Science and Religion--and Peacebuilding

Friends:

As you know the Consortium has had a very active Science and Religion faculty group since 2000.
The group meets about 6 times each school year and sponsors a public lecture each semester.

What you might not know is that the group is pursuing a grant on a Platform for Peace building.
The proposal is at the intersection of science, theology and public policy--as well as philosophy, psychology,etc. It is truly interdisciplinary. The first lecture of this program will be on Saturday, November 14th--God willing of course

I am building a list of folks interested in this project.
If you are one of them send me your email address.

Peace,
John
crossin@washtheocon.org

Consortium Office Moves West!

Friends:

The move is not far--from the South 2nd floor temporary offices
To the west 2nd floor renovated permanent offices.

Packing is a chore!
I am delaying packing by writing this blog.

But by the end of next week The Consortium Office--as it is known to some--will be in 3 newly renovated
offices provided by the Pontifical Faculty at Dominican House. The Office has been at Dominican House since 1972 in a couple different locations on the second floor.

Well, I must stop procrastinating on packing.
And there is a thunderstorm happening outside.

Peace,
John

Dr. George Lindbeck and Vatican II

Friends:

I was happy to attend the opening session this past Monday of the Center for Evangelical and Catholic Theology's Conference on Vatican II at the John Paul II Cultural Center.

Dr. Lindbeck led off--and putting aside parts of his prepared text, he reminisced in an interesting way
on his experience at Vatican II as an observer for the Lutheran World Federation. He attended all four sessions of the Council.

The following struck me as significant:

• There were few Catholic of Protestant theologians at that time who were expert in ecumenism and, among Protestants, few who were experts in Catholicism. Thus there were few observers to start.
• There is no way to document the influence of the observers. They did have a weekly meeting however with the staff members of what is now the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. And who knows where their comments went? Some of the observers had personal relationships with the bishops or their expert advisers.
• Vatican II is still having its impact in Protestant circles.

It was quite interesting to hear from someone who was present and has lived his life in the aftermath.

I was happy to see Consortium Board members and Consortium students in attendance at the Conference.

The presentations will eventually appear in print.

Peace,

John

Rev. Dr. Clark Lobenstine Honored

Friends:

In a surprise move that produced an ovation, the Board of the InterFaith Conference, an Affiliate Member of the Consortium, awarded Dr. Lobenstine its Bridge Builder Award. Clark has been the Executive Director of IFC since the beginning--30 years ago. He is well-known for his dynamism and his complete dedication to mutual understanding. The IFC embraces 11 religious traditions.

The Board gave the award to him at the end of their annual presentation of Bridge Builder and Founder's Award. The other recipients had been known for months. The award to Clark was a well-guarded surprise--Clark is usually the first to know what is going on!

This is a well-deserved award given to an esteemed and admired colleague.

Peace,
John