Author Archives: Gosia Czelusniak

Dear Friends,

I have become increasingly concerned about the continued rise in anti-Muslim bigotry seen in recent headlines – from the violence in New York to the planned Qur’an burnings in Florida.

Intolerance of our neighbors weakens the bonds of a diverse nation. Intolerance is not the problem of any one group – it’s a problem for all of America.

As I told Mary Snow on CNN’s The Situation Room, I have not felt this fearful in a long time. A mother came up to me at my Muslim house of worship earlier this week and said to me, “Eboo, when will my 8 and 10 year old sons stop being bullied on the playground because of their names, Ahmed and Akhbar?” And what I said to her is, “very soon,” because the forces of inclusion in America have always defeated the forces of intolerance, and they will defeat the forces of intolerance again.

We need to speak out and show that America is a place where people from different backgrounds live together in equal dignity and mutual loyalty.

The time to act is now. See 3 easy ways below and tell us what you do. As always, thank you for your leadership in this movement.

Best,
Eboo

By Claire G. Esker, IPS Student

September 11^th is an emotional day in any year.  This year, though, it seems to have taken on even more weight, as well as a sense of urgency, with increased media attention on conflict and factionalism.  Part of this urgency, though, is an urgent call to reassess our religious dialogue, particularly in light of political realities, in the post-modern world.  This is exactly what Indian contemporary artist, Jitish Kallat, seeks to do with his work, Public Notice 3, which is on display at the Art Institute of Chicago from September 11, 2010 to January 2, 2011.

The exhibit commemorates both the tragedy of September 11^th, 2001, as well as the First World Parliament of Religions, which was held in the building that now houses the Art Institute on September 11^th, 1893.  The work is a reinterpretation of a well known address given by the Hindu teacher Swami Vivekananda, calling for unity between faiths. Kallat’s work concentrates on the stark contrasts between the hope of Vivekananda’s original speech and the fear that often characterizes modern religious dialogue.

The exhibition will open on the Grand Staircase of the Art Institute and will be accompanied by a lecture on September 10^th, 2010.

Jitish Kallat with the Partial Mock-Up of his Public Notice 3 on the Woman’s Board Grand Staircase of the Art Institute of Chicago | © 2010 The Art Institute of Chicago

By Olubukola “Bukie” Adekoje, IPS Student, M.A. Social Justice & Community Development

Serving in America’s third poorest city takes bravery. As a legal assistant and outreach worker at Neighborhood Legal Services, I see the faces of those whom we call “poor” everyday. They are not just poor people, they are people.

The work I do, the work all the volunteers do, is more enriching when we enter into the stories of the people we encounter. Whether as customers, clients, co-workers, or students, we are learning to understand them by listening to their story, sharing their burdens and easing it when we can. This is what we are called to do as a community: to love our neighbor as ourselves.

What a challenge!

In my commitment to social justice, I have discovered the importance of simply being present until the people we serve have faces. It is easy to get caught up in the emergency, in the need presented and soon envision a sea of faces without distinction. I am enervated when I think of the masses that are in need of help. So, I chose one face, one person I have helped or someone I can advocate for. With that face comes the ebullience that leads me to move quickly to do research, return a call, or go out to meet a client.

A new face encourages me to move beyond yesterday’s sorrow/story. One person might need shelter for the night, while another might want food; the things I, and I’m sure others take for granted. Day in and day out, people return with a multitude of travails that a privileged person such as I can only imagine. The reality is stark and crude. Yet there is room for beauty because justice is possible. One face at a time, we volunteers strive to invite that beauty to shine.

To learn more about Bukie’s volunteer experience, please visit Catholic Charities Service Corps.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UNeyvo00Jw

by Susan Rans

The largest annual gathering of faith-based folks interested in justice and community is the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) Conference. Held every year in a different city, the 2010 Conference is here in Chicago at the Sheraton Hotel from Tuesday, September 7th until Saturday September 11.

Some of you are already going to the conference as part of a class led by Dr. Mary Nelson, one of the leaders of the CCDA. But there is still time to register for single day passes, or to go to the whole conference as a student. See the conference website for details.

Insider’s hint: The large evening plenary sessions—the ones that begin at 7 PM and feature big name folks in the field—are free to the public. You can show up at the Sheraton and attend the plenaries.

by Heidi Russell, Ph.D Graduate Program Director M.A. Pastoral Studies

Doubt goes hand in hand with faith. Faith, in many respects, is believing in spite of one’s doubt, not in a irrational way, but in a way that accepts the doubt as part of the faith. I am not talking about blind faith where you simply close your ears to any contrary opinions, but a faith that is strengthened by engaging your own doubts and fears, facing them and confronting them. All relationships involve risk, and our relationship with God is no different in that respect. All relationships at times involve doubt, questioning the reality and strength of that relationship, especially in difficult times. Will the relationship hold? Does the other person truly care? The same questions can arise with God, especially when the circumstances of life lead us to a place where we feel most alone.

Our Sunday gospels of late enfold us between two stories of disciples experiencing doubt. First, we had Thomas who needed that concrete, physical reassurance that Jesus had not abandoned him. Then, we heard the wonderful story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The disciples, Cleopas and most likely his wife Mary (cf. John 19:25), had given up and were going home. They were discouraged and beaten. They had lost. They thought Israel was going to be redeemed, but instead the one they believed was Messiah had been crucified. Both Thomas and Cleopas and Mary doubted that Jesus was really who they had thought him to be. When things did not turn out as they had hoped and expected, they gave up. In many ways doubt is often a failure of imagination, an inability to envision possibility. (more…)

FR. BRETT C. HOOVER, CSP, PH.D.

I am delighted to join the IPS faculty as research faculty for IPS and Project INSPIRE.  A Paulist priest originally from Southern California, I was recently adjunct lecturer in theology and ministry at the Franciscan School of Theology and the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley.  I have spent several years facilitating cultural orientation for international priests beginning ministry in the United States for the dioceses of Northern California.  My Ph.D. is in interdisciplinary studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where I wrote about “shared parishes,” Catholic parishes where two or more cultural groups retain distinct masses and ministries but share the parish facilities.

My primary areas of research interest are parish and congregational studies, practical ecclesiology, immigration, and intercultural ministry training.

In 2001, I co-founded and then served as editor for the website for young adults, BustedHalo.com.  This was after my book Losing Your Religion, Finding Your Faith: Spirituality for Young Adults was published in 1998.  I loved being a parish priest in New York City in the late 90s, where I served a multicultural Latino/a community.

By Allison Rieff, IPS Student, M.Div.

It is easy enough to imagine yourself in this story with all its physical details, salt water and a charcoal fire and bread and fish.  Perhaps you are one of the disciples.  They all go out fishing with Peter; I think this is less an abandonment of Jesus’ message than a way to get through one more night without Jesus, and to do it together.

Then a man appears on the shore and speaks to them.  Perhaps I should not say “appears,” since we have no record that there seemed to be anything supernatural about this visit at all.  Jesus stood on the shore and called out to them, but they did not recognize that it was Jesus.  He told them to try throwing out their net again, and it came back with an abundance of fish.  “It is the Lord,” one of the disciples told Peter, and Peter pulled his clothes back on and swam back to the shore as quickly as he could.

So here is this man waiting on the shore, next to a charcoal fire with bread and some fish.  You can imagine the disciples hanging back, likely frightened, certainly intimidated.  At the very least, whoever this man is, he seems to be someone who has died and then returned from the dead.  No one else has ever done anything like this before.  Is he now some sort of transcendent being, and will he remember them?  What will he say? Read more

By Christoph Soyer, IPS Student, M.A. Pastoral Counseling

In the book of Exodus, there is a wonderful story: Moses was tending to the sheep, when he saw fire flaming out of a bush. The bush, though on fire, was not consumed. Moses wanted to approach the bush in order to see why it was not burned, but a voice – God – said: Come no nearer. Remove the shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. This is a deeply meaningful phrase for me: Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

I would like to share with you a very important experience I had in the summer of 2008. Alongside eight young adults from my parish, we all joined the World Youth Day in Sydney. We went to Sydney as a part of the Jesuit program called MAGIS (Latin: more). Before the WYD and the gathering with the Pope, there was a special program. The core of this program was called an experiment. The experiment was centered on the idea of having a spiritual experience in an extraordinary environment and in an international group.

Our group went to Indonesia, where we lived for 6 days on the “garbage mountains” of Jakarta. This is difficult to describe in words, so I would like to share several photos as well.

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by Susan Rans

Many current and incoming students have asked for a description of the differences between the Social Justice and Community Development tracks of the Master of Arts in Social Justice & Community Development (MASJCD). In the past, I have answered this question in a kind of shorthand: Social Justice “thinks globally”; Community Development “acts locally”. Here, I attempt to put more meat on those bones.

The biggest idea behind the creation of the MASJCD was to join the theoretical and theological study of social justice to a place-based practice and policy approach to change in urban communities. While the study of social justice leads toward action, the study of community development provides effective and proven tools for action. So, another formulation might be that the study of social justice reveals why we must act and the study of community development shows what we can do.

It can also be said that community development is a form of social justice. Our religious traditions speak clearly about the injustices of poverty, of war and of oppression of the powerless. Answering this call often leads students to involvement in justice issues like eliminating poverty and hunger, ending wars, empowering women or welcoming immigrants. Community development–building strong and liberating communities in which the economy is available to all, in which every member is a valued contributor, and in which access to health care, education and secure housing is a mandate–fulfills the social justice vision. (more…)