what they have seen and learned.

Now is the appropriate time for the next chapter to begin. I look forward to watching it unfold.

Robert M. Randolph