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New Fellows Join the Woodstock Theological Center
[Adapted from Woodstock Report No. 71, October 2002.]
The Woodstock Theological Center is pleased to announce that two new fellows, John Farina and Rita Rodriguez, joined the Center during the summer of 2002.
John Farina comes to Woodstock to direct the Catholicism and Civic Renewal project, an interdisciplinary examination of the role of religion in American public life. The former editor-in-chief of the Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality and Sources of American Spirituality series, he is currently editing the new Crossroad Catholic Heart series. His own writing includes works on the history of religion in the United States, such as, An American Experience of God (Paulist Press, 1981), Hecker Studies (Paulist Press, 1983), and Romantic Religion in Ante-bellum America: The Diary of Isaac Hecker (Paulist Press, 1988). He is the editor of Beauty for Ashes: Spiritual Reflections on the Attack on America (Crossroad, 2001), winner of the 2001 Catholic Press Association's Award for Best Book in Spirituality (paperback, 2nd place). His most recent book, Great Spiritual Masters: Their Answers to Six of Life's Questions, was published in July 2002 by Paulist Press. An attorney, Dr. Farina has practiced corporate and church-state law and published articles on current topics on law and religion. He has taught at Indiana University, the George Mason University, Iliff School of Theology, and the John Paul II Institute. He holds degrees from Vassar College (B.A.), Yale University (M.Div.), Columbia University (Ph.D.), and New York University School of Law (J.D.).
Rita M. Rodriguez brings to Woodstock long experience working with U.S. and foreign government agencies in the international area. She co-directs with Father Gap Lo Biondo, S.J., Woodstock's Global Economy and Cultures project. For over sixteen years, she was a full-time member of the Board of Directors of the Export-Import Bank of the United States, a presidential appointment. At the Bank, Dr. Rodriguez oversaw policy development and was responsible for the formulation of policy objectives and negotiating strategy with regard to international organizations. Earlier she was professor of finance at the University of Illinois at Chicago and assistant and associate professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. She is the author of numerous books and articles on international finance and is a member of the board of directors of several corporations. She holds degrees from the University of Puerto Rico (B.B.A), and from the New York University Graduate School of Business (M.B.A. and Ph.D.).