Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., gave five
addresses on priesthood for Seton Hall University's Institute for Priests at
San Alfonso Retreat Center, West End, New Jersey; delivered a keynote address,
"From Experience through Imagination to Passion," at the national
conference of the Catholic Coalition on Preaching in Cincinnati; and addressed
the Board of Jesuit Volunteers International on "Give Me Your Poor, Your
Huddled Masses." He gave the St. Luke's Day Lecture on "A Health
Care Spirituality Rooted in Biblical Justice" for the Catholic Ministry for
Health Care Professionals in Cleveland; gave three talks on biblical justice to
the priests of the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; presented a workshop on
justice at the Sesquicentennial of the Diocese of Albany, New York; lectured on
"Biblical Justice and the Gospel of Mark" at Seattle University and in
Our Lady of Sorrows Church, South Orange, New Jersey; and spoke on "The
Just Word in Advent" to clergy of the Northwest East Deanery, Washington,
D.C. At Blessed Sacrament Church in D.C. he spoke on "Imaging Christ
through Theology: John Courtney Murray." He wrote the Christmas editorial,
"To Us a Child Is Born," for America magazine; preached a
homily, "Covenant with the Law, Covenant with the Lord," at a Red Mass
for the legal profession in Spokane, Washington, and preached twice in the
Seattle Cathedral. He conducted a Day of Recollection for resigned priests of
the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas. With Fr. Raymond B. Kemp, he did
a video on "Preaching the Just Word" for The Christophers' TV
program, addressed the Faith & Politics Institute at the Capitol on
"Communicating Social Justice Concerns from a Religious Perspective,"
and co-directed five-day Preaching the Just Word retreat/workshops
for clergy and lay ministers of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, the
Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona.
J. Leon Hooper, S.J., participated in a
panel discussion at Boston College after the Thanksgiving holidays. The
discussion concerned the modern memoir genre of personal writing and will
eventually appear in BC Magazine (Boston College alumni magazine). For
the discussion Fr. Hooper read Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and The
Liar's Club by Mary Karr. However, mostly he spoke from highly personal
autobiographical writings of mystics such as Teresa of Avila and Dorothy Day
(whom he has been studying for their social content) and the modern moves toward
human interiority and popular spirituality that the memoir genre echoes.
Richard M. Liddy gave a talk entitled
"In an Age of Change How Can a Christian Manage Change?" to a group of
Manhattan College Alumni on September 21 in Riverdale, New York. He participated
in two Church Leadership programs,
one in Hartford, Connecticut (September 28-October 3), and the other in Los
Altos, California (November 16-21). He attended a meeting of Catholic Studies
Centers organized by David O'Brien of Holy Cross College at the University of
Saint Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, from November 7-9. Monsignor Liddy
continues to organize a Center for Catholic Studies at Seton Hall University and
finished his book on the appropriation of Lonergan's Insight. In early
December he participated in a roundtable at Boston College on the topic,
"How My Mind Has Changed Since Reading Insight."
Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., participated
in the Seventeenth Annual Seminar of Latin American Jesuit Philosophers
in Guadalajara, Mexico, in July. The theme of this year's seminar was
"The State and Politics in Latin America Today." During September
he guided the reading and theological reflection of short-term visiting
fellow, Guillermo Perdomo, S.J., who had been the pastor of a very poor
parish in Santo Domingo for several years. Mr. Ronald Schmidt, S.J., spent
the month of October at Woodstock under Father Lo Biondo's guidance in
conjunction with his Jesuit philosophical formation program at St. Michael's
Institute in Spokane, Washington. Joining Father Lo Biondo as a research
fellow with the North-South Dialogue program is Rev. Mr. Frank LaRocca,
S.J., of the New York Jesuit Province. Recently ordained to the diaconate,
Frank will assist Fr. Lo Biondo this year in initiating Woodstock's new
project, "The Cultural Impact of the Globalized Economy." Francisco
Chamberlain, S.J., director of the Jesuit Institute for Development Policy
and Applied Ethics in Lima, Peru, spent the first week of December with
Father Lo Biondo planning a new long-term collaborative project responding
to the need for public policy dialogue in Peru. Microenterprise development
issues will be a major component.
James L. Nolan revised the Woodstock Business Conference Process Book,
a collection of resource materials for use by chapter coordinators. He continues
to promote the formation of new Woodstock Business
Conference chapters with travel, consultations, and presentations in
Baltimore, Madison, Wisconsin, New York City, Louisville, Cincinnati, and
Washington, D.C., and a retreat for WBC conference leaders at the Jesuit Center
for Spirituality in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. He spoke to the WBC's newest chapter in Milwaukee and to the
Catholic Business Networks in Montgomery County and the District of Columbia. On
National Public Radio he discussed the mood of the business community on issues
of campaign finance reform. In November he served on the faculty for the John T.
Garrity Conference on Ethics in Business sponsored by the Woodstock Center and
Georgetown University in Prague, Czech Republic.
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., went to Rome as a
correspondent for America magazine to cover the month-long Synod for
America which began November 16. Before going to Rome, he spoke about the synod
at the Woodstock Forum and the Canon Law
Society of America annual meeting in San Diego. He also helped give a seminar on
the Vatican at the State Department for Corinne "Lindy" Claiborne
Boggs, the new U.S. ambassador to the Holy See. Father Reese also spoke on his
book, Inside the Vatican, at St.
Francis Xavier Church, Wilmette, Illinois, and Good Shepherd Church in
Alexandria, Virginia. In October he gave a weekend retreat at Blue Ridge Summit
to the Young Adult Community of Holy Trinity parish, Washington, D.C. He was
part of the Woodstock team that presented a Church Leadership Program in
Hartford, Connecticut.
J. Michael Stebbins has been traveling
monthly to Morristown, NJ, to lead a group of managers (most of them permanent
deacons) through the Arrupe Program's "Faith and Values at Work"
seminar and to train them as facilitators who will lead the seminar for other
groups throughout the Diocese of Paterson. This is the initial step in the
diocese's efforts to launch a lay-led "worklife ministry" aimed at
helping people take responsibility for making their workplaces and their own
performance at work conform more closely to the authentically human values of
the Gospel. In November Dr. Stebbins went to Prague as a faculty member for the
John T. Garrity Conference on Ethics in Business; he also was part of the
Woodstock team that presented the Church Leadership Program to a group of
priests and pastoral ministers in Los Altos, California. In early December he
and Rev. Msgr. Richard Liddy participated in the Roundtable Consultation on the
future of Lonergan studies sponsored by the Lonergan Workshop at Boston College.
They presented their views on the significance of Lonergan's work for ethics,
pastoral ministry, and everyday human living.
Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., conducted a Day of Recollection at Fort
Myer for Catholic military chaplains in the Washington area; gave a talk on
"God, Me, and Justice: What about Our Relationship?" at St. Mary's
parish, Fairfax, Virginia; and presided and preached on Trinity Sunday
("Greater Love Than This") at the Washington Court Hotel for special
guests before the annual Memorial Day Concert on the Capitol Lawn. He spent five
days with the priests of the Diocese of Scranton at Split Rock Resort in the
Poconos, addressing them on biblical-justice preaching and on contemplation. He
gave the keynote address, "A Health Care Spirituality Rooted in Biblical
Justice," at the annual convention of the Canadian Catholic Health
Association in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, and preached at the convention
liturgy. He delivered the 43rd Annual Alpha Sigma Nu (Jesuit Honor Society)
Lecture at Creighton University, Omaha, on "Contemplation: A Long Loving
Look at the Real." With Father Raymond B. Kemp he codirected five-day Preaching the Just Word retreat/workshops for the
Archdioceses of New York and Los Angeles, and the Diocese of Springfield-Cape
Girardeau, Missouri. At Le Moyne College, Syracuse, New York, he gave the
commencement address, "From I to Awe," and received an honorary
degree, his twenty-first.
Raymond B. Kemp gave the keynote address, "Priestly Identity and
the Mission to Proclaim the Gospel," to the priests of the Archdiocese of
Philadelphia during a week-long meeting. In May he met with the United States
Catholic Conference's Task Force on Catholic Education and Catholic Social
Teaching. He coordinated Preaching the Just Word retreat/workshops for priests
of the Archdioceses of New York and Los Angeles, and the Diocese of
Springfield-Cape Girardeau.
Richard M. Liddy is involved in preparing two retreat/workshops for
Woodstock's Church Leadership Program
to be held at Trinity Retreat House in Hartford, Connecticut, September 28 to
October 3, and at the Jesuit Retreat House in Los Altos, California, November 16
to November 21. He is also finishing a book on the personal appropriation of
Bernard Lonergan's Insight. From May 29 to June 7 he was part of a team giving
Ignatian directed retreats to 39 diocesan seminarians; this was part of the
National Program of Spiritual Formation for Diocesan Seminarians given by the
Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.
From June 19 to June 22 he took part in the program on the identity of Catholic
universities sponsored by the Institute Collegium at Fairfield University. On
June 24 he organized a day of reflection at Seton Hall University on "The
Mission of a Catholic Studies Center," facilitated by Brian Daley, S.J.
Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., wrote
a brief introduction to and commentary on (published
in the June 1997 issue of the National Jesuit News) the joint letter of
the 18 Latin American Jesuit Provincials on "Neoliberalism" (a type of
global capitalism). On May 24-25, he took part in a round table discussion with
people from Canada, Latin America, and the United States, on the "Special
Assembly for America" (Synod of North/Latin American Bishops that will take
place in November, 1997). He represented Woodstock, a co-sponsor of the
conference on "Social Responsibility in the Age of Globalization," May
27-29 at Marquette University. The conference was sponsored by the Center of
Concern in celebration of its twenty-fifth anniversary, and by the Archdiocese
of Milwaukee, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Bishops' pastoral
letter on the U.S. economy. On April 26 he spoke on theological reflection at a
seminar entitled "The Next State of Catholic Social Thought," convened
by the Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs USA/ Pax Romana,
in Washington, D.C. See also: "Microenterprise
Development in El Salvador: Village Banking, Changing Values, and Informal
Education," by Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J. with Rafael A. Pleitez.
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., gave the John Courtney Murray Lecture,
sponsored by America Press, Inc., on May 6 in New York City. The lecture will be published in America in
June or July and will also be placed on the Woodstock Web page. On June 4 he
attended the first meeting of the National Board of Advisors for the Bernardin
Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, whose purpose is to continue
the legacy of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. In the last few months, he has appeared
on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR's "Talk of the Nation" to speak about a
variety of topics such as saints, cults, and his book, Inside the Vatican.
J. Michael Stebbins traveled to Morristown, New Jersey, on May 17 for
an orientation meeting with 13 permanent deacons from the Diocese of Paterson
who will be learning how to lead the Arrupe Program's "Faith and Values
at Work" seminar. In May and June he and James Nolan conducted a second
pilot of the seminar, hosted by the Washington Theological Union, for a group of
fourteen people with management backgrounds. Together with Fr. James Connor,
James Nolan, and Dr. Stebbins took part in a pair of two-day discussions about
Woodstock's method of theological reflection with the leaders of the Council
for Ethics in Economics. In early June he chaired the meeting of the Continuing
Group on Method in Theology at the annual meeting of the Catholic Theological
Society of America, held this year in Minneapolis.
See also: Summary Highlights: Woodstock
Theological Center Projects, May 1997
Walter J. Burghardt, S.J., lectured on "Scholar, Believer,
Communicator" at the Xavier University, Cincinnati, induction of students
into Alpha Sigma Nu, the Jesuit Honor Society; gave two lectures, "Biblical
Justice" and "The Cry of the Poor," at the Los Angeles Religion
Education Congress; spoke on "Biblical Justice: What Is It and What Do We
Do with It?" for the Adult Education Lecture Series at Holy Trinity Church,
Washington, D.C.; and presided and preached on "Forgive, and You Will Be
Forgiven" at a liturgy at Theological College, Washington, D.C. At the
Franciscan Renewal Center, Scottsdale, Arizona, he gave a public lecture on
"Immigrant: Biblical and American," led a panel discussion on
immigration, and preached at two liturgies on "The Stranger: Yesterday and
Today," based on the Gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well. He
addressed Boston College's Jesuit Community on "Aging: A Long, Loving
Look at the Real," and preached on "Aging, Changing, Giving" at
the liturgy following. In the Lenten lecture series at St. Peter's on Capitol
Hill, he preached on "Biblical Justice and the Cries of Our Children."
With Father Raymond Kemp, he codirected five-day Preaching the Just Word
retreat/workshops for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the dioceses of
Honolulu, Austin (Texas), and Tulsa, and (with Father Kemp) conducted a retreat
day on biblical justice for the Social Action Committee of the Archdiocese of
Cincinnati. The National Organization for Continuing Education of Roman Catholic
Clergy presented him its President's Medal for distinguished service to the
priesthood in America; and Xavier University, Cincinnati, awarded him an
honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, his twentieth.
J. Leon Hooper, S.J., delivered two lectures this winter that
presented arguments advanced in his recently published collection of secondary
Murray essays, John Courtney Murray and the
Growth of Tradition (Sheed & Ward, 1996). His major effort, however,
remains focused on a line of inquiry suggested in the closing essay of that
volume, namely, the possibility of bringing richer languages of the Christian
tradition to definitions of and work toward the public good. After having traced
through the mutually constructive interplay between the more socially explicit
Catholic mystics (such as Teresa of Avila and Dorothy Day) and modern notions of
human dignity, Hooper is now trying to tease out the social dimensions in the
more individualistic writers such as Meister Eckhart. The book in the making
remains conscious of links between these mystical traditions and some of the
deeper impulses behind Murray's and Lonergan's notions of the human drive to
know human social nature and, ultimately, God.
Raymond B. Kemp coordinated Preaching the Just Word Retreats for the
dioceses of Honolulu, Austin, and Tulsa, and for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
He participated in Woodstock's Church Leadership Project at his alma mater,
St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore. Father Kemp is teaching two courses this
semester: "Struggle and Transcendence," a theology course for
Georgetown undergraduates which applies Lonergan's method to the
African-American struggle; and "Pastoral Administration" at the
Washington Theological Union for ministry students. He preached two Lenten
missions, one at St. John the Evangelist, Severna Park, Maryland, and the other
at St. Pius X Parish, Bowie, Maryland. Father Kemp completed a minister's
formation project at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Arlington and lectured at
St. Bartholomew's Parish, Bethesda, and St. John Vianney Parish in Prince
Frederick, Maryland.
Richard M. Liddy is in residence this year at Seton Hall University as
University Professor of Catholic Thought and Culture. He is engaged in creating
a Center for Catholic Studies that would bring together scholars from various
disciplines touching on the Catholic tradition, its history and contemporary
relevance. As a Woodstock senior fellow, he continues to work on the Woodstock
Church Leadership Program which uses Woodstock's Ignatian/Lonergan methodology
to reflect on the concrete pastoral lives of Church leaders. In February, 20
priests gathered for a week with six members of the Woodstock team at St. Mary's
Seminary in Baltimore as part of a fruitful continuing consultation on this
program. Monsignor Liddy has also given four series of talks to the priests of
the Philadelphia Archdiocese on the topic "Maintaining Intellectual
Health."
Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., led 27 Jesuits from the United States and
Mexico through a group discernment on future initiatives for Hispanic ministry
in the United States at a meeting in El Paso, Texas, in January. He was a
panelist at a Microcredit Summit on February 2, in Washington, D.C., on current
research related to sustainable development. His article, "Microenterprise
Development in El Salvador: Lessons for Both Sides of the Border," was
published in Building Community, Social Science in Action, edited by Philip
Nyden et al, Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, California, 1997.
James L. Nolan continues to promote the formation of new Woodstock
Business Conference chapters with groups starting in New York City and
Philadelphia. Recent travel to the West Coast included consultations regarding
chapters in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Santa
Clara. On February 23, Mr. Nolan spoke on the business person's role as
collaborator in social justice pursuits at the annual meeting of the National
Association of Diocesan Social Action Directors in Washington, D.C. Beginning
April 7, he and Michael Stebbins will offer a "Faith and Values at
Work" eight-week seminar for business executives and managers at the
Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C. On April 25, Mr. Nolan will
lead the Executive Masters in Business Administration students at Loyola
University of Baltimore in their consideration of business ethics.
Thomas J. Reese, S.J., has been invited to give the John Courtney
Murray Lecture, sponsored by America Press, Inc., on May 6, at 5:30 p.m. at the
Lincoln Center Campus of Fordham University in New York City. He has also been
asked to speak on "The Experience of Special Synods of Bishops" at the
Canon Law Society of America meeting in San Diego on October 15. During February
he guest-lectured at the Washington Theological Union, in the Canon Law
Department at the Catholic University of America, and at the Jesuit Collegian
program at Loyola University, Chicago. He also gave presentations on his book, Inside the Vatican, to a group of religious
sociologists at the Life Cycle Institute of Catholic University, and to a
national meeting of social ministers in Washington. Since being published in
December, his book has been reviewed in America,
The Boston Globe, Catholic News Service, Commonweal, The Economist, The
Financial Times, The Irish News, Library Journal, The National Catholic
Register, The National Catholic Reporter, The New York Times, Our Sunday
Visitor, Publishers Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Tablet (of London),
Time (Atlantic edition), The Times (London), The Tribune (Dublin), and The
Washington Post. He has recently been appointed to the National Board of
Advisors for the Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago,
whose purpose is to continue the legacy of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin.
J. Michael Stebbins gave a plenary lecture on "The Meaning of
Solidarity" at the inaugural conference of the John F. Henning Institute on
Catholic Social Thought at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California, in
January. The lecture will be published in a volume of the conference
proceedings. As part of its effort to launch a new "worklife
ministry," the Diocese of Paterson, New Jersey, has asked Dr. Stebbins to
design a revised version of the Arrupe Program's "Faith and Values at
Work" seminar and to train a hand-picked group of permanent deacons, all
with significant experience in business, who will give the seminars at parishes
throughout the diocese. The training program for deacons will begin in May. See
also The Meaning of Solidarity, an
interview with J. Michael Stebbins in the May 1997 Woodstock Business
Conference Report.
Dean Brackley, S.J., is a visiting fellow at Woodstock from February 1
through June 30, 1997. Dean was assigned to serve as professor of theology and
ethics and director of the School for Religious Education at the Jesuit
University in El Salvador following the massacre of the Jesuits there by the
Salvadoran army in 1989. During most of the '80s he was an educator and
organizer for a church-sponsored leadership program in the South Bronx, New
York. Dean was a fellow at Woodstock from 1987 to 1989 and during that time
wrote a book entitled Divine Revolution: Salvation and Liberation in Catholic
Thought (Orbis, 1996). He is currently writing a book on Ignatian spirituality
and the poor.
Michael H. McCarthy is a visiting fellow at Woodstock from March 1
through June 30, 1997. Professor McCarthy holds the Frederick Weyerhaeuser Chair
in the Department of Philosophy at Vassar College. Among his writings are The
Crisis of Philosophy and "The Critique of Realism," published in the
1992 edition of Method. He is currently writing a book with the working title,
The Political Humanism of Hannah Arendt. While at Woodstock, he is assisting the
Woodstock team to deepen its understanding and refine its use of Ignatian
discernment, as grounded for our times in the theological method of the late
Jesuit philosopher and theologian, Bernard Lonergan, S.J.
July - December 1997
[Woodstock Report, December 1997, No. 52]
April - June 1997
[Woodstock Report, June 1997, No. 50]
January - March 1997
[Woodstock Report, March 1997, No. 49]
See Also: