You make possible the compassionate and transformative partnership between professors, Dr. Andrew Dreitcer and Dr. Frank Rogers, and because of it, CST students get to experience the deep, transformative education offered by “Frank and Andy.”
joined CST’s faculty in July of 2000, and shortly thereafter, Frank resigned! He says, “I was really just trying to figure out my own vocational heart.” The dean rejected Frank’s resignation, asking him to take a year of discernment instead. At the end of that year, Frank resigned from his full-time position but stayed on as contract professor which freed him to write, to work with under-resourced young people, and to teach CST students in lab settings all over southern CA. However, a board member fell in love with his work and donated an endowed chair to CST for Frank to come back as a tenured associate professor. In the years that followed, Frank and Andy began to teach a series of courses together that reflected Frank’s notion of a ‘three-fold spirituality’ – contemplation, creativity, and compassion. Andy says, “These courses formed the core of what we were developing as a spiritual formation concentration and were the context and basis for developing the compassion formation work we do now, as well as the grounding for the Center for Engaged Compassion.” These were the years they became the infamous “Frank and Andy . ” (Harmonicas and the Blues Brothers are also part of that story.) It was also during this two-year period they really began to develop their Compassion Practices. Andy recalls, “When we were team teaching a class and preparing students to walk a labyrinth in the chapel, we realized that we had quite different perspectives on spiritual practices. This prompted me to wonder what exactly I was missing. I later asked Frank to explain in detail what he did in his daily morning practice. His description – after persistent, probing questions from me – became the grounding for all we did from then on. This probing later became ‘The Compassion Practice.’” Frank confirmed, “The epiphany about the labyrinth came when one of our students asked, ‘What do we do if some emotion comes up while we are walking the labyrinth?’ Andy and I both
responded in unison and without hesitation. Andy said, ‘Let it go,’ and I said, ‘Pray that emotion.’ Andy looked at me and said, ‘That’s not how you do the labyrinth or any of the mindfulness- style contemplative practices.’ I said, ‘That’s right, but those practices don’t work with this kind of emotion.’ That was when we knew we were doing something different from the major tradition. If he was not so knowledgeable about contemplative practices both historically and in practice, we never would have developed it so intentionally.” From this epiphany, The Compassion Practice and the grounding for all they did from then on were born. Of their work together, Andy says, “Our pattern tends to be that core content comes from Frank – an idea, an interest. We talk about that to get a sense of how much energy we have around it, then Frank takes the lead on naming the content pieces or elements needed. Then we brainstorm to clarify, and I take the lead in laying out the details. Then, we keep tinkering until everything seems to click – in content, theory, and practical application.” Frank responds, “Andy is the architect. He is a genius at giving shape to things, figuring out the nuts and bolts to make it happen, and keeping me grounded in reality. Andy also offers a great deal in the way of content. I tend to be the public face, the teacher and speaker, though I say, ‘I really have an earpiece, and Andy is feeding me my lines.’” To watch the professors in a conversation on this topic, please visit our YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/user/ ClaremontTheology. Frank and Andy have also written award-winning books on The Compassion Practice: Practicing Compassion and Compassion Practices in the Way of Jesus by Frank, and Living Compassion: Loving Like Jesus by Andy. Check them out! You won’t be disappointed.
It doesn’t take long for students to hear those names spoken of so affectionately among their peers, so we wondered, when exactly did Frank and Andy become “Frank and Andy?” Here’s the story. More than twenty years ago, these two met at a conference in Indianapolis, IN, and very quickly, they sensed they wanted to work together more. Not only were they the only people wearing jeans in a room full of suits, but they connected through conversation about prayer and spirituality. A few years later, a faculty position opened at CST and Frank was part of the search committee.
He recalls, “I put the big squeeze on Andy, recruiting him heavily for the position. I said, ‘We’re getting Andy!’” Andy
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