Photo by Shoeib Abolhassani on Unsplash (2019)
This dedication originally appeared in my doctoral dissertation entitled “Reimagining the Sense of the Faithful: a New Paradigm for a Synodal Church in Light of Culture, Place, and Periphery” and has been slightly modified.[1]
God calls each of us by name to fulfill a specific purpose and along this journey of becoming, God places educators and exemplars to shape and equip us to fulfill this call. Like all of the faithful, this is also true for those called to serve the Church as theologians. As academics, we know the vital role that educators play in student learning. Educators enable students to construct a compendium of knowledge, to learn how to learn, to develop a love of learning, and to become life-long learners. As Catholics, we know the essential role that exemplars play through our own veneration of saints such as Anthony of Padua, Josephine Bakhita, and Francis and Claire of Assisi. By embodying the values and the teachings of Jesus while navigating the personal challenges of their context, culture, and place, exemplars provide a model for us as we strive to embody these same values and live these same teachings while navigating our own personal challenges in a different context, culture, and place. My doctoral dissertation is dedicated to the educators and exemplars who most significantly shaped me as a human person, a missionary disciple, an ecclesial minister, and a Catholic theologian: Amma and Appa – Veera Rajaratnam, Ph.D. and Augustine Rajaratnam, M.Sc., M.Sc.
As my exemplars and educators, Amma and Appa taught me the importance of intellectual formation and education. As my primary educators, they not only helped me with my homework but went beyond the school curriculum to help me progress at a faster pace. Refusing to accept the limitations and schedules of the U.S. education system, they procured advanced textbooks and workbooks for us to work on daily throughout the summer. As my exemplars, their own pursuit of education demonstrated its importance for me. As undergraduates in Sri Lanka, Appa earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Jaffna in 1980 and Amma earned a Bachelor of Science in Botany from University of Peradeniya (1978). Immigrating to the United States for graduate education, Appa earned a Master of Science in Mathematics from Marquette University (1987) and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock (1996). Amma earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Developmental Molecular Biology from Marquette University (1994) with her innovative dissertation entitled “Molecular analysis of ovary specific cDNAs from Galleria mellonella.”[2] Beginning with their time at Marquette, I saw them both diligently pursue education first hand as I spent time with Appa in his graduate office, bicycled in the basement of Marquette’s Wher Life Sciences Building during Amma’s laboratory research, and tagged along for academic excursions to campus libraries, student centers, and even scholarly conferences. Their persistent pursuit of education exemplified for me the necessity of graduate education and through their examples and education, I learned that graduate education would empower me to leave a positive mark on the world.
As my educators and exemplars, Amma and Appa cultivated my curious disposition and love of learning. As my educators, Amma and Appa recognized the limitations of our one-bedroom apartment for nurturing these dispositions. To overcome these limitations, they took Thumbi (little brother), Thungachi (little sister), and I on countless excursions. At the public library, Amma and Appa nourished my appetite for reading books and learning math; we would not only check out a number of books on each visit but also spend hours playing my favorite computer game, Number Munchers. At Marquette University, Amma intentionally introduced me to advanced scientific concepts, processes, and instruments and on one occasion, she explained the physiology of the mind to me using an actual human brain. At our apartment, Appa leveraged games available for home computers to advance our math, typing, and problem-solving skills. As my exemplars, they modelled for me important life lessons. They taught me to never simply accept someone else’s answer but to answer questions for myself. They were never satisfied with what I learned at school and always took time to explain things that went beyond the scope of classroom learning. Amid their own busy trajectories of inquiry, they both never tired of my ceaseless questioning and instead encouraged me to keep asking questions. Through their education and exemplarity, my disposition for inquiry flourished and to this day, I unrelentingly ask why - interrogating even widely accepted positions.
As my educators and exemplars, Amma and Appa taught me always to do better and continually strive to outperform myself. As my educators, Amma and Appa were never satisfied with an ‘A’ but insisted that I top my class. If I brought home a 93/100, they responded with the demanding refrain: “Where are the other seven points?” As my exemplars, they showed me that such outperformance was possible. After completing his graduate education, Appa went on to gain distinctions coveted in his field as an Oracle Certified Professional, a Sun Certified Programmer, and a certified Informatica programmer and administrator. Amma secured prestigious posts at the National Center for Toxicology Research and Vanderbilt University. Her innovative research on retinopathy in premature babies earned her the distinguished Knights Templar Grant (2000). Through their education and their examples, they instilled this same drive for self-betterment within me. They not only saw the capacity for excellence in me but wisely knew that a drive to outperform myself would help me achieve my fullest potential.
As my educators and my exemplars, Amma and Appa passed their Tamil culture to me and in the American context, this located me in what Asian-American theologians have come to recognize as an in-between or liminal space.[3] With its values of hospitality, education, and matriarchal wisdom and its emphasis on community over individuality, responsibility over rights, and creative reuse over disposability, my Tamil culture differentiates the way that I relate to God, self, neighbor, and creation from others who belong to different U.S. cultures.[4] Simultaneously, because my identity is also shaped by other U.S. cultures, I inhabit the liminal space where these cultures meet, participating in these cultures without being bound by their limitations.[5] Although this liminal existence is fraught with difficulty, burden, and conflict, it provides a uniquely fruitful locus from which to begin inquiry. Indeed, this liminal space has equipped me with bold openness to new ideas and practices, an extraordinary capacity to build relationship and community, and a creative locus from which prophetic knowledge and action naturally flows.[6] In the context of my liminal located-ness, Amma and Appa not only taught me how to think creatively without fear of overturning normative conventions but also taught me how to think critically by exposing others’ hidden assumptions, scrutinizing the underlying context, and interrogating the core of an idea. As my dissertation and my other published works demonstrate, I have never simply accepted paradigms as normative or injustices as remediless. Without the gift of my Tamil culture that I received through the education and example of Amma and Appa, I would never have had access to the liminal space that has fueled my academic insights.
As my educators and exemplars, Amma and Appa taught me that love is sacrificial. Recognizing the vulnerability around being an immigrant, Amma turned down prestigious faculty offers from places like Yale University and instead opted for job opportunities that provided familial stability through continued immigration sponsorship. Despite having immigrated legally, Amma and Appa prudently recognized the limited protections that student visas and permanent residency provided them. Knowing full well that an upset administrator could reject their re-entry into the U.S. at a whim, neither one of them visited their home in Sri Lanka for over twenty years.[7] Despite the deep pain that it caused, Amma even had to skip her mother’s funeral in Sri Lanka. Through their exemplarity and education, I learned that true love is sacrificial and that my successes are not my own but only possible because of the sacrifices that others made with me in mind.
As my educators and exemplars, Amma and Appa taught me to persevere through struggles, face challenges directly, and entrust my tribulations to God. As my exemplars, I witnessed them navigate academia, careers, parenting, and immigration amid the harshest realities of U.S. life including racism, sexism, and the excessive costs of living. Despite the sexism of supervisors and colleagues who viewed Amma’s career as secondary because she is both a woman and a mother, Amma, outperformed her colleagues through the significance, insights, and the lightning pace of her scientific research and discoveries. Despite an abundance of obstacles, Amma and Appa collectively earned three graduate degrees and achieved socially impactful careers. Juggling parenthood, careers, and the marginality of being immigrants, they raised children who have cumulatively earned four graduate degrees. Without the benefit of extended family here in the U.S., Appa and Amma never had easy help with child-care or a safe place of retreat in case of a financial catastrophe. Yet, they always persisted and persevered with faith, joy, and hope. They entrusted their struggles to God who always provided a way forward. In response to the lack of good public transportation, Amma and Appa shared a used car. Appa made three stops during our daily commute before reaching his destination for the day. In response to the excessive cost of housing, Amma and Appa raised three kids in a one-bedroom apartment as graduate students in Milwaukee. Amma and Appa exercised financial restraint and prudence securing their only house in the U.S. just as I entered high school. Somehow, they always ensured that we had access to good, healthy food and quality health care. Although there were countless occasions for despair or sorrow, they ensured our childhood was full of joy, laughter, love, and promise. Through their example and education, I learned how to persevere, thrive, and trust in God amid tribulations.
As my educators and exemplars, Amma and Appa taught me that faith in God comes from others.[8] As educators, they resolved to send me to Catholic school – where I learned so much of the Catholic faith – even as they were raising three kids on graduate stipends. Even though we only had one car, they leveraged the long commute as they dropped everyone off at childcare, primary school, and their universities to say family prayers together during the car ride. They stressed the importance of Mass, introduced me to the saints, and cultivated within me a strong devotion to my namesake, Saint Anthony. As my exemplars, they instilled in me a practice of popular piety – lighting candles, reciting rosaries, making pilgrimages, and creating a sacred space in our home populated with pictures of Jesus, Mary, saints, and deceased family. Just before midnight on every New Years Eve, they gathered us together in this sacred space to say a rosary together, ask for the intercession of our saintly namesakes, and pray for the dead. In this way, we began and ended each year in prayer together. Amma and Appa raised me in an inculturated form of Tamil Catholicism that has no disjunction between the sacred and the secular – a priceless gift in the context of an increasingly secularizing U.S. Because of their own examples of faith and their religious education of me amid the rhythm of daily life, my own faith in God was possible.
As my educators and exemplars, Amma and Appa taught me that faith is not only possible because of others but also is given to us for others.[9] As educators, they taught me how to care for others with special attentiveness to the sick, the elderly, and the needy. They instilled in me a willingness to help others and stressed the importance of radical hospitality and welcome. Through their exemplarity, I learned that personal gifts like an incisive intellect and an analytical mind are given by God to further the common good of all people. As a master student at UALR, Appa published an often-cited article contributing to the advancement of neural networks – the precursor to today’s artificial intelligence. In the context of millions of Americans lacking adequate health, Appa also published an article demonstrating the importance of employer wellness programs for health and well-being.[10] Similarly, Amma authored over twenty-five peer-reviewed articles including several as first author investigating gene regulation and biomedical therapeutics that collectively advanced humanity’s capacity to address cancer, angiogenesis, retinopathy, maternal diabetes, fetal development, and pulmonary disease.[11] Through her original research, she discovered two protein genes in their entirety and partially mapped almost ten other gene sequences.[12] Even as the field she entered was in its infancy, her ground breaking research advanced the scientific understanding of mRNA that proved pivotal in ending the COVID-19 global pandemic two decades later. In the twilight of her academic career, she furthered human knowledge, shepherding over thirty grants and manuscripts to success. By not only caring for family, friends, neighbors, and the needy, but also advancing the common good, Amma and Appa educated and exemplified for me the missionary orientation of faith and its preferential option for the poor. These insights not only shape the way that I live my life but also catalyze the scholarship that I produce.[13]
As my educators and my exemplars, who I am and what I do is only possible because of the foundation that Amma and Appa provided for me. On my journey of becoming, the goals I set and who I strive to be are driven by the high bar that their example and education still provide for me.
As I now educate and serve as an example for others in my capacity as parent, minister, formator, and theologian, I endeavor to teach and model for others as Amma and Appa have done for me. In so doing, I hope to pass on the lessons I have learned from them and their journey across countries, oceans, tribulations, and scholarship so that my children, the Church, and the world can live these lessons anew across emerging contexts, evolving cultures, and novel places.
Notes
[1] For the original and the version of record, see Deepan Rajaratnam, “Reimagining the Sense of the Faithful: A New Paradigm for a Synodal Church in Light of Culture, Place, and Periphery” (PhD Diss., Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, 2025), iii-xiii, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
[2] Veeraramini Rajaratnam, “Molecular Analysis of Ovary Specific cDNAs from Galleria Mellonella,” Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects: Dissertations (1934 -), no. 1642 (April 1, 1994), https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/1642.
[3] Jaisy A Joseph, “Living In-Beyond the Margins: A Second-Generation Immigrant Christian Experience,” in For Such a Time as This: Young Adults on the Future of the Church, ed. Kathryn Lohre (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 2014), 27–378; Jaisy A Joseph, “Negotiations In-Between: Indian Catholics in Diaspora,” in Scattered and Gathered: Catholics in Diaspora, ed. Michael Budde (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2017), 168–70; Peter C. Phan and Jung Young Lee, “Betwixt and Between: Doing Theology with Memory and Imagination,” in Journeys At The Margin: Toward An Autobiographical Theology in American-Asian Perspective (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1999), 113; Jung Young Lee, Marginality: The Key To Multicultural Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995), 45; Sang Hyun Lee, From a Liminal Place: An Asian American Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010), x.
[4] Deepan Rajaratnam, “How Can the U.S. Church Promote Missionary Interculturality in the Context of White Cultural Normativity?,” Go, Rebuild My House (blog), October 22, 2024, https://sacredheartuniversity.typepad.com/go_rebuild_my_house/2024/10/how-can-the-us-church-promote-missionary-interculturality-in-the-context-of-white-cultural-normativi.html.
[5] Joseph, “Living In-Beyond the Margins,” 30; Lee, Marginality, 45.
[6] Joseph, “Negotiation In-Between,” 170.
[7] For an examples of capricious deportation and immigrants making similarly difficult choices, see Ximena Bustillo, “Arrest of Pro-Palestinian Protester Shows Escalation in Trump Deportation Efforts,” NPR, March 10, 2025, sec. National, https://www.npr.org/2025/03/10/nx-s1-5323166/arrest-green-card-palestinian-protest; Catherine E. Shoichet, “‘They’ve Never Been Afraid before’: Why Some Green Card Holders’ Concerns Are Growing,” CNN, March 22, 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/22/us/green-card-visa-holders-deportation-fears-cec/index.html.
[8] See Deepan Rajaratnam, “Reimagining the Sense of the Faithful: A New Paradigm for a Synodal Church in Light of Culture, Place, and Periphery” (PhD Diss., Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, 2025), 186-188, 213-214, 224, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.
[9] Ibid.
[10] R.R. Hashemi et al., “A Hybrid Intelligent System for Predicting Bank Holding Structures,” European Journal of Operational Research 109, no. 2 (September 1998): 390–402, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(98)00065-4; Augustine S. Rajaratnam et al., “Well-Being, Health, and Productivity Improvement After an Employee Well-Being Intervention in Large Retail Distribution Centers,” Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine 56, no. 12 (December 2014): 1291–96, https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000000349.
[11] For some examples of Amma’s peer-reviewed publications, see Randal D. Streck et al., “Effects of Maternal Diabetes on Fetal Expression of Insulin-Like Growth Factor and Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein MRNAs in the Rat,” Journal of Endocrinology 147, no. 2 (November 1995): R5–8, https://doi.org/10.1677/joe.0.147R005; Veeraramini S. Rajaratnam, “Isolation, Characterization and Complete Nucleotide Sequence of a Galleria Mellonella cDNA Coding for the Follicle Cell-Specific Yolk Protein, YP4,” Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 26, no. 6 (June 1996): 545–55, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0965-1748(96)00006-9; Veeraramini S. Rajaratnam et al., “Maternal Diabetes Induces Upregulation of Hepatic Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-1 Mrna Expression, Growth Retardation and Developmental Delay at the Same Stage of Rat Fetal Development,” Journal of Endocrinology 152, no. 1 (January 1997): R1–6, https://doi.org/10.1677/joe.0.152R001; Susan G. Robbins, Veeraramini S. Rajaratnam, and John S. Penn, “Evidence for Upregulation and Redistribution of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) Receptors Flt-1 and Flk-1 in the Oxygen-Injured Rat Retina,” Growth Factors 16, no. 1 (January 1, 1998): 1–9, https://doi.org/10.3109/08977199809017487; John S Penn et al., “The Effect of an Angiostatic Steroid on Neovascularization in a Rat Model of Retinopathy of Prematurity,” Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 42, no. 1 (January 2001): 283–90, https://iovs.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2162308&resultClick=1; John S. Penn and Veera S. Rajaratnam, “Inhibition of Retinal Neovascularization by Intravitreal Injection of Human rPAI-1 in a Rat Model of Retinopathy of Prematurity,” Investigative Opthalmology & Visual Science 44, no. 12 (December 1, 2003): 5423–29, https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.02-0804; Gary W. McCollum et al., “Herbimycin A Inhibits Angiogenic Activity in Endothelial Cells and Reduces Neovascularization in a Rat Model of Retinopathy of Prematurity,” Experimental Eye Research 78, no. 5 (May 1, 2004): 987–95, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exer.2003.12.008; Xiang Q. Werdich et al., “Variable Oxygen and Retinal VEGF Levels: Correlation with Incidence and Severity of Pathology in a Rat Model of Oxygen-Induced Retinopathy,” Experimental Eye Research 79, no. 5 (November 1, 2004): 623–30, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exer.2004.07.006; Somdutta Sinha Roy et al., “Inhibition of Cholinephosphotransferase Activity in Lung Injury Induced by 2-Chloroethyl Ethyl Sulfide, a Mustard Analog,” Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology 19, no. 5 (2005): 289–97, https://doi.org/10.1002/jbt.20092; John S. Penn et al., “Angiostatic Effect of Penetrating Ocular Injury: Role of Pigment Epithelium-Derived Factor,” Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science 47, no. 1 (January 1, 2006): 405–14, https://doi.org/10.1167/iovs.05-0673; Sutapa Mukhopadhyay et al., “Modulation of the Expression of Superoxide Dismutase Gene in Lung Injury by 2-Chloroethyl Ethyl Sulfide, a Mustard Analog,” Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology 20, no. 3 (2006): 142–49, https://doi.org/10.1002/jbt.20128; Sutapa Mukhopadhyay et al., “Control of Peripheral Benzodiazepine Receptor-Mediated Breast Cancer in Rats by Soy Protein,” Molecular Carcinogenesis 47, no. 4 (2008): 310–19, https://doi.org/10.1002/mc.20387; Syeda M. Kabir et al., “Desensitization of β-Adrenergic Receptors in Lung Injury Induced by 2-Chloroethyl Ethyl Sulfide, a Mustard Analog,” Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology 23, no. 1 (2009): 59–70, https://doi.org/10.1002/jbt.20265; Dong Zhang et al., “Green Tea Extract Inhibits Proliferation of Uterine Leiomyoma Cells in Vitro and in Nude Mice,” American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 202, no. 3 (March 1, 2010): 289.e1-289.e9, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2009.10.885; Dong Zhang et al., “Antiproliferative and Proapoptotic Effects of Epigallocatechin Gallate on Human Leiomyoma Cells,” Fertility and Sterility 94, no. 5 (October 1, 2010): 1887–93, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2009.08.065; Mohamed Sabry et al., “Serum Vitamin D3 Level Inversely Correlates with Uterine Fibroid Volume in Different Ethnic Groups: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study,” International Journal of Women’s Health 5 (January 1, 2013): 93–101, https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S38800; Eman Roshdy et al., “Treatment of Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids with Green Tea Extract: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Clinical Study,” International Journal of Women’s Health 5 (January 1, 2013): 477–87, https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S4l021; Dong Zhang et al., “Green Tea Extract Inhibition of Human Leiomyoma Cell Proliferation Is Mediated via Catechol-O-Methyltransferase,” Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation 78, no. 2 (2014): 109–18, https://doi.org/10.1159/000363410.
[12] N.A Memmel et al., “Galleria Mellonella Hexamerin (Lhp82) mRNA, Complete Cds,” July 18, 1994, 347089, NCBI Nucleotide Database, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/L21997.1; Veeraramini S. Rajaratnam, “Galleria Mellonella Follicle-Specific Yolk Polypeptide-4 mRNA, Complete Cds,” January 28, 1997, 726302, National Center for Biological Information Nucleotide Database, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/U22425.1; N.A. Memmel et al., “Galleria Mellonella Hexamerin (Lhp82) Gene, Exons 1-6,” July 18, 1994, 348703, NCBI Nucleotide Database, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/L22534.1; Veeraramini S. Rajaratnam, “Galleria Mellonella Yolk Protein 2 (Yp2) mRNA, Partial Cds,” September 6, 1996, 1572662, National Center for Biological Information Nucleotide Database, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/U69881.1; Veeraramini Rajaratnam, “Cavia Porcellus Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF) mRNA, 3’ UTR,” August 2, 2006, 110832266, NCBI Nucleotide Database, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/DQ826433.1; Veeraramini Rajaratnam and Salil K. Das, “Cavia Porcellus Angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2) mRNA, Partial Cds,” June 28, 2006, 110832264, NCBI Nucleotide Database, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/DQ826432.1; Veeraramini Rajaratnam and Salil K. Das, “Cavia Porcellus Transforming Growth Factor B3 (TGFb3) mRNA, Partial Cds,” June 28, 2006, 110832262, NCBI Nucleotide Database, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/DQ826431.1.
[13] See Deepan Rajaratnam, “Reimagining the Sense of the Faithful: A New Paradigm for a Synodal Church in Light of Culture, Place, and Periphery” (PhD Diss., Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, 2025), 186-188, 213-214, 224, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.