Lecture by Edward J. Miller
Feb. 23, 2011 — We thoroughly enjoyed Prof. Miller’s fascinating remarks last night about John Henry Newman and what it means to have — and to be — an “alma mater.” The phrase “alma mater” is not usually translated, having gained enough of its own currency in English to no longer need it. Most people know it means something like “the college I went to/graduated from.” But, while our language is certainly enriched by the importation of foreign words and phrases, there is almost always something lost in translation, so to speak. Had we been asked, we would have known that “mater” means “mother.” But our Latin is sadly not good enough to know that “alma” means “nourishing.” One’s “alma mater” is thus the mother that intellectually and spiritually nourishes one. What a beautiful image!
In his talk, Prof. Miller graciously shared some personal reflections on his own alma mater, the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, where he earned his doctorate. He then offered some insight into Cardinal Newman’s relationship with what he considered his alma mater, Trinity College at Oxford, a place that Newman recalled much later as having “never been unkind” to him, even as he was shunned by the rest of Oxford for his conversion to Catholicism. Finally, Prof. Miller brought us some insights (based in part on unpublished end-of-year reports which Newman was obliged to submit annually to the bishops) about how Newman sought to ensure that the institution he founded, the Catholic University of Ireland in Dublin, would continue this tradition of nourishing its students’ minds and souls.
The presentation was accompanied by numerous pictures — of Louvain, of Oxford, of the Catholic University in Ireland — some of which brought back fond memories for those who attended the beatification of Cardinal Newman last September. We only wish more members of the Newman community could have attended this special Newman Week event. For those who did attend, feel free to add your comments below!
2009-2010 Topics
The Gerber Institute will extend its examination of the study theme “Reconciling Differences” at least one more year. Additionally, however, the Institute’s programming for the 2009-2010 academic year will address the theme of reconciliation with a focus on the specific areas of healthcare and education. More details about these programming initiatives will be released as soon as they are finalized.
Fall 2009: Healthcare
In the wake of an extended national discussion about healthcare reform, culminating in the legislation passed this spring, it is clear that many fundamental and unresolved differences exist with respect to the rights and responsibilities associated with caring for the health of our population. The Gerber Institute is making plans to offer programming during the Fall semester that will help audiences unravel some of the many complexities that are involved in healthcare debate.
Spring 2010: Education
It is a commonplace to say that American education is in a crisis. With costs rising, test scores falling (or not climbing rapidly enough), and ever-louder cries for accountability at all levels of education, many teachers, professors, and administrators are under tremendous pressure. Yet it is not at all clear how to reconcile all of the competing demands that educators face. Nor is it entirely clear how the educational enterprise is to be carried out in a Catholic context. Next spring, the Gerber Institute plans to present programming aimed at fostering dialogue around some of the more pressing and fundamental questions associated with education–in particular, Catholic higher education.
Alfie Kohn to speak on education
The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies is pleased to announce that Alfie Kohn will be speaking in Wichita, Kansas, on Saturday, April 16, 2011, from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School. Kohn’s talk will deal with his influential ideas on teaching and parenting as they relate to the Gerber Institute’s ongoing theme of reconciling differences.
Alfie Kohn
Alfie Kohn is the author of twelve books on education, parenting, and human behavior, including PUNISHED BY REWARDS (1993), BEYOND DISCIPLINE(1996), THE SCHOOLS OUR CHILDREN DESERVE (1999), UNCONDITIONAL PARENTING (2005), THE HOMEWORK MYTH (2006), and FEEL-BAD EDUCATION (due out this spring). He has written for most of the leading education periodicals and has appeared twice on “Oprah.” Time magazine described him as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores.” Kohn works with educators and parents across the country and speaks regularly at national conferences. He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.org.
Edward J. Miller to speak during Cardinal Newman Week
As part of the Cardinal Newman Week events, Edward J. Miller, Ph.D., S.T.D., will give a presentation titled “On Being an Alma Mater: Newman’s Experience and Ours.” The talk will take place at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 22, in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center.
Dr. Miller, Professor of Religious Studies at Gwynedd-Mercy College (Pennsylvania), has published his theological research in numerous books, including Newman: Doctor of the Church (Oxford, 2007), Discourse and Context: An Interdisciplinary Study of John Henry Newman (Carbondale, 1993), Critical Essays on John Henry Newman (Victoria BC, 1992), and John Henry Newman on the Idea of Church (Shepherdstown, 1987).
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit the Gerber Institute’s website at www.gerberinstitute.org.
Deadline for Gerber Fellow applications
The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies invites all full-time and half-time faculty members of Newman University to apply to become Gerber Faculty Fellows for the 2011-2012 academic year. The deadline for submitting an application is March 31, 2011.
For a one year appointment, Fellows receive a stipend of ,300 and a one course release from teaching responsibilities. In return, Fellows are expected to advance a research agenda as well as contribute to the Institute’s mission of promoting dialogue, with a special focus on engaging the Newman community in this dialogue.
Currently, the Gerber Institute is continuing to explore the theme of reconciling differences. In addition, as part of this broad thematic inquiry we plan to devote special attention during the upcoming year to the topic of education.
For more information, please contact the Institute’s director, Jamey Findling, or visit the Institute’s website at www.gerberinstitute.org.
Alfie Kohn to speak in Wichita
The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies is extremely pleased to announce that Alfie Kohn will be speaking in Wichita, Kansas, on Saturday, April 16, 2011, from 9:00 – 12:00 a.m. at Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School. Kohn’s talk will deal with his influential ideas on teaching and parenting as they relate to the Gerber Institute’s ongoing theme of reconciling differences.
Alfie Kohn is the author of twelve books on education, parenting, and human behavior, including PUNISHED BY REWARDS (1993), BEYOND DISCIPLINE(1996), THE SCHOOLS OUR CHILDREN DESERVE (1999), UNCONDITIONAL PARENTING (2005), THE HOMEWORK MYTH (2006), and FEEL-BAD EDUCATION (due out this spring). He has written for most of the leading education periodicals and has appeared twice on “Oprah.” Time magazine described him as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores.” Kohn works with educators and parents across the country and speaks regularly at national conferences. He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.org.
NEXT DSRC RESEARCH SEMINAR
Research Seminars – 2010-2011
Benedict in Britain – a reflection by Professor Tina Beattie, Director of the Digby Stuart Research Centre
“Certainly, if I am obliged to bring religion into after-dinner toasts (which indeed does not seem quite the thing), I shall drink to the Pope, if you please – still, to conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards.” (Cardinal Newman, Letter to the Duke of Norfolk).
The visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain, and the beatification of Cardinal Newman, are significant events in British Catholic life. However, the papal visit is also surrounded by controversy. It has stirred up a latent anti-Catholicism in the British press, with some vitriolic and ill-informed pieces by well-known journalists and commentators. Here, for example, is a piece by Julie Burchill from The Independent: Do visits from ex-Hitler Youth Members make me uneasy? Is the Pope Catholic? The New Humanist invited a number of people to record what they would say if they were invited to address Benedict XVI during his visit, including Conor Gearty QC and myself as Catholic contributors. Claire Rayner wrote in her contribution, “In all my years as a campaigner I have never felt such animus against any individual as I do against this creature. His views are so disgusting, so repellent and so hugely damaging to the rest of us, that the only thing to do is to get rid of him.”
It would be understandable if Catholics closed ranks when public figures display such hatred towards the spiritual leader of more than one billion people around the world, and undoubtedly many will argue that it is imperative to present a united front. Yet docile subservience and blind conformity are not the hallmarks of a living and united Church, and the present model of unquestioning obedience to the Pope which is being advocated by some Catholics is a modern phenomenon. It finds little support in past tradition, when the papacy had a less immediate influence on the daily life of the Church, and a less central role in the formation of Catholic identity.
There are legitimate concerns among many faithful Catholics about the authoritarian style of the present papacy, the failure of some of the most senior members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to take effective action against sexually abusive priests, and the ongoing refusal of the magisterium to tolerate conscientious and informed debate around issues such as homosexuality, the ordination of women, and contraception. John Cornwell, author of an acclaimed biography of Cardinal Newman, wrote a disturbing piece in The Guardian about the Pope’s penchant for Jean Vianney, described by Cornwell as ‘a rabid, self-harming tyrant’. Geoffrey Robertson QC has set out why he thinks there are grounds for a legal case against Benedict for his handling of the sex abuse crisis. Whether or not one agrees with such commentators, they make clear that many informed and influential figures have serious concerns about the papal visit, and it is important that Catholics contribute to the debates and conversations in the weeks to come, in a way that reflects the vitality and plurality of modern British Catholicism.
While many Catholics have left the Church in recent years, particularly as a result of the sex abuse scandal, there are still many who remain deeply committed to their faith and who make the Church in Britain unique in many ways. The last census suggests that Catholics make up some 8% of the population of England and Wales, and this vast and diverse community of some 4.2 million people constitutes an integral part of British life across the social, intellectual and political spectrum. Catholic academic life is flourishing as never before in Britain’s universities, benefitting as it does from a hospitable secular system of higher education and a hierarchy which respects the academic freedom of Catholic theologians. Immigration continues to ensure that Britain’s Catholic population is highly diverse in its cultures and lifestyles, while still finding in the Catholic faith a shared sense of communion and belonging. The Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has set an example which others might follow by setting in place robust systems of reporting and accountability around child protection and the prevention of sexual abuse by priests and others in authority. There is much to celebrate about the state of Catholicism in Britain today, and there are many who will regard the papal visit as a welcome affirmation of this.
Nevertheless, it is widely known that Pope Benedict is a conservative who does not take kindly to opposition and dissent, with a tendency towards authoritarianism, particularly when as Joseph Ratzinger he was Head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Rupert Shortt’s review of Tracey Rowland’s highly uncritical study of Benedict makes interesting reading for those interested in knowing more about Benedict’s life, politics and faith. A shy man and a highly regarded theologian, he will need a great deal of insight, courage and sensitivity if he is to make a positive contribution towards the life of British Catholicism, and that means listening and learning as well as preaching and teaching.
Some aspects of our liberal society may be deeply challenging to him, but this is also an opportunity for him to move beyond some of his well-grounded fears about the risks of moral relativism, to recognize the positive values of this society and the Church’s place within it. There are certain accepted practices in British life today which he cannot change, and which many Catholics would defend vigorously were he to try to do so. We cherish a range of hard-won sexual and social equalities and liberties, and these are manifest in the legal recognition of same sex relationships and in the Anglican Church’s acceptance of women’s ordination. There are other aspects of our culture and politics which he might be well advised to steer clear of. Abortion is a complex and contested issue, and it would take somebody with far more awareness of and engagement with the debates and dilemmas involved to make a constructive contribution to this debate. The same is true of euthanasia and end-of-life decisions. These are vital questions for ethicists, politicians, British religious leaders and for the ordinary people whose lives they affect most profoundly, but we are a mature democracy with a vigorous tradition of public debate and consultation, and if the Pope wades in he is likely to generate a flurry of protest which would obscure anything else he had to say.
However, it is also true that there is a spiritual vacuum at the heart of our society which goes to the very roots of the values and priorities of our political, social and economic systems. We have lost any sense of a shared vision of human wholeness and flourishing, and the Pope could come bearing a message of hope which many would welcome if it were presented in a spirit of generosity, trust and respect. If we are to regain our social and spiritual bearings, we do not need a pontiff who comes declaiming what are for many of us accepted and healthy practices of human living, loving and worshipping. We need somebody who can speak to our deepest hungers and our shared perceptions of injustice, including a widespread sense of failure and betrayal with regard to our political and economic systems.
In his 2009 encyclical Caritas in Veritate, Pope Benedict set out a vision of human relationships and societies based not on exploitation, profitability and economic gain, but on values of love, generosity and interdependence. He addressed a number of issues which would elicit support among many British people, not only Catholics. The political and economic crises of recent years speak of a widespread culture of contempt for fundamental human values of justice, solidarity and concern for the poor and the marginalised. We know that the environment can no longer sustain our lifestyles and expectations, but there is currently no political option for those who would vote for the radical and far-reaching changes required to address this crisis before it’s too late. We are still tormented by concerns about our country’s role in contributing to the spirals of violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system remains an unresolved political issue. These are important and relevant topics for the Pope, given the modern Church’s commitment to social and economic justice, its resistance to war and its advocacy of the politics of non-violence and international law. Benedict is unlikely to understand the nuances and complexities of British sexual politics, but his role does offer him a global perspective on wider issues and allows him to stand above and beyond party politics and the interests of the nation state. There is so much he could say to inspire, strengthen and challenge British Catholics, and I believe there is also a great deal that British Catholics could say to inspire, strengthen and challenge him.
No institution, no figurehead and no leader is beyond criticism. To ask searching questions – to drink to conscience first and then to the Pope – is not disloyal, nor is it dissent. It is to recognise that the Catholic Church is what it is because for two thousand years it has been home to some of the western world’s greatest geniuses, most outspoken critics, and most visionary saints, as well as to some of its greatest rogues and scoundrels. Today, in a worldwide Church, that diversity and complexity is greater than ever before. So here’s to conscience, and here’s to the Pope. May both flourish and guide us well in the week ahead.
How Christians Understand Reconcilation
The search for reconciliation has become a compelling quest for many people in recent years, from all walks of life. Christian faith has the theme of reconciliation at the center of understanding what is God doing in the world. This lecture will look at the basics of reconciliation, and especially what Christian faith adds to the understanding and practice of reconciliation between persons, groups, and whole nations who are seeking to come together.
From L to R: Bishop Eugene Gerber, Sr. Tarcisia Roths, ASC, Fr. Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., Dr. jamey Findling. Photo by Kelly Snedden.
Biography
Robert Schreiter is Vatican Council II Professor of Theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and directs the Program in Reconciliation and Peacebuilding at its Cardinal Bernardin Center for Theology and Ministry. He also serves as theological consultant to Caritas Internationalis in the Vatican for programs in peacebuilding. He has lectured and led workshops on peacebuilding around the world and is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on the subject. Among his books are “Reconciliation: Mission and Ministry in a Changing Social Order” and “The Ministry of Reconciliation: Spirituality and Strategies,” both published by Orbis Books. He is a priest and member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood.