Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., gave a lecture on "Preaching the Just
Word" at the President's Forum on Culture and Values, Providence College,
Rhode Island, and addressed a breakfast meeting of Catholics at the World Bank
in Washington, D.C., on "A Spirituality for Social Justice." He
delivered the homily at the 150th anniversary of Xavier High School in New York
City, from which he had graduated in 1931. At Baylor University in Waco, Texas,
he was honored as one of the 12 "most effective preachers in the
English-speaking world," and preached there on "A New Time, A New
Heart." With Father Raymond B. Kemp, he directed five-day Preaching
the Just Word retreat/workshops in the Archdioceses of Louisville and
Chicago. Articles by Father Burghardt appeared in Church, in The
Living Pulpit, and in the Bread for the World Newsletter. An
interview with him was published in America October 5, on the occasion of his
latest book, Preaching the Just Word
(Yale University Press).
Raymond B. Kemp coordinated Preaching the Just Word
retreats for the Archdioceses of Louisville and Chicago. The death of Cardinal
Bernardin occurred during the Chicago retreat and themes of his service to the
church filled the week. His support of Preaching the Just Word was direct:
Chicago has hosted three PJW retreat/workshops. On a lighter note: our retreat
for Louisville was held in Bardstown at the Sisters of Charity retreat center
during the week when 70,000 barrels of bourbon burned at the Heaven's Hill
Distillery some two miles away. Those familiar with the project are surprised
that our preaching put fire in the distillery and not in the belly! Father Kemp
has been working with Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Arlington where he did a
day of recollection for ministers.
Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., conducted a seminar with Didier Thys,
director of Catholic Relief Services' Small Enterprise Development Technical
Unit, entitled "Ethical Dimensions of Microenterprise Development" at
the annual membership meeting of The Small Enterprise Education and Promotion
(SEEP) Network. He made a presentation entitled "Microenterprise
Development and the Common Good" to 40 people from 12 Latin American
countries at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. He
coordinated a U.S. advisory group of economists which provided critical comments
on drafts of the Latin American Jesuit Provincials' public letter and document
on "neoliberalism" that was published in Mexico in November. He
contributed a case sudy, "Microenterprise Development in El Salvador:
Lessons for Both Sides of the Border," to Building Community: Social
Science in Action, edited by Anne Figert, et al. See also Micro-Enterprise Development and the Common Good.
James L. Nolan continues to promote the formation of Woodstock
Business Conference chapters with consultations in Milwaukee, Chicago,
Philadelphia, New York, and St. Louis. In November, he addressed the
Conference's newest chapter in Reading-Berks, Pennsylvania. Having successfully
concluded a "Faith and Values at Work"
seminar at Holy Trinity Parish in Washington, he and Mike Stebbins will offer a
concentrated one-day version at St. John the Baptist Parish in New Freedom,
Pennsylvania, in April.
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., lectured on his new book, Inside the Vatican: The Politics and
Organization of the Catholic Church, to the faculty and students of the
Canon Law Department at the Catholic University of America. Interviews on his
book have appeared or will appear in the National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal,
USA Today, CBS Radio, Voice of America, and other media.
The book has already been favorably reviewed in the Library Journal and Publishers
Weekly. Father Reese also covered the National Conference of Catholic
Bishops meeting for America, in which his article, "Living the Bernardin Legacy," was
published on November 30. His comments and analysis on the bishops' meeting
were cited by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Associated
Press, and other papers. He appeared on NPR's "Talk of the Nation"
twice, once on "Character in the Presidential Election" and once on
"The Impact of Augustine and Aquinas on Contemporary American
Politics." He also spoke about Cardinal Bernardin on NPR's "All
Things Considered" and "Morning Edition." Father Reese has been
on MSNBC about a half-dozen times this fall. He also published "Catholic Voters: Pulled in Two Directions,"
in America (Nov. 2, 1996).
J. Michael Stebbins led a discussion about ethical issues at the
regional managers' meeting at Ruesch International in Washington, D.C. With
the help of James L. Nolan he presented an eight-week program from October to
December entitled "Faith and Values at Work: A Seminar in Spiritual and
Ethical Integration for Executives and Managers" for parishioners at Holy
Trinity Church in Georgetown. In mid-November, he and Mr. Nolan went to New York
City to meet with representatives of several of the area dioceses about using
Woodstock's resources to help initiate a program in work-life ministry. At the
invitation of Earl Hess, chairman emeritus of Lancaster Laboratories, Dr.
Stebbins traveled to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to meet with a group of business
people, clergy, and seminary professors who are using another version of the
seminar materials to guide its monthly discussions during the current school
year. Dr. Stebbins has also been leading monthly discussions of his book, The Divine Initiative, at St. Anselm's
Abbey.
Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., gave the concluding address,
"Collaborative Leadership: The Gospel Challenge," at St. John's
University, Collegeville, to lay leaders of North Dakota, South Dakota, and
Minnesota; gave a keynote address on "Biblical Signs of Catechesis: The
Biblical Vision of Justice" to 1,100 catechists in the Diocese of Orlando,
Florida; and lectured on "Biblical Justice" at Providence College,
Rhode Island. He taped a video homily in Chicago, "Widow's Mite, Society's
Sin," for the PBS program "30 Good Minutes"; preached the homily,
"With What Shall I Come before the Lord?," for the Mass of the Holy
Spirit at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska; preached the homily, "With
Wings of Eagles," at the liturgy celebrating the 175th anniversary of
Gonzaga College High School, Washington, D.C.; preached three times at the
Cathedral of the Assumption, Louisville, Kentucky; and conducted a workshop,
"Preaching from Sunday to Sunday," for priests of the Archdiocese of
Washington, D.C. With Father Raymond B. Kemp, he directed five-day Preaching the Just Word retreat/workshops for the
Archdioceses of St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois (one for priests, one
for permanent deacons), and the Dioceses of Fort Worth, Texas, Jefferson City,
Missouri, Jackson, Mississippi, Lafayette, Louisiana, and Louisville, Kentucky.
In October the Yale University Press issued his latest book, Preaching the
Just Word, an expanded version of his Beecher Lectures on Preaching at Yale
Divinity School.
Richard M. Liddy published a review article in the June 14 issue of Commonweal
entitled "Can Lonergan Replace Aquinas?" The article reviewed Philip
Gleason's recent book, Contending With Modernity: Catholic Higher Education
in the Twentieth Century. His article, "Susanne K. Langer's Philosophy
of Mind," will be published in the Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce
Society. He is working on a book on the appropriation of Bernard Lonergan's Insight.
Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., spent two weeks in Peru launching
Woodstock's new ethical reflection project in collaboration with the Jesuits of
Lima. In his first round of research he conducted 13 focus group sessions with
microentrepreneurs in the low-income neighborhood where the Jesuit parish and
social center are located. He also presented a paper entitled "An Ethical
Reflection on Microenterprise Development" at the Sixteenth Annual
Gathering of Latin American Jesuit Philosophers in Cochabamba, Bolivia, July
11-17. In Santiago, Chile, he conducted a one-day workshop entitled
"Ethical Dimensions of Credit for Microentrepreneurs" for
representatives of nongovernmental agencies which promote microenterprise
development and want to reflect on ethical values.
James L. Nolan presented a paper, "Affirming
the Relevance of Religious Faith to Business Practice," for the Annual
Forum of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools at Loyola
Marymount University in Los Angeles at the end of July. In September, he
addressed parishioners of Annunciation Parish, Washington, D.C., on the topic of
faith and work. Beginning in October, he and Mike Stebbins will begin a seminar
on "Faith and Values at Work" at Holy Trinity Parish in Washington.
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., has completed his new book, Inside the Vatican: The Politics and
Organization of the Catholic Church, which will be published by Harvard
University Press in early November. In July, he participated in a Jesuit
writers' symposium at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. Also in July he
was a guest on the National Public Radio program, "Talk of the
Nation," discussing religion and politics. Over Labor Day weekend, he gave
a presentation on politics and religion to the Religion News Writers Association
meeting in Chicago. In July and September Father Reese appeared on the MSNBC
network discussing the American Catholic Church and the process for electing a
new pope. He has recently published an article
on the "Catholic Common Ground" project initiated by Cardinal
Joseph Bernardin.
J. Michael Stebbins participated in a panel at a meeting of the Joint
Committee (International Policy and Domestic Policy) of the United States
Catholic Conference where the bishops were seeking advice about launching their
proposed "Lay Discipleship for Justice Initiative." He attended the
Fourth World Forum of the International Association of Jesuit Business Schools
at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and gave a presentation on
"Business Culture, Ethics, and Leadership." He also gave a paper
entitled "The Religious Value of Business" at the pre-conference
meeting on "Enhancing the Catholic Character of Business Schools,"
which Woodstock cosponsored with the University of St. Thomas' Institute for
Christian Social Thought and Management. In August he traveled to Pacific
Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, to help teach an MBA class which used
the Arrupe Program's business ethics curriculum as one of its texts. In
September he served as a faculty consultant in the inaugural "Georgetown
Monday" program on business ethics at Georgetown University, sponsored by
the Center for the Advanced Study of Ethics.
Welcome to Brian J. Lennon, S.J., who will spend a sabbatical year at
Woodstock focusing on "forgiveness and justice" from both a
theological and political perspective. For the past 15 years he has worked in
Northern Ireland on issues of peace, justice, and reconciliation. He has written
two books on conflict resolution in the Irish Catholic and Protestant situation
in Belfast.
Woodstock hosted Bishop Franjo Komarica of Banja Luka,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, for an evening of conversation in the Woodstock Library on
July 25. He was in the United States to meet with government officials and
church leaders to raise awareness of the difficulties that continue to plague
Bosnia. Bishop Komarica is a highly visible and respected advocate for
nonviolence and human rights. Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., preached the seven sermons at the Tre Ore
service on Good Friday, as well as the homily at the Holy Thursday liturgy, at
Holy Family Church (the United Nations church) in New York City. He gave the
keynote sermon on April 15 at the ecumenical Festival of Homiletics in
Alexandria, Virginia. He participated in a meeting of the Campaign for Human
Development in Phoenix, Arizona, on May 10. Father Burghardt preached at the May
25 graduation Mass for the Georgetown University Medical Center. He presented
six lectures, June 24-26, on "Justice and Priesthood" for the National
Institute for Clergy Formation at the San Alfonso Retreat Center, Long Branch,
New Jersey. With Father Raymond Kemp he directed five-day Preaching
the Just Word retreat/ workshops for the Archdiocese of Montreal, Canada,
the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, and the New York Province of the Society of
Jesus. Articles on Father Burghardt and Preaching the Just Word have appeared in
the Washington, D.C., Catholic Standard, the National Jesuit News,
and Our Sunday Visitor.
J. Leon Hooper, S.J., continues through June of this year at Boston
College to search out the social dimensions of mystical thought. In April he
delivered a lecture for the Jesuit Institute entitled "Transcending the
Human Condition: The God of Teresa of Avila, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Dorothy
Day." His analysis of the changing metaphors for God's social presence in
the theological writings of Murray, entitled "The Theological Sources of
John Courtney Murray's Ethics," appeared in the March issue of Theological
Studies. In June he will be on a panel on church/state relations at the
Catholic Theological Society of America annual meeting in San Diego.
Raymond B. Kemp coordinated three Preaching the Just
Word retreat/workshops with Father Burghardt (see above). He kicked off a
continuing education program on preaching for permanent deacons of Rockville
Centre, New York, using PJW video tapes. In May, he accompanied the Federal
Association of the Knights of Malta to Lourdes for their annual pilgrimage. He
participated in a panel discussion sponsored by The Washington Times in
June entitled "Spiritual Voices in a Secular Culture."
Richard M. Liddy published an article on Bernard Lonergan's phrase,
"The Passionateness of Being," in a tribute to retired Archbishop
Peter Leo Gerety of Newark. This collection of essays, There Are No Simple
Answers, is edited by Cassian Yuhaus, C.P. (Paulist Press, 1996). In June he
gave a retreat at Notre Dame to priests of the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend
and led Woodstock's Church Leadership Program at the Summer Institute for
Priests sponsored by Seton Hall University. He continues work on a book on the
appropriation of Bernard Lonergan's Insight.
Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., completed the first round of the
North-South Dialogue's economic justice project in Mexico with observations and
qualitative analysis of grass roots data. The title is: Microenterprise
Development in Mexico: Ethical Aspects of Institutional Development. This
material is being used in the ongoing training of field workers in Mexico. On
April 26-28, at Loyola Retreat House in Southern Maryland, he gave a retreat to
15 members of the twinning committee of St. Aloysius and Holy Trinity parishes
of Washington, DC.
James L. Nolan, director of the Woodstock Business
Conference, reports that new chapters were formed in Boston, Long Island
(Nassau and Suffolk counties), and Omaha. The conference is a national network
of business leaders who seek to integrate faith, family, and professional life
and who affirm the relevance of religious faith to their business practice. In
May, he and Michael Stebbins presented a course on Creating and Maintaining an Ethical Corporate
Climate at the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola
College, Baltimore.
R. Randall Rainey, S.J., joined a group of public figures, headed by
Walter Cronkite, to launch the non-partisan "Free TV Straight Talk
Coalition" by signing a full page ad in the April 18 New York Times,
calling national television networks to offer free time to presidential
candidates in the fall. Thus far, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN, and the Fox Network
have agreed to do so. As a member of the Coalition's steering committee, he
drafted the group's letter to the Federal Communications Commission asking for
hearings on this free TV proposal. The FCC will hold hearings in June. His
article on this topic, co-authored with William Regh, S.J., "The
Marketplace of Ideas, The Public Interest, and Federal Regulation of the
Electronic Media: Implications of Habermas' Theory of Democracy," will be
published by the Southern California Law Review in September. In June
1996 Creighton University Press will publish Abortion and Public Policy: An
Interdisciplinary Investigation within the Catholic Tradition, a collection
of essays co-edited with Gerard Magill of Saint Louis University.
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., is seeing his new book, Inside the Vatican: The Politics and
Organization of the Catholic Church, through its final stages of
production with Harvard University Press for release this fall. All that remains
is indexing and final proofreading of the typeset text. Tom began research on
this book after completingA Flock of
Shepherds, a study of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, in
1992. While waiting for his book to be copy-edited, Tom created a World Wide Web
page on the Internet for the Woodstock Center.
He moderated a May 14 Woodstock Forum on "Election
'96: The Values Behind the Issues." Panelists of the forum were: Thomas
B. Edsall, national correspondent for The Washington Post; Peter N.
Skerry, visiting fellow, Governmental Studies Program, the Brookings
Institution; and Mary McGrory, syndicated columnist for The Washington Post. The
press, including BBC, German radio, UPI Radio, RNS, CNS, the National
Catholic Register, the National Catholic Reporter, USA Today, The
New York Times, The Washington Post, the Economist, and others
continue to seek out Father Reese for analysis and comment on issues touching
the church.
J. Michael Stebbins went to Jefferson City in April to take part in a
program, "Common Ground for the Common Good," for social justice
ministers from the four Missouri dioceses. He gave two keynote talks-one on
"Human Needs and the Common Good," the other on "The Common Good
and Economic Justice"-and a workshop on the meaning of community. In
mid-May he spent two weeks with executives at American Management Systems, Inc.,
in Fairfax, Virginia, and Sacramento, California, learning about how the company
operates and how it deals with ethical concerns. At the end of the month he gave
a keynote address on "Funding Issues for Catholic Agencies" in
Oklahoma City to directors and program administrators of Catholic Charities from
Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. In early June he responded to a
paper on the topic of theological method at the annual convention of the
Catholic Theological Society of America in San Diego.
Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., addressed the administration, staff, and
faculty of John Carroll University, Cleveland, on "Education for Justice:
Biblical Approach and Jesuit Tradition." At a Winter Institute for Priests
in North Palm Beach, Florida, he gave three talks on "My Experience of
Priesthood," "A Spirituality of Priesthood," and "Preaching
the Just Word." He directed a Day of Recollection for Lent, "For Your
Lenten Penance: Listen, Let Go, Laugh," for parents and alumnae of
Visitation Academy, Washington, DC, and addressed a Communion Breakfast meeting
of medical personnel in New Canaan, Connecticut, on "Biblical Justice and
'The Cry of the Poor': Catholic Medicine for the Third Millennium." His
expanded Beecher lectures on Preaching at the Yale Divinity School will be
published in book form in a few months by the Yale University Press under the
title Preaching the Just Word. On
March 4, Newsweek's religion section published an article by Kenneth
Woodward on a Baylor University two-year survey of preaching which identified
Fr. Burghardt as one of the 12 "most effective preachers" in the
English-speaking world. An interview with Father Burghardt on preaching was
broadcast on March 8 by Voice of America.
Raymond B. Kemp spent Blizzard Sunday, January 7, traveling by train
for 16 hours from Washington, DC, to Rochester, New York, with Walter J.
Burghardt, S.J., for a Preaching the Just Word Retreat with Bishop Matthew
Clarke and 31 priests, deacons, religious, and laity of the Diocese of
Rochester. He preached two four-day parish missions: in February at St.
Anthony's Church in Northeast Washington, DC, and in March to St. Paschal
Baylon's in Thousand Oaks, California. In February he presented an informational
workshop on Preaching the Just Word to 60 participants at the annual meeting of
the National Organization of Continuing Education of the Roman Catholic Clergy
in San Antonio. Father Kemp is teaching an undergraduate theology course at
Georgetown University, "Struggle and Transcendence," which applies the
theological method of Bernard Lonergan, S.J., to the African-American struggle.
Richard M. Liddy attended a workshop in March in Melbourne, Australia,
on the application of Bernard Lonergan's philosophy of human action to decision
making in business and government. These "Donavue Workshops" are put
on for various groups by the consultants, John Little and Thomas Daly, S.J. He
is also working on a book on his own appropriation of Lonergan's philosophy of
human consciousness.
Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., and Daniel J. Cardinali, S.J., traveled
to Mexico, where they did preliminary research for Woodstock's second
microenterprise development project. Woodstock and the Jesuit-related Institute
for Social Policy Analysis will strengthen an already existing program called
Center for the Support of Microentrepreneurs. The project will study
microenterprise development in the Valley of Chalco located just outside of
Mexico City, where the conditions of deep-seated poverty keep close to one
million people marginalized from Mexico's mainstream economy.
R. Randall Rainey, S.J., has evaluated the December conference on
Welfare Reform, Federalism, and the Common Good hosted by Woodstock, and is
writing an article on the topic illustrating what was discussed in the
conference. With Professor William Rehg, S.J., of Saint Louis University, he
also finished an article entitled The Marketplace of Ideas, The Public
Interest, and Federal Regulation of the Electronic Media: Implications of
Habermas's Theory of Democracy, which has been circulated for law journal
publication.
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., spoke to the U.S. bishops' Domestic Policy
Committee on January 23 on principles to guide tax policy. On February 25, he
gave another presentation on tax policy to The Roundtable, a day-long symposium
for diocesan social action directors. In an earlier incarnation, Father Reese
was a lobbyist for a tax reform organization in Washington and currently serves
on the board of directors of Tax Analysts, a print and electronic publisher of
tax information. He gave a presentation on diocesan church politics to a canon
law course on diocesan governance at The Catholic University of America on
February 14. On February 23, he spoke at a dinner for Woodstock friends about
his book, Inside the Vatican: The Politics
and Organization of the Catholic Church (Harvard University Press, fall
1996). Tom is currently developing a World Wide Web page for Woodstock.
J. Michael Stebbins has completed the second draft of the Arrupe
Program's business ethics curriculum and is circulating it to a group of 35
readers for comment. In January he presented a paper outlining a new
methodological framework for Catholic theological ethics at the annual meeting
of the Society of Christian Ethics in Albuquerque. In February, he organized and
participated in a workshop for the nationwide meeting of diocesan social
ministry directors held in Washington, DC. Entitled "Working with Business
for the Common Good," the workshop featured a panel including Dr. Stebbins,
Peter C. Forster, chief executive officer of The Clark Construction Group, Inc.,
and Charles O. Rossotti, chairman of American Management Systems, Inc.
November - December 1996
[Woodstock Report, December 1996, No. 48]
July - October 1996
[Woodstock Report, October 1996, No. 47]
April-June 1996
[Woodstock Report, June 1996, No. 46]
January-March 1996
[Woodstock Report, March 1996, No. 45]
See Also: