From Hidalgo to Mexico City | Conversion to “Silicon Mountain” | After Three Months in the Mission Field | Holy Week in the Bush | Facing my Fears | A Cultural Lesson | Christmas in Togo | First Grade, Second Time | Beacons of Hope | Language | The Japanese Mission of an SVD Educator | An Easter Miracle in Jamaica | St. Paul Seminary Celebrates 70th Anniversary | SVD Mission | Missionary in Ecuador

The Japanese Mission of an SVD Educator - A Verteran Missionary shares his experience

Fr. David R. Mayer was born on October 25, 1938, in Columbia, Missouri. He attended Divine Word Seminaries at East Troy, Wisconsin and Conesus, New York. He received both his B.A. in Philosophy and his M.A. in Theology at Techny, in Chicago, Illinois. He received his M.A. in English at Georgetown University and his Ph.D.in English at the University of Maryland. Ordained in 1966, Fr. Dave then taught at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa, until 1968. From 1974-2007, he has taught at Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan, where he has also served as English Department Head; Head of Graduate School, English Section; on the Board of Councilors, Nanzan School Corporation; and as Researcher, Nanzan Center of American Studies. In his accomplished SVD career of service, Fr. Dave has written numerous academic articles, books, haiku poetry, essays and book reviews. As he closes this particular chapter in his life’s story, he is looking forward to writing new ones.

The Seventh Day
The Japanese Mission of an SVD Educator

By Fr. Dave Mayer

As I waited for the inevitable, the unexpected came – A sweet scent in the breeze.

“The very first short poem that I wrote and published in the Seminary Bulletin of Techny came in response to my surprise appointment to Japan,” says Fr. David Mayer, SVD. Thus, the wheels were set in motion for his thirty-year odyssey on this East Asian island in the Pacific – the “land of the Rising Sun.”

Born in Missouri, Fr. Dave was educated in the Midwest and on the East coast. Early on, he wanted to be a priest. At age 11, he was attracted to the life of a religious after a trip to visit his cousin at Gethsemani, a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. “My religious roots took hold there,” he says, remembering the haunting Gregorian chant of the monks. He still uses a handmade, black-beaded rosary for his last prayer of each day – given to him 54 years ago by the guest master at Gethsemani. “Perhaps he saw in me a vocation,” Fr. Dave reminisces.

But instead of the quiet of monastery life, Fr. Dave was destined for Nanzan University – “a world apart in time and place, a quiet space where East and West converge.”

“Teaching in Japan has brought me into contact with people and ideas as well as called forth abilities that I would never have known in America. The combination of literature and Japan made my career what it was.” These words are contained in his final lecture speech which Fr. Dave wrote, but never delivered – an insightful assessment of his career, accomplishments and mission.

“The Japanese culture has had the strongest influence on my missionary life,” Fr. Dave says. “For example, Buddhism has led me to the practice of centering in prayer and the Japanese love of ritual enhances my own love of the Liturgy.” The characteristic reticence of the Japanese people makes him feel, by comparison, outgoing and comfortable in public. “And the Japanese sense of naturalness has helped in my poetic development and way of spiritual guidance,” he adds.

Fr. Dave spent 18 years as a Sunday chaplain at Holy Spirit Hospital in Nagoya, Japan, which led to his writing a book of short sermons. He also spent several years teaching Bible, literature and art at the university, and often performed wedding ceremonies for couples who had attended religion classes. He has also been a recent supervisor of the DWC students studying at Nanzan University on the Overseas Year Abroad Program.

But his chief missionary role has been that of educator. As professor of literature and language at Nanzan University, Fr. Dave says, “My students’ idealism and questions made me stay honest in my presentation of material.” He quips, “teaching people the same age every year tends to make you think that you yourself are not aging.”

Targeting six main influences of life in Japan upon his literature career, Fr. Dave likens these to the story of the six days of creation in the Book of Genesis.

First, in his literature classes, “the students were interested in the authors’ lives,” he says. This prompted Fr. Dave to focus his attention on the aspects of biography, resulting in a research trip in 1977 to Milledgeville, Georgia, home of Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor.

Lecturing at literature conventions and coming into contact with professors outside of Nanzan University were two other important influences of living in Japan. Fr. Dave also feels that his service on the American Literature Society of Japan’s Editorial Committee and as English Department and Graduate School Head at Nanzan University were two other key opportunities.

And finally, inspired and encouraged by Kashima Shozo, a Japanese poet, translator and artist, Fr. Dave ventured out on another literary limb and began writing haiku poetry and illustrating some of his poems with detailed insect drawings. His book of haiku poetry, “Komagne Poems” was published at Techny in 1999. Three years earlier, his novella, “Flutterby Days” was published in Nagoya, Japan.

These days, Fr. Dave considers what lies ahead for him on his seventh “day of rest.” Retirement will pose challenges and opportunities for new projects and areas of study.

“And now that I am busy cleaning up my office and my room (with the eventual hope that I pare down to necessities only), I am trying to emulate the bagworm:”

Bagworms
Homeless, jobless care
Dragging baggy possessions –
Simplification.