And in the naked light I saw, ten thousand people maybe more. People talking without speaking, people hearing without listening, people writing songs that voices never shared. No one dares disturb the sound of silence. “Fools,” said I, “you do not know, silence like a cancer grows. Hear my words that I might teach you.… “But my words like silent raindrops fell and echoed in the wells of silence. And the people bowed and prayed to the neon god they made. – Simon & Garfunkel. 1966.
Travelling eternity road, what will you find there? Carrying your heavy load, searching to find a piece of mind. “Eternity Road” in “To Our Children’s Children’s Children” Moody Blues. All biographical accounts seek to construct meaningful identities that combine unique geographical references, family roots and historical memories that become the heritage which one generation leaves to the next. So I begin this narration with references to the folklore that nourishes my early childhood with stories of ancestors with French, Acadian and Irish roots. Among my father’s musings were his coments upon Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie that describes the British expulsion of the French speaking Acadians from
Canada in 1713 and the exile experience of Evangeline. This I believe may have preparedmy sensibilities, from an early age, for those who suffer injustice, margination and persecution.
The following is based on notes my mother prepared for me in order to remember my roots and to share this heritage with my children’s children.
With the eyes of a child, you must come out and see, that your world’s spinning ’round and through life you will be a small part of a hope, of a love that exists in the eyes of a child you will see. “Eyes of a child” in “To Our Childrens Childrens Children” Moody BluesThe Morin – Albert – Cote – Pelletier Family (Victoria County)
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William Morin, my father´s grandfather was born in 1842 and died on August 7, 1901, when he was 59 years old.
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Celanire Irdif, my father´s grand,other was born in 1848 and died on December 23, 1934 when she was 86 years old.
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Joseph William Morin, my father´s father was born on July 18, 1878 and died on July 26, 1942 when he was 63 years old. He married on June 19, 1907.
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Philomene Albert, my father´s mother was born in 1888 and died in 1909 when she was 21 years old. Together they had two sons.
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Joseph Felix Leo Morin, my father who was born on May 21, 1908 in Drummond, New Brunswick. He was one year old when his mother died and six when his father remarriedand. He passed away on August 5, 1983 in Mississauga, Ontario when he was 75 years of age.
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Joseph Edward Morin (Nov. 26, 1909 – Mar. 11, 1910, 3 months).
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Mary Cote my grandfather´s second wife, was born in 1896 and marrid on April, 1914, the month the First World War was declared. She died on the 6 of august, 1978 when she was 83 years old. With my grandfather she had three sons. After my granfather died she married Isaac Pelletier.
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Camille Morin, was born on Feb. 22, 1917, married Marie-Luce Gendron, together they were my parents when I was between two and eight years old, they adopted daughter Ginette. He had diabeties and died on Dic. 12, 1975 when he was 58 years old.
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Philippe Morin, was born on Sept. 27, 1918, served in the Canadian army during the second world war, upon his return accepted to be my godfather, married Mildred in June, 1947 and together had four children, George, ——, Michael and Ann. He worked for the Canadian railroad and when he retired went back to live my grandmother´s house in Drummond and sectioned the farm property into urban housing lots. He passed away on Aug. 17, 1983 when he was 64 years old.
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Romeo Morin: Feb. 18, 1920 – June 5, 1965, 45 years.
The St. Onge – Dube Family (Madawaska County)
Something you can’t hide says you’re lonely, hidden deep inside of you only. It’s there for you to see, take a look and be, burn slowly the candle of life. “Candle Of Life” in “To Our Childrens Childrens Children” Moody Blues.
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Louison St. Onge, my mother´s grandfather was born on August 2, 1821 and die
d in the month of March, 1894 when he was 73 years old. He married, in August, 1869, Adele Ouellette who was born 0n September 13, 1832 and died on December 23, 1934 when she was 86 years old.
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Joseph L. St. Onge, my mother´s father was born in April, 1914 and died on August 6, 1978 when he was 83 years of age. He married, on Feb. 11, 1895, Annie Dube my mother´s mother. They lived together in the same house for the rest of their lives and together had thirteen children.
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Maxime St. Onge: Mar. 21, 1875 – 1898, 2 years old.
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Flavie St. Onge: Sept. 16, 1897 – Oct. 3, 1983, 86 years old.
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Alfred St. Onge: Aug. 18 1899 -
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Annie St. Onge: Sept. 16, 1901 – died at the age of 19 months.
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Adele St. Onge: Sept. 16, 1901 – died at the age of 19 months.
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Calixte St. Onge: Oct. 14, 1903 – Mar 19, 1984, 81 years old.
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Adelina St. Onge: Sept. 16, 1904 – Dec. 24, 1982, 78 years old.
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Francois St. Onge: Oct. 14, 1906 – Dec. 25, 1982, 76 years old.
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Pierre St. Onge: Nov. 26, 1908 -
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Marie Euphemie St. Onge: my mother, was born in St. Jaques, New Brunswick, Nov. 8, 1910 – 1996.
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Leon St. Onge: Apr. 11, 1913 – Aug. 3, 1976, 63 years old.
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Elise St. Onge: Feb. 15, 1915 – Oct. 28, 1986, 71 years old.
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Albertine St. Onge: Feb. 9, 1918 – Nov. 1918, 9 months old.
The Morin – St. Onge Family
Joseph Felix Leo Morin, my father was born on May 21, 1908 in Drummond, New Brunswick, was married on February. 12, 1929 and died on August 5, 1983 when he was 75 years of age.-
Maria Euphemie St. Onge (Dolly): my mother was born on Nov. 8, 1910, was married on February. 12, 1929 and died on —- , 1996 when she was 86 years old. Together they had nine sons.
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Ivan D. Morin was born in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, on May 15, 1930 and died on January, 2, 2003, at the age of 72 years. He was married with Aline for 51 years and their children are: Larry, Yvonne, David, Patti, Johnny and Dianna. He finished grade 11, realized military service with the Signal Corp, worked in Ottawa with the Research Council, had a TV repair busness that went bankrupt, worked as an editor for CBC-TV and was a national unión representative and negotiator. His lifelong passion was his ham radio (VE4IM) through which he made friends from all over the world.
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Louis Morin: was born in Edmunston, New Brunswick, on Oct. 14, 1931 in Edmunston, N. B. He married Gerrie and ther children are David, Lee, Dale and Timothy.
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Paul Morin: was born in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, on July 2, 1933 with Downs Syndrom.
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Denis (Prosper) Morin: was born in Grand Falls, New Brunswick on November 17, 1934. He married Carol and together they had two children Dianne and Allan. He died on ….
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Walter (Rusty) Morin: was born in Grand Falls, New Brunswick on January 6, 1936. He married Joan and together they had tree children, Kelly Ann, Sean and Kim.
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Robert (Bob) Morin: was born in Grand Falls, New Brunswick on december 1, 1938. He married Rita.
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Patrick (Pat) Morin: was born in St. John, New Brunswick on March 17, 1942. He married Michelle Debuc and together they had three children Ian, jeffory and Dean.
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James (Jim) Philip Joseph Morin: I was born in St. John, New Brunswick on November 27, 1945. I married Bernardita Icaza (Feb. 25, 1945) and together we raised three children Blas (Feb. 25, 1974), Lucas (Nov. 28, 1981) and Amanda (June 3, 1988).
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William (Bill) Morin: was born in St. John, New Brunswick on February 15, 1947. He married Libby and together they had two children Senora and Mathew.
My father who was born on May 21, 1908 in Drummond, New Brunswick, a rural village of French speaking people, located in the heartland of potato production in Canada.. He was one year old when his mother died and six when his father remarriedand. My father was raised mostly by his grandmother, finished grade eight in Drummond, went to Sacred Heart at Bathurst for two years then to St. Donstains for four months to learn English in the province of Prince Edward Island. In 1925 he bagan working as a clerk at the Bank of Montreal in Grand Falls and earned $28 a month. He also sold insurance part-time for the Great West and the Crown Life insurance companies. Between 1927 to 1930 he was earning $65 a month as a cahier in a liquor store outlet in Grand Falls, New Brunswick. When he first saw my mother in Grand Falls the autum of 1928, her long hair and beautiful innocence reminded him of his dream girl Mary Pickford. He told a friend that he was going to marry her. Shortly after through a common friend they met, went out together and was well recieved by my mother´s parents. My mother, was born on Nov. 8, 1910 in St. Jacques, a Francophone town in northern New Brunswick, just before entering the province of Quebec. During her adolescence she seriously considered the option of entering a religious community, but was advised to wait until after having her menstruation in order to discern such an important decision. She finished grade ten and met my father when she visited her sister in Grand Falls . When they decided they wanted to get married and she asked her father´s permison he told her, “if you fight don´t come back home to complain, because we will only have one side of the story.” Five months after they met they ere married on the 12 of February, 1929, the year of the stock market crash and beginning of the great depression. Ivan was born on May 15, 1930 in Grand Falls. They moved as a family to Edmunston because the town had a saw mill and my father supposed that he would have more opportunities to sell life insurance there. Louis was born there on Oct. 14, 1931. Because my paternal grandmother wanted to teach and needed the help of my mother as a baby sitter, she asked them to como back to Drummond. According to my mother, my grandmother kicked them out when Louis was two years old. Dad worked at odd jobs with farmers and sold shoes and madde to measure suits. Paul, the third son was born on July 2, 1933 with Down’s syndrome. Later three more son were born when my parents lived in Grand Falls: Dennis on November 17, 1934, Walter on January 6, 1936 and Robert on December 1, 1938. The same year that Bob was born my father began working with Electrolux and won the first prize for sales which was a trip for him and my mother to the 1939 New York World’s Fair, the same year the Second World War began. In 1940 my father accepted a transfer to work for Electrolux in St. John, New Brunswick an English speaking city and major port of the province. The following year they recieved the new that the factory was to be closed because of the war. That year, in 1941 my father worked as a security guard at the St. John docks. My brother Patrick was born the following year on March 17, 1942 and from that time until 1946 my father worked with Prudential Insurance. I was concieved shortly after my mother went to her home to celebrate my grandparents 50th wedding on February 12, 1945. At the time of my parents lived on 
Chesley St. in the city of St. John, New Brunswick. At he time the Photo to the right was taken my mother was expecting me. I was born on November 27, 1945 in St. Joseph´s Hospital St. John and baptized in their chapel, several months after the end of the Second World War and the droping of two atomic bombs upon Japan. Between 1946 and 1947 my father returned to work with Electolux and on February 15, 1947 my last brother Bill was born.
Thomas Merton, (1915-1968) Contemplation is the highest expression of man’s intellectual and spiritual life. It is that life itself, fully awake, fully active, fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness and for being. It is a vivid realisation of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent and infinitely abundant Source. Contemplation is, above all, awareness of the reality of that Source. It knows the Source, obscurely, inexplicably, but with a certitude that goes both beyond reason and beyond simple faith. For contemplation is a kind of spiritual vision to which both reason and faith aspire, by their very nature, because without it they must always remain incomplete. Thomas Merton was born was born on 31 January 1915 in Prades, southern France. Both his American mother and New Zealander father were artist. He attended schools in France, England, and the United States. At Columbia University in New York City, he came under the influence of some remarkable teachers of literature. When he graduated he had already submitted a novel for publication, was a regular reviewer for the New York Times and in 1939 had been awarded a literary prize for the best example of English verse. Conflicted by the privileges of wealth and his inner struggles that he referred to as “poverty of spirit”, and in 1938 after a dramatic conversion experience he was converted he entered the Catholic Church. After completing his masters thesis, “On Nature and Art in William Blake” he taught at Columbia University Extension and St. Bonaventure’s College, New York. In 1941 he entered the Abbey of Gethsemani near Louisville, Kentucky and became a Trappist monk and was known as Fr. Louis. The Abbot at Gethsemani encouraged Merton to translate works from the Cistercian tradition and to write historical biographies to make the Order better known. He also urged the young monk to write his autobiography, which was published as The Seven Storey Mountain (1948) and became a best-selling classic. During the next 20 years, Merton wrote on a vast range of topics, including the contemplative life, prayer, and religious biographies. His desire for silence and solitude sostained his search for truth and peace which nourishes his contemplative and poetic writings and lead him be a sharp critic of racism, economic injustice, and militarism. At the end of his life he had entered into ecumenical dialogue with the spiritual traditions of all the major religions. He was one of the first Catholics to commend the great religions of the East to Roman Catholic Christians in the West. Merton died by accidental electrocution in Bangkok, Thailand, while attending a meeting of religious leaders on 10 December 1968, just 27 years to the day after his entrance into the Abbey of Gethsemani. Many esteem Thomas Merton as a spiritual master, a brilliant writer, and a man who embodied the quest for God and for human solidarity. Since his death, many volumes by him have been published, including five volumes of his letters and seven of his personal journals. According to present count, more than 60 titles of Merton’s writings are in print in English, not including the numerous doctoral dissertations and books about the man, his life, and his writings. The Thomas Merton Collection at Bellarmine University The International Thomas Merton Society The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living Words of Thomas Merton Monk and Poet God Alone Poems by Thomas Merton
Bob Carty, Canada, is a radio documentary producer with CBC Radio whose in-depth reports can be heard on The Sunday Edition and The Current. Carty received a 1995 Edward R. Murrow Award and a Gold Medal from the International New York Radio Festival for his documentary on bio-piracy. Also in 1995, his documentary, “Kevin’s Sentence,” about the impact of drunk driving on families and the criminal justice system, won a Peabody Award, a Gabriel Award, a United Nations Gold Medal. In 2004, Carty was a recipient of the Canadian Science Writers award for an investigation into illegal clinical trials and that same year was a member of the CBC team which won the Online Journalism Award from the Online News Association for a series on adverse drug reactions. Carty is a founder for the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX). He also was a correspondent in Central America, reporting for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio, The Globe and Mail (Toronto), and The Christian Science Monitor. He has written books on Canadian foreign aid, human rights in Chile, on multinational mining companies and was a team member of ICIJ’s The Water Barons
Bob Carty, CJFE (Canadian Journalists for Free Expression)
Bob Carty, CBC Radio One
BioBob Carty is currently the Ottawa-based producer and documentary maker for THE SUNDAY EDITION and THE CURRENT on CBC Radio One.
Prior to entering journalism Bob Carty worked in the field of human rights and international development focussing on Latin America. In 1981 he joined the CBC becoming foreign editor and later senior producer for the radio programme SUNDAY MORNING. He also worked for shorter periods for the CBC Radio programmes AS IT HAPPENS, COMMENTARY and as senior producer of MORNINGSIDE. In the late 1980s, he spent five years in Central America covering military conflicts, human rights, development and ecological issues throughout Latin America for the CBC, National Public Radio, and Monitor Radio.
Returning to Canada in 1993, Carty resumed full-time documentary work for SUNDAY MORNING and later for the new CBC current affairs programme THIS MORNING. His radio documentaries have won numerous awards including a prestigious Peabody Award and a Gabriel Award. Other prizes include the New York International Radio Festival Gold Award and Grand Award, the Canadian Association of Journalists award for investigative journalism, Amnesty International of Canada’s award for human rights reporting, and a special United Nations recognition for programming which reinforces the values of the U.N. system.
Carty is active in freedom of expression issues as a board member of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and he is one of the founders of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX).
- Guatemala’s Killing Fields, New Internationalist, Dec., 1991, pp. 12 -13.
“Genetically Modified Food: The Answer to World Hunger & Poverty?” International panel of farmers and scientists. Moderated by Bob Carty, CBC Radio journalist and documentary producer. Free. Congress Centre, Salon A/B, 55 Colonel By Drive, adjacent to the Rideau Centre.
working TV #108/#109 first broadcast 08 & 15/05/1998Protecting Public Health Care From Private Greed
Porque Dios no nos dió un espíritu de timidez,sino un espíritu de fortaleza, amor y de buen juicio. 2a Timoteo.
A Brief History In 1973, church leaders formed the Inter-Church Committee on Chile in response to urgent requests for Canadian solidarity, in the wake of a bloody military coup. Following a 1976 fact-finding mission to Uruguay and Argentina which resulted in the pivotal report One Gigantic Prison, our mandate was expanded and our name changed to the Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America. By the late 1970’s, ICCHRLA was directing increasing attention to Central America, helping to expose the terror of the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua, genocide in Guatemala and the assassination of thousands of civilians in El Salvador’s civil war. Peru and Colombia became a priority in the 1980’s, as ICCHRLA sought to focus attention on ongoing abuses by state security forces in the Andean region. ICCHRLA raised the issue of systematic human rights violations in Mexico as the North American Free Trade Agreement was negotiated and has continued to monitor connections between trade and human rights since the Chiapas uprising. Today, ICCHRLA continues to monitor the situation in Mexico, Central America and South America, drawing particular attention to growing inequities that are pushing more and more people to the margins of society and provoking increasing social protest. That protest, in many countries, is being met with repression.
Mission
ICCHRLA’s mission is to promote human rights and social justice throughout Mexico, Central and South America, in solidarity with both Canadian and Latin American partner churches, human rights groups and grassroots organizations. This mission arises from a profound belief, as Christians, that the Gospel calls us to struggle together with the poor and the oppressed to transform policies, practices and regimes which undermine or destroy human lives.
Frances Arbour Supporting the Guatemalan Peace Accords: Implications for Canada
Volume 5, Numbers 1, 1997.
Oscar Romero: El Salvador’s Archbishop to the Poor by Frances Arbour. Compass Points: Navigating the 20th Century. CIVIL SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE ON THE GUATEMALAN PEACE ACCORDS AND OPTIONS FOR CANADA ROUNDTABLE REPORT Frances Arbour March 1997 (Ottawa, Ontario)
Frances Arbour, Letelier Moffitt Human Rights Award recipient. Institute for Policy Studies
Special Recognition Award Frances Arbour, 1985
Human Rights in Canadian Foreign Policy. Edited by Robert O. Matthews and Cranford Pratt McGill-Queen’s University Press. 1988. 400 pp.
Concern for international human rights is well entrenched in the rhetoric of Canadian foreign relations. This book is one of the first comprehensive efforts to present, assess, and explain the actual effect which this concern has had on Canada’s foreign policy. The pattern revealed is one of deliberate ambiguity. On some issues and in some forums, Canada has acted vigorously to promote human rights internationally, as in the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the United Nations Committee on Human Rights, and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Canada has been much less forceful about human rights in dealings with the International Labour Organization and has almost completely ignored this issue as it relates to international financial institutions. Canada has been outspoken about the violation of rights in countries ruled by communist regimes, while hesitation and ambiguity are a feature of Canadian policies toward South Africa and Central America, as well as in lending policies to international financial institutions, Canadian development assistance, and Canadian arms sales. Each of these areas is examined in Human Rights in Canadian Foreign Policy. Canada is most vigorous on issues of human rights when the rights in question are civil and political rather than economic and social, and when the offending regime is under Soviet rather than American influence.The contributors include: Frances Arbour, Victoria Berry, John W. Foster, Rhoda E. Howard, Kalmen Kaplansky, T.A. Keenleyside, Allen McChesney, Ronald Manzer, Robert O. Matthews, Stefania Szlek Miller, Cathal J. Nolan, Kim Richard Nossal, Cranford Pratt, Renate Pratt, Ernie Regehr, and H. Gordon Skilling. Review quotes “This is a well-conceived and well-executed book on an important but seriously understudied topic. The editors have assembled a group of knowledgeable Canadian specialists, who have produced a thorough and thoughtful study of the place of human rights concerns in Canadian foreign policy.” Jack Donnelly, Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina Robert O. Matthews and Cranford Pratt are members of the Department of Political Science, University of Toronto.
Web Summary of Frances Arbour
John Dillon, has been the research co-ordinator of the Ecumenical Coalition for Economic Justice for the past 22 years. He is the author of three books on international debt and finance.
El Proyecto del ALCA y los Derechos de los Inversionistas “un TLCAN Plus” Visiones opuestas para el continente. El borrador oficial del ALCA vs. Alternativas para las Américas. Enero 2002. Alternativaspara las Américas, 2001. The Tobin Tax on International Finance, 2000.
C0057] Bird, Pat. Of dust and time and dreams and agonies: A Short History of Canadian People. Canadian News Synthesis Project 1975 Toronto, Card covers. 165 pp. Illustrated by Yvonne Slipka
John W. Foster http://g05.netedit.info/en/g05.aspx?sortcode=2.11.19.19&id_article=219&starting=&ending= http://www.nsi-ins.ca/english/contact_us/profiles/foster.asp
Margaret O’Gara, BA, MAR, PhD (St. Michael’s)Professor (on sabbatical 01/07/06-30/06/07)Systematic Theology; Ecumenism; Rahner; Ecclesiologymailto:Ecclesiologymargaret.ogara@utoronto.ca
Gregory Baum,
Born in Berlin in 1923 to affluent Jewish parents, he was sent for safety to England as a young teenager. With the outbreak of war, the refugee became an enemy alien and was interned in Canada. In Canada, he rose to prominence during the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s to become one of the country’s best-known theologians. From 1962-65 at Vatican Council II, Gregory was invited to promote ecumenism and reconciliation and has been doing so ever since. He resigned from the priesthood in 1976 but continues to be actively involved in the life and health of the Roman Catholic Church. In May 1982, he became professor of Teology and Sociology at St. Michael’s College in Toronto. These days, he is professor emeritus of religious studies at McGill University. He has participated in the CBC Massey Lecture Series and is an officer of the Order of Canada. 
Gregory Baum. New York: Herder & Herder, 1970.
Baum reinterprets the doctrine of God and demonstrates that human life is not ordinary but rather a highly dramatic field of conflict between forces of self-destruction and power of creativity and new life. For Baum God is not an outsider, a Super-person; God is insider, the deepest reality in himself, the source of his life. This book attempts to explain God in these terms. Hardcover. In Good condition. Helpful underlinings. Dust jacket in new mylar cover. 285 pages.
Amazing Church by Gregory Baum
Gregory Baum shows the “extraordinary evolution” of Catholic Social Teaching over the past half century. He writes: “I am convinced that what has emerged in the Church’s official teaching is a new form of Catholicism that finds expression in the first sentence of Gaudium et spes, the conciliar document on the Church in the Modern World: ‘The joys and hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the people of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these too are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.”
Baum challenges those Catholics today who lament the indifference of the ecclesiastical bureaucracy to a number of urgent pastoral problems. For Baum, inconsistencies in the hierarchical church are not reason enough to mute his admiration of the “wonderful” development of the Church’s official teaching – a Catholicism truly at the service of humanity.
He was the Professor of theology and sociology at Saint Michael’s College in the University of Toronto and subsequently professor of theological ethics at McGill University‘s Faculty of Religious Studies. He is presently associated with the Jesuit Centre justice et foi at Montreal.
During the church council Vatican II he was a peritus, or theological advisor, at the Ecumenical Secretariat, the commission responsible for three conciliar documents, On Religious Liberty, On Ecumenism, and On the Church’s Relation to Non-Christian Religions. From 1962 he was the editor of The Ecumenist, a review of theology, culture and society, as well as a co-director of the international Catholic review Concilium.
Monsignor Vincent Foy has described Baum as a “catalyst of dissent in Canada” for his work on the book “Contraception and Holiness” published in 1964 and presented as “a balanced and perceptive declaration of Christian dissent.” The two fellow authors were Stanley Kutz and Leslie Dewart. In an interview in the Toronto Globe and Mail on April 9, 1966, he claimed that Catholics could use artificial means of contraception and a year later claimed that any Papal decision in this area would be irrelevant.[1]
He was formerly a priest, but has now been laicised.
Tragedy at Winnipeg, The Canadian Catholic Biships´Statement on Humanae Vitae. Msgr. Vincent Foy, 1988.
Gregory Baum is Professor Emeritus at McGill University’s Faculty of Religious Studies. His academic education was iCatholic theology and sociology; his publications dealt witecumenical relations, interreligious dialogue, and the religious quest for a just and peaceful world. During the Vatican Council (1962-1965), he was an appointed theologian at the Ecumenical Secretariat responsible for the conciliar documents on Ecumenism, Religious Liberty and the Church’s Relationship to Non-Christian Religions.
Book Review by David Gushee
The Twentieth Century: A Theological Overview Gregory Baum, ed., Orbis, 1999.
The editor, Gregory Baum, attempts in this work to bring a team together that can reflect theologically on the monumental and oftentimes disastrous events of the twentieth century. It is a project that only succeeds in part.
The work is divided into two parts. The first seeks to trace “the impact of historical events on theology.” The second part offers “theological evaluation of events and movements.”
The first section covers World War I, modernity, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Depression, the Nazi era, the Holocaust, world capitalism, globalization, and the emergence of a world church. The second deals with secularization, the ecumenical movement, Vatican II, Marxism, feminism, liberation theologies, the ecological crisis, and postmodernism. Contributors include mainline stalwarts Rosemary Ruether, Harvey Cox, Douglas John Hall, Virgilio Elizondo, Gary Dorrien, and a host of lesser-known figures.
I was interested in this book not only because of its coverage of historical events and trends of signal importance, but also because of my growing conviction that evangelical theology and ethics generally do not adequately take historical events into account. While mainline and radical theology/ethics tends to be deeply and self-consciously contextual, evangelical versions often seem to be the last bastion of an a historical approach that attempts to jump from Scripture to application without remainder. Or, alternatively, certain strands of evangelical thought are tied so closely to particular theological figures and traditions (e.g., Calvin, Luther) they sometimes seem to learn nothing from the historical events that have occurred since the esteemed Doctors made their appearance on history’s stage.
The book succeeds only in part because of the uneven quality of the contributions, always the bane of edited collections. The discussions of the Catholic response to modernity, the Communist Revolution in Russia, the ecumenical movement, and liberation theologies, in particular, were weak enough as to damage the overall impact of the book considerably.
On the whole, however, The Twentieth Century helps to open a conversation that needs to continue: what should we make of the bloody century just past? How do we speak of God and the church in the context in which we actually find ourselves? These are questions well worth asking, and Baum is to be thanked for his contribution to the quest for answers.
Volume 2, Issue 2 Spring 2005
An Interview with Gregory Baum
“Faith, Community, & Liberation”
Adam S. Miller
Journal of Philosophy and Scripture
Gregory Baum (born 1923) is a Canadian Catholic theologian.
Born in Berlin, Germany, he came to Canada from England in 1940. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and physics in 1946 from McMaster University, a Master of Arts degree in mathematics in 1947 from Ohio State University, and a Th.D. in 1956 from the University of Fribourg.
He was the Professor of theology and sociology at Saint Michael’s College in the University of Toronto and subsequently professor of theological ethics at McGill University‘s Faculty of Religious Studies. He is presently associated with the Jesuit Centre justice et foi at Montreal.
During the church council Vatican II he was a peritus, or theological advisor, at the Ecumenical Secretariat, the commission responsible for three conciliar documents, On Religious Liberty, On Ecumenism, and On the Church’s Relation to Non-Christian Religions. From 1962 he was the editor of The Ecumenist, a review of theology, culture and society, as well as a co-director of the international Catholic review Concilium.
Monsignor Vincent Foy has described Baum as a “catalyst of dissent in Canada” for his work on the book “Contraception and Holiness” published in 1964 and presented as “a balanced and perceptive declaration of Christian dissent.” The two fellow authors were Stanley Kutz and Leslie Dewart. In an interview in the Toronto Globe and Mail on April 9, 1966, he claimed that Catholics could use artificial means of contraception and a year later claimed that any Papal decision in this area would be irrelevant.[1]
In 1990, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of being “a guide and inspiration to generations of students of many different faiths and backgrounds”. [2]
He was formerly a priest, but has now been laicised.
Mary Jo Leddy
Radical Gratitude. New York: Orbis, 2002. Reweaving Religious Life: Beyond the Liberal Model. Twenty-Third Publications, 1990..
Web Summary of Mary Leddy
Ambrosic
Richard Renshaw
wcr:12/12/2005 — Fr. Richard Renshaw: Priest… www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2005/1212/cbc121205.shtml Published on: 12/8/2005 Last Visited: 12/8/2005 Fr. Richard Renshaw claims the church ‘leaps to judgement’ …Father Richard Renshaw told CBC there is “some kind of phobia (about homosexuality) at the highest level” of the Church. The Nov. 29 Congregation for Catholic Education document says the Church “cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’” Renshaw said, “There are young men and women who feel they can do the work and who seem to show all the qualities . . . (indicating) they could do the job.” The Church has “criteria laid down” that tells these men and women, “‘No, you can’t,’” he said. Canadians ‘just parroting’ The Canadian Church hierarchy has “lost its voice” and was “just parroting” Rome instead of “thinking for themselves,” he said. The well-known social activist has an extensive track record working for social justice, much of that in South America. He was one of the founders of KAIROS: Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. Renshaw served as assistant general secretary to the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) for several years until 2002, when he became deputy director of the Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, the Canadian Church’s international development arm. He acted as Development and Peace’s interim director for most of 2004 until the new executive director, Michael Casey, came on board last January. Renshaw left Development and Peace last spring. A Holy Cross priest, Renshaw told Sunday Edition host Michael Enright he was able to live out his priestly vows through grace until he had a nervous breakdown brought on by pressures in his personal life. “At that point, I knew I had lost it,” said Renshaw, who began looking for friendship and contacts in the gay community “in the worst possible way.” “I would stand on street corners and ask ‘Where are the gay places?’” “I would stand on street corners and ask ‘Where are the gay places?’” – Fr. Richard Renshaw He went to his superior and was sent to a psychoanalyst, who Renshaw said tried to convince him he wasn’t gay, merely ill. “It went from bad to worse for a good long time.” Renshaw even wondered if it might be better for the Church if he left the priesthood, but a friend convinced him to remain. Renshaw said he has supported gay causes publicly “for quite some time,” and has close ties to both the Montreal and Ottawa gay communities. Preached on gay pride He said he has preached in churches on gay pride, but has not been censured or suspended, and remains a religious priest in good standing. But he told Enright he has two letters saying he cannot “say the Mass or hear confessions at all.” Ordained in the 1960s and present in Rome during the Second Vatican Council, he said his priestly studies stressed theological formation and doctrine that “has never been the slightest use to me.” Instead, Renshaw said he believes in listening to his consciousness, his subconscious, and his body, and “listening without judgment.” “The problem with the Church is that it immediately leaps to judgment.” “Instead, you need to reflect, learn and grow by ‘listening to the chaos,’ and by being attentive to all ‘those angry, nasty things,’ and ‘what you feel shamed about without judging it,’” he said. …”Richard did not inform me that he was going to be on any media program,” he said in a phone interview Sept. 7. …I only know Richard as person of integrity. “He certainly loves his priesthood, his ministry as a priest.” Co-workers at Development and Peace spoke highly of his contribution and said he always acted professionally.
CatholicCourier.com – Today’s News in Brief www.catholiccourier.com/tmp1.cfm?nid=74&cfid=7013261&cftoken=13028672 Published on: 12/6/2005 Last Visited: 12/6/2005 Holy Cross Father Richard Renshaw, a former top official of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and former official of the Canadian Religious Conference, told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Radio Dec. 4, “There’s just some kind of phobia at the highest level.” “I really feel upset and sad about the hierarchy,” he said. The Nov. 29 Congregation for Catholic Education document says the church “cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’” Father Renshaw served as assistant general secretary to the Canadian Religious Conference from 1994 to 2002, when he became deputy director of Development and Peace, the Canadian bishops’ international development arm. He left Development and Peace in the spring.
CNS NEWS BRIEFS Dec-5-2005 www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20051205.htm Published on: 12/6/2005 Last Visited: 12/6/2005 Holy Cross Father Richard Renshaw, a former top official of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and former official of the Canadian Religious Conference, told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Radio Dec. 4, “There’s just some kind of phobia at the highest level.” “I really feel upset and sad about the hierarchy,” he said. The Nov. 29 Congregation for Catholic Education document says the church “cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’” Father Renshaw served as assistant general secretary to the Canadian Religious Conference from 1994 to 2002, when he became deputy director of Development and Peace, the Canadian bishops’ international development arm. He left Development and Peace in the spring.
American Catholic Catholic News www.americancatholic.org/Features/DailyNews/todays.asp?date=12/5/2005 Published on: 12/5/2005 Last Visited: 6/29/2006 Holy Cross Father Richard Renshaw, a former top official of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and former official of the Canadian Religious Conference, told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Radio Dec. 4, “There’s just some kind of phobia at the highest level.” “I really feel upset and sad about the hierarchy,” he said. The Nov. 29 Congregation for Catholic Education document says the church “cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’” Father Renshaw served as assistant general secretary to the Canadian Religious Conference from 1994 to 2002, when he became deputy director of Development and Peace, the Canadian bishops’ international development arm. He left Development and Peace in the spring.
Catholic Online www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=17861 Published on: 12/5/2005 Last Visited: 12/6/2005 Holy Cross Father Richard Renshaw, a former top official of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace and former official of the Canadian Religious Conference, told Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Radio Dec. 4, “There’s just some kind of phobia at the highest level.” “I really feel upset and sad about the hierarchy,” he said. The Nov. 29 Congregation for Catholic Education document says the church “cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’” Father Renshaw served as assistant general secretary to the Canadian Religious Conference from 1994 to 2002, when he became deputy director of Development and Peace, the Canadian bishops’ international development arm. He acted as Development and Peace’s interim director for most of 2004 and served until the new executive director, Michael Casey, joined in January 2005. Father Renshaw left Development and Peace in the spring. He is a well-known social activist with an extensive track record working for social justice in South America. He was one of the founders of Kairos: Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. …Father Renshaw said he even wondered if it might be better for the church if he left the priesthood, but a South American friend convinced him to remain. He said a religious priest’s vow of chastity is different from a diocesan priest’s vow of celibacy. Chastity is a virtue, and a virtue “is something you need to continue to explore” by listening to one’s soul and body, “adventuring with it,” and “at times finding yourself tempted and fallen,” he said. “In the case of the homosexual, there is no mercy,” he said. The priest noted that he has supported gay causes publicly “for quite some time” and maintains close ties to the Montreal and Ottawa gay communities. He said he has preached in churches on gay pride but has not been censured or suspended, and remains a religious priest in good standing. However, he told Enright he has two letters saying he cannot “be given faculties for public ministry,” that is, he cannot “say the Mass or hear confessions at all.” Father Renshaw described the last month as painful and the Vatican document as “shaming.” Sister Margaret Toner, a member of the Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception of Ivrea and executive director of the Canadian Religious Conference, said in a telephone interview from Montreal that Father Renshaw “was passionate for justice and peacemaking.” “I only know Richard as a person of integrity,” she said. “He certainly loves his priesthood, his ministry as a priest. I know him for his outreach to the very poor and marginalized wherever he is.” “I’m concerned for Richard as a person very much,” she said. “I would suspect that he looked at the possible consequences and weighed his options.” Co-workers at Development and Peace spoke highly of his contribution and said he always acted professionally.
wcr:05/02/2005 — Collins plans Corpus Christi… www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2005/0502/foreignaid050205.shtml Published on: 5/1/2005 Last Visited: 5/1/2005 Richard Renshaw, the deputy executive director of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, said that disappointment was an understatement of his reaction to the long-awaited document. “It’s not going to make a huge difference,” Renshaw said in an April 20 telephone interview from Montreal. “There’s nothing new. Nothing changed on all the points we were interested in.” Renshaw criticized the emphasis on “developing the private sector side of trade” because it would not make a significant difference to the poor.
Canada NewsWire Group www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2005/18/c6966.html Published on: 4/19/2005 Last Visited: 4/19/2005 “Among other things, the government should give the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) a mandate to help eliminate poverty in the Global South and appoint a senior cabinet minister to oversee CIDA,” said DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE Deputy Executive Director Richard Renshaw. “The review should also indicate the government’s firm intention to increase international aid by 12% to 15% per year; ensure greater coherence in Canadian economic and political policies in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals; and enunciate a clear strategy for Africa, including support for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. “Canada must live up to the commitments it made at the June 2002 G-8 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta,” Renshaw said.
Laksamana.Net www.laksamana.net/vnews.cfm?ncat=44&news_id=7811 Published on: 1/9/2005 Last Visited: 4/20/2005 Richard Renshaw, Acting Executive Director, Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace
CRS Metuchen – Home www.crsmetuchen.org/NewsPage.asp?Id=123 Published on: 1/6/2005 Last Visited: 1/29/2005 The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace also reported record giving levels, receiving more than $1 million (US$811,000) in donations in advance of a national collection scheduled for Jan. 9, said Richard Renshaw, interim executive director Renshaw said that figure “will likely double at a minimum” after the collection.
Letter concerning Canada’s Abstention on UN Resolution www.kairoscanada.org/e/media/letters/ltrAcehAid050105.asp Published on: 1/5/2005 Last Visited: 6/3/2006 Richard Renshaw, Acting Executive Director, Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace
Development and Peace / News_2004 www.devp.org/testA/news_2004.htm Published on: 10/7/2004 Last Visited: 5/24/2006 March 5, 2004 – Fr. Richard Renshaw, C.S.C., named Interim Executive Director of DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE.
FOR- Programs – Colombia Update www.forusa.org/programs/colombia/col-pp-update-0704B.html Published on: 6/17/2004 Last Visited: 9/23/2005 Richard Renshaw Acting Director Canadian Catholic Organization for Development
canadaeast.com – DG Religion – Life www.canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040403/DGLIFE10/204030576/- Published on: 4/3/2004 Last Visited: 4/4/2004 Father Richard Renshaw, deputy executive director since November 2002, takes over his new post on May 12.
Canada NewsWire www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2004/05/c7425.html Published on: 3/5/2004 Last Visited: 3/6/2004 C7372 – TORONTO : Fr. Richard Renshaw, C.S.C., Named Interim Executive Director of the Canadian Catholic Organization for DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE (a- DevPeace-appointmen)
Cultures Canada www.culturescanada.ca/news.php?detail=n1000755029.news Published on: 11/27/2003 Last Visited: 8/9/2006 Father Richard Renshaw, an American priest who works in Ottawa and who does parish work at St. Joseph’s, began his homily by noting that a colleague, a priest with his Holy Cross order, had been aboard one of the planes used Tuesday in the terrorist attack. Father Renshaw spoke of the “incomprehensible evil” behind Tuesday’s events and of the fear and understandable rage that had come out of them. But he also said, in an implicit reference to Afghanistan, that bombing the poorest of the poor, or moving in any way outside the rule of international law, was neither a morally justifiable nor Christian response. “War is not the answer,” he said. “It’s the problem.” The solution lies in some serious soul-searching.
CFFC in the News www.cath4choice.org/nobandwidth/English/new/inthenews/101503CanadianPress.h Published on: 10/15/2003 Last Visited: 1/9/2006 His efforts to draw the attention of the world’s richest countries to the developing world’s debt burden drew almost 700,000 Canadians to sign a petition in 1999 urging government debt relief, said Richard Renshaw, associate executive-director with Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. Similar outpourings have followed fundraising for natural disasters and war relief. “This is the kind of international compassion that the Pope called for,” Renshaw said in interview in Montreal. “One of the things that has been clear to us over the years is how there seems to be a growing number of people within the Catholic Church who, when called upon to respond to social issues respond very strongly and positively.” But Renshaw acknowledges John Paul is a “multi-faceted man dealing with a multi-faceted church.”
CFFC in the News www.catholicsforchoice.com/new/inthenews/101503CanadianPress.htm Published on: 10/15/2003 Last Visited: 10/5/2005 His efforts to draw the attention of the world’s richest countries to the developing world’s debt burden drew almost 700,000 Canadians to sign a petition in 1999 urging government debt relief, said Richard Renshaw, associate executive-director with Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. Similar outpourings have followed fundraising for natural disasters and war relief. “This is the kind of international compassion that the Pope called for,” Renshaw said in interview in Montreal. “One of the things that has been clear to us over the years is how there seems to be a growing number of people within the Catholic Church who, when called upon to respond to social issues respond very strongly and positively.” But Renshaw acknowledges John Paul is a “multi-faceted man dealing with a multi-faceted church.”
CFFC in the News www.catholicsforchoice.org/nobandwidth/English/new/inthenews/101503Canadian Published on: 10/15/2003 Last Visited: 1/9/2006 His efforts to draw the attention of the world’s richest countries to the developing world’s debt burden drew almost 700,000 Canadians to sign a petition in 1999 urging government debt relief, said Richard Renshaw, associate executive-director with Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace. Similar outpourings have followed fundraising for natural disasters and war relief. “This is the kind of international compassion that the Pope called for,” Renshaw said in interview in Montreal. “One of the things that has been clear to us over the years is how there seems to be a growing number of people within the Catholic Church who, when called upon to respond to social issues respond very strongly and positively.” But Renshaw acknowledges John Paul is a “multi-faceted man dealing with a multi-faceted church.”
Aboriginal Rights Coalition www.aboriginalrightscoalition.ca/english/solidarite.html Published on: 3/8/2003 Last Visited: 3/8/2003 By Richard Renshaw …Richard Renshaw, Co-Chair of ARC At the beginning of June, 2000 the Canadian Religious Conference held its Leadership Assembly in Moncton, New Brunswick. …Richard Renshaw is a Roman Catholic priest, a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. He is currently Assistant Secretary General of the Canadian Religious Conference and Co-Chair of ARC National. Top of the page… ARC and MCC: 25 years
Declaration of Support for African Small www.afjn.org/GRI/GRI-Declaration.cfm Published on: 5/30/2002 Last Visited: 1/9/2006 Richard Renshaw, CSC, Assistant Secretary General
Time To Move Beyond War www.guerrillanews.com/forum/showflat.pl?Cat=&Board=quote&Number=295072&page Published on: 5/1/2002 Last Visited: 5/8/2004 120 Richard Renshaw, C.S.C., Holy Cross Fathers, English Canadian Prov.
Holy Cross Responds to the Events of September 11, 2001 www.holycrossjustice.org/911hcresponses.htm Published on: 9/11/2001 Last Visited: 7/5/2006 Homily given by Richard Renshaw, CSC, 9/16/01
CCCB / CECC www.cccb.ca/Archives.htm?CD=394&ID=1421 Last Visited: 7/21/2004 Finally, DEVELOPMENT AND PEACE was very pleased to welcome Rev. Richard Renshaw, C.S.C., as the organization’s new Deputy Executive Director.
CCIC: Membership www.ccic.ca/e/001/membership.shtml Last Visited: 1/18/2005 Richard Renshaw, Acting Executive Director Tel: (514) 257-8711 Fax: (514) 257-8497 E-mail: rrenshaw@devp.org
CharityChannel’s CharityNews-Canada www.charitychannel.org/charitynews/cnews-can/index.asp Last Visited: 1/6/2005 “And that sum will likely double, at a minimum,” says Interim Executive Director Richard Renshaw, “because of a call from Canada’s Catholic Bishops urging every parish in the country to hold a special collection this Sunday, 9 January 2005, to aid the people of Southeast Asia.”
Citizens for Public Justice cpj.ca/otherwork/Global_Justice/index.html?ap=1&x=86639 Last Visited: 4/28/2006 Richard Renshaw, assistant secretary general, Canadian Religious Conference, Ottawa
Homily-Renshaw www.holycrossjustice.com/homilyrenshaw.htm Last Visited: 2/4/2006 Homily given by Richard Renshaw, CSC, 9/16/01 …Richard Renshaw, CSC
Justice and Peace www.ccc-cce.ca/english/jp/jp.htm Last Visited: 10/3/2003
Lee F. Cormie PhD (Chicago) Regular Faculty College: University of St. Michael’s CollegeDepartment: TheologicalTeaching Levels: Advanced Degree (Full) and Basic Degree Areas of Specialisation:Latin American and Other Third World Liberation Theologies; Feminist and Black Theologies; North American Contextual Theologies; Church Social Teachings; Bible and Liberation; Social Ethics Concerning Economic Restructuring, Militarism Contact Information: Tel: (416) 926-1300 ext. 3410E-mail: lee.cormie @ utoronto.ca Lee F. Cormie, BA, MA, PhD (Chicago) Associate Professor (on sabbatical 01/01/07-31/12/07) Christian Ethics; Systematic Theology and Social Sciences; Liberation Theologies; Feminist Theologies. Will it Liberate? Questions about Liberation Theology ETHICS OF GLOBALIZATION Paper presented at the Society of Christian Ethics Annual Meeting Pittsburgh, PA, January 11, 2003 Web Summary of Lee Cormie
Ray Whitehead. Theology Issue, Volume 17, Issue 15, 2000 Web Summary of Ray Whitehead
Fr. Michael Czerny, SJ, is the social justice secretary at the Jesuits curia in Rome; he was formerly director of the Human Rights Institute (IDHUCA) and Vice-Rector for Social Outreach (1990-1991). Compass Points: Navigating the 20th Century, Compass. (Nov. 1999). Opening a Window on Our Century by Michael Czerny Christians Made Justice a Vital Concern by Michael Czerny Jamie Swift, Jacqueline M. Davies, Robert G. Clarke and Michael Czerny S.J., Getting Started on Social Analysis in Canada (Toronto: Between the Lines Press, 2003), 230 pp Leave no witnesses, 1999. Company Magazine The Faces of AIDS in Africa, Fr. Michael Czerny, SJ, coordinator of the African Jesuit AIDS Network. 2003 Globalization Conference “Globalization as SeenFrom the Developing World” November 7 – 10, 2002 Michael Czerny, S.J., General Assistant,Social Justice Secretariat, Jesuit Curia, Rome Universidad y Globalización: Sí, pero
Web Summary of Michael Czerny
THOMAS GROOME
TEACHING
Catholic Identity
Praxis of Religious Education
Sharing, Faith and Religious Education
Education of Christians: Past, Present and Future
Seminar in Pastoral Theology. IREPM Director and Professor, Theology and Religious Education, Dr. Thomas H. Groome was born in County Kildare, Ireland. Professor Groome holds the equivalent of an MDiv from St. Patrick’s Seminary in Carlow, Ireland, an MA from Fordham University and a doctoral degree in religious education from Union Theological Seminary/Columbia University. Professor Groome’s publications include his most recent book What Makes Us Catholic: Eight Gifts for Life (Harper San Francisco), Educating for Life, A Spiritual Vision for Every Teacher and Parent (Crossroads), Christian Religious Education: Sharing Our Story and Vision (Jossey Bass), Language for a “Catholic” Church (Sheed and Ward) and Sharing Faith: A Comprehensive Approach to Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry (Wipf and Stock). Professor Groome is also the primary author of various religion textbook series from W.H. Sadlier, most recently the Coming to Faith series.
Christian Religious Education: Sharing Our Story and Vision (Paperback) by Thomas H. Groome “Education is as old as human consciousness…”
Review”Anyone tugged by the calling at the heart of education or religious life can only cheer for the republication of this classic book.” —Robert Kegan, Harvard Graduate School of Education
“Christian Religious Education is one of the most important books -if not the most important-on Christian education published during the last fifty years.” —Don Browning, University of Chicago, coauthor, From Culture Wars to Common Ground: Religion and the American Family Debate
“Whether returning Christian Religious Education or reading it for the first time, readers will discover freshness leaping from the page; you will soon know why this formative book of the past is a beacon for the future-informative, inspiring, and wise!” —Mary Elizabeth Moore, professor of theology and Christian education, Claremont School of Theology
“Tom Groome combines the great masters of the past with the most creative innovators of the present to provide us with a modern day classic.” —Virgilio P. Elizondo, founder, Mexican American Cultural Center Book DescriptionThe Classic Guide for Educators of Any Denomination
What mission calls us to teach? How do societal issues-social oppression, poverty, politics-affect what we teach, how we teach it, and how people learn? Who are our students? What and when are they ready to learn? Once we understand these foundations, how can we facilitate an educational experience that has the power to shape and transform people and communities in life-giving ways of faith?
In this classic text, Thomas Groome asks and answers these central questions, providing a comprehensive integration of the history, theory, and practice of modern religious education for a new generation of educators. His self-reflective approach-shared praxis-will inspire school teachers, students of religious education, pastors, parents, and religious educators in local churches who want to understand themselves, their mission, and their surroundings-to inform, form, and transform their students’ lives.
“Anyone tugged by the calling at the heart of education or religious life can only cheer for the republication of this classic book.”-Robert Kegan, Harvard Graduate School of Education
“Whether returning Christian Religious Education or reading it for the first time, readers will discover freshness leaping from the page; you will soon know why this formative book of the past is a beacon for the future-informative, inspiring, and wise!”-Mary Elizabeth Moore, professor of theology and Christian education, Claremont School of Theology.
Ed Sullivan
Howard Richard, Profesor of Global and Peace Studies
Some introductory words by Professor Richards
Think of the diverse human beliefs and practices of the past and the present as cultural resources available to be employed in the construction of a world that works for everybody. Think of the social sciences as innovative language-games, not as mirrors that reflect social reality, but as social movements that reconstitute social reality. Think of the problems of constructing sustainable relationships between the human species and the biosphere; of instituting peace; and of achieving social justice; as problems of methodology. Think of the global economy as the logic of the market writ large. Think of the logic of the market as the survival strategy followed by the human animal when faced with an environment fundamentally shaped by the legal framework of the modern civil codes that govern commerce. The modern codes update but do not transform principles drawn from ancient Rome – suum cuique, honeste vivare, non fit injuria, pacta sunt servandum. How can “we” transform the universal minimal morality of the market into a mosaic of diverse solidarities, while at the same time coping with the systemic imperatives of economic reality as it is currently constituted? That is the question I try to answer in my work. Who is this “we”? That is another question I try to answer. –Howard Richards. January, 2004.
DR. HOWARD RICHARDS holds the title Research Professor of Peace and Global Studies and Philosophy at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, USA, a Quaker school where he taught for thirty-five years. He was the founder of the Peace and Global Studies Program there and co-founder of the Business and Nonprofit Management program. He is an associate of Educating Cities Latin America, which is based at Rosario, Argentina. His two-volume study Letters from Quebec is a philosophy of peace and justice supported by a cultural action interpretation of the history of western culture, especially of the emergence of economic rationality and its relationships to other ideals. His Understanding the Global Economy (Peace Education Books, 2004) reviews economic theories with a focus on epistemological issues concerning how the phenomena of the global economy are explained. His forthcoming book (co-authored with Joanna Swanger) Dilemmas of Social Democracies (Lexington Books, 2005) is a series of case studies of attempts to build social democracy, which draws on the methodological principles advocated in his earlier works.
He has worked for the Organisation of American States, Canada’s International Development Research Centre, and others as an evaluator of innovative projects and programs, and is currently working on an evaluation of, among other things, alternative economic institutions (economia solidaria) in today’s Argentina, on which he will make a progress report to a seminar convened by the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, in Rosario, Argentina, at the end of March. He is co-convenor of the Global Political Economy Commission (with Bernedette Muthien) of the International Peace Research Association. He divides his time between the private practice of law and continuing his research and teaching. As a practising lawyer he is general counsel for two non-profit corporations. See his website at http://www.howardrichards.org/. Ver tambien Escritos en Español. Contact Information Howard Richards 800 National Road WestRichmond, IN-47374 USA Phone: +1 765 983 1305Fax: +1 765 983 1304E-mail: howardri@aol.com
Gerardo Whelan
Machuca: varias opiniones en torno a esta película de Andrés Wood
Laicos Ingnacianos presenta
Fin de un silencio por Eugenio Tironi
Patricio Cariola
Paul is now dedicated to the persuit of wisdom by promoting interfaith dialogue. His inspired work is articulated in this poster which presents a syntesis of the sacred writings of thirteen religions on the Golden Rule. See versions in English · Française · Español · Italiana · Deutsche. Click on the poster for more detail and music from each tradition.
To enter this dialogue I propose two contributions. The first is Bernard Lonergan’s reflection upon Friedrich Heiler´s identification of the seven common areas that world religions share. The second is my commitment to promote that our students of pedagogy and religión at the Universidad Católica del Maule. I am convinced that interfaith dialogue requires the identification of the basic fundamental differences that characterize the constitutive identity of each religion and secular world views of our times. This I believe will serve to put into practice the golden rule, in the sense of teaching us how to enter into dialogue about our unique identities, in order to learn from and appreciate the meanings that are revealed in our differences.
Expresions of Religious Experience
Bernard Lonergan. Method in Theology (1972), p. 109.
There is at least one scholar on whom one may call for an explicit statement on the areas common to such world religions as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrian Masdaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism. For Frederich Heiler has described at some length seven such common areas. While I cannot reproduce here the rich texture of his thought, I must, at least, give a list of the topics he treats: That there is a transcendent reaity; that he is immanent in human hearts; that he is love, mercy, compassion, that the way to him is repentance, self-denial, prayer; that the way is love of one’s neighbour, even of one’s enemies; that the way is love of God, so that bliss is concieved as knowledge of God, union with him, or dissolution into him.
Now it is not, I think, difficult to see how these seven common features of the world religions are implicit in the experience of being in love in an unrestricted manner. To be in love is to be in love with someone. To be in love without qualifications or conditions or reservations or limits is to be in love with someone transcendent. When someone transcendent is my beloved, he is in my heart, real to me from within me. When that love is the fulfilment of my unrestricted thrust to self-transcendence through intelligence and truth and responsibility, the one that fulfils that thrust must be supreme in intelligence, truth, goodness. Since he chooses to come to me by a gift of love for him, he himself must be love. Since loving him is my transcending myself, it also is a denial of the self to be transcended. Since loving him means loving attention to him, it is prayer, meditation, contemplation,. Since love of him is fruitful, it overflows into love of all those that he loves or might love. Finally, from an experience of love focused on mystery there wells forth a longing for knowledge, while love itself ia a longing for union; so for the lover of the unknown beloved the concept of bliss is knowledge of him and union with him, however they may be achieved.
F. Heiler, “The History of religions as a Preparation for the Cooperation of Religion”, The History of Religions, note 6, pp. 142-153.
Posted by jmorin 
Father Thomas McKillop, C.M.Toronto, OntarioMember of the Order of Canada
