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Informally: Woodstock Conversations
[Woodstock Report, June 2005, No. 82]
The first of a series of traveling "Woodstock Conversations" took place in New York City on March 10, bringing together 20 people for a reception and discussion in a Madison Avenue apartment.
The purpose of the event, hosted by Woodstock friends Jay and Joan McLaughlin, was to introduce people to the Center's work and encourage reflection on questions arising from the Center's projects. Woodstock director Gasper F. Lo Biondo, S.J., gave a general introduction, and senior fellow John C. Haughey, S.J., spoke about his project on Catholic identity and Catholic higher education.
All of those in attendance were graduates of Catholic colleges and universities, most of them Jesuit institutions such as Georgetown, Boston College, and Fordham. For an hour and a half, they engaged in lively discussion of topics such as the mission of Catholic higher education. But they talked as much about concerns more personal to them, especially to the younger graduates.
For example, some spoke of a desire to tap into the kinds of religious and intellectual experiences readily available on campus but harder to come by in the workaday world. The alumni were also looking for advice on how to act out their faith, particularly by working with the less fortunate.
There will be other informal Woodstock conversations in coming months.