The Pebble 1.2 (July 2025)

Many a reader may wonder what is the meaning behind The Pebble, the name of the occasional newsletter of the Marshall McLuhan Initiative Inc. In a word, it was inspired by the The Initiative logo, which is a rendition of the age-old notion, “the pebble in the pond”. This logo in turn was the brainchild of the late Richard Osicki and his wife, Dionisia Roman-Osicki, the pebble representing the word of Marshall McLuhan creating ripples in the ponds of the minds of anyone who would receive them.

This was far from being the only contribution of Osicki to The Initiative. It was Richard who approached Howard R. Engel at the inaugural event of the McLuhan Focus in Catholic Studies at St. Paul’s College, U of M, (or proto-The Initiative) in 2007. Osicki’s presence rounded out character of the Focus, both in quality and quantity. Howard and Richard became fast friends and co-directors of the organization.

Richard (Ryszard) Jan Osicki was born on September 4, 1946 in Nottingham, England to Jan and Maria (nee Makowska), Polish war veterans. The family moved to Montreal, where Richard earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Political Science from Loyola College. Then, at the tender age of 28, he became executive producer of the CBC program Identities. The theme of the show was about the struggles, triumphs, and politics of being a Canadian “from away”. Later, after a renewing of his Catholic faith, Osicki received a Masters in Theology from the University of Dayton, Ohio in 2004. There, Richard had been under the tutelage of Sister Angela Ann Zukowski, MHSH, D. Min., a scholar who would later be given The Initiative’s The Medium and the Light Award. His thesis was based on the thought of Marshall McLuhan and Canadian theologian Bernard Lonergan S.J., and was called Towards a Theology of Christian Communications.

By his own admission, Richard’s passions were three-fold: teaching, communications, and religion, and he shone in all of them. He lectured at Concordia University in Montreal, The Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, and St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba. Osicki established the Communications and Media program at Providence College in Otterburne, Manitoba, and was a mentor for many in media studies. He was also employed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Winnipeg as spokesperson and communications director. In 1990, Richard had Fr. Pierre Babin, OMI a noted French media ecologist, give a course on communications in order to train parish workers. Babin was the recipient of The Initiative’s inaugural Medium and the Light Award, as conceived by Richard, in 2012.

However, it was as co-director of The Initiative that these three streams converged. Osicki once said, “I have been blessed to be able to explore with others why and how people communicate their faith to others. That is the underlying question we are addressing through the Marshall McLuhan Initiative.”

Richard’s contributions to the Initiative were multifold. He conceived of and designed our “Medium and the Light Award”, which he named after McLuhan’s book, The Medium and the Light: Reflections on Religion (1999). The award itself is an always uniquely handcrafted, opalescent glass obelisk, created each year by Matthew McMillan of Prairie Studio Glass, Winnipeg, and dubbed a “Tetrad”. In Richard’s own words, “The Interactive Tetrad [is an] obelisk…you need to [probe it]. Inside is a rectangular sliver of [dichroic] glass that refracts light in an array of colours.” He created this prize as a tribute to McLuhan’s faith. Osicki stated that “Marshall McLuhan’s…faith played a vital role in his life and work, and he reflected deeply on the effects of new technologies on [religion].” Thus, the prize was intended to be given “to a person, group or organization that has made a significant contribution to religious communication inspired by the observations…[of] Marshall McLuhan.”

Osicki also made his mark through his writing and presentations. These include “What’s the Microphone doing at Church?” (The Initiative Seminar 2008); “The Internet and Prayer” (The Initiative Seminar 2009); and “Is the Internet the New temple? McLuhan Looks at Religion Looks at McLuhan” (MEA Convention, Edmonton, AB, 2011).

In his research into McLuhan’s prairie upbringing, Richard wrote in his article “McLuhan the Manitoban,” (The Manitoban 2011) the following: “Virtually everything for which Marshall McLuhan became internationally renowned was already evident in his public writings as a young man living in Winnipeg and studying at the University of Manitoba…” Finally, when it came time in 2011 to rebrand the McLuhan Focus in Catholic Studies to give it a broader scope and appeal, Richard suggested “The Marshall McLuhan Initiative,” a perfect title from one who had much initiative, and the name endures.

Richard Osicki died in the early morning of October 29th, 2012 of a resurgent throat cancer. In all of his endeavours, Richard had felt that there were lessons to be learned from McLuhan about how intellect and faith nurture each other. For his notable nurturing of the Marshall McLuhan Initiative, Osicki was posthumously given the 5th annual Medium and the Light Award. This honour was given at The Initiative’s Faith and Works Conference at St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba on Sunday, October 18, 2015 to his widow, Dionisia Roman-Osicki, his son Tobiasz, and his brother George.

May Richard rest in peace, and may his memory be eternal!

~Howard R. (J.) Engel & Esther G. Juce