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Catholic Studies 2026 Newsletter, Sacred Heart University

Catholic Studies Newsletter

Highlights: The Lilly Network 2025 National Conference -- Bergoglio Lecture -- Center for Catholic Studies Lecture Series -- Warsaw Conference on Social Justice --SYNODAL Conversations in the Diocese -- ESTEEM Program at the Center for Catholic Studies

Catholic Studies Newsletter 2024, Sacred Heart University

Catholic Studies Newsletter

Highlights: CS Minor Attends Summer Seminar on Integral Ecology -- Faculty Profile: Anna Ramirez -- The Center for Catholic Studies: Spring Speaker Series and Bergoglio Lectures -- Center for Catholic Studies Awarded $30K Grant for Social Justice Seminar.

Catholic Studies Newsletter 2023, Catholic Studies Department

Catholic Studies Newsletter

Highlights: Message from the Chair, Michelle Loris -- "Integral Ecology": CS Minor Emma Grady Wins Stipend for Prestigious Summer Seminar -- New Faculty Profile: Dr. Callie Tabor -- Charles A. Gillespie, Pioneer Journey director -- Chelsea King, chair of the Laudato Si Action Platform -- Fall 2022 Conference: Vatican II and Catholic Higher Education: Leading Forward -- Center for Catholic Studies Spring Speaker Series -- The Bergoglio Lectures: Perspectives on Pope Francis and the Synodal Path -- In memory of our sister Joan Kelly.

Shu Celebrates 60 Years Of Catholic Education, Center For Catholic Studies

Anniversary Collections

Sacred Heart University recently marked two significant milestones: the Second Vatican Council’s 60th anniversary and the 60th anniversary of the University’s founding in the spirit of Vatican II.

Vatican II and Catholic Higher Education: Leading Forward Conference.

What, For The University, Is Solidarity? Catholic Higher Education And The Unfinished Reception Of Gaudium Et Spes, Susan Bigelow Reynolds

Events

Introduction:

Forty years ago, Jesuit philosopher and theologian Ignacio Ellacuría accepted an honorary doctorate from Santa Clara University and delivered a commencement address with which some of us here today are likely familiar. In the concise and penetrating speech, Ellacuría proposed a vision of the university as both a center of intellectual inquiry and cultural production, and as a “social force”—a place concerned with the transformation of social reality.

“To Expel Or Embrace? The Challenge And Promise Of Handing Down The Catholic Intellectual Tradition In Light Of Dei Verbum”, Grant Kaplan

Events

Introduction:

The conference description puts in remarkably succinct language what it takes most academics a long time to say. The description prompts participants “to explore how our reading and understanding of Vatican II documents, as well as the formative thinkers of Vatican II and the Catholic intellectual tradition, can deepen and expand our vision of Catholic higher education, addressing new and old challenges.” In accordance with this prompt, my paper will take up one challenge, an old one: handing on the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Joy And Hope On The Margins: The Mission Imperative Of Access To Catholic Higher Education, Patricia Mcguire

Events

Introduction:

Words written in 1965 seem prophetic for today’s challenges to the human community:

“Never has the human race enjoyed such an abundance of wealth, resources and economic power, and yet a huge proportion of the world’s citizens are still tormented by hunger and poverty, while countless numbers suffer from total illiteracy. …political, social, economic, racial and ideological disputes still continue bitterly, and with them the peril of a war which would reduce everything to ashes.” (Gaudium et Spes #4)

The content and structure of Gaudium et Spes suggests a curriculum for Catholic Higher Education that is broad and deep …

Vatican Ii And Catholic Higher Education: Guest In Its Own House?, Massimo Faggioli

Events

Introduction:

Almost exactly sixty years ago to the day, pope John XXIII opened Vatican II, the greatest religious event in the 20th century and an epoch-changing council like only Trent before, with a speech, Gaudet Mater Ecclesia, which single-handedly redirected the agenda of the council and arguably also the course of Church history. Even though Vatican II deserves to be celebrated, anniversaries often have the unstated purpose to administer symbolic sedation. So, this conference is not a celebratory moment, rather an opportunity to reflect on the state of the reception of the council especially in Catholic colleges and universities. In …

Catholic Studies Newsletter 2022, Catholic Studies Department

Catholic Studies Newsletter

Highlights: A national conference, Vatican II and Catholic Higher Education: Leading Forward, will be held at SHU in October, celebrating the 60th anniversaries of both Vatican II and Sacred Heart University -- Center for Catholic Studies sponsored lectures this spring by nationally recognized speakers Michael O’Loughlin, Phyliss Zagano, Kate McElwee and Heidi Schlumpf, and Phil Klay -- Eleven students graduate this year with a minor in Catholic Studies -- Welcome to new faculty Drs. Jewelle Bickel, Tim Dulle, Marguerite Mullee, and Michael LoPiano. Coming in the fall will be welcoming Dr. Callie Tabor -- Drs. Loris, Rober, and Gillespie …

Sustainable Canons: Gadamer's Hermeneutics And Theatre, Charles A. Gillespie

Catholic Studies Faculty Publications

This essay investigates Gadamer's hermeneutic theory and its application to theatre. Attention to Gadamer's views of theatre and performative interpretation provides a foundation to theorize a more sustainable canon. Classics that constitute a sustainable canon operate within a tradition through a community of interpretation that continually returns to interpret them anew. This structure also describes the theatrical repertoire. Several of Gadamer's central themes find easy analogues on stage: play, the history of effect (Wirkungsgeschichte), the participation of an audience in the fusion of horizons, and art's making present continuity the past. Gadamer provides a framework for understanding the …

Lilly Fellows Program Grant To Fund Conference Honoring Vatican Ii, Shu Founding, Sacred Heart University

Events

Sacred Heart University has received a Lilly Fellows Program grant to develop and host a three-day, regional conference next October on Vatican II and Catholic Higher Education which will be held on the 60th anniversaries of the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) and Sacred Heart University’s founding.

The Catholic Intellectual Tradition’S Riposte To Nihilism, Ed Walsh

Sacred Heart University Scholar

The greatest philosophical conundrum to face modern thinkers has been that of determining meaning in a world that is seemingly indifferent to our existence and sufferings. The Catholic intellectual tradition (CIT) has mustered some voices to the aid of the meaning-seeking descendants of apes in their quest to overcome the gloom. They don’t speak with one voice and emphasize different components, but the fault line that runs through them is mainly consistent. To live a meaningful and purposeful life requires a relationship with other human beings and with God.

Department Of Catholic Studies Newsletter, Spring 2021, Michelle Loris

Catholic Studies Newsletter

Highlights: From the Chair --Meet the faculty: Charles (Charlie Gillespie, Ph.D., Jillian Plummer, Ph.D., Emily Bryan, Ph.D., Chelsea King, Ph.D. --Department scholarship: Publications and conference presentations.

Après Kamloops, Le Déluge: Institutional Church, Indigenous Oppression And The Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Michael W. Higgins

Mission & Culture Publications

Editor’s Note: on May 27, 2021, it was announced that 215 unmarked graves were discovered on the grounds of a former residential school for Indigenous (“First Nations”) children in Kamloops, a town in the Canadian province of British Columbia. In the following weeks unmarked graves were also found at similar institutions in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and elsewhere in British Columbia. Between 1863 and 1998, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were taken from their families and placed in these boarding schools, which numbered more than 130, many of them, like Kamloops, the largest, operated by Roman Catholic religious orders. Opened in 1890, …

Religion And Theatrical Drama, Charles A. Gillespie Ed., Larry D. Bouchard Ed.

Catholic Studies Faculty Publications

With an introduction on how to redefine our thinking about religion and theatrical drama, these nine essays on contemporary and classic plays rehabilitate the link between theatrical performance and dramatic stories for the study of religion. These new and distinctively interdisciplinary perspectives will be of interest to scholars working in the fields of religion, theology, theatre and performance studies, literary studies, and philosophy.

Religion And Theatrical Drama, An Introduction, Larry D. Bouchard, Charles A. Gillespie

Catholic Studies Faculty Publications

Often, a lonely light bulb illuminates the edge of a stage outside of working hours. Part safety mechanism against falling in the dark and part theatrical tradition, the “ghost light” keeps the living alive and brightens up the place for any spirits still hoping to practice an old monologue. Stages juxtapose worlds, or fragments of worlds. The ghost light, then, would illuminate juxtaposed worlds, of the living and of the possibly otherwise. In some ways, this Special Issue of Religions takes theatrical juxtaposition as its premise. We invited papers working at intersections between studies of religious history, thought, and practice …

Contemplation For Educators: Theoretical, Ethical, And Practical Dimensions Drawn From The Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Joseph Polizzi, Darcy Ronan

Education Faculty Publications

Catholic colleges and universities educate thousands of teachers and school administrators every year to be at the forefront of teaching and leading. The mission and vision of Catholic colleges and universities is unique in higher education while sending their graduates forth into every sector of the wider world. We explore the contribution of the Catholic intellectual tradition (CIT) for colleges of education at Catholic colleges and universities. In this particular piece, we mine the tradition's emphasis on contemplation to cultivate and inform a practice of reflection for aspiring educators.

Theodramatic Themes And Showtime In Nassim Soleimanpour’S White Rabbit Red Rabbit, Charles A. Gillespie

Catholic Studies Faculty Publications

This essay engages the experimental playwright Nassim Soleimanpour’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit alongside the theological dramatic theory of Hans Urs von Balthasar. Every Soleimanpour play can only happen once. Actors receive the script as they begin the show; any given actor must perform Soleimanpour’s drama as a cold reading unique in history. I propose “Showtime” to theorize this theatrical temporality, exemplified by White Rabbit Red Rabbit and shared by von Balthasar’s theology, on analogy to stage space. This article further examines the play’s themes of identity, self-sacrifice, free obedience, and writing about time through a “theodramatic structural analysis” keyed to …

In His Saintly Patience, John Henry Cardinal Newman Lifts Up The Church’S People, Michael W. Higgins

Mission & Culture Publications

This Oct. 13, John Henry Cardinal Newman will be made a saint. It’s about time.

A Victorian of immense productivity in a generation of prolific high-achievers, Newman is of special significance at this moment for two reasons: his championing of the role of the laity in Catholicism, and his penetrating insights into the nature of the university and the liberal arts.

Department Of Catholic Studies, Spring 2019, Michelle Loris

Catholic Studies Newsletter

Highlights: Meet the faculty --Department scholarship: Publications and conferences --Student voices: The CIT seminars --From an instructor's perspective: Michael L. Iannazzi --CS faculty and the Common Good: Kirsten Nestro and buildOn --Catholic Studies faculty attend Dante Conference, by Joe Nagy --Highlight: January Human Journe colloquium --Dr. Mark Roche colloquium --Contemporary Catholic Voices: Rebel with a cause: The Religious landscapes of David Adams Richards, by Michael W. Higgins --Catholic Studies film series Spring 2019.

Il Rosario Di Hiroshima, Hubert F. Schiffer, Federica Favaretta Tr.

Library Special Collections

Account of the survival of Jesuit priests (among them Father Hubert Schiffer) near the center of the atom bomb attack on Hiroshima. Their survival was considered by many to be a miracle. The Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima was started by Rev. Harold V. Colgan when he was completely cured of a serious heart attack after praying to the Blessed Virgin Mary. If cured he promised to spend the rest of his life spreading devotion to her. Blue Army members promise to say the Rosary every day, consecrate themselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and offer sacrifices and …

The Martyrdom Of Thomas Merton: An Investigation (Book Review), Michael W. Higgins

Mission & Culture Publications

Journalists Hugh Turley and David Martin are not investigative journalists of the stature of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein and they did not have the resources or the backing the latter had when they wrote their exposés of political skullduggery and ethical malfeasance. But they do benefit from the pioneering work of Seymour Hersh, whose 1974 disclosure of CIA spying practices on antiwar activists provides some underpinning to their central thesis in The Martyrdom of Thomas Merton.

Sacred Heart University Chapel: Celebrating 10 Years, 2009-2019, Office Of Mission And Catholic Identity

Mission & Culture Publications

The 10th Anniversary 2019 Edition. The Chapel of the Holy Spirit was dedicated on September 27, 2009.

My Interview With Akan, Uwem Akpanikat

Writing Across the Curriculum

Editor’s Note: This Newsletter interview is a fictional story written by Uwem Akpanikat, a senior majoring in Theology and Religious Studies. Inspired by the film “Dear White People,” which was shown to the students in his Human Rights course, the piece aims to explore the intersection of race, free speech, higher education, media, and religion, in light of the critical and ethical thinking that is central to the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Department Of Catholic Studies Newsletter, 1.1, Michelle Loris

Catholic Studies Newsletter

Inaugural issue of the Department of Catholic Studies Newsletter.

None Of Us Faces Judgment Alone: ‘Zurbarán’S Jacob And His Twelve Sons’ At The Frick, Griffin Oleynick

Catholic Studies Faculty Publications

Our turning to God during Lent, and our experience of new life at Easter, either happens together, as part of a family of faith, or not at all.

A new exhibition of Spanish paintings by the Golden Age master Francisco de Zurbarán (1598–1664), “Jacob and His Twelve Sons: Paintings from Auckland Castle,” on view through April 22 at the Frick Collection in New York City, provides a refreshing reminder of this dynamic by bringing us into conversation with our religious ancestors, the Old Testament Patriarchs.

Introdução A La Pedagogia Jesuita No Brasil Colonial. Educação Humanista E O Ratio Studiorum, Karl M. Lorenz

Education Faculty Publications

Em 1599, a Companhia de Jesus aprovou o Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis lesu (Método e Sistema de Estudos da Companhia de Jesus). O documento delineou as políticas, os procedimentos administrativos, os currículos e as práticas de ensino em suas instituiçãoes educacionais na Europa e no exterior. Uma parte da Ratio detalhou um programa de estudos de linguas e da literatura clássica. O objeto deste estudo é o programa de humanidades e o foco da analise é o comportamento profissional do professor jesuíta responsável por sua implementação. Este trabalho identifíca as ações que um jesuíta brasileiro teria demonstrado quando ensinando …

Introduction To Jesuit Pedagogy In Colonial Brazil. Humanist Education And The Ratio Studiorum, Karl M. Lorenz

Education Faculty Publications

In 1599 the Society of Jesus approved the Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis lesu (Method and System of the Studies of the Society of Jesus). The document outlined policies and procedures on the administration, curriculum and teaching practices in its educational institutions in Europe and abroad. Part of the Ratio detailed a secondary program of studies in classical languages and literature. The subject of this study is the program of humane letters and the focus of the analysis is the professional behavior of the Jesuit teacher responsible for its implementation. This paper identifies the actions that a Brazilian Jesuit would …

Contemporary Catholic Conversations 2017-2018, Curtis Center

Mission & Culture 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 …

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.