2005 - 2006

Pope John XXIII’s reasons for convening the Second Vatican Council were captured by the simple gesture of opening a window to permit fresh air to enter.  This powerful metaphor for renewal might evoke a frequent smog alerts, daily UV indexes, and news of global warming.  The great outdoors is not as welcoming nor necessarily symbolic of that which is clean and refreshing. Guadium et Spes offered words of joy and hope, can the Church offer support in the midst of the ecological crisis?  How does ecological theology offer a new voice that can contribute to an ecological solution.

The French orientalist Louis Massignon stood at the centre of the field of Islamic studies during the first half of the twentieth century.  He was also instrumental in shaping the Church’s new vision of Islam during the Second Vatican Council.  Following his own spiritual journey reflective of Islamic mystics he studied, Massignon was both lauded and maligned during his lifetime.  Why does he remain a controversial figure today?  What is the relevance of his visions to scholarly and religious communities?

Vatican11 Forty Years Later:  The fruits of Gaudium et Spes and Nostra Aetate

In the year in which we are celebrating the fortieth anniversary of two seminal documents of the Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes, in which the Church sought to explain her calling and activity in the modern world, and Nostra Aetate, which commenced a new era of inter-faith dialogue and outreach in the life of the Church, Archbishop Ventura will share his reflections on the fruits of these two documents in the intervening forty years.

So many women feel disenfranchised from the sacred text.  Blood taboos, the “fall of Eve”, even the manipulations of the matriarchs make us uncomfortable.  Yet there  is another way to read the familiar and not-so-familiar narratives of the Jewish Bible; a feminist analysis will yield surprising results and can, it will be argued, even “heal” those weary of the patriarchal view.  We will explore the rules of Leviticus against the relationships of Genesis, and along the way meet some strong and savvy heroines.  Not for women only!

This promises to be an evening of pure enjoyment! Concert selections include music from Latin America and Africa as well as music by Brahms, Paul Simon, U2 and much more.

Narration by Sister Loretta Manzara, CSJ.

The Roman Catholic Church’s commitment to ecumenical dialogue is irreversible.  Pope John Paul II said many times, and his pontificate took significant steps in overcoming divisions among Christians.  But other challenges remain to be met by the present pontificate.

The early Christians faced many challenges similar to those of our own time.  They lived in a world well acquainted with oppression, war and violence.  The Christian response was a spirituality of hope in a world made just and peaceful by the hand of God.  The spirituality was the result of their encounter with their presence of God in the person of Jesus and the Spirit.  Essential to that spirituality was a transformation of human consciousness and the creation of an alternative society that reflected the values and principles of the new world that was emerging.  As a revealed spirituality, it was a new way of life and a redefinition of the human person.  This first-century vision of God’s world has much to offer Christians of the 21^st century.