The Institute of Pastoral Studies is proud to announce that IPS faculty members: Heidi Russell, Associate Professor, Michael Canaris, Assistant Professor, and Brian Schmisek, Dean and Professor, were recently awarded with the following publishing awards:
Heidi Russell received second place in the category of “Faith and Science” from the Catholic Press Association’s Book Awards for her book “The Source of All Love.”
The Source of All Love is a “fresh approach to an age-old doctrine, brings together theology and science to reveal an active, conscious, omnipresent power of Love that never began, never will end, and guides the universe and everything in it. The key to spiritual evolution is awareness and participation.”
Heidi Russell was also announced a co-winner of the first place award for “Best Regular Column: Spiritual Life” by the Catholic Press Association’s Press Awards 2018 for her article “Love Revealed in Brokenness.”
Michael Canaris received third place in the same category for his article “Science & Catholicism” in the publication Catholic Star Herald.
Speaking on receiving his award, Canaris said “I have written a weekly column for the Catholic Star Herald newspaper for almost a decade now, which included stops in Boston, New York, Connecticut, Durham (UK), Rome, and Chicago. It is honestly among one of my favorite professional activities each week. I think needing to prepare a regular column affects the way one views the world, as he or she is always then looking for an interesting angle to describe what could be a very mundane experience. The practice also undoubtedly makes one a better writer; to come to better appreciate words as tools designed for particular jobs and to distill sometimes deep or arcane theological realities into more digestible bites. I am thankful for the mutually informing roles my ecclesiological study and journalistic tendencies play upon one another, and I’m humbled to have some modicum of recognition for these efforts in serving the People of God as efficiently as my limited capabilities allow me.”
The Living Liturgy: Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis for Sundays and Solemnities Year B is a comprehensive guide for the preparation of Sunday liturgy– integrating daily living, prayer, and study into one simple resource for connecting liturgy and leadership.
Congratulations IPS Faculty!
7-02-2018|Comments Off on Three IPS Faculty Members Recipients of Publishing Awards
According to Michael Okińczyc-Cruz, CSPL was founded through one on one meetings. In the spring of 2017, several Catholic leaders in the Chicagoland area wanted to do faith-based community organizing, they came together and the organization was founded in June/July 2017.
CSPL works in the Western suburbs of Chicago – Maywood, Broadview, Melrose – these areas are deeply impacted by poverty, racism, and inequality. Michael believes people who have been marginalized have a significant role to play in the liberation and progressive development of their own communities. “The goal is to give voices of leadership to those who have been impacted by poverty and racism. During this time of profound fear and despair, it is important to support those who must be at the center of leadership and give them the hope to rise up and organize. These leaders must organize to develop creative and courageous solutions that reflect their deepest values.”
The coalition is also actively involved in issues of immigration, safety and violence prevention and the Census 2020, with committees that meet regularly to discuss these relevant topics.
CSPL offers leadership trainings for those who want to learn more about faith-based community organizing. “We believe that every person has the fundamental right and responsibility to be engaged in civic and democratic life and to work for the Common Good, as the Catholic Social Teaching tradition emphasizes.” CSPL’s leadership trainings provide grassroots leaders with the resources to effectively organize for social change in a manner that is deeply rooted in and inspired by the Catholic spiritual and theological traditions.
“There are numerous organizations in the Chicago area that do community organizing, we are one of many, but the most important thing is attending the leadership training to learn how to effectively organize in the community that you live in.”
Visit CSPL’s website to see the work Michael and the Coalition have been doing and learn more about ways to get involved.
Michael is an adjunct assistant professor at IPS and is the Executive Director and a co-founder of CSPL. CSPL is a non-profit organization committed to addressing social, racial and economic justice issues through grassroots leadership development and community organizing grounded in the Catholic spiritual and theological traditions.
A first-generation American, Michael has been a faith-based community organizer for 8 years, he has worked to address issues related to criminal justice, mental health, corporate bank accountability, immigration reform, refugee rights, public transportation, workforce development and workforce diversity on a local, statewide and national level.
9-18-2019|Comments Off on Learn about the Coalition for Spiritual & Public Leadership (CSPL) and its Executive Director & co-founder Michael Okińczyc-Cruz, IPS Adjunct Faculty.
Ana Lopez with some of El Cireneo’s Patients and staff
Ana, tell us a little bit about yourself. You just graduated from IPS and I hear you are planning on continuing your studies. What is next? How has your time at IPS helped you in your ministry?
I am from Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital
city of Chiapas, Mexico, and I am 30 years old. I have a Bachelor’s in
Financial Management with a concentration in Financial Analysis and Investment
Management from a prestigious university in Mexico, the Monterrey Institute of
Technology and Higher Education (ITESM), where I graduated with honors. I have
experience as a Portfolio Manager with the Mexican Stock Exchange. I have also
worked as a Purchasing Manager in Libertad Creativa S.A. de C.V., and as the
General Manager of Win Land. Hence, my focus was on business and money.
However, in 2012, everything began to
change when I initiated my catechesis for the sacrament of Confirmation in the
Catholic Church. Without any doubt, this sacrament was the one that changed my
life and personal goals. Soon after, I started to participate in the Catholic Charismatic
Renewal Movement, where I began to know God. With the desire to know Him more,
I enrolled myself in the Bachelor’s in Theology with Pastoral emphasis at one
of the Catholic universities in my hometown. I studied this degree for three
years, but I could not finish it for several reasons, one of them was my
mother’s death.
My mother passed away in May 2015 due to
suicide. It was the most challenging experience I have had. Nevertheless, it
led me to the best of my life, my ministry, and my renewed relationship with
God.
After my mother died, I had tremendous painful experiences, one after another. I felt like Job in the Bible, losing everything I owned and believed. As a result, I was suffering from depression. I did not think I could make it, but God never left me. He was with me during the darkest period of my life. Deep inside, I had one tiny sparkle, a light of hope, the desire to continue studying. I wanted a master’s degree in something related to God. Thus, by searching for it on the Internet, I found (curiously the first link) Loyola University Chicago. By reading the academic offer, I decided to apply to the Master’s in Christian Spirituality, Spiritual Direction concentration.
The day after I applied, I received an email from the Institute of Pastoral Studies (IPS) welcoming me to the program! You cannot imagine the joy and hope I felt! This news changed my darkness into light. It was not only the news but the entire experience of moving to Chicago and studying for my master’s program in the United States. The IPS faculty, my classmates, the Contextual Education program, the 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, my spiritual director… everything and everyone contributed to the healing of my heart and soul. It was a process of purification. It was not easy, but it was worth the effort. On the day of my graduation, I recapitulated my time at IPS with verse 6 of Psalm 126: “Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed, will return with cries of joy, carrying their bundled sheaves” (NABRE). When I arrived at IPS, I was heartbroken. When I left, I cried with joy! Furthermore, I proclaimed with Job: “By hearsay, I had heard of you, but now my eye has seen you” (Job 42:5, NABRE).
By becoming a spiritual director, I
encountered myself and God. Before my master’s degree, I had lost sight of who
I was and most importantly, who I was in God’s sight and love. However, through
the program and the 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises, I gained a new
sight of myself and God. This experience of God’s love is the one that I try to
hand down to my directees now that I am back in my hometown.
The Integration Project of my master’s
degree became real when I opened the retreat house called El Cireneo, Hogar de
Esperanza (The Cyrenian, House of Hope) in my hometown. Thanks to the personal
and academic growth from my mother’s death, my own recovery process from
depression, and my education, I was able to intertwine them, and the result was
the healing program of the retreat house for patients suffering from
depression. With the valuable help of my then Academic Advisor and Faculty
Reader Jean-Pierre Fortin, Ph.D., I discerned that the goal of the retreat
house and its holistic program (physical health, emotional well-being, and
spiritual renewal) is to lower the rate of suicide, by enabling individuals
suffering from depression to process their suffering.
I finished my Integration Project on June
23rd and one month later, I was opening the retreat house in the same place where
my mother committed suicide. This house is now a place where people find
healing, peace, hope, and life! I know this is only the beginning. There are
more things I need to learn and do. For these reasons, I want to continue my
studies. I have been in touch with the dean of the Doctor of Ministry (DMin)
program at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. I hope to apply
for the doctorate program this year. As an online program, I will only have to
travel there twice a year. Hence, it will not overlap with my time at the
retreat house. I hope this degree helps me to gain a deeper understanding of
ministry to enhance my role at the retreat house and develop more programs to
stand in solidarity with those vulnerable in my state and country. And why not?
Maybe worldwide. So, please, pray for me!
Any word of advice for
current and future IPS students on surviving grad school and/or finding their
path after grad school?
I
remember during our welcoming session, the dean told us: “Be aware that all the
structures you bring to IPS are going to be changed. You are not going to leave
IPS being the same person.” This statement was completely true for my
classmates and I. Thus, be open to allow the fresh air to blow in your life and
ministry. Let yourself be surprised by God’s love and wisdom that you will gain
through the courses and IPS faculty. If you do not know the path, He will guide
you through every reading and experience within the classrooms. He is with you
and will never abandon you!
El Cireneo, Hogar de Esperanza
What
is the story behind El Cireneo?
When my mother passed away, I inherited
the house where she committed suicide. It was hard for me to be around the
house in the beginning. I thought I would never be able to emotionally heal and
return. Thus, almost one and a half years later, I decided to lease the house,
even though the process of emptying it and removing her belongings was
extremely painful. The house had been occupied for almost two years when I had
realized what God wanted for my life. No longer leasing it out, I remodeled it
to what it is now, the retreat house.
It was last Holy Thursday when God told me
to renew the house into a place where people could find Him. I went to the Last
Supper celebration at the Madonna della Strada Chapel, at the Lake Shore
Campus, where I then participated in the tradition of Seven Churches Visit,
organized by Loyola University Campus Ministry. We were at the second church
praying before the Blessed Sacrament when I listened to God’s voice telling me
to transform my mother’s home into a retreat house. Soon after, I heard God
revealing the name for it: “El Cireneo, Hogar de Esperanza” (The Cyrenian,
House of Hope). I was amazed and said to Him: “What? Wait a minute! I just came
here to pray, not to talk about the retreat house.” I have to admit I did not have
any intentions to talk about the house. Nonetheless, for God, it was the proper
time. He knew I was ready to move forward.
Hence, I asked Him: “¿por qué El Cireneo?”
(why The Cyrenian?). Then, I remembered the Scripture passage about Simon of
Cyrene (cf. Matthew 27:32). God allowed me to discern that I was going to
become Simon of Cyrene, helping the suffering Christ (manifested in my
directees) to carry the cross. In other words, God allowed me to understand
that I was going to help my directees to carry their cross, depression. But
this cross has a promise: a resurrected life. I learned from my mother’s death
and my own experience of recovering from depression that there is no cross
without resurrection.
It was during that same evening, on Holy
Thursday, when God reminded me: “I came so that they might have life and have
it more abundantly” (John 10:10, NABRE). For this reason, when patients arrive
at the retreat house, the first sight they can appreciate is the name of the
house and this Biblical passage, John 10:10.
Jesus came so each of my
directees/patients can have life and have it more abundantly. The staff and I
try to bring them relief, reassurance, and consolation by being their Simon of
Cyrene in their journey to a resurrected life in Christ.
Tell us a little about treatment
at El Cireneo, Hogar de Esperanza.
As I mentioned before, thanks to the
personal and academic growth from my mother’s death, my own recovery process
from depression, and my education, I was able to intertwine them, and the
result was the healing program of the retreat house for patients suffering from
depression. In fact, the healing program reflects my own recovery process from
depression in a holistic manner: physical health, emotional well-being, and
spiritual renewal.
a)
Physical health: when a patient arrives asking for help, he/she is interviewed
by the psychologist. He is the one who gives the preliminary diagnosis. If the
patient is diagnosed with depression, we ask them to undergo testing at a
laboratory by the request of the neurologist to rule out physical diseases
causing depression (e.g. hypothyroidism). The neurologist determines if the
patient needs to be medicated and/or referred to psychiatry. Additionally,
there is a nutritionist helping patients improve their diet with the purpose to
increase their physical energy.
b)
Emotional well-being: the patient meets with the psychologist every week to
process his/ her suffering and acquire tools to manage his/her emotions.
c)
Spiritual renewal: through the 19th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises of
Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The directee meets with me (the spiritual director)
weekly to talk about his/her process throughout the retreat. We listen and
discern God’s voice in his/her life. I help him/her to contemplate his/her life
through God’s love, mercy, beauty, and wisdom. It is important to mention that
we have monthly therapeutic and spiritual direction meetings with all the
patients, so they can create a sense of community. They realize that they are
not walking alone trying to overcome depression. They help each other by
sharing their stories.
Because poverty is the main cause of
depression in Chiapas, the program is free of charge. We only require patients
to commit themselves to their recovery process.
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If you would like to know more about Ana’s ministry check out the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/elcireneo
Michael Canaris received third place in the same category for his article “Science & Catholicism” in the publication Catholic Star Herald.
Brian Schmisek received third place in the category of “Resources for Liturgy” from the Association of Catholic Publishers for his co-authored book “Living Liturgy: Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis for Sundays and Solemnities Year B.”
