Remarks at the API Philosophy Cafe, April 2026 - John Cummins
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John Cummins
I’m here to introduce Father Robert Dodaro, truly a man of Discernment (understanding). I’ve known him for a couple of years now and he taught me so much about St. Augustine and the Catholic Church. He calls Catholicism the most complicated religion in the world. And I think he may be right. His talk is about Discernment and how to bring God into our lives. He has slowly taught me how to do this. But the final step is wanting to do it. He can take complex thoughts and concepts and explain them simply to the Everyman.
Father Robert is too modest to say it, but he may be the number one world scholar on the thought of St. Augustine. Just as our own API member, John Smithin, is one of the world’s leading economists. Oh, sorry, that’s a mistake. He is the world’s leading economist. The funny thing is - it might be true. John is another man of great discernment and understanding and we are privileged to have him in our midst. As with Father Robert, I have had many long conversations with John and have learned a great deal from him. He has been very patient with me and my Fenian and Leprechaun trickery.
Father Robert Dodaro, OSA, is a Catholic priest in the Augustinian Order. He holds a doctorate in Theology from Oxford and a doctorate in Patristics from the Pontifical Patristic Institute in Rome. (Father you will have to explain to many of us here what Patristics is). He is a specialist in the thought of St. Augustine and is the author of Christ and the Just Society in the Thought of Augustine (Cambridge UP, 2004). He taught theology in Rome from 1991-2018. He is currently the chaplain of Villanova College in King City.
Once again, I would like to thank Alla Marchenko, our President of the API, a woman, an Aphrodite, of great discernment. You can’t get away with being a Leprechaun around Alla. (Is that not true, John?) I would like to thank Alla for organizing this event.
So, let’s begin. We are in for a treat. My company, Cummins Hydraulics, has a small token of our company’s appreciation, recognizing Father Robert’s great contribution to the field of education. And, Father, I know that like most men of the cloth you prefer the real thing rather than a representative cheque. Thank you.
One more thing, since there are many St. Thomas Aquinas fans in the room, I once asked Father Robert how he would describe the difference between Aquinas and Augustine. Father Robert simply said that Aquinas is a symphony and Augustine is Jazz. I loved that answer as someone who carried a copy of St. Augustine’s Confessions for years. And I must confess that confessions have been my lived experience, as some of you here can attest. Thank you.
As I said you are in for a treat. In my biased opinion, and it is my opinion, Father Robert is the most clear and profound man of discernment that there is.