The Courage to Believe

Friends:

Long-time LTSG faculty member Roy Enquist sent me his new book
The Courage to Believe: How Human Life May Flourish a few weeks back.

I am reading it a few pages at a time--it is jammed packed thus far.
Roy, who has been an active member of the Consortium Ethics Group for two decades, is articulate and thoughtful. His book, while only 150 pages, promises to cover the ground thoroughly.

Have a Blessed New Year's Day.

Peace,
John

Christmas Greetings

Friends:

I had a cup of coffee this morning with Fr. Russel Murray of WTU to discuss all matters ecumenical. Russel studied in Toronto and is a very knowledgeable ecumenist. He is a Franciscan priest and a relatively new faculty member at WTU. His courses on ecumenism will be of interest to many.

Hope you have a blessed Christmas--a white one given the blizzard we just had.

Peace,
John

Quiet Days

Friends:

These are the quiet days when the Consortium Planning for 2010 and beyond
and the 'catch-up' on back-burner projects takes place.

Hopefully both students and faculty are doing well as exams and papers are submitted and marked.

Peace,
John

Forgiveness--Report on Science and Religion Meeting

Friends:

I was reading Fr. Joe Wimmer's written report of last Friday's Science and Religion meeting--and thought that I would share the part on the Presentation:

Robert T. Hennemeyer, one of the authors of the 2004 USCCB book Forgiveness in International Politics…an alternative road to peace, (with William Bole and Drew Christiansen, SJ) and former U.S. Ambassador to The Gambia, talked to the group about principles of political peace-making and some of the efforts underlying them. Some principles: each group should say how it suffered from the other, to show that both (or all) groups suffered and not just one; need for historical truth as opposed to the ever-common mytho-history. German boys in 1937 were taught by the Nazis even with bawdy songs to hate the French. Statements by religious leaders are important in giving local peace-makers some “cover” and authorization.

In a subsequent Q&A session, the importance of economic standards necessary for forgiveness was discussed, as well as the need for involving the local population in rebuilding projects. Greg Mortensen, author of Three Cups of Tea, had architects design schools for girls in a Muslim country, but built by the locals. Though some of them were destroyed by extremist groups, others were not, because the local people had assisted in the construction of those schools and defended them as their own.

Peace,
John

V. Rev. Frederick J. Tillotson, O. Carm. installed as President at Washington Theological Union

Friends:

At a wonderful Celebration of Advent Lessons and Carols, Father Fred Tillotson was inaugurated the Seventh President of Washington Theological Union. I was happy to convey the greetings of all in the Consortium to Fred and the WTU community gathered at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church.

Father Tillotson in his President's address set forth his vision for the future of WTU--including a specific point on commitment to working together ecumenically.

A joyful Reception concluded this most significant evening.

Peace,
John

Reconciliation in International Politics

Friends:

As you may know, the Science and Religion Group of the Consortium is working on its "Platform for Peacebuilding." They will approach this from an interdisciplinary point of view with an emphasis on recent scientific findings that can of help in this arena.

To provide context and insight for this work, the Group invited Ambassador Robert Hennemeyer to speak on the book he co-authored on Forgiveness in International Affairs. He summarized the key findings of the book and recent developments--and elaborated on past and recent events in the extended question and answer period that followed.

One element of his presentation that I have noted before is that mytho-history plays a large role in keeping conflicts alive. People are taught a past history that keeps ethnic and inter religious conflicts fresh. One key element in reconciliation is getting to the truth of the past. This, of course, has been a key in ecumenical reconciliation as well.

Peace,
John

Academy of Homiletics

Friends:

Even as the semester is coming to an end, various groups of the Consortium continue to be active.

I was happy to attend the opening session of the Academy of Homiletics at Wesley's Mount Vernon Extension on Thursday evening. The Academy is a national professional group. Dr. Lucy Hogan of Wesley was one of the leaders in organizing this annual meeting. Other Consortium Professors of Homiletics helped at various points.

I was happy to be present to welcome the professors--some had come from overseas. I found the opening panel of representatives of 3 publishing houses and 4 professors most enlightening about the state of religious publishing--and especially of the publishing of homiletic materials.

As I have mentioned before on this blog one of the joys of being director of the Consortium is learning from the colleagues--and this was a great opportunity.

Peace,
John

Fr. John O'Malley addresses Consortium Church History Faculty Group

Friends:

I was very happy to be able to attend the meeting of the Church History Faculty Group here at Dominican on Monday late afternoon. John O'Malley came over from Georgetown University[He is serving as University Professor] to speak to the group on his new book on Vatican II. His presentation was most enlightening--reminding me of things I had forgotten and telling me things I never knew.

There were enough questions from the group to keep us going for quite some time
afterwards. The chair, Dr. Nelson Minnich of CUA had to intervene to point us toward dinner!-A somewhat more diffuse discussion occurred over the meal.

Peace,
John