Meanwhile, Portraits celebrates its 25th birthday as far more than a relic, and the hope that Abbot Joseph voiced for the humanities all those years ago lives, despite the inevitable silent seminar or the occasional erudite lecture that caused it. Professor Bindu Malieckal of the English Department was a five-year-old growing up in India the day Abbot Joseph delivered his pivotal address to the faculty, yet her recent description of the humanities program might well have been his own. "It is a wonderful way for students to acquire a sense of human possibility and hope, which are much-needed in our troubled times today."

As for Abbot Joseph himself, when asked recently what he would do if he retired from being of Bishop of Portland, Maine, he replied without hesitation: "Come back and teach in the humanities program."

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