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Contemporary Catholic Conversations 2017-2018, Curtis Center

Mission Integration & Ministry Publications

The Curtis Center at Sacred Heart University is a new initiative within the Office of Mission and Catholic Identity. The goal of the Curtis Center is engage SHU and the wider community in topics of interest and concern in today’s world.

The Center will host the annual inaugural series “Contemporary Catholic Conversations” during the 2017-18 academic year, a lecture series that will feature expert presenters and meaningful discussions.

Bishop Walter W. Curtis was on the cutting edge in 1963 when founding this university. He was energized by the Second Vatican Council to face the issues of his day, which led …

Infinite Regress And The Illusion Of Actuality And Participation In Borges's 'The Aleph', Robin Mcallister

English Faculty Publications

Borges wants his reader to use imagination to participate in his fiction, to imagine the vision of the universe as an Aleph. The vision of the Aleph is paradoxical, impossible, inexpressible—a point in space, in the basement of a house in Buenos Aires, where all other points in the universe are simultaneously present. The reader sees the Aleph—or the illusion of the Aleph, watching it emerge as if through Borges’ own eyes, as an unrequited lover and frustrated poet gradually accommodating the infinite vision to the limitations of actual perception. The illusion of actual presence the reader evokes seems to …

Uncovering The Truth: Women Spies Of The Civil War, Olivia Traina (Class Of 2017)

History Undergraduate Publications

The American Civil War is one of the most impactful events in our nation’s history. There is so much that can be analyzed within this one event, from the years leading into the war, during the war, and Reconstruction. Most historians and school history textbooks only focus on the male and battle aspects of the war. While these two topics make up a majority of Civil War history, there is another huge component that played a prominent role, and that is the women spies.

Women spies played a vital role in the Civil War. Rose O’Neal Greenhow, Belle Boyd, Sarah …

Breaking The Silence: The Story Of The Ixil Maya Of Union Victoria During The Guatemalan Civil War, Megan Marcucci (Class Of 2017)

History Undergraduate Publications

In the spring of 2016 and in the spring of 2017, I went to southern Guatemala on a mission trip under the auspices of Sacred Heart University. Never having studied Guatemala or its history, I had no idea what type of turmoil plagued this beautiful country. After traveling high up in the mountains of Guatemala and hearing the story of one indigenous Ixil Maya village, I knew that their story needed to be told.

Oscar Romero (Assignment #8), Alan Ksiazek

Writing Across the Curriculum

The author was assigned to live in Oscar Romero hall of the Christian Witness Commons in his freshman year at Sacred Heart University. This was the inspiration for the student to delve deeper into the life of Oscar Romero and all the contributions he made to the world.

Water In Native American Spirituality: Liquid Life—Blood Of The Earth And Life Of The Community, June-Ann Greeley

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Water: The life force of all creation, the generative dynamism of existence. Long before scientific experimentation and quantifiable instrumentation verified the facts, human beings have perceived and understood water to be the essence of all life, both material and spiritual. From the beginnings of recorded history and even before, across the expanse of human settlement and migration, indigenous as well as extraneous religions and spiritual traditions have celebrated water as the primordial source: water was sacred before it was material and water took on for multitudes of generations until even today an expansive inclusivity that scanned the literal to the …

Values, The Blueprint Of Our Character And The Road Map Of Life, Theresa Torony

Writing Across the Curriculum

My values dictate how I respond to life, the fruit it bears, and the tests it lays before me, as they did for Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius.

Sacrificial Women: The Unlikely Heroes Of Uwem Akpan's Stories, Mary L. Bauer

English Faculty Publications

This paper examines whether the female characters in Fr. Uwem Akpan’s short story collection Say You’re One of Them accurately portray the challenges that African women face in the post-colonial era, particularly when faced with challenges of poverty and violence that threaten the lives of their loved ones. It investigates how these women use the limited devices available to them -- including transactional sex, voluntary starvation, and giving their own lives to protect others – to carry out the traditional role of African women in caring for dependents, including younger siblings. It highlights the impact of societal norms, such as …

The Shanachie, Volume 29, Number 4, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

On Saturday, July 29, several dozen Irish currach rowers, turned the clock back to the 6th century on the waterfront at New London, a major New England seaport since the 17th century --The first Irishman fascinated by the Connecticut shoreline seems to have been Sir William Johnson, one of colonial America’s most influential, productive and flamboyant characters, who came to New London 250 years ago to recuperate --In August 1892, New London was chosen to host a three-week summer educational program that drew an estimated 600 Catholics, most of them Irish --Billiards skills brought fame and fortune to Long Neck …

The Shanachie, Volume 29. Number 3, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

New Haven's Grove Street Cemetery has Irish roots ... and Mory's Temple Bar probably does too.

Human Reason Allows Faith, Justin Cerniello

Writing Across the Curriculum

The question of are faith and reason compatible has been argued over extensively. Those who claim that the two are not compatible are often hung up on the things that we cannot understand, causing them to think faith is irrational. They say that faith and reason can never be used together because one will always push away the other. In this paper, by analyzing Augustine’s Confessions , Dante’s Divine Comedy , and Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Contra Gentiles I will show that the exact opposite is actually the case. All three of these authors exemplify how it is nearly impossible to …

La Representacion De “Raza” En La Literatura Escolar Y Juvenil Norteamericana Del Siglo Xix, Karl M. Lorenz

Education Faculty Publications

Este documento relata cómo las razas angloamericana, amerindia y negra estuvieron representadas en libros de texto de la escuela primaria y na literatura juvenil en el siglo XIX. Una muestra de textos de geografía, historia y lectura, y revistas juveniles y infantiles publicadas entre 1790 y 1890 fueron examinadas para determinar cómo se representaron las tres razas. También se presenta información adicional de publicaciones para adultos y científicas para proporcionar un contexto para las opiniones expresadas en los libros de texto y la literatura relacionada. Con base en la información transmitida en las publicaciones, se identificaron y discutieron brevemente conceptos …

The Moral High Road In The Undercity: An Examination Of Ethics In A Mumbai Slum, Mary L. Bauer

Catholic Studies Faculty Publications

As of 2016, 1.6 billion people around the globe lacked proper shelter and of these, one billion lived in informal settlements, also called slums, according to data collected by the United Nations (UN-Habitat 2016). Investigative journalist Katherine Boo spent four years, between 2007 and 2011, interviewing and shadowing the residents of one such slum on the outskirts of Mumbai. Her goal was to draw attention to socio-economic inequality (Boo, 2014 pp. 247-248), but in the course of collecting data about the consequences of poverty and residents’ attempts to rise out of it, she also recorded information about their moral choices, …

All Our Relations: Native Struggles For Land And Life, By Winona Laduke, Joseph A. P. Wilson

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Book review by Joseph A.P. Wilson.

LaDuke, W. (1999). All our relations: Native struggles for land and life. Cambridge, MA: South End Press; Minneapolis, MN: Honor the Earth.

The Shanachie, Volume 29, Number 1, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

A Sampler of 333 years of Irish Footprints in Milford:

Organized just 10 years ago, the Irish Heritage Society of Milford has a large and growing membership, a home, an annual festival and a busy schedule of events. Its latest goal is to publish a book about Irish people who have played roles in the shore town’s long history. Hopefully, this all-Milford issue of The Shanachie will make a wee contribution to that project. To learn more about Milford’s own exciting “Celtic Tiger,” go to www.milfordirish.org.

The Shanachie, Volume 29, Number 2, Connecticut Irish-American Historical Society

The Shanachie (CTIAHS)

A little bit of Ireland on the Connecticut River: Collinsville in the town of Canton --'Walk New Haven' books highlight historic sites in city's neighborhoods --Barnwell family settles in Stratford via Dublin and western N.Y. (by Paul R. Keroack).

I Need A Prince To Watch Over Me. Really?! Re-Visioning "Happily Ever After" In Gloria Naylor's Women Of Brewster Place, Anita August

English Faculty Publications

Chapter One ............................................................................................... 23

I Need a Prince to Watch Over Me. Really?! Re-Visioning ‘Happily Ever After’ in Gloria Naylor’s The Women of Brewster Place

St. Augustine’S Journey To Faith, Bridget Hughes

Writing Across the Curriculum

Augustine’s Confessions detail the Catholic philosopher’s reflection on his faith journey, a journey that would encompass much of his youth and early adulthood. Despite being raised by a devout mother, Augustine struggled to balance faith and purpose in his life. He practiced several different philosophies and religions throughout his life. Through his writings, Augustine elaborates on several of the Four Claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. His introspection on his own relationship with the divine relates to the first claim that states the Catholic belief in the relationship between mankind and a Triune God. In addition, his contemplations of life, …

Aging Athletes, Broken Bodies, And Disability In Jack London's Prizefighting Prose, Cara E. Kilgallen

English Faculty Publications

Jack London's name often conjures up images of dogs plowing through Alaska's desolate wilderness, or of robust men journeying into the wild; however, pictures of broken bodies struggling for survival in a boxing ring less readily come to mind. Few think of London as a sports writer, yet his illustrations of prizefighting reveal an author interested not only in able bodied athletes but in disabled and weakened ones as well. Although he is best known for his Klondike stories, nautical adventures, and socialist sentiments, the author's fascination with fitness shows that sport and the body are just as central to …

Introduction To The Content And Context Of The Ratio Studiorum: Notes, Quotes And Commentaries On The Jesuit Educational Ideal, Karl M. Lorenz

Presidential Seminar on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition

Explanatory Notes:

The topic I chose for my project was Jesuit Education in Colonial Brazil as outlined in the Ratio Studiorum of 1599. The Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis lesu {Method and System of the Studies of the Society of Jesus) defined the organization, operation and teaching methodology of Jesuit secondary and higher education institutions during the greater part of the colonial period, which extended from April 1500 when the first Portuguese explorers set foot on the Brazilian shore to July 1822 when Brazil declared its independence from Portugal. The Jesuitic Period encompassed the years between 1549 when the Brazilian …

The Good Life, Molly Kelley

Writing Across the Curriculum

Throughout generations the world has constantly progressed through medicine and technology, which has led to our inevitable evolution. But, a part of society that has not changed is our main individual goals of reaching “the good life,” as shown as evidence in literature. Authors like Plato, Aristotle, and those of the Bible wrote about the importance of happiness, virtues, and education as they pertain to this journey to “the good life.” Many feel that what they state is still pertinent today.