Frances G. Harpst Center for Catholic Thought and Culture

News

Irish Ambassador to the US speaks at USD

The Frances G. Harpst Center for Catholic Thought and Culture in collaboration with the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice and the Irish Network of San Diego invites you to our upcoming event:

Contemporary Ireland and the Northern Ireland Peace Process
H.E. Michael Collins
Ambassador of Ireland to the United States

Monday, May 21, 2012, from 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Room AB

Michael Collins, who has served as Ireland’s ambassador to the United States since 2007, was closely involved with the Northern Ireland Peace Process and will reflect on its enduring legacy and the challenges ahead.

This event is free and open to the public. RSVPs preferred at: www.sandiego.kintera.org/irishambassador

**Please note the change in time and venue.**

Ireland 2012: Scholars and Itinerary Revealed

Preparations for the Faculty Travel Immersion Seminar 2012 are in full swing. This multi-disciplinary trip will include faculty participants from the following schools and departments:

Art, Architecture and Art History

Communication Studies

Languages and Literatures

Nursing and Health Sciences (x2)

Political Science & International Relations

Sociology

Theology and Religious Studies (x2)

Itinerary Outline

Newgrange Day 1:“A journey through the sacral landscapes of the Boyne valley and the Hill of Tara”

Bru Na Boinne, Knowth Passage Grave, Clonmacnoise

Aran Islands Day 2:

“Islands on the edge of Europe- an Irish timescape”

Full Day to the Aran Islands, Dun Aengus Fort and the Seven Churches

Day 3:

Cliffs of Moher, “A Guided Walk through The Burren” and Trinitarian Abbey

Day 4:

Dingle Peninsula, Gallurus Oratory, Kilmalkeador

Day 5:

“Turning darkness into light: monks and manuscripts in medieval Ireland”

Glenstal Abbey and Solas Bhride

Day 6:

Turning Darkness into Light: Exhibition and the Book of Kells

Trinity College Dublin and Walking Tour of Historic Dublin City

Day 7:

Spiritual Journey with Fr Michael Rogers

Glendalough

Each year the Frances G. Harpst Center for Catholic Thought and Culture takes a small group of inter-disciplinary USD Faculty to a place connected in a broad sense with the Catholic intellectual and/or cultural and social traditions. The program is set around a specific theme each year which brings past, present and future discourse into relation. For more information about this program, please visit our Faculty Immersion Seminar page.

Press for Assisi 2012 Event

Check out this article from the Huffington Post about the Assisi 2012 event.

You can also check out the press release!

Fresh Hope From Umbria’s Hills The Tablet’s article on Assisi 2012

**Our gratitude to The Tablet for permission to reproduce the article here www.thetablet.co.uk **

CCTC takes lead in Major International Event in Assisi, Italy

This week, USD’s Frances G. Harpst Center for Catholic Thought and Culture will be at the forefront of an international gathering of 250 scholars and practitioners from 54 different countries. This event, taking place in Assisi, Italy, brings diverse voices to the table from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and Oceania. Its purpose is to inspire the development of new methods and pathways for promoting ecumenical, inter-faith and church-world dialogue and understanding. Entitled Assisi 2012: ‘Where We Dwell in Common’ - Pathways for Dialogue in the 21st Century’, this gathering will see world-renowned scholars and long-established faculty mixing with church leaders, peace practitioners, human rights activists, graduate students and emerging scholars as well as religious and ethnic minority scholars.

Gerard Mannion, CCTC Director and Professor of Theology and Religious Studies is Chair of the event’s organizing committee and CCTC colleague Justine Gonzales has also played a vital role on the committee. The event, organized in association with the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network will see a strong delegation of USD Faculty present and participating throughout. Two supporting organizations include the RSCJ-associated Roehampton University in London, England, from which a large delegation of participants will also be coming and the RSCJ-founded Sacred Heart University in Japan, which has also offered generous support through the Office of its President, Yoshiko Okazaki, and is sending one delegate to be present. The CCTC is very grateful also for the generous support of Dean Sally Brosz Hardin and the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Sciences and Provost Julie Sullivan and the Office of Chief Executive and Provost of USD.

The venue of Assisi has been chosen because of its long and instinctive association with openness, charity, dialogue, peace, harmony and communion – with the particular charisms of the orders founded by Francis and Clare alike having helped inspire countless ventures in promoting dialogue and openness amongst peoples. Hosted by the Domus Pacis Franciscan Conference Center, right at the heart of where Francis founded his order of ‘lesser brothers’, the program includes events in all of the main sites of Assisi, including the three Basilicas of the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli (built from 1569), San Francesco (construction of which began in 1228), (construction of which began in 1228) and the Cathedral of San Rufino (built in 1140 on the site of much earlier churches).

For more details baout this conference visit: www.assisi2012.com

CCTC Guest: Robert Kiely, PhD

Please join the CCTC in thanking Robert Kiely, PhD for his wonderful talks while here on our campus.

“Blessed and Beautiful: Picturing the Saints in Italian Renaissance Art”

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 from 6:00-7:45 p.m.

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice Theatre

With a reception to follow

Through word and image, Professor Kiely shared with us his research into how renaissance artists in Italy went about reflecting in and refracting through their works the lives, legends and meaning drawn from traditions surrounding Saints Francis of Assisi, Mary Magdalene, the lesser known Louis of Toulouse and Mary the Mother of Jesus. Professor Kiely then unpacked the theological meaning behind these great works and speak of their enormous and enduring impact and significance.

"Is there such a thing as a Catholic Imagination? Asking Augustine, Francis, and Hopkins."

Wednesday, March 21, 2012 from 12:15-1:45 p.m.

Salomon Lecture Hall

*This lecture is part of the Explorations in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition lecture series. These are intended to be at an accessible andintroductory level anddesigned forstudents, staff, faculty andguests who are not experts in the field. Classes are always most welcome.*

Professor Kiely discussed some of what he has learned teaching courses on Christian literature at Harvard. He explored some of the ways in which the work of the imagination— especially in literature— addresses scripture and theology; and bears witness to the experience of God.

“The Art of Faith”

Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 4:00 p.m.

Robert and Karen Hoehn Family Galleries, Founders Hall

Reception to follow

A Display of 16^th and17th Century Religious Prints from USD's Hoehn Collection, featuring works by Dürer, Rembrandt, Beham, Goltzius, Jordaens andRibera. The display was introduced by Victoria Sancho Lobis and followed by a brief talk by Professor Kiely, on discerning the theological meaning behind religious works of art.

"The Genetic Revolution: Can Ethics Keep Pace?"

Religion and Science Forum

Monday, March 12, 2012

6:00-8:00 p.m.

Mother Rosalie Hill Hall - Executive Classroom 102 (SOLES)

A Faculty Seminar featuring perspectives from the disciplines of philosophy, science, law, ethics, theology and from the biotech industry itself discussing the ethical and social implications of some of the most recent developments in stem cell research.

Panel:

Antonio Autiero, PhD, Professor of Moral Theology of the Faculty of Catholic Theology of the University of Münster.

John Evans, PhD,Professor and Chair of Sociology, UCSD

Jeffrey Janus, CEO of Lifeline Cell Technology; Senior Vice President of Operations, International Stem Cell Corporation

Lawrence Hinman, PhD,Professor of Philosophy and co-director of the Center for Ethics in Science & Technology , USD

Chair:

Gerard Mannion, DPhil, Director, Center for Catholic Thought and Culture and Professor, Theology and Religious Studies, USD

All Faith Service

The University of San Diego's 19th annual All Faith Service once again brought together in prayer the leaders of faith communities, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends. Integral to the university's Catholic identity is a respect for the individual religious traditions that were represented in our community this afternoon. A theme focusing of "Live, Love, Give" echoes the living tradition of Catholic Social Thought that all persons have basic rights and responsibilities as human beings regardless of social or political structures. This service has once again shown that though faiths and practices are diverse, prayers together unite us in our responsibility to each of our neighbors.

To read Ryan Blystone's article "Commonality Through Diversity of Faith" for Inside USD, please click here.