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Faculty Profile: Felipe Legarreta-Castillo

IPS has had so much success with the Hispanic Ministry efforts of our Parish Leadership and Management Programs that we are expanding our efforts. As part of the expansion, we have been fortunate enough to hire Felipe Legarreta-Castillo, Ph.D. as the instructor for the Spanish language Bible Study program, which will add other parish ministry sites to that currently operating at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Des Plaines.

Legarreta-Castillo has been a student, adjunct faculty member and most recently, a chaplain at Loyola University Chicago. As he continues his work at Loyola IPS, we ask your help in welcoming him to our IPS family as a full time faculty member.

Get to know a little more about him in the Q&A below.

Hometown: Chihuahua, Mexico

What do you enjoy doing in your free time? Sports: Triathlons, Basketball, Kayaking

What is a fun fact about you?
Well, I have a pet, a bilingual non-German speaking German Shepherd called Apache who came from Mexico, and now has an identity crisis.

You know several languages (ancient and modern), which one has been the most difficult to learn?
German, I studied the language, but I still do not understand why it takes several pages to write one sentence. By the time I get to the next page, I forget what I read on the first page.

*For those curious, he knows: Biblical Hebrew and Greek, Ecclesiastical Latin, Spanish, English, Italian, French and German.

What about Loyola makes you want to continue to be a part of it?
It is a Catholic Jesuit University with the highest academic standards seeking God in all things to the service of all, especially the underprivileged. AMDG!

What are you looking forward to most about being the instructor for the Spanish Biblical Theology courses?
Transforming peoples and communities through the reading, interpretation, proclamation and celebration of God’s salvation as found in the Scriptures in order to form one Community, the children God.

What previous education or experience has best prepared you for this role?
My studies at Loyola and teaching Bible here in Chicagoland and before in Mexico.

Do you have a mentor(s) or experience(s) in your life that helped shape who you are today?
God’s people, every community I have served and worked with. They have revealed to me God’s love and compassion in a humble and pristine way.

What do you consider your biggest accomplishment so far (personally or professionally)?
Every accomplishment has been simply another step forward in my journey of service and love. Thus, we really never “complete” loving and serving: it is a journey until we meet our Creator, our Father, then all will be accomplished in Christ.

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

6-04-2015 | Comments Off

Coming Home – The Journey from Heaven to Your Adopted Home

Catherine Conley is a graduate of IPS and has recently authored a book that explores the circumstances and questions that surround adoption, especially in regards to her own daughter. She is currently a Global Consultant on issues of organizational learning and development, but her journey as an author began at IPS.

“My writing career began during my graduate studies at Loyola University’s Institute of Pastoral Studies in Chicago. I was introduced to the Hebrew writing tradition ‘midrash’. The translation of midrash varies from ‘to investigate’, ‘to study’, ‘searching out’, and ‘a story’… The first midrash I wrote was about the story of Jesus in the desert; alone, hungry, thirsty, and tired. He was about to begin a ministry that would change the world like nothing else in human history. My midrash attempted to answer the question; Why would he choose to go to a desert, a place of suffering and death to prepare? As a young graduate student living on a vibrant, dynamic urban campus his choice mystified me.”

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Consultant Exec Transitions to Story Telling
Daughter’s Abandonment Inspires Story of Faith and Divinity

LAKE BLUFF, Ill. – It was late afternoon, September 18^th, 2003. Catherine Conley was in her Chicago office on a conference call with her Beijing staff dealing with issues that were critical to her role running Asia operations for a global consulting firm. At the same time, the residents of Shaoyang City, China awoke to find a mysterious blue blanket on a nearby bridge. Wrapped inside was an abandoned baby girl, not even a day old. The convergence of these two events unfolded a year later, when Conley, her husband and son travelled to China and adopted this baby girl.

Engaging and thoughtful, Conley talks about how the adoption process was the beginning of a parallel career as an author. “’Where did I come from’ is a universal question that most children ask in their early years.” Conley says. “The answer to this question can be vastly more complex for adopted children”. “Coming Home: The Journey from Heaven to Your Adopted Home” (published by Balboa Press) addresses questions that Conley believes her daughter will someday ask about her birth circumstances.

Vividly illustrated by Claire Pandaleon, “Coming Home” tells the story of a journey from heaven to an adopted home. In a manner that is imaginative and profound, the book tells the story of why one child did not remain with her birth mother.

Circumspect in discussing the merging of careers – consulting executive and author – Conley says “for me, the answer to most of the challenging questions today – professionally and personally – are spiritual in nature. That means, ‘of our spirit’, ‘of our intuition’, ‘of inspiration’. There are a surprising number of executives who are ready to engage in this conversation. And, of course, some who are not. I can’t imagine it will be a conversation on CNBC’s ‘Squawk on the Street’ anytime soon.”

Laughing, Conley discloses her husband is in the latter group. “My husband is grounded in proof and reason. We have a 20 year plus conversation about the intersection of the world of Spirit and the physical world. Through her book, Conley connects spirituality and divinity with a story of abandonment and mystery.

It’s easy to see how Conley is able to bridge the cultural challenges one might typically face when running a business in Asia. Conley is articulate and gracious, easily inserting nuances of theology in stories of Board Room politics with Chinese executives. Throughout her book, Conley connects spirituality and divinity with a story of abandonment and mystery.

**The proceeds from “Coming Home” will be shared among three adoption charities; Gift of Adoption, The Adoption Center of Illinois at Family Resource Center and Half the Sky.

The Gorton Center in Lake Forest, IL will be the venue for a Book Launch and Signing Party on Thursday, July 16 @ 530pm

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

5-18-2015 | Comments Off

IPS Commissioning Student Address

At the May 2015 IPS Commissioning and Graduation Party, Staycie Flint was our wonderful student speaker. The abundance of positive feedback in regards to her address prompted us to post her speech below for those who missed it and for those who wish to read and reflect upon it again.

All photos

Institute of Pastoral Studies Commissioning

Please join me in a prayer I take from Ephesians. 1:18

“Open the eyes of our hearts, and let the light of Your truth flood in. Shine Your light on the hope You are calling us to embrace. Reveal to us the glorious riches You are preparing for Your beloved.”

When Father Steve invited me to speak today he put before me two goals: speak about the IPS student experience and inspire the graduates of 2015 forward into our future work.

At first I wanted to say no, and not JUST because I am terrified about public speaking.

I have been filled with sadness and great anger lately. Among those I love and within the work I do, I see the trajectory of this country and I am scared and mad and tired and not so sure I have it in me to be inspiring.

Then I thought, making myself talk would remind me of why we celebrate today and that we are in this world together. I could use some of that!

I came to IPS asking: “How do I belong to this world?” “Who am I to be in this world?”

I was fairly convinced that my enrollment in the spiritual direction track was the way to go for me. Until that one class with Anne Luther. The one where she states: “Our time together is about discerning as a spiritual community whether you are called to be a spiritual director.”

And the only question that rose up in me was, “If the unanimous community decision turns out to be that I am not called to spiritual direction will there be a tuition refund?”

Given that I am standing here today celebrating the receipt of my Masters of Divinity, and not a certificate in spiritual direction, I can tell you that an issue of a refund never became necessary. More importantly, I learned that the question of “How do I belong to this world?” is a question that has no final answer.

This is what I cherish and admire about IPS. In IPS, we find a place that strives to hear the world and respond out of who we’ve been created to be. IPS respects scholarship and acknowledges that theory is nothing without praxis. At IPS, what we think and believe is empty and without weight if it is not accompanied by action.

This union of theory and praxis necessitates that teachers and students be willing to walk in the light of truth – light that shines on truth and can be both harsh and beautiful, even at odds.

This is not so surprising to those of us who love this city of Chicago where on a Friday night we are cheering for hockey goals and weeping as another round of bullets perpetuates a slow motion massacre.

Philosophers, mystics, teachers, and prophets throughout the ages have taught us that the uniqueness of each individual is best seen in who they become, and that becoming is a continuous call and response process, not a sequence of events.

So. Today I share three brief reflections on this notion of becoming and answering how we belong to this world.

Reflection One: On Suffering and Becoming

“How do I belong to this world?” is a question deeply impacted by the suffering around us and within us.

And it is hard work.

The ongoing discovery of the answer to “How do I belong to this world?” is painful and often lonely.

For many of us, our hearts automatically snap shut at the sound of difficulties, hardships: suffering.

Drawing attention to the suffering around us and the suffering within us is risky and vulnerable business.

Some of us, particularly those who can, protect our hearts by withdrawing.

The closing of hearts is a practice familiar to people from all walks of life: the destitute; the secure; the invisible; the seen; the privileged; . . . often understandably so

Why else does suffering endure? Why else do the cries of the oppressed stir no action from all the world?

Sometimes withdrawing is all we know to do. Suffering often come to us as disruption.

Suffering tears us down
Suffering destroys us
Suffering never redeems
It devastates us.

When suffering disrupts our equanimity we can recoil.

We don’t want things to change. We want them to stay the same.

Or worse, we want things to change and things only stay the same.

We don’t want to feel such hardness of life: be it sadness or anger or fear.

We want to feel certain: full of hope, full of joy, full of peace.

One Friday night while I was working in the trauma center of the hospital that employees me, a 32 year old African-American woman was brought in after being shot in a drive by shooting.

As she was rushed into the trauma bay her heart stopped beating and the medical team began doing everything possible to bring her back from death. Her husband crumbled into my arms and wept until the medical team cleared the room and he could get to her side. Family joined us in the room and entered into a crying that Toni Morrison describes as “loud and long – with no bottom and no top, just circles and circles of sorrow.”

(If you have heard this sort of wailing, if you have sobbed this way, I am sad to remind you of it today and I ask that you stay with me as I continue to share.)

This family began to tell me about their beloved. She was an anti-violence activist. She was shot just outside her home after arriving home from an anti-gun-violence fundraiser she and her life long friend and colleague had planned for months. As this family raged and sorrowed into their long grief her friend began to weep and repeatedly say to her beloved’s family, “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have asked her to be part of this. This never would have happened had we just stayed out of it!” and the family responded with, “Don’t say that. It is not true. She needs you more than ever to keep doing this work. We need you more than ever. Please. Please. Please. Don’t. Stop.”

And I can tell you, this dear departed’s friend hasn’t stopped and the movement has grown stronger and is making a difference.

So. We have to be brave. We have to be vulnerable. Though we may need to pause, we can’t stop. We have to hear the cries of this world and how they mix with the cries of our own hearts and we have to continue to answer for ourselves “How do I belong in this world?”

There is a way IS A WAY of engaging suffering that opens us up and leads us to action.

Your work of becoming and answering “How do I belong this world?” will go forward as you find your own particular ways of embracing, RESPONDING, to the calls of suffering.

Reflection Two: On Relationships and Becoming

David Whyte writes:

“Human beings are creatures of belonging, though they may come to that sense of belonging only through long periods of exile and loneliness.”

“How do I belong to this world?” is the question we must keep finding answers to amidst the calls of relationships with our selves, each other, and our Maker.

In the face of the loneliness and exile of suffering we must attune ourselves to the Maker of Hearts whispering to us through relationships:

the hands of caregivers
the rhythm of the liturgy
the transparency of song
the largess of creation
the attentions of loved ones
and in ways that only we can hear

The Whisperer persists in saying our becoming… my becoming…. your becoming… does not happen in isolation.

In fact, we’ve been given boundless hearts fully capable of becoming. Your relationships will open you to your unfolding.

One born into an ultimate box that was terribly void of relationship to the world around her, Helen Keller was lifted into her own becoming through relationship with her Teacher Anne Sullivan. Over time she found her own way into an abundance of relationship with the whole world and it wasn’t always accepting.

In a letter to Senator Robert La Follette, Helen Keller wrote:

“So long as I confine my activities to social service and the blind, they compliment me extravagantly, calling me ‘arch priestess of the sightless,’

‘wonder woman,’ and a ‘modern miracle.’ But when it comes to a discussion of poverty…that is a different matter! It is laudable to give aid to the handicapped. Superficial charities make smooth the way of the prosperous; but to advocate that all human beings should have leisure and comfort, the decencies and refinements of life, is a Utopian dream, and one who seriously contemplates its realization indeed must be deaf, dumb, and blind.”

See, there is a risk in becoming and living the wholeness of ourselves. It will not always be received well by others.

Dr. Audre Lorde said:

“There’s always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself— whether it’s black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc.—because that’s the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.”

I highlight this resistance because I want to acknowledge that we can’t be about our becoming without claiming our relationships to our social location and how it engages the social location of those around us.

Responding with a critical self-awareness to the call of relationships that resist us and seek to limit us is as important to shaping our becoming as the response to the call of the encouraging relationships.

Hellen Keller needed for her becoming the pretentiousness and devaluing of a senator as surely she needed the support of Anne Sullivan to live into her becoming.

Martin Luther King Jr. needed the ignorance and cowardice of Bull Connor as surely he needed the inspiration and guidance of Howard Thurman to stretch fully into his becoming.

Audre Lorde insists that we need all the relationships, not just a couple, with ourselves and others in order to live into becoming.

The holding and responding to ALL the relationships in our lives are simply different expressions of the central way we belong to this world.

In truth, the work of becoming puts the whole wide world in relationship with us and us to the world.

Reflection Three: On Becoming and Belonging to Our Maker

One of the most powerful things Christianity teaches the larger world is that a tomb of darkness can give way to life unmeasurable.

And this is the hope and assurance we have.

In our becoming we are connected to a source of life that goes way beyond our earthly days.

Dr. Howard Thurman, spiritualist and mentor to Martin Luther King, frames our becoming in this way. He states:

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

When you are answering “How do I belong to this world?” don’t forget that the answer best speaks to how your Creator has made you to come alive!

Also don’t forget that your source of this life is a boundless Divine who has become all things – not just a few things, all things. As Reverend Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou of Ferguson and Baltimore reminds us,

“We have seen the face of God, and God has got tattoos on God’s face, and God sags God’s pants, and God is angry and God is queer.”

One of the few promises in life that I am comfortable making is that the Maker and Keeper of hearts gives life and sustains our becoming with a boundless heart that knows no limit.

I close by wondering what awaits you? What awaits you as you go about the continual work of answering “How do I belong to this world?”

The world calls out to us through earthquakes, hungers, and broken spines. It whispers to us through a grieving co-worker, a beloved’s bad day, and our own weariness. What will be your response?

The more we trust and practice being open to the call and response of all that surrounds us― the good, the bad, the ugly―the clearer it becomes that it is not the events of our lives that define us but rather how we belong to this world―how we respond to the calls―that defines the events of our lives.

I learned through my time here at IPS that answering “How do I belong to this world?” is found in my ongoing responses to the calls of suffering, relationship and our Maker. When I realized that my calling wasn’t clear, the response to me from the likes of Fr. Krupa, Dr. Russell, Dan Lunney, Dr.s Evelyn and Jim Whitehead, and Dr. Lysaught was, “we will help you be who you are to be in this world and we won’t ask you to be who you are not.” I trust that most of you graduating with me know something of this gift. I hope you replicate it in the world.

I remind us of Dr. Lorde and paraphrase a conversation Krista Tippet shared with Courtney Martin and Parker Palmer when I point out that we are often asked to show up in life as only “slices of ourselves.” To feel like we’re showing up as our whole selves in all the settings of our lives is a rebellious act.

So. I invite you to go forth and rebel! I invite you to take in your whole self in the presence of your Maker, be vulnerable to this ongoing work of becoming, show up with the fullness of all you can grasp and rebel. Rebel against the powers that would ask of you and the Divine’s beloved community for less.

**You can view pictures from the event here

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

5-13-2015 | Comments Off

Guest Blog: In Tension Lies a Hidden Harmony

In a beautifully crafted reflection, Brian Anderson explores the struggle of redefining peace within tense times.

His thoughts and message arose from the recent divestment issue surrounding Loyola, but hold true for a lot of issues that individuals, various groups and our country as a whole are facing today.

As the Interfaith Campus Minister for Loyola’s Campus Ministry, Brian understands that there will always be tension, but the response to such unrest should come from open minds and open discussion. Creating interfaith dialogue is essential.

Read his post below and share any thoughts or questions you may have in the comment section below.

In Tension Lies a Hidden Harmony

These past few weeks in Campus Ministry, my job has been very emotionally busy. Normally, I come to work and have a to-do list for upcoming programs and events that I’m working on with my students. However, with the issue of divestment being discussed in the Student Government Loyola Chicago (SGLC), much of my energy was focused on being present to students on both sides of the issue. They came to me with their anger, frustration, and fear. They came to me wanting a space to be heard, to be recognized and most importantly, how to find a peaceful solution to this issue.

And so I did the best I could to be an open ear and a safe space for their emotion. But what I did not do, or at least not yet, is serve as a conduit for those people to speak to one another through a constructive dialogical space. And for this, I’m frustrated and concerned.

I’m frustrated because of the many forces playing on our students’ lives that keep them from feeling that they can speak to one another without fear of harassment or attack. I’m concerned because this issue serves as another example of the lack of dialogue in our community.

Without dialogue, the humanity of the situation is lost. Tweets, blogs, news headlines, and facebook updates speak about “those people” over there as if they have no complexity or back story to their opinions and beliefs. They paint a cardboard caricature with an emoji and a half sentence.

With dialogue, one realizes that no one is ever so easily painted. We all have things in our history that complicate us and make us the beautifully flawed individuals that sit in class, eat in the dining halls, and walk across campus beside everyone else.

Therefore, how do we come to a solution within the tension? In the Campus Ministry department, for the past four years, we’ve been developing various means of engaging the community through the lens of interfaith dialogue. Our faith traditions are rich with examples of how best to live life and approach tough situations. Two examples come from our Abrahamic traditions.

In Psalm 34, verse 14, from Hebrew scripture, it states “Seek peace and pursue it.” From the Qur’an verse 49:13, we read “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.”

These statements of belief do not ignore the tension, but call upon us to seek peace because of it. Tension and conflict will never not exist. Our world is too complex, too “gritty.” Therefore, we need to start viewing peace not as the absence of tension but a space to explore tension through conversation and respect.

As I write this, I think of the piano that I received from my grandmother. Musical instruments like pianos and guitars will only make beautiful music if they have tension in their strings. The vibrations from those strings when struck by something new and foreign brings that music to life.

As we enter into the summer break, I am going to take the time to reflect upon how to live in tension that doesn’t break me and my community, but instead creates a sound that brings harmony and peace to all those living within it.

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

4-30-2015 | Comments Off

Holy Week: Death and Resurrection – The Call to Transformation

Since we had such a positive response from her last guess post, which discussed active nonviolence, we would like to feature another essay by IPS student Charissa Qiu. She wrote a reflection on the Eucharist and the call to transformation. With the final week of Lent just beginning, let us reflect about why we made certain sacrifices during this season and what it means for us as we approach the celebration of Easter.

Holy Week: Death and Resurrection – The Call to Transformation

As we enter into Holy Week, we prepare to commemorate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. During this period of Lent, we may have found various ways to prepare ourselves, through various practices of prayer, penance, almsgiving, and self-denial. Each year, we hear of many people who abstain from sweets, or from watching television, and the question we would like to put out to everyone is – what is the purpose of, and the intention behind your abstinence? How does that tie into the commemoration of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection? What does this period of Lent and the celebration of Easter mean to us, as partakers in the Eucharist?

Jesus loved to speak in parables, as parables had the ability to draw the listeners in by their relatability, and then flip the story on its head with a conclusion that was unexpected, to help the listeners to overcome their ‘blindness” and “deafness” – the hardness of heart, and misunderstanding of what the meaning of the Kingdom of God. In the same way, as we partake in the Eucharist, we are called to a similar transformation – into a conversion of heart and mind that is in line with the character and passion of God. Our celebration of the Eucharist is meant to be celebrated alongside our baptism into the participation of the mission of Christ, a celebration of transformation – an ongoing process of death and resurrection.

Transformation is never comfortable. The human ego prefers stability and comfort, where there is certainty and familiarity. Transformation calls us to the opposite – it calls us to embrace discomfort, challenge and uncertainty. This is what we say “Amen” to when we receive Holy Communion, and this is what we are called to especially during this period of Lent. We come to the Eucharistic table hungry – hungry for a new world that knows compassion and works for justice. Hunger reminds us of our human dependency on each other. Let us use our physical hunger as a point of reflection – when we are hungry, we may go to a restaurant, or to the grocery store to fill that hunger. Without the chefs, the workers in the store, the truck drivers, and the farmers, we would not be able to fill that hunger. This is a simplistic and tangible example of our human dependency – having the financial means to purchase the food is not enough to fill that hunger – we need each other. That same hunger and mutual dependency needs to be channeled into a hunger for justice in the world, not just for ourselves, but for everyone. Just as Jesus is our sustenance, we need to be sustenance for each other.

The bread and the wine that we consume as nourishment goes through the process of being crushed, destroyed, and is then transformed, a symbol of the death and resurrection we are called to partake in our consumption. To be in right relationship and full communion with each other and God, we need to go through a process of transformation in how we perceive and treat each other. For true transformation to happen, there needs to first be a breaking down, before there can be a building up. We have grown up in a world that segregates and oppresses, and we have undoubtedly been influenced by the values and perceptions of the world. We are called to die, slowly and surely, to these attitudes and beliefs that create disharmony and violence in our world, and rise to interactions and engagement with each other that promotes peace and unity. In our world of individualism where we are taught that wealth and status are determinants of success, we need to die to our ego’s need to control, and to be recognized and praised, and rise to humility, the embracing of mystery and grace, where we work for the collective, and recognize there is no such thing as “private sin,” because we are all interconnected. For true transformation to happen, we need to practice letting go and letting God, just as Jesus said in Luke 23:46, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

3-30-2015 | Comments Off

RECongress Wrap-up

At IPS, it is about working hard and having meaningful conversation, all while enjoying the company you are with. During this year’s Religious Education Congress, a few of our team members showed exactly how that is done!

IPS was well represented this year by our Director Brian Schmisek, Enrollment Advisor Chrissy Sofranko, Coordinator of Parish Leadership and Management Programs Mark Bersano, and Coordinator of Student Services Koonal Patel.

For everyone, the main goal of the event was to get as many people as possible interested in IPS. The numerical goal was set at 80 new prospects, and by the end of the second day, they achieved that goal! Moreover, by the end of the third and final day, our IPS team had almost 100 new prospects!

“We wanted to have really engaging interactions with people who came to our booth. We wanted them to leave remembering us more than any other university they interacted with,” commented Chrissy. “Being in the booth with Koonal, Mark and Brian is a lot of fun. We are all extraverted and energetic, so we created interactions that made us memorable to the participants.”

“Talking to the prospective students also gives us a chance to discern what they are looking for career wise and if IPS would be a good fit for them,” added Koonal.

Mark and Brian also made it a point to showcase the new programs at IPS and connect with alumni and friends who attended. It was also important for them to network with people that IPS could create potential partnerships with in the future.

The annual RECongress event is indeed very beneficial to IPS.

“It has been the most successful RECongress we have ever been to in terms of the number of people who stopped by our booth, the number of people who liked us on Facebook, the people who showed up at the alumni event, and the people interested in the new programs we have to offer,” noted Brian.

“We already have a lot of established relationships with speakers and constituents, so we want to foster those relationships,” added Chrissy. “We also want to reach out to students who are interested in our online programs. IPS offers three different Master degrees that can be pursued entirely online.”

Koonal made a good point when he said, “It is good to know what people want to do and what they are interested in, so at IPS, we can tailor our programs and classes to what is needed.”

With over 40,000 people at RECongress, the energy in the room is dynamic and palpable.

“Everybody is represented there. You can find Catholic publishers, rosary vendors, universities, seminaries, religious orders and more. This allows for great conversation for how to move things forward in the church with energy,” commented Mark.

“It was great just meeting so many people that have shared values and are interested in ministerial education,” added Brian.

This year was even more special because Brian was asked to lead two sessions during RECongress. During his talks, he discussed “Resurrection Faith” and “Pauline Spirituality for Lent.”

“It was a bonus to have those,” said Brian. “IPS attends each year and being asked to speak this year was an honor. It was great to connect with people who are interested in those topics.”

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Everyone agreed that the IPS alumni and friends reception was their favorite part of the trip.

“It was a wonderful chance to talk to people and hear about their experiences at IPS. We were also able to brainstorm how we could work together in the future,” said Mark. “We even rounded up people at our booth to come to the event.”

“It was a great way to connect with our online students, who we do not always get to meet in person,” noted Koonal. “The reception is also more laid back, so we can have longer conversations with people and hear what they have been doing or are interested in doing.”

At the end of the IPS reception, guests were treated to a nice view of the Disneyland fireworks show. In fact, the Disney fireworks were so nice, that a few of our staff members even found their way to the park for some fun after the busy weekend.

Overall, they said it was a successful and fun event, and they look forward to next year! Not to mention how nice it was to be in California in March.

With over 40,000 people in attendance, RECongress is the largest annual gathering of its kind in the world. It hosts a variety of workshops, exhibitors and more.

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The theme for this year was “See” or “Ver.” It was chosen from the blind man’s encounter in John 9: 1-41.

The Congress says, “Reflecting on this amazing scenario, our imaginations are stretched, we are drawn to see beneath the surface and discover the paradox: the blind man is the one who sees while the seeing ones are entombed in their own darkness… Spiritual blindness is at the center of the exchange and the challenge for all is to see at a deeper level… We are encouraged then to renew our vision, open up to the life-changing Light of Christ, and lead others to See anew.”

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

3-26-2015 | Comments Off

Faculty Profile: Michael Canaris

We are happy to announce that Dr. Michael Canaris has joined our faculty and will begin teaching classes this upcoming fall semester!

Canaris already has some great ideas and a lot of knowledge to offer our students. Moreover, he is eager to not only instruct them, but also to learn from them.

“I’m excited to teach not only the Church and Mission class, but related topics like hermeneutics, ecumenism, the theology of immigration, and the interpretation of Vatican II. I’ve also had wonderful experiences with a Theology of Hell class I designed (using Dante, Sartre, C.S. Lewis, Rahner/von Balthasar, etc.) and am currently trying to develop one on the Theology of Bergoglio/Francis, which will obviously include elements of his Ignatian spirituality. I’m hoping these may interest both administration and students at Loyola down the line. The pope’s recent call for theologians, and not just bishops, to have the ‘smell of their sheep’ has really resonated with me as I take up this position.”

Canaris is a valuable resource for IPS and we encourage students to reach out to him with any questions, help or just to say welcome to IPS.

Read his Q&A below to get to know more about Canaris and his different teachings, life lessons and some interesting facts you would not expect.

How did you feel when you were offered the position at IPS?
I spent fifteen years on Jesuit campuses, both as a student and teaching, and then the last few abroad in the UK and Rome, at universities which were not in that network. And while I love those international experiences and have developed some amazing friends, colleagues, and expanded horizons through them, my first instinct when I was offered the position was one of homecoming. That may sound strange, as I’m from the East Coast originally and have only visited Chicago without ever living there, but there was this overwhelming sense of returning to my roots and somehow being welcomed home by members of my Ignatian/AJCU family once again that went much deeper than just being back on American soil.

What are you looking forward to the most about teaching at IPS, and what are you looking forward to accomplishing while at IPS?
More than anything I’m excited about interacting with the students. Of course, the research facilities and institutional support for scholarship at a place like Loyola are unrivaled. But IPS offers such a unique environment for theologians and experts in various disciplines, where we as faculty members can help with formation of those who will be on the frontlines of the encounter between the church and the contemporary world. I honestly believe it’s a place where the faculty likely learn as much from the life experiences of our students as we can teach them. I’ve always been committed to viewing pedagogy as a sort of “co-traveling” toward wisdom and holistic learning. Loyola IPS seems a truly remarkable place for this type of exchange to take place.

What challenges do you foresee and how will you prepare for them?
I have some experience teaching non-traditional students at various stops, both in America and at the Pontifical Beda College for second-career seminarians in Rome. I’m excited to broaden my perspectives teaching such a wide range of students as constitute the IPS, not only in terms of religious and denominational backgrounds, but especially those who for the most part differ markedly from 18-22 year-old traditional undergrads. There will undoubtedly be some challenges involved in planning successful classes and discussions in this new setting, but ones I feel confident, prepared and excited to find innovative techniques through which to foster transformational learning.

What can students expect when taking your classes, and what do you hope that they take away from your teachings?
Three themes from my own Jesuit education form the pillars of my approach to teaching: cura personalis, eloquentia perfecta, and seeking to become together “men and women for others.” Briefly for this setting: the first means my students will always be my main priority and I will always be accessible to them to help them grow holistically – whether it be intellectually, spiritually, socially, etc. The second demonstrates my conviction that it’s important not only to wrestle with the “big” questions in life about meaning, value, purpose, vocation, what it means to live a successful life, and the like, but also to develop skill sets for being able to articulate this beneficial wrestling clearly and convincingly to the church, academy and world. The last emphasizes the idea that neither theology/mission, nor any of the gifts we are given, are ultimately for our own advancement, but rather to serve our brothers and sisters in the human race, and the divine or transcendent however we come to name that reality in our lives.

Do you have a mentor or an experience in your life that helped shape who you are today?
Whenever I stop to reflect on this, it honestly floors me how blessed I have been with almost mind-boggling mentors in the steps along my academic and spiritual journey. A question like this is difficult to answer without sounding like you are name-dropping! But, I’m also delighted to give credit where it is due. Brad Hinze, Paul Lakeland, Rick Ryscavage, and Beth Johnson have all been so supportive of my work and influential in my intellectual development. And Paul Murray at Durham University and I remain very close, in a friendship that transcends merely professional or academic interests at this point. However, my time spent studying under Francis A. Sullivan and then working for Avery Cardinal Dulles for five years, including not only assisting the latter with research and publishing, but also providing palliative care for him in his last days when he was suffering tremendously from post-polio syndrome, were probably the most formative experiences for me as a theologian.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time outside of the classroom?
I love all things Italian: culture, food, art, etc. I have been lucky to spend a lot of time there, as well as on the Spanish island of Mallorca, where I often visit in the summer months with friends who are at this point like family. I studied sports-journalism for a few years before theology, so I still love sports and am excited to adopt everything about life in Chicago – short of betraying my Eagles and Phillies.

Any fun facts about yourself or interesting story you wish to share?
My father was a federal agent who led the protection details for cabinet members and on many presidential trips across seven administrations. My mother was a teacher and substance abuse coordinator for a school district. My students always seem interested in that. I also have a very close friend who is a writer and producer for the TV show “Scandal.”

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

3-18-2015 | Comments Off

Faculty Profile: Timone Davis

Timone Davis began teaching at IPS in Fall 2014 as an adjunct professor. In the short amount of time she has been here, she has brought exceptional and transformative learning experiences to our students. With that said, join us in congratulating her on becoming a full time faculty member beginning Fall 2015.

Timone has been very busy with several small projects and looks forward to being “less scattered” with her full time role at IPS. “I will be able to put more energy in one place and therefore, have a greater impact on the lives of ministers in training,” commented Timone.

She has been with the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program at Catholic Theological Union since 1996. She began there as a student and then transitioned to being the Formation Director. Her role there will come to an end this May, but she owes a lot of her growth in spirituality to her time there. “I learned how to devote myself to helping other people come to an awareness of God in their own lives,” she said.

Timone wants to bring a similar experience to her students. In her classes (descriptions below) she said, “students can expect to dig deep for a level of honesty that is not always explored in classes. I will ask to make themselves vulnerable and be challenged not just by the material, but also in the call to witness to the gospel.”

For Timone, the most challenging part of being a teacher is being adequately prepared. “I always want to make sure I am giving my students enough information as possible in order for them to move ahead in whatever they are being called to do.”

Fortunately, she also finds her job very rewarding. Timone says she loves the “aha” moments when students “get it.” She strives for those moment where students are able to take what they are learning in the classroom and apply it outside the classroom. She understands the importance of students not just repeating back information, but rather being able to connect what they are learning to experiences in their own lives.

Outside of her professional life, Timone enjoys watching murder mysteries and cop shows. She also listens to audio books and reads books both electronically and in hard copy. Like most of us at IPS, she also loves good food.

You can connect with Timone on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. You can also hear her speak at The Racial Divide in the United States event on March 11.

Fall 2015 class descriptions:

Black Spirituality and Pastoral Care
This course will introduce students to Black Spirituality in the United States, from slavery to the present, in a Christian context. The course will be attentive to the culture of black life so as to get a better understanding of Black Spirituality’s rootedness in scripture, prayer, community and justice. Students will explore how Black Spirituality can be a lens through which they view pastoral care for persons on the margins while enhancing their own spirituality. This course will include scholarship on such themes as African-American ways of being, preaching, storytelling, dance, art, mentoring and self care.

Women in the Church: Bound Freedom
Often seen as the backbone of many churches, this course will explore how women are both free to explore and hold various roles/positions in the Christian Church while simultaneously beset with patriarchy and exclusion. Students will explore the rise of women in the Church and the constant struggle to be seen as an equal. This course will be attentive to Mujerista, Womanist, Asian and Feminist perspectives in the Protestant and Roman Catholic Church of the United States that continue to shape the landscape of women in ministry.

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

2-27-2015 | Comments Off

Guest Post: The Eucharistic Call to Active Nonviolence in a Wounded World

For this week’s post, we would like to feature an essay by IPS student Charissa Qiu. This past fall she wrote a reflection on the Eucharist and the call to justice and solidarity. In light of current world events, her words below help us remember what our pastoral response should be in times of trouble and controversy.

The Eucharistic Call to Active Nonviolence in a Wounded World

There is no denying that the historical Jesus was a controversial figure in his time – he ate at the same table with sinners; he touched lepers; he performed miracles on the Sabbath, and he challenged the status quo and the authority of those in power in his society. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel, especially in Matthew 5: 38-42, illustrates Jesus’ creative nonviolence clearly – responding to violence and injustice not with retaliation, but rather, to bring the injustice to light by finding creative ways to reveal it and have it speak for itself.

The restorative and reconciliatory justice of God that we are called to through partaking in the Eucharist is very different from the retributory justice of the world. The Eucharist calls us to right relationship and unity, which calls us not to segregation and retaliation, but rather, to respond with truth and love. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” There has been a lot of attention in the media lately surrounding two cases of white police violence against black unarmed men, and the grand jury’s decision not to indict the police officers. That has brought up a lot of various emotional responses of the public, with various people supporting either side. There have been riots to express outrage, forums for people to express and discuss feelings and opinions – people have felt the need to express themselves, and rightfully so. In the middle of all this chaos and emotion, a 12-year-old boy by the name of Devonte Hart (image below) chose to stand out holding a sign that read “Free Hugs,” and that courage and expression of love brought a moment of peace – a tiny glimpse of the Kingdom of God. It is when we start to see the humanity within each other that we share that we begin to stand together in solidarity, in the celebration of the Eucharist, and live into the Kingdom of God.

We can acknowledge that we live in a world right now laden with violence and injustice, one that is filled with pain and woundedness. We are suspicious and afraid of “the other,” so we respond by distancing ourselves even more from what we are unfamiliar with, and continue to live in fear. The call of the Eucharist is to vulnerability, to openness, to transformation, and ultimately, to relationship. We cannot overcome our fear of the unknown through distancing ourselves – we need to overcome our fear by getting in touch with the unknown and “the other.” Jesus taught and lived out active nonviolence, and it is important to clarify here that nonviolence is not the same thing as passivity. To “turn the other cheek” does not mean to allow abuse to continue – in turning the other cheek, we are forcing the other person to slap us with their open hand (the left hand was only used for unclean purposes in Jesus’ time and so would not be used) which is a statement of equality – it is demanding to be treated fairly and equally; an act of active nonviolence.

As we accept the reality of our wounded world, we need to, at the same time, go beyond that reality and ground ourselves in hope, and with faith that love is stronger and more sustainable than hatred. That is the call of the Eucharist – into the darkness, but also into the light. Jesus hung on the cross between the tensions of the world and the Kingdom of God, and there was darkness, but after patiently sitting in the darkness and allowing it to transform us, there will be light.

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

2-20-2015 | Comments Off

Opening Remarks from Archbishop at Digital Concentration Launch Event

Opening Remarks
Archbishop Blase J. Cupich
Loyola University Chicago
Institute of Pastoral Studies Event
February 10, 2015

“Thank you Loyola University, Fr. Garanzini, Dr. Brian Schmisek and all those who were instrumental in developing a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies with a concentration in Digital Communication. Thank you also for inviting me to give opening remarks before this distinguished panel, moderated by Don Wycliff, shares with you their expertise and insights on the Church’s use of social media.

This initiative which the Institute of Pastoral Studies is launching will provide participants with the communications tools, instructions and knowledge necessary to address a variety of current parish needs and to look and plan for future needs. Students will learn how to build not only the appropriate infrastructure but to develop the message, the delivery, and utilize the resulting interaction in parish life, all of which is exciting and necessary to the growth of our parishes and the spread of the Gospel.

It occurs to me that as you do so it is worth recalling something St. John Paul II writes in his 1990 encyclical, Redemptoris Missio. The means of mass communication, he noted, have become not only the chief means of information and education for many people today, but also the chief source for “guidance and inspiration in their behavior as individuals, families and within society at large.” For this reason, he went on to say: “It is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the Church’s authentic teaching. It is also necessary to integrate that message into the ‘new culture’ created by modern communications. This is a complex issue, since the ‘new culture’ originates not just from whatever content is eventually expressed, but from the very fact that there exist new ways of communicating, with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology” (John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, 37c, 1990).

This trenchant analysis is all the more remarkable when we consider that these words were written before the Internet became part of all our lives, yet they seem to describe its influence but also its challenges and opportunities for society and the Church so startlingly well. What the late saintly pope is saying here is that developments in communications technology going back well over a hundred years have not only benefited us but have also changed us. That is why the Church’s interest in and concern for contemporary communications technology is not merely a utilitarian concern – a form of “keeping up with the Jones” to make sure that the Church is not still using quill pens, as it were, when everyone else is text messaging. There are deeper issues that go beyond the surface attractions that claim our attention. These new communications technologies have created a new culture, and the Gospel message cannot be effectively communicated without the Church’s immersing herself in and understanding this culture.

The novelty of the Holy Father’s opening Twitter and Facebook accounts, and even engaging viewers with Google Hangouts may make headlines for a couple of days. Less likely to get serious consideration is what opening those accounts and hanging out on Google says about the nature of the culture which the Holy Father is trying to reach and even about the impact such communications have on the nature of the Church in using these means.

To put in perspective this point that contemporary communications technology has impacted us, changed our culture, changed us, just consider how other scientific and technological advances have also changed us, changed the way we think and behave. For instance, the invention of the microscope confirmed the existence of invisible organisms which explain the once mysterious phenomena of disease and epidemics. This was not only new knowledge but a new way of relating to our world. We now had a more accurate understanding of our environment. No longer were we at the mercy of superstitious explanations which could not free us from these diseases and epidemics. Instead of being crushed in spirit and body as our medieval ancestors were by the Black Death, we can fight against epidemics as we have had to do most recently against Ebola in West Africa.

Likewise, we have seen a change in us, our culture and our behaviors in a number of ways when it comes to the technological developments in mass media. Just to list a few:

Social networking sites provide connections between people with an ease unimaginablebefore;
The ordinary person has been empowered to be his or her own publisher, reporter, magazineeditor, or movie/TV director/producer whose products can reach multitudes and offer thepotential to gain the attention of the major conventional media and even transcend them;
An Internet sensation can soon become a public sensation;
The Internet even offers the potential to assume a wholly other persona in the world of the“’Net.” A New Yorker cartoon brings this point home well. One dog says to another, “On theInternet, nobody knows you’re a dog”;
Work space and play space interpenetrate as persons can work almost anywhere as if theywere at their desks and have with them on their smartphones video programming, music andwhatever else it is that entertains them.
We do our shopping and banking without ever leaving our homes;
Search engines take the place of traveling to libraries and archives.

This extraordinary democratization of media has certainly brought about a “new culture … with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology.” Even socio-economic and generational differences are marked by the challenges that come from these new technologies. The access to these means, which still demand a certain level of resources or the lack of access, has exacerbated social differences and inequality. The ease with which these new technologies are used by those who have grown up with them at their fingertips(or voice commands) make many in the older generation feel left out, especially when the conventional media they are used to refer them to the Internet for further information.So, the Church and Church leadership must give careful consideration to the enormous consequences new communications technology will have on them. It is not sufficient to join in the surprise with every new development nor simply try to keep up with the times by investing in whatever the marketplace rolls out. We have to begin thinking about the deeper issues, how these technologies are changing us, changing our culture and how we intersect with that culture in carrying out the mission of Christ.

My hope would be that today and the days going forward you will keep before you both the challenges and the opportunities this new technology presents for pastoral life. To get you started let me offer a couple of considerations.

It might be appealing at first blush to become enamored by the Internet’s ability to provide top- down communication, only to learn later that many of its users expect more. Interactivity is part of the Internet beast’s nature. Yet, this is more revolutionary for the Church than the simple statement of fact makes it sound. After all, the Catholic Church has a hierarchy with authority to teach, govern and sanctify. The most significant communications have been from the top down. Even the Second Vatican Council was a revolution from above, a fact often ignored. The Internet has the potential, or for some, the risk, of opening the decisions of all hierarchies to debate from below. How does an authoritative teaching office not only communicate but also make its decisions stick, as it were, in an Internet world that encourages discussion and debate of everything? What are the consequences for geographically-based authority, such as diocesan bishops, in a world where the media know no such boundaries or of having so many blogging bishops when speaking with one voice has been a hallmark of Catholicism? As a friend of mine says, Pope Francis’s openness to the media may have to result in a new category of papal pronouncement: the Apostolic Interview.

Also do these new media help or hinder the creation of genuine community? The experience so far is ambiguous. These technologies do facilitate a sense of community with a reach that can be truly “catholic,” at least with a small “c,” but they also make possible communities that are exclusive and not universal – communities which simply re-enforce one’s own world view to the exclusion of any other. They also can foster isolation, providing the individual with the capacity to avoid face-to-face contact with other human beings. This is hardly conducive to participating in a Church which calls its diverse members to contribute to the building up of one body, each in his or her own way. Nor can we ignore the persistence of inequality of access present in the so called “digital divide”, in which the poor, underserved communities lack the means to access the internet the way the rest of us do and take for granted. All of this cuts against the Church’s mission and goal of offering a Pentecost experience of the universal proclamation of the Gospel in a way all can understand.

And, finally to take a very down-to-earth, even mundane example of the ambiguities the new technology can present: There is no more utilitarian task than raising the money that permits the Church to carry on her pastoral ministries. The new communication technology makes possible on-line giving, but as one pastor I know recently asked me: “what kind of message we are sending by promoting a way of contributing which makes it possible to support the Church without ever going to church?”

The Church’s concern for the mass media for as long as she has been aware of their influence has involved not only their potential benefit (or risks) to the Church but also their effect on the entire human community. In discussing the negative consequences of new communications technology, sometimes they are treated as if they arose solely from the “newness” of the technology. But, this fails to recognize that, just as these new means are a response to the basic human need to communicate, so too their defects reflect defects of human nature. The capacity culpably to mislead and to permit oneself to be misled was apparent even when humanity’s means of communication were far more primitive.

Unquestionably technology can exacerbate the impact of humanity’s defects. The unmediated and easily manipulated form of media that is the Internet poses the problem of an exceptionally efficient, widespread and anonymous dispersal of lies and misinformation and of indecency and predatory activity. But a computer is not a magic box that makes people do evil. What it does do is increase our capacity to do good or evil as we choose. Unfortunately, like developments in weaponry, developments in the means of communications can outstrip the ability of humanity’s ethical sense to come up with the principles and ways to guide their use. The Church has the responsibility to promote the ethical use of all media, old and new.

Addressing these serious questions and deeper issues seems to me to be at the heart of the new effort Loyola University’s Institute of Pastoral Studies is launching today. This very comprehensive program will offer students technical communications tools and the infrastructure for message development, delivery and interaction all of which has the promise of enriching and enhancing the spread of the Gospel. But at the same time, my invitation to you is that you also attend to the deeper issues which are related to how this new technology is changing us, our behaviors and our culture; that you will explore ways for the Church to intersect that culture, but also integrate the Christian message into the ‘new culture’, as St. John Paul II urged a quarter century ago. The aim of your studies will be as it always has been: to bring people in our time to an encounter with Christ, making them not only disciples but companions who will accompany each other, not merely as Facebook pals, bloggers or tweeters, but as fellow pilgrims. Thank you.”

Join the conversation by following @BrianSchmisek on Twitter and @LoyolaIPS on Instagram! Also, network with the Loyola Chicago IPS community on LinkedIn.

2-11-2015 | Comments Off

Tag : IPS

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Faculty Profile: Michael Canaris

Faculty Profile: Timone Davis

Guest Post: The Eucharistic Call to Active Nonviolence in a Wounded World

Opening Remarks from Archbishop at Digital Concentration Launch Event

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