Events

THEOLOGY ON TAP

Summer 2011

The Siena Center, in conjunction with the Office of Alumnae/i Relations and the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Kateri Center for Young Adult Ministry, will be hosting Theology on Tap on campus, a FREE four-week speaker and discussion program designed specifically for young adults. Join us for lively conversation with theological experts in a casual, informal atmosphere with good friends, refreshments and beer. All young adults are welcome.

  July 13, 20, 27, and August 3, 2011

 

LOOKING BEYOND THE HORIZON

The Siena Center's fall program is built around a series of significant events in the life of our national, ecclesial, and university community. And yet, while marking these moments of shared history, we search for deeper meaning, root causes, and lasting implications. Our speakers this season will help us to see beyond our normal range of vision, looking beyond the horizon. 

Fall 2011

 

HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE?

The Church is first of all the community of the baptized served by ministers in multiple roles. The heart of the matter is the laity. So, what is our vocation? What does baptism demand of us? What is our role - in public life, in the workplace, for the world? And how do we sustain such a life in Christ? How do we serve the coming of the reign of God? The Siena Center spring series looks at these questions. Given our baptism, how shall we live? 

Spring 2012

 

Peace is Possible. Peace is Practical.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
  Interfaith Prayer and Lecture

  Auditorium, Priory Campus

Admission is $10 – DU students, faculty and staff admitted free

As we mark the solemn anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Maryann Cusimano Love, PhD, associate professor of international relations at The Catholic University of America, fellow at the Commission on International Religious Freedom, and a member of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ International Justice and Peace Committee, discusses how we might achieve a just peace in the post-9/11 world. With particular emphasis on the importance of religious actors and factors in the global political scene, Dr. Love will argue for the importance of interfaith engagement in U.S. foreign policy. Her recent books include Beyond Sovereignty: Issues for a Global Agenda (4th Edition, 2010), Morality Matters: Ethics and the War on Terrorism (forthcoming at Cornell University Press), and "What Kind of Peace Do We Seek?" a book chapter on peacebuilding, to appear in Notre Dame University's volume on The Ethics and Theology of Peacebuilding.

Back to top

 

Reading Jesus: How Story Shapes Us

Thursday, October 27, 2011, 7:00 p.m.

Eloise Martin Recital Hall, Fine Arts Building, Main Campus

Admission is $10 – DU students, faculty and staff admitted free

We are pleased to invite you to an evening with celebrated American writer, Mary Gordon. Gordon, Barnard College’s Millicent C. McIntosh Professor in English and Writing, is the author of four bestselling novels. She has also published a book of novellas, a collection of stories, a book of essays, and two critically acclaimed memoirs. Her most recent novel is The Love of My Youth (Pantheon Books , 2011). Some years ago, Gordon, disturbed by the rise in fundamentalism, took up the task of reading the gospels in the way she would read a story. For two years, she read the gospels again and again, in several translations, with her writer’s eye. The exercise gave rise to profound insight into these texts without which, Gordon writes, “I would not know who I am.”  This evening, Gordon will share portions of her book, Reading Jesus, and reflect further upon the way in which story shapes us.

                         Reading Jesus Book Discussion  
                        Thursday, November 10, 2011, 7 p.m. 
                        Lewis Lounge, Main Campus    

                         Following Gordon's visit, Dominican University's librarians will host a reading and discussion of her book, Reading Jesus: a Writer's Encounter with the Gospels. Plan to join us on Thursday,  November 10 in Lewis Lounge for engaging dialogue with fellow Siena  Center enthusiasts. 

  Back to top

Lund-Gill Lecture
Acts of Faith: Interfaith Leadership in a Time of Global Religious Crisis

Tuesday, November 1, 2011, 7:00 p.m.

Rosary Chapel, Lewis Hall, Main Campus

Admission is free

A leader defines reality. In a world too often convinced of the inevitable clash of civilizations, how do we lead our communities of faith to work with people from different religious and philosophical backgrounds and serve the common good? From Martin Luther King, Jr. to Mahatma Gandhi, Dorothy Day to Abraham Joshua Heschel, the answer was clear: interfaith leadership. Our speaker, Eboo Patel, DPhil, is the Founding Director of the Interfaith Youth Core and 2011 Lund-Gill Chair at Dominican University. He has spoken about this vision at places like the TED conference, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, as well as college and university campuses across the country. He writes about it regularly in The Washington Post, USA Today, The Huffington Post, and Sojourners Magazine. His autobiography, Acts of Faith, was published in 2007 by Beacon Press.

Back to top

 

Mazzuchelli Lecture
Resistance, Faith and Social Change

Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 5:30 p.m.

Eloise Martin Recital Hall, Fine Arts Buildinig, Main Campus

Admission is free 

The common "blood" of a people—that imperceptible flow that binds neighbor to neighbor and generation to generation—derives much of its strength from cultural memory. Cultural memories are those transformative historical experiences that define a culture, even as time passes and it adapts to new influences. For oppressed peoples, cultural memory engenders the spirit of resistance; not surprisingly, some of its most powerful incarnations are rooted in religion. In this interdisciplinary lecture Jeanette Rodriguez, PhD, professor of theology at Seattle University, explores one example – the icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe--to show how this cultural memory has preserved the spirit of a given people.  The Mazzuchelli Lecture is a long-standing tradition at Dominican University.  It focuses on topics of cultural significance and honors Fr. Samuel Mazzuchelli, the founder of the Sinsinawa Dominicans.  The Siena Center is pleased to co-sponsor this event with the Promoter of Mission Integration.  

Back to top

 

Albertus Magnus Lecture
Children of a Fertile Universe: Chance, Destiny and a Creator God

Thursday, November 17, 2011 7:00 p.m.

Auditorium, Priory Campus
  Admission is $10 – DU students, faculty and staff admitted free

George Coyne, SJ, PhD, astrophysicist, Jesuit priest, Director Emeritus of the Vatican Observatory, and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation, will address the question: Did we come about by chance or by necessity in this evolving universe? According to our best scientific knowledge the question is not formulated adequately. It is not just a question of chance or necessity because, first of all, it is both. Furthermore, there is a third element that is very important. It is what we might call the "fertility" of the universe, which, at about 14 billion years of age and containing about 10,000 billion billion (10 22) stars offers so rich an opportunity for the successful interplay of chance and necessity that its character must be considered in the search for our origins. Coyne will present the best scientific understanding of the universe and our place in it, using actual photos from deep space. He will address the perennial question: does science support or contradict belief in a Creator God? As believers, may we reflect on the question: what kind of God would create a universe like the one we know through science?

  Back to top

 

Advent Lecture
How the Pendulum Swings: The New Translation of the Roman Missal

Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 7:00 p.m.

Auditorium, Priory Campus

Admission is $10 – DU students, faculty and staff admitted free

Edward Foley, Capuchin, Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality and Professor of Liturgy and Music at Catholic Theological Union, will lead our exploration of the changes in liturgical life being implemented in the Catholic English-speaking world this Advent. While some suggest that the New English Translation of the Roman Missal is the result of one or two factors, it is better understood as the result of multiple pendulum swings in the post-Vatican II Church. Foley will discuss the variant visions of Church coming from the Council, English as the new vernacular, a swing from Creation-centered to Redemptive-centered theologies, a shift of emphasis from the ecclesial body to the sacramental body, and a perceived need to resacralize the ministerial priesthood.

Back to top

 

Caritas et Veritas Dinner and Lecture
God-Talk That Nourishes and Delights

Monday, January 23, 2012, 5:00 p.m.

Shaffer Silveri Atrium, Parmer Hall, Main Campus

 Dinner Ticket $30
   Seating is Limited 
   Advance registration is required by January 13, 2012, to siena@dom.edu.

While a graduate student, our speaker, Angel Méndez Montoya, OP, PhD, experienced a growing disenchantment with theologies that felt unrelated to everyday life. Montoya experienced a deep hunger and thirst for theological discourse that would not only nourish people’s desire for God, but also lay the foundations for alternatives where people can share and care for one another. This moved him to develop a theology of food, but more, a vision of theology as food, a discipline similar to the practice of preparing and cooking a lavish and nourishing communal feast. In this talk, Mendez will share the insight and practice that he calls “alimentary theology.” His book, The Theology of Food: Eating and the Eucharist (2009), has been nominated for the Michael Ramsey Prize.

Back to top

Catholics in the Public Square: Prophecy, Civility and Truth

Thursday, February 9, 2012, 7:00 p.m.

Auditorium, Priory Campus

Admission is $10 – DU students, faculty and staff admitted free 

In this lecture, M. Cathleen Kaveny, JD, PhD, John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, will discuss how Catholics in a pluralistic society such as our own should frame their public discussion of controversial issues. Committed Christians often feel caught between two obligations. On the one hand, we experience a call to speak prophetically, calling attention to moral scandals in our society. On the other hand is the conflicting demand to speak politely and respectfully, taking into account the concerns and needs of those who disagree. Kaveny will argue that this tension is grounded in two demands of truth in service of the common good: the prophetic demand to "speak the truth to power" about controversial moral issues, and the demands of civility, which recognize the equal dignity of our fellow citizens. She will suggest various ways in which that tension can be identified and managed in the context of our national elections.

Back to top

Conversations and Lessons with Dominican Theologians

Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 5:00 p.m.
 Lewis Lounge, Lewis Hall, Main Campus
 
Join with us in an evening’s celebration of Dominican University’s own faculty theologians whose new books explore the lasting meaning and contemporary significance of two historical figures:  the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart, and the twentieth century psychologist Carl Jung. Meister Eckhart: Master of Mystics by Richard Woods, OP, PhD, bridges Eckhart's medieval mystical teaching and our own turbulent times, exploring many issues including global climate change and the sacredness of Creation, the meaning of detachment, the challenges of pain and suffering, and the possibility of wider and deeper encounters among world religions. Teaching Jung, co-edited by Clodagh Weldon, DPhil, offers a collection of original articles which address the significance and challenges of Jung’s contributions to the study of human religiosity. 

Back to top

Lent Lecture
Taking Up the Cross: From Atonement for Sins to Birthing New Life

Wednesday, March 14, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Auditorium, Priory Campus
Admission is $10 – DU students, faculty and staff admitted free 

Barbara E. Reid, OP, PhD,  professor of New Testament studies, vice president and academic dean of Catholic Theological Union, offers our annual lecture of the Lenten season. She will explore select New Testament texts and their differing theologies of the cross, with a view toward identifying those that can feed cycles of violence and victimization and those that can open liberating paths. Reid is the author of many books including Taking Up the Cross: New Testament Interpretations Through Latina and Feminist Eyes, Las Parábolas: Predicándolas y Viviéndolas, and Choosing the Better Part? Women in the Gospel of Luke. She writes the weekly column on “The Word” for America magazine, and  is at work on two new books on feminist interpretation of the Scriptures. 

  Back to top

"A Question of Habit"

Co-sponsored by:
Siena Center, McGreal Center, Department of Apparel Design and Merchandising, Department of History, Department of Communication Arts and Sciences, and Department of Theology and Pastoral Ministry

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 6:00 p.m.
Bluhm Lecture Hall, Parmer Hall, Main Campus
Admission is $5 - DU students, faculty and staff admitted free

Although most Roman Catholic women religious in the U.S. have not worn the full habits of their orders for over 40 years, images of nuns and sisters in such habits can be found in numerous and surprising aspects of pop culture. They are proliferating both in number and kind.  Join filmmaker Bren Ortega Murphy, PhD, for a screening of her documentary film that examines the wide variety of visual images of Catholic nuns and sisters used in contemporary U.S. popular culture and contrasts these images with the lives of actual women religious, both historical and current. The film looks at the nature, scope and significance of these images as well as possible explanations for their increasing popularity and possible impact on our understanding of women religious. It includes interviews with Sr. Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking), Tom Fontana (Oz, Homicide), Sr. Joan Chittister (Benedictine writer), and is narrated by Susan Sarandon.  Sr. Janet Welsh, OP, PhD, director of the McGreal Center for Dominican Historical Studies, and Tracey Caldwell, PhD, associate professor of psychology will offer responses to the film.

Back to top

 

St. Catherine of Siena Lecture
From Spotless Bride to Working Partner:  Images of the Laity in the 21st Century Church

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
7:00 p.m. Prayer, Priory Chapel
7:30 p.m. Lecture, Priory Auditorium
Admission is free

Feminine language for the church and for the laity has a very long history, dating from the Hebrew prophets to St. Paul to St. Catherine of Siena to the Catechism. But in a time of changing roles for women and the exponential growth of lay ecclesial ministry, what kinds of messages does this language convey? Susan Ross, PhD, professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago, will explore the ways that feminine language for the church and the laity has evolved over the centuries, what it means for the present, and what options we have for the future.  Ross is President-Elect of the Catholic Theological Society of America, and author of Extravagant Affections: A Feminist Sacramental Theology and For the Beauty of the Earth: Women, Sacramentality and Justice.

Back to top