Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a famous French philosopher and Jesuit priest who was also trained as a paleontologist and geologist. He took active part in the discovery of both Piltdown Man and Peking Man. Teilhard proposed the concept of the Omega Point and further developed Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of Noosphere. Some of his ideas caused dispute between him and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, because of which several of his books were censured. In his significant book, The Phenomenon of Man, he described the unfolding of the cosmos. In another work, Book of Genesis he deserted the traditional interpretations of creation which greatly displeased some officials of the Catholic Church. He was opposed by his Church superiors and some of his books were denied being published during his lifetime by the Roman Holy Office.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Childhood and Early Life

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was born on May 1, 1881 in Orcines, France. On his paternal side, he was a descendant of an ancient family of magistrates from Auvergne originating in Murat, Cantal whereas from his maternal side he belonged to a family which was entitled under Louis XVIII. His father, Emmanuel Teilhard was an amateur naturalist. He was also an avid stone and plant collector and always promoted conservation of nature in the household. The birth of Teilhards spirituality was credited to his mother, Berthe de Dompiere. In 1893, when he was only twelve, he went to the Jesuit college of Mongr, in Villefranche-sur-Sane. In 1899, he joined the Jesuit novitiate at Aix-en-Provence, where he started his philosophical, theological and spiritual career. In 1902, he earned a licentiate in literature in Caen. Between the time period 1905 and 1908, Teilhard taught physics and chemistry in Cairo, Egypt, at the Jesuit College of the Holy Family. From 1908 to 1912, he studied theology in Hastings, in Sussex. During this time, he developed his scientific, philosophical and theological knowledge in the light of evolution. Teilhard was consecrated as a priest on August 24, 1911, at the age of 30. For the next two years, from 1912 to 1914, he worked in the paleontology laboratory of the Muse National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris.

In June 1912, Teilhard was a part of original digging team along with Arthur Smith Woodward and Charles Dawson who were carrying investigations at the Piltdown site; it was the site where first fragments of the Piltdown Man were discovered. He was acquainted with Henri Breuil at the museum's Institute of Human Paleontology, and in 1913, he took part with him in excavations in the prehistoric painted caves in the northwest of Spain, at the Cave of Castillo. He also served in World War I in December 1914 where he was a stretcher-bearer in the 8th Moroccan Rifles. During the war, Teilhard narrated his experiences in his diaries and also to his cousin, Marguerite Teillard-Chambon in letters who later edited these experiences into a book, Gense d'une pense (Genesis of a thought). He wrote his first essay, La Vie Cosmique (Cosmic life), in 1916, in which he had revealed his scientific and philosophical thoughts. On May 26, 1918, Teilhard pronounced his solemn vows as a Jesuit in Sainte-Foy-ls-Lyon. In August 1919, while he was in Jersey, he wrote Puissance spirituelle de la Matire (the spiritual Power of Matter). For some time, he pursued three unit degrees of natural science: geology, botany and zoology at the Sorbonne. After 1920, he taught geology at the Catholic Institute of Paris. After being granted a science Doctorate in 1922, Teilhard became an assistant professor.

Career

Teilhard traveled to China in 1923 with Father Emile Licent, who was in-charge of important laboratory collaboration between Natural History Museum in Paris and Marcellin Boule's laboratory. While he was in Ordos Desert, he wrote several essays which also included La Messe sur le Monde (the Mass on the World). The next year, he resumed his lecturing at the Catholic Institute and also took part in several conferences for the students of the Engineers' Schools. The Catholic Church asked him to teach at the Catholic Institute and to continue his geological research in China. In April 1926, he traveled back to China. Teilhard remained in China for the next twenty years which also included a number of voyages throughout the world. Between 1926 and 1935, he made five geological research expeditions in China, which enabled him to establish a general geological map of China. During 1926-1927, Teilhard traveled to the Sang-Kan-Ho valley near Kalgan (Zhangjiakou) and made a tour in Eastern Mongolia. In this period, he wrote Le Milieu Divin (the divine Medium). He also started writing the first pages of his main work Le Phnomne humain (The Human Phenomenon).

In 1926, Teilhard joined the excavations of the Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian as an advisor. He also played the role of the advisory for Cenozoic Research Laboratory of the Geological Survey of China, which was founded in 1928. He stayed in Manchuria with Emile Licent and for some time remained in Western Shansi and northern Shensi with the Chinese paleontologist C. C. Young and Chairman of the Geological Survey of China, Davidson Black. After the tour of Manchuria in the area of Great Khingan, Teilhard joined the team of American Expedition Center-Asia in the Gobi organized by the American Museum of Natural History with Roy Chapman Andrews. Teilhard, along with Henri Breuil, discovered that the Peking Man the nearest relative of Pithecanthropus from Java was a faber. During this period, Teilhard wrote L'Esprit de la Terre (the Spirit of the Earth). As a scientist, he also took part in the famous Croisiere Jaune or "Yellow Cruise" managed by Andre Citroen in Central Asia. He joined the China Group in Kalgan who joined the Pamir group, in Aksu. He spent several months in Urumqi, capital of Sinkiang with his colleagues. In 1933, he was ordered by Rome to give up his post in Paris. Teilhard also undertook many explorations in the south of China which included his traveling to the valleys of Yangtze River and Szechuan (Sichuan) in 1934 and to Kwang-If and Guangdong, in the next year.

World Travels

Between 1927 and 1928 Teilhard stayed at Paris, France during which he traveled to Leuven, Belgium, to Cantal, and to Arige, France. On the invitation of Henry de Monfreid, he went to Obock in Harrar and to Somalia with his colleague, geologist Pierre Lamarre. Teilhard stayed in France and in the United States from 19301931. In 1935, he joined the Yale-Cambridge expedition in northern and central India along with geologist Helmut de Terra and Patterson, who had affirmed their assumptions on Indian Paleolithic civilizations in Kashmir and the Salt Range Valley. On the invitation of Professor Ralph van Koenigswald, he went to the site of Java man during which a second cranium, was discovered. In 1937, onboard of the boat, the Empress of Japan, he wrote Le Phnomne spiritual (The Phenomenon of the Spirit). The ship carried him to United States where he was awarded with the Mendel medal by Villanova University during the Congress of Philadelphia, recognizing his works on human paleontology. In the year 1939, his book LEnergie Humaine was banned by Rome. During his stay at France, he suffered from malaria. While returning to Beijing, he wrote L'Energie spirituelle de la Souffrance (Spiritual Energy of Suffering). In 1941, Teilhard presented his most important work Le Phenomena Humaine to Rome and by 1947, he was precluded by Rome to write or teach on philosophical subjects.

Death

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin died in New York City on April 10, 1955. He was buried in the cemetery at St. Andrews-on-Hudson in Poughkeepsie, upstate New York.

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Stephen Colberts desktop computer monitor is ringed with reminders Post-it notes (Joy is the most infallible sign of the presence of God, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin), keepsakes (cards from musicians Regina Spektor and Jack White), directives (Ask yourself this question: Is my attitude worth catching?), affirmations (Enjoy life: It is better to be happy than wise) and one note that simply reads: History.

When not in use, Colberts computer screen defaults to a live feed of the Earth taken from the International Space Station. Right now, the view has just crossed the Nile, the sun is setting and clouds are casting long shadows across the Red Sea. Colbert looks at these images whenever hes feeling anxious. Theres the whole world, he tells himself. Calm down.

Professionally, at least, Colbert has little reason for worry these days. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert has reigned as late-nights top program since February, and the recent Russia Week segments featuring Colbert visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg drew nearly half a million more viewers than its closest competitor, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Its a remarkable reversal for Colbert, wholl be the first to admit that he stumbled out of the gate when The Late Show debuted on CBS in September 2015. I was not indulging my own instincts, Ill tell you that, Colbert says.

Thats no longer the case. Colberts blistering broadsides against Donald Trump and his revolving cast of subordinates have played to the 53-year-old hosts strengths, combining an intellectual rigor and bracing morality that make Colbert, in the words of Dave Chappelle, one of the most important voices in comedy.

Colbert, host of this years Emmys, took a break on a recent morning from preparing the show to talk about the trials and triumphs of the last two years. News alerts on his watch pinged a handful of times the Senate was moving on healthcare and Colbert, a focused man given to staying in the moment, fought against the distraction.

But you have to look, he says, glancing at his watch, apologizing. We add new material between 4:45 and 5:15 almost every night. [The show tapes around 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.] We dont want to wait until tomorrow. Theres an urgency now. We dont want to leave anything on the vine for the next day.

I dont know why I thought going from one show to the other and trying to change forms wouldnt be difficult and painful. But I had this weird feeling that it would be somehow easier than it was. Not easy. But easier.

You dont want to have the exhaustion and anxiety of trying to find a new voice, but its just part and parcel of it sometimes. And I realized I took the job so that would happen, and it comes with some rough road at first. I took the job to be challenged. I was getting a little bit on autopilot with the old show. And thats certainly not the case now.

We purposely threw out the baby with the bathwater. And we didnt realize it until a year in. So we re-indulged our appetites, if you know what I mean. Its not so much groove back as giving ourselves permission to do what we like. [Pauses.] We stepped away from politics to a fault. How about that?

The way to stay hopeful is to acknowledge and to not accept what is absolutely amoral, mentally ill behavior as normal.

Stephen Colbert

I was trying to do everything to a fault. I remember on the anniversary of doing the show for a year, I was shaving, looking in the mirror and, as I was wiping the last of the shaving cream off, I went, God, this is a hard year. Then I thought immediately, I wouldnt have traded it for anything. Because how would I have learned a new skill? How would I have learned to be able to do a monologue? How would I have changed my voice at all if it hadnt been for the challenge of this year?

Right. But every time I think that, I also have to remind myself how short I fall of what I hoped for when I said that. That poison cup, man. Its very hard not to drink from. Its very tasty.

Imperfectly. The way Ive tried to explain it both internally and to other people in the business, not the press is that, at our best, we dont engage in burning things to the ground. We point to things that are on fire and say, Do you think that should be on fire? I think that we can all agree its on fire, OK? Now, is that something we really want to burn to the ground?

And the problem with tone is: How close can I get to the fire without being in it? Cynicism is an enormous problem. Im actually a hopeful person. But the way to stay hopeful is to acknowledge and to not accept what is absolutely amoral, mentally ill behavior as normal.

To get children to boo and hoot. Better a millstone be tied around your neck and you be tossed in the deepest part of the river than you should scandalize one of these. Theres a moral heresy involved with the president getting children to engage in his own behavior.

Im not here to scold and, again, imperfectly, because you cant help but engage in that. The times you see me being my harshest or scolding, I promise you, thats not what we wrote. I just get swept up in the emotion of the moment while Im talking about it.

Its hard but thats part of the job, to maintain the discipline of pointing and not finger-wagging. Dont think youre changing the world through mime, as I like to say. Youre here as a release valve for peoples emotions. And thats a very valuable thing.

People would say, Oh, you say you just do jokes. I dont just do jokes. I do jokes. Jokes are important. They saved my life when I was younger. Hopefully were making things nicer at the end of the day for people. Thats the entire goal, and thats the touchstone and the North Star for the tone.

Im not familiar. Im not familiar. You say youve got a sock holder? I think I see the lawyers about to come in the room. Yes. That would be an example of perhaps letting my emotions get the best of me. Yes, I would say that would be in the fire, not dancing next to it.

(Laughs) I hadnt thought about it that way. That quotes a good guide for everything. That response arent all punishments Gods gifts? is such a bigger thought, bigger than a political thought. Thats a personal thought. And the personal is bigger than the political because the personal is almost unfathomable.

(Laughs) I do it all the time myself.

But you absolutely cant do it! Its a goal, but you absolutely cant do it. I dont think Ive ever said this in an interview, but when I was younger, my parents used to quote this French philosopher, Lon Bloy, who said that the only sadness is not to be a saint.

And I always think about that. Thats the great sadness, not to be perfect, meaning not to be a saint, not to see the world the way God does. Which is that everyone is going through a battle you know nothing about. But of course not, because Im sitting here making absolutely joyful fun of the Mooch [former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci]. Or Donald Trump.

But youre not talking about a person. Youre talking about ideas. Donald Trump, yes, hes somebodys little boy. But he is his ideas because his ideas are whats going to affect us. As a man, he can do very little. But his ideas could [pauses for drama] kill us all.

Fake news and fake media the interesting thing about that is that its a heresy against reality. Again, as a Catholic, I was taught that the greatest sin was heresy. Because not only are you a sinner, you are proselytizing and inviting other people into your sinful state through your heresy. Youre a recruiter for your own fallen state.

So Trump is a heretic against reality. Basically, hes lying for sport. Hes inviting people into his heresy that there is no objective reality.

I still carry a pocket Gideon around with me wherever I go.

Yes, I picked up a box of little pocket Gideons New Testament, Proverbs and Psalms from a Gideon on the street in Chicago. It was one of those 20-below days and it was so cold, I had to snap [the New Testament] over my knee to get the pages to turn.

And I immediately opened it to Matthew 5 and it was the Sermon on the Mount. Do not worry, for whom among you by worrying can change a hair on his head or add a cubit to the span of his life?

Really, that moment changed my life. I understood what it spoke to me meant because it didnt feel like I was reading it. I just felt like it was literally just talking.

That impulse toward gratitude is what originally relinked me to the idea of God.

Well, it's always the same thing which is to exist. Thats the baseline. Theres a great line from this Neutral Milk Hotel song [bangs on his desk] ... I think its In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It goes:

And when we meet on a cloud

Ill be laughing out loud

Ill be laughing with everyone I see

Cant believe how strange it is to be anything at all

So why is there something instead of nothing? Why am I here instead of nowhere? Thats the first thing I have to be aware of. And then Im grateful for my children and my wife. Thats first and then as the hymn goes, For the beauty of the earth comes after that.

glenn.whipp@latimes.com

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Stephen Colbert on ideas that 'could kill us all' and the moment that changed his life - Los Angeles Times

The Phenomenon of Man (Le phnomne humain, 1955) is a book written by the French philosopher, paleontologist and Jesuit priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In this work, Teilhard describes evolution as a process that leads to increasing complexity, culminating in the unification of consciousness.

The book was finished in the 1930s, but was published posthumously in 1955. The Roman Catholic Church initially prohibited the publication of some of Teilhards writings on the grounds that they contradicted orthodoxy.

The foreword to the book was written by one of the key scientific advocates for natural selection and evolution of the 20th century, and a co-developer of the modern synthesis in biology, Julian Huxley.

Teilhard views evolution as a process that leads to increasing complexity. From the cell to the thinking animal, a process of psychical concentration leads to greater consciousness.[3] The emergence of Homo sapiens marks the beginning of a new age, as the power acquired by consciousness to turn in upon itself raises humankind to a new sphere.[4] Borrowing Huxleys expression, Teilhard describes humankind as evolution becoming conscious of itself.[5]

In Teilhard's conception of the evolution of the species, a collective identity begins to develop as trade and the transmission of ideas increases.[6] Knowledge accumulates and is transmitted in increasing levels of depth and complexity.[7] This leads to a further augmentation of consciousness and the emergence of a thinking layer that envelops the earth.[8] Teilhard calls the new membrane the noosphere (from the Greek nous, meaning mind), a term first coined by Vladimir Vernadsky. The noosphere is the collective consciousness of humanity, the networks of thought and emotion in which all are immersed.[9]

The development of science and technology causes an expansion of the human sphere of influence, allowing a person to be simultaneously present in every corner of the world. Teilhard argues that humanity has thus become cosmopolitan, stretching a single organized membrane over the Earth.[10] Teilhard describes the process by which this happens as a "gigantic psychobiological operation, a sort of mega-synthesis, the super-arrangement to which all the thinking elements of the earth find themselves today individually and collectively subject".[8] The rapid expansion of the noosphere requires a new domain of psychical expansion, which "is staring us in the face if we would only raise our heads to look at it".[11]

In Teilhards view, evolution will culminate in the Omega Point, a sort of supreme consciousness. Layers of consciousness will converge in Omega, fusing and consuming them in itself.[12] The concentration of a conscious universe will reassemble in itself all consciousnesses as well as all that we are conscious of.[13] Teilhard emphasizes that each individual facet of consciousness will remain conscious of itself at the end of the process.[14]

In 1961, the Nobel Prize-winner Peter Medawar, a British immunologist, wrote a scornful review of the book for the journal Mind,[15] calling it "a bag of tricks" and saying that the author had shown "an active willingness to be deceived": "the greater part of it, I shall show, is nonsense, tricked out with a variety of metaphysical conceits, and its author can be excused of dishonesty only on the grounds that before deceiving others he has taken great pains to deceive himself".

The evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins called Medawar's review "devastating" , and The Phenomenon of Man "the quintessence of bad poetic science".[16]

In the June 1995 issue of Wired, Jennifer Cobb Kreisberg said, "Teilhard saw the Net coming more than half a century before it arrived":[17]

Teilhard imagined a stage of evolution characterized by a complex membrane of information enveloping the globe and fueled by human consciousness. It sounds a little off-the-wall, until you think about the Net, that vast electronic web encircling the Earth, running point to point through a nerve-like constellation of wires.

In July 2009, during a vespers service in Aosta Cathedral in northern Italy, Pope Benedict XVI, reflecting on the Epistle to the Romans in which "St. Paul writes that the world itself will one day become a form of living worship", commented on Teilhard:[18]

It's the great vision that later Teilhard de Chardin also had: At the end we will have a true cosmic liturgy, where the cosmos becomes a living host. Let's pray to the Lord that he help us be priests in this sense, to help in the transformation of the world in adoration of God, beginning with ourselves.

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The Phenomenon of Man 4.09 avg rating 1,088 ratings published 1955 36 editions

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Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Author of The Phenomenon of Man)

Times Record staff

Eddie James coming to area

Better Life Church, 4615 S. 16th St., will host a pair of events featuring Eddie James of Eddie James Ministries.

James will hold a one-hour workshop from 5-6 p.m. Monday at the church. Cost for the workshop is $25. Visit EddieJames.com or James' Facebook page to register.

James will also hold a free back to school event at 7 p.m. Monday at the church. This event will include praise and prayer for the upcoming school year.

Call Bertha Mitchell, Better Life Church social pastor, at (479) 285-5725 for information.

Camp meeting planned

Christ for the World will hold a public Divine Release camp meeting Aug. 30 through Sept. 4 at the church, 4401 Windsor Drive. Services will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 30; at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. Aug. 31 through Sept. 1; at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Sept. 2; at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sept. 3; and at 9 a.m. Sept. 4. Speakers for the event will include Dr. Aretha Wilson, Dr. Mike Brown, Prophet Bobby Hogan and Prophet Bennie Baker.

Rooms are available for $55 at Comfort Inn. Call (479) 434-5400 and ask for the CFTW rate.

Call (479) 434-4038 for information.

St. Scholastica offers retreats

St. Scholastica Retreat Center, 1205 S. Albert Pike, will offer two ways to practice the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Retreat in Daily Life will be held both in St. Scholastica Monastery and in northwest Arkansas. Participants will meet weekly in small groups from October through April, meet with a spiritual director twice monthly and spend time in daily prayer, scripture reading and journaling.

Cost is $560 plus the cost of twice monthly spiritual direction at $20 per session.

Ignatius Transposed! Retreat in Daily Life "transposes" the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius for the 21st century, according to the teachings of the great mystic and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Biweekly meetings will be held between Aug. 29 and May 1 in northwest Arkansas and possibly Fort Smith, and can also be attended through Zoom conferencing.

Participants will meet from 6:30-8:30 p.m. every other Tuesday evening, meet with a spiritual director once a month and participate in 30-45 minutes of daily prayer, scripture reading and journaling.

Cost is $480 plus $20 per month for spiritual direction.

Scholarships are available.

Call (479) 783-1135 or (479) 651-1616 or email retreats@stscho.org or anahas@me.com to register or for information on these retreats.

Religion Notes is published each Saturday as a free public service. All items must reach the Times Record, 3600 Wheeler Ave., by noon Wednesday of the week the item is to be published. Photographs submitted cannot be returned but may be picked up at the office the week after they are published. Photographs will be kept for six months. The street address of the church and the name and phone number of a contact person must accompany each item submitted, or it will not be published. Email submissions to speterson@swtimes.com.

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Religion notes 8.12.17 - Times Record

Id dreamed of being a nun since the age of 12, when I transformed from a caterpillar to a butterfly at the hands of Sister Helen Charles. I was a mess the day I entered her 6th gradean eleven year old misfit whod been bullied and beaten for being a tomboy. I walked with my head down, rarely made eye contact, spoke only when I had to. I didnt fit in anywhere and had no expectations things would change.

Sister Helen Charles, however, saw a spark inside and set out on a mission to kindle the flame. She called my mom and introduced her to a new idea they agreed to try. It was called positive reinforcement. Every time I did something right, they made a big fuss over it. I thought they were weird at first, going on about how athletic I was, how creative, how smart and trust-worthy.

But after a few weeks, an amazing thing happened. Their affirmations took root. I woke up one day and believed in myself. There was a fire inside me and I felt its heat. That day I decided to be a nun when I grew up. I was sure they had some kind of magic wand hidden in those folds of black serge and I wanted one. I wanted to do for other kids what Sister Helen Charles had done for me.

At the age of eighteen I entered the convent. I found my bliss in this spiritual boot camp. They scheduled our time in a way that met all my needs: equal parts of prayer, solitude, community and service. We were in training for the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience and there were rules galore. I obeyed the ones I agreed with and followed my own conscience in most situations.

I was introduced to the three teachers who influence my life to this day: Thomas Merton, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin . I steeped myself in their work, studied every word they wrote, took on their mantles of monasticism, activism, mysticism. I made contact with my inner divine, explored texts from Eastern traditions, committed myself as an agent of change, and saw the infinite in all things.

In my first Theology class, I struggled to understand the distinction between religion and faith. I wanted to hold on to my certainties, my catechetical beliefs, thinking thats all I needed, when our Jesuit professor was pushing us to evolve spiritually, to say aloud what we committed to.

Your religion is a set of beliefs that you inherit, he said. Your faith, your spirituality, is what you yourself create based upon your ultimate concerns and commitments. I suffered deep anxiety as I let go of certainty to enter into the mystery of my own faith-making. It took everything I had to lay my foundation, to discern what I valued most, to develop a language of personal authority, to proclaim that my faith is my commitment to justice, to peace, to community-building.

After two years of this deepening, transformative work and prayer, I was dismissed. At the end of a long day, I was taken to a basement parlor and told by my Novice Director that my parents would be there in a half an hour. Chapter has decided youre not to continue your novitiate. I froze, unable to speak, afraid to cry for fear of what might be set loose. She took my veil, then we sat in silence till we heard my parents being ushered into the room next door.

Ten years went by before I wrote and asked why. The letter was short, but stated that I didnt have a religious disposition because of my excessive and exclusive relationships. Memories of feeling like a misfit fired in every neuron. They didnt use the word gay or homosexual, but it was right there between their lines. You dont fit in here. Youll never fit in.

I spent many hours in therapy trying to heal from the rejection, but couldnt get past the pain. Finally, after twenty years, I asked the sister who was Provincial Director at the time of my dismissal, in charge of our Motherhouse of 400 sisters, to sit with me as I unwound the story in her presence. By now, she had rotated out of leadership and was teaching in a Syracuse Catholic high school.

We sat together in a parlor, knee to knee in hard-backed chairs, and she listened to my whole story, starting with sixth grade. I told her about the formula for bliss and how I organize my life into equal parts of prayer, service, solitude and community since I learned it in the Novitiate. I told her how many years I ran to the mailbox hoping that would be the day Id get the letter where they asked me to come back, that theyd made a terrible mistake.

I told her about coming out to a priest and being refused absolution unless I denounced my own gayness, and how grateful I was for that Theology class where I learned I could be a woman of faith without religion. I told her what it had been like to have no Plan B, no idea how to create a life I had not prepared forthat I went into social work, thinking that was closest to being a nun, but left it for social activism when I realized I wanted to be more like Gandhi than Mother Teresa.

I am out here alone, but I am living the charism of the Sisters of St. Joseph. I am lonely for community and so terribly sad that it worked out this way and I cant seem to get over it, I said. Im trying this last thing to see if a miracle might happen and my heart can find its peace. Thats all.

When I was done, she took my hand and said, Sister, will you forgive me for the role I played in this terrible injustice done to you on my watch?

It cost me nothing to forgive her. I did not blame her for anything. Once I said Yes, of course, she asked if I would forgive the entire congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet for this terrible injustice that was done to me by this community. Again, I did not blame them and said immediately, Yes, I forgive the entire community.

When these words left my lips, all heaven broke loose. I felt the release of a huge weight. I felt the fire again in my belly. I felt the surprise of an illuminating thought that has remained with me to this day: there is nothing to forgive. What happened, happened for me as much as to me.

I also felt gratitude that I hadnt felt in twenty years, because there was no room inside me to hold it. All the space that was taken up by rage, angst, humiliation, despair, shameall that space opened up for gratitude when the story shifted. I turned to Sr. Marian Rispski, in tears again but for a whole new reason, and said Thank you so much for letting me live a monastic life for two years. Thank you and the whole community for my spiritual underpinnings. Thank you for the foundation I needed to find my voice and offer my gifts.

Had they let me stay, this would be the beginning of my Jubilee Year, a grand celebration of fifty years as a Sister of St. Joseph. I attended two Jubilee celebrations this summer and felt mixed blessings at both of them. I longed to stand with all the Sisters as they renewed their vows and sang Sancte Joseph, and I was also grateful for my life of freedom.

The physicist Neils Bohr writes, Opposite a true statement is a false statement. But opposite a profound truth is another profound truth. That is the case here. When I spin the story to its true end, I feel deep gratitude for the ordeal that was grist for the masterpiece of my life. They let me go because I was an eagle and needed more room to fly. They knew I could not be silenced, obedient, true to any authority other than my own. They knew I was an activist down to my marrow and would not always be on the side of the official church. They really did see me.

And as I look back at my last fifty years, I see, too, that what Ive become would not have been possible as a Sister of St. Joseph.

I became a gay activist because I experienced such cruel homophobia I could not remain silent in the face of it. I made a year long peace pilgrimage around the world which exposed me to faith traditions I would have never known had I not stayed in the homes of Hindus, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis, Buddhists, Sikhs, Taoists and Wiccans. I am free to criticize the Catholic Church for its positions that put so many people at risk and in harms way. I have preached in hundreds of churches in dozens of countries and speak from the authority of my own experience.

My own spiritual practice is the center point of my life, and while I am not engaged with the Church, everything I do and am is rooted in my faith.. It does not matter if I believe in the God I grew up with. It does not matter if I am Catholic or not. What matters is that I am true to my own vows of authenticity, creativity and peace-making.

So its with odd and mixed feelings that I enter into this, my Jubilee Yeargrateful that I once heard my Novice Director Sister Elizabeth Thomas say, Once a CSJ, always a CSJ. I wont have any fancy reception, nor will I be preaching from the pulpit in a Catholic Church, but I thank my lucky stars that I have lived a life true to the fire in my own belly. Open the champagne! I celebrate these fifty years of being the Light I want to see in the world.

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Happy Jubilee to Me! - HuffPost

Its going to be about 80 degrees during orientation weekend and youll quickly regret overpacking.

Your dad might show off and take a big load of your stuff from the trunk through the front doors of your residence hall, perhaps down some stairs or up an elevator but the destination doesnt really matter in the end.

Wherever your stuff ends up, that space will become yours. So before you move in, get to know your home away from home.

Alliance

Originally constructed as an all-male dorm, Alliance House is currently one of the only all-female dorms on Gonzagas campus. Built in 1962, this dorm was initially erected as an experiment in foreign relations. Twenty international students were housed there each year along with 25 American upperclassmen, with the goal of educating international students on the American lifestyle. This experiment ended around 1966, when students expressed an interest in other dorms as to integrate themselves further into the Gonzaga community.

Catherine-Monica

Catherine-Monica (C/M) has been on GUs campus map since the Fall of 1962. Costing nearly $1 million to construct, C/M was initially built to increase the number of women Gonzaga could accommodate. Prior to this, GU rejected over 250 female applicants annually due to the lack of facilities. Now a coed dorm, C/M houses around 370 students each year.

The dormitory was named after two female saints. Saint Catherine of Alexandria is the patroness of students, teachers, librarians, and lawyers. Saint Monica of Hippo, mother of Saint Augustine, was the patroness of wives and abuse victims.

Nowadays, C/M is known as the social dorm of Gonzaga. Apart from an unspoken open-door policy, C/M is part of the annual C/MDeSmet football game, Bulldog Bowl, and the Midwest Block Prom.

DeSmet

Directly in the heart of Gonzagas campus rests the oldest dorm on campus, DeSmet Hall. Named for Fr. Pierre Jean DeSmet, the first Jesuit missionary to come to the Northwest, DeSmet Hall was built as a senior hall to provide housing and classroom facilities for a greater influx of students in 1923. That year, Gonzaga broke its own record by having a freshman class of more than 100 students. Housing 140 male students, DeSmet has and will continue to be a staple of the Gonzaga community.

Lincoln

Constructed in 1963, Lincoln House was named for President Abraham Lincoln. This dorm was originally adorned with a large mosaic of Lincolns head above the main door, which has since been removed due to deterioration. Lincoln House offers a small community of close and supportive residents.

Marian

Located two blocks off of central campus, Marian Hall was purchased in 2005 by the University. This dorm was originally used to house nuns, but is now used for students who want to engage with Gonzaga Outdoors. This outdoor-themed dormitory offers residents the chance to engage in adventure with their community. Primarily housing students who share a passion for outdoor recreation and environmental issues, Marian offers residents the chance to engage in regularly scheduled hall trips that focus on different outdoor experiences, such as hiking, skiing, and rafting.

Welch

Constructed in 1957, Welch Hall is another all-female dorm which was once all-male. This dorm was named after Patrick Welch, a prominent railroad builder who resided in Spokane for most of his life. After his death, his two daughters generously funded the construction of this building. Presently, this dorm houses around 150 female students. Located directly across from DeSmet Hall, Welch Hall is also a central staple of the Gonzaga campus.

Welch Hall is one of the only dorms that has an elevator, so students have a lot easier time moving in than the residents of other multiple storied dorms, such as DeSmet. Another benefit of living here is the smell of fresh-baked cookies on Wednesday nights, as the sandwich shop located on the first level of the building has a cookie event each week.

Coughlin

Constructed in 2009, Coughlin Hall houses roughly 330 first and second year students. The coed dorm has four floors plus a lobby. Being the main Learning Center on Gonzagas Campus, the dorm is lively and social, but courteous to those focused on their studies. The second, third and fifth floor accommodates those who want a quiet study room. The building is named after the Universitys 23rd president, Fr. Bernard J. Coughlin, S.J. who served from 1974 to 1996.

Crimont

The three-story coed dorm is located at 1321 N. Standard St. and mainly houses first year students. Named after Joseph Raphael Crimont, S.J., president to the University from 1900 to 1903, the first Crimont Hall was a large home located at 526 E. Sinto Ave. The second, and main hall, was opened in 1965. During the short time he was president, Crimont ruled with a bite the bullet kind of attitude, requiring military uniforms and parent signatures for those wishing to participate in intramural activities. One of his decisions was built into College Hall. Crimont expanded the administration building to include a gym, pool, and the students chapel. The gym has since been converted into the Magnuson Theatre, while the pool has since been removed after being closed for health reasons.

Chardin

Named after philosopher, theologian, geologist Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, Chardin House accommodates about 50 first- and second-year students. Chardin served in the French army during WWI, was member of an expedition in China that led to the discovery of the Peking Man, a subspecies of Homo Erectus, and wrote several works that were published and became famous after his death in 1955. He was a man of great personal charm, as is Chardin House. The three-floor coed dorm has common areas on each floor.

Cushing

Designed just like Crimont and located at 428 E. Sharp Ave. the three-story dorm houses first and second-year students in a suite style fashion. The coed hall was named after Cardinal Richard Cushing. He was known for his resilience in creating facilities for education, the sick, and the poor.

Madonna

Madonna Hall has three floors with a prime location across the street from the Hemmingson Center and Mulligan Field. Located at 1020 N. Cincinnati St., Madonna Hall houses around 120 freshman students. Never did anyone think it would house a serial killer. About 40 years ago, a couple students met Ted Bundy at a party and let him crash in their dorm room for a few days while he checked out Gonzagas law school. According to associate professor of business law Don Hackney, The room is all the way to the left, to the north, facing west. The story was told to him by his wifes friend, who let Bundy stay in his dorm. Hackney uses it as a warning to his female students to not get into a car with someone you dont know, after a girl hitched a ride from Bundy to Pullman. He believes the only reason she made it there alive was because people knew his name and car.

Roncalli

One of the all-male halls, Roncalli House is located at 711 E. Boone Ave. Though second-year students are eligible to apply, it predominately houses freshmen. It has three floors plus a basement, with a corridor style layout. Roncalli House was name after Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, better known as Pope John XXIII. He was unexpectedly elected and thought to become a caretaker pope, but he set in motion major church reforms.

Molly Gianerelli and Marissa Kneisel are a staff writers.

Continue reading here:
Every dorm has a story - Bulletin

Times Record staff

Transitional pastor named

Central Presbyterian Church announces that the honorably retired Rev. Rita Wilson will serve as transitional pastor while the congregation searches for a permanent pastor. Wilson joined Central in 1971 and served as director of Christian education for seven years. She retired in 2015 after 37 years of active service.

St. Scholastica offers several retreats

St. Scholastica Retreat Center, 1205 S. Albert Pike, will offer a weekend retreat Sept. 22-24 titled "Seven Sacred Pauses." Using themes drawn from Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr's book, "Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully" and Velma Frye's accompanying CD, "Seven Sacred Pauses: Singing Mindfully," the presenters will lead participants into the contemplative practice of deep listening.

Cost is $245. A $50 nonrefundable, nontransferable deposit is required at time of registration. Lodging and meals are included.

Additionally, the center will offer two ways to practice the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Retreat in Daily Life will be held both in St. Scholastica Monastery and in northwest Arkansas. Participants will meet weekly in small groups from October through April, meet with a spiritual director twice monthly and spend time in daily prayer, scripture reading, and journaling.

Cost is $560 plus the cost of twice monthly spiritual direction at $20 per session.

Ignatius Transposed! Retreat in Daily Life "transposes" the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius for the 21st century, according to the teachings of the great mystic and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Biweekly meetings will be held between Aug. 29 and May 1 in northwest Arkansas and possibly Fort Smith, and can also be attended through Zoom conferencing.

Participants will meet from 6:30-8:30 p.m. every other Tuesday evening, meet with a spiritual director once a month and participate in 30-45 minutes daily of prayer, scripture reading and journaling.

Cost is $480 plus $20 per month for spiritual direction.

Scholarships are available.

Call (479) 783-1135 or (479) 651-1616 or email retreats@stscho.org or anahas@me.com to register or for information on these retreats.

Religion Notes is published each Saturday as a free public service. All items must reach the Times Record, 3600 Wheeler Ave., by noon Wednesday of the week the item is to be published. Photographs submitted cannot be returned but may be picked up at the office the week after they are published. Photographs will be kept for six months. The street address of the church and the name and phone number of a contact person must accompany each item submitted, or it will not be published. Email submissions to speterson@swtimes.com.

Originally posted here:
Religion notes 8.5.17 - Times Record

Primacy and death: The US president promotes America First policies, but the presidents of Syria and Russia, Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin also promote their interests

LAFAYETTE, INDIANA: Donald Trump's foreign policy is bereft of any overarching debate over the urgent threats confronting the United States and the entire global system. The most serious threats, easily identifiable, include war, terrorism and genocide. To counter such complex threats, whether as Americans or "world citizens, its vital to bear in mind that these two identifications overlap and are mutually reinforcing.

Taking a narrow "America First" stance on terrorism ignores the intersecting nature of major terrorist groups and organizations, quickly leading to unstable situations. For example, Trump's needlessly announced preference for certain Sunni dictatorships over Shiite dictatorships, or for selected Sunni dictatorships like Saudi Arabia over other Sunnis like Qatar, introduces more instability in the Middle East. If US foreign policy were conceptualized, originally, from a broadly system-wide perspective rather than from a self-defeating stance of America First, Washington could establish a single plausible criterion of support and intervention. Such an unwavering standard would benefit the US and its allies, while simultaneously countering the core strategic interests of relevant adversaries.

The Trump administration recently signed a southern Syria ceasefire agreement with Russia, underscoring a particularly visceral America First strategy for dealing with Damascus. Among other liabilities, this agreement perpetuates Iran's unhelpful presence in Syria. Taken together with Trump's soon-to-be expected endorsement of the Allen Plan for Palestinian statehood a plan, that would inter alia, replace Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley with UN forces the new ceasefire calls upon Moscow to secure Israel's border with Syria, undermining regional order in general and Israel in particular.

The president and his counselors must cope with such intersecting perils that require far more than "common sense." Many might ask, what would a suitably more thoughtful American foreign policy actually look like. Answers depend on a myriad of individual human needs and expectations. Demonstrably global elucidation, either intellectually or "operationally," is not easy.

Determinative factors include aloneness, not fully belonging to a specific tribe, nation or faith, and the primal human fear of simply "not being. Individual fear of death can contribute to collective violence, yet the insight also reveals an overlooked opportunity for widening human empathy.

Only a serious attempt to understand an imperative global oneness can save the United States from irremediable hazards. Significantly, Trump's America First orientation represents the opposite of this sorely needed global effort and could undermine any remaining chances for meaningful safety. As for the planet's physical environment, Trump is indifferent to climate change studies and the global ecology. US withdrawal from the Paris accord on climate change is a retrograde abrogation that undermines US and global interests while placing billions of people on an unalterable trajectory of human declension.

Instead, national security is about collective human growth and species survival. In global politics, true remediation requires sincere depth of analytic thought and a fully imaginative and broadly global set of policy understandings. Power over death is the most eagerly sought-after form of power in world politics. Perhaps this is why science and technology notwithstanding, cruelty still reigns throughout the world unreformed, undimmed and proudly undiminished. Historically, a juxtaposition of healing and murder is not without precedent. In Syria, dictator Bashar al-Assad is a trained ophthalmologist. During the Holocaust, death camp gassings were identified as a "medical matter," supervised by physicians.

More than many might care to admit, education and enlightenment have had precious little tangible bearing on the "human condition." Prima facie, too, steadily expanding technologies of mega-destruction have done little to transform people into more responsible stewards of this endangered planet. Instead, with unhindered arrogance, whole nations continue to revel in virtually every conceivable form of mass neglect and violence. Most of the time, this ominously primal immersion is advanced as some sort of immutably zero-sum or us-versus-them struggle for domination.

Far too many often take delight in observing the sufferings of others. The specific German term for experiencing such twisted pleasure is schadenfreude. To what extent, if any, is this markedly venal quality related to our steadily-diminishing prospects for building modern global civilizations upon aptly resurrected premises of human oneness? To what extent, if any, does this corrosive trait derive from human death fear? a crucial question for rational formulation of American foreign policy and for certain corollary obligations of global consciousness.

Sigmund Freud argued that the human unconscious behaves as if it were immortal. Still, however widely disregarded, an expanded acceptance of personal mortality may represent the last best chance for the United States to endure as an enviable nation. This represents the very opposite of America First and the ongoing association of immortality with inflicting grave harms upon others.

Viable forms of wider cooperation represent the only credible path toward moving beyond schadenfreude. Such core orientations are not mutually exclusive, but rather mutually reinforcing. Death "happens" to us all, but acceptance is more than most humans can bear. At times, it is almost as if dying had somehow been reserved exclusively for "others."

Most of us do not choose when we should die. Still, we can choose to recognize our common fate, and thereby our unbreakable interdependence. This powerful intellectual recognition could carry with it an equally significant global promise.

Ironically, regardless of divergent views on what actually happens after personal death, the basic mortality shared by all could represent a chance for global coexistence. This requires the difficult leap from acknowledging a shared common fate to actually "operationalizing" more generalized feelings of needed empathy and caring. Across an entire planet, we can care for one another as humans, but only after accepting that the indisputable judgment of a resolutely common fate will not be waived by palpable harms deliberately inflicted upon "others" through war, terror and genocide. Always, our just wars, counterterrorism conflicts and anti-genocide programs must be fought as intricate contests of mind over mind and not just narrowly tactical struggles of mind over matter.

Ultimately, only a dual awareness of death as our common human destination and the associated futility of sacrificial violence can offer an accessible defense against the Islamic State, North Korea, Russia, Iran and other adversaries in the global "state of nature." This "natural" or structural condition of anarchy was well known to the founding fathers of the United States, and only this difficult awareness can relieve an otherwise incessant Hobbesian war of "all against all." Significantly, US advisers H.R. McMaster and Gary D. Cohn articulated a "Trump Doctrine" premised on fully Hobbesian perspectives: "President Trump has a clear-eyed outlook that the world is not a `global community,' but an arena where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage." They then added as a concessionary coda: "Rather than deny this elemental nature of international affairs, we embrace it."

American democracy was founded upon authentic learning and not flippantly corrosive clichs or abundantly empty witticisms. Human death fear has much to do with a better understanding of enemies. Reciprocally, only a people who can feel deeply within itself the unalterable fate and suffering of a broader global population can embrace genuine compassion and thereby reject collective violence.

America can never be truly "first" as long as its president insists upon achieving such misconceived status at the unavoidable expense of others. Inevitably, the Trump administration must recognize that American and global survival remain not only bewilderingly complicated, but also mutually interdependent and inextricably intertwined.

Global politics are never a "zero-sum" game or a furiously merciless contest wherein one country's expected gain requires another's loss. Apropos of French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's relevant wisdom, no single player in this grievously complex global system can expect to survive and prosper except "with and by all the others with itself." For President Donald Trump, there is still time for lucidity, but not a great deal of time.

See the original post:
What Trump's Foreign Policy Ignores - YaleGlobal Online

Times Record staff

Transitional pastor named

Central Presbyterian Church announces that the honorably retired Rev. Rita Wilson will serve as transitional pastor while the congregation searches for a permanent pastor. Wilson joined Central in 1971 and served as director of Christian education for seven years. She retired in 2015 after 37 years of active service.

St. Scholastica offers several retreats

St. Scholastica Retreat Center, 1205 S. Albert Pike, will offer a weekend retreat Sept. 22-24 titled "Seven Sacred Pauses." Using themes drawn from Sr. Macrina Wiederkehr's book, "Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully" and Velma Frye's accompanying CD, "Seven Sacred Pauses: Singing Mindfully," the presenters will lead participants into the contemplative practice of deep listening.

Cost is $245. A $50 nonrefundable, nontransferable deposit is required at time of registration. Lodging and meals are included.

Additionally, the center will offer two ways to practice the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius.

Retreat in Daily Life will be held both in St. Scholastica Monastery and in northwest Arkansas. Participants will meet weekly in small groups from October through April, meet with a spiritual director twice monthly and spend time in daily prayer, scripture reading, and journaling.

Cost is $560 plus the cost of twice monthly spiritual direction at $20 per session.

Ignatius Transposed! Retreat in Daily Life "transposes" the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius for the 21st century, according to the teachings of the great mystic and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Biweekly meetings will be held between Aug. 29 and May 1 in northwest Arkansas and possibly Fort Smith, and can also be attended through Zoom conferencing.

Participants will meet from 6:30-8:30 p.m. every other Tuesday evening, meet with a spiritual director once a month and participate in 30-45 minutes daily of prayer, scripture reading and journaling.

Cost is $480 plus $20 per month for spiritual direction.

Scholarships are available.

Call (479) 783-1135 or (479) 651-1616 or email retreats@stscho.org or anahas@me.com to register or for information on these retreats.

Religion Notes is published each Saturday as a free public service. All items must reach the Times Record, 3600 Wheeler Ave., by noon Wednesday of the week the item is to be published. Photographs submitted cannot be returned but may be picked up at the office the week after they are published. Photographs will be kept for six months. The street address of the church and the name and phone number of a contact person must accompany each item submitted, or it will not be published. Email submissions to speterson@swtimes.com.

See the article here:
Religion notes 8.5.17 - Entertainment & Life - Arkansas News ... - Arkansas News