Campus Ministry Newsletter
November 2015
November is a time for remembering. At the beginning of the month the Catholic Church celebrates All Soul's Day. One of my favorite celebrations for remembering those who have died is found in the Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos. When I lived in Seattle my wife worked at a parish with a large Latino population who introduced us to the holiday. Now each year my family creates an altar in our home with photos, memorabilia and foods that remind us of our loved ones who have died. Then in the evening we gather to share food and tell stories to kindle their memories in our hearts.
November also provides us with the space to gather with loved ones to celebrate Thanksgiving. As we gather with our families and friends let us truly give thanks for the abundance in our lives, our loved ones, our Loyola family and the many gifts we receive. May this time of gratitudes also serve as a touchstone calling us to be mindful of those whose tables are empty, who hunger for justice and those who long for companionship.
May this month provide us with space to cultivate gratitude, nurture relationships, examine our relationships with God and live into our call to be persons for and with others.
Peace & blessings,
Seán Bray
Up and Coming Events
EVENSONG
Please join us for Evensong on Thursdays at 5 PM in Alumni Chapel. Evensong is a beautiful evening of prayer, song, and student-led reflection. Pizza & fellowship follow in Cohn Hall 133. Our November Evensong Presiders will be:
Thursday, November 12th: Juliana Neves (‘18)
Thursday, November 19th: Drew Belfield (Graduate Student)
SITTING WALKING PLAYING RETREAT Nov 13th
Join us for our first inter-campus, interfaith retreat on November 13th from 1-5 PM. The retreat will take place at the Loyola FAC & Notre Dame Interfaith Space. This experience includes sitting meditation, walking meditation, and InterPlay. InterPlay is a group creative practice that involves easy, fun forms of movement, stillness, storytelling, and music-making. It’s an art form, a spiritual practice for some, and a means of community-building grounded in improvisation and play. The retreat is open to students and non-students from each campus community. Registration is free: tinyurl.com/sit-walk-play For more info or questions contact Elise Gower (elgower@loyola.edu)
SpiritualiTEA: Nov 18th
Our next Spiritualitea will be on November 18th at 8 PM in Fava Chapel. We'll explore the practice of Taize with Graham Golden, O. Praem. Taize is an ecumenical scripture-based service begun in France in a community dedicated to peace, prayer, and reconciliation in the world. Taize provides a way to pray together which spans theological and language differences, through sitting in silence & shared songs. The founder, Brother Roger, is quoted as saying, "Words can so often divide us, but in the simplicity of song and silence we find that we can meet in trust at the heart." Save the date for our final Spiritualitea of the semester on December 2nd.
Commemoration of the El Salvador martyrs
Hunger Banquet
Chosen Generation Gospel Choir Concert
save the date
SOUP WITH SUBSTANCE
Beginning in December, Campus Ministry will begin hosting Soup with Substance. This program offers students the opportunity to discuss a wide variety of social justice issues. Each month, we will choose a different area to focus on and will invite students, faculty, staff and community partners to share in the conversation. On Wednesday, December 2nd, we will start our Soup with Substance series by discussing the topic of refugees.
CRS FAir Trade Sale
Wednesday, December 2 and Thursday, December 3 from 4 to 7 pm in Boulder Atrium
"Get your Christmas shopping done early at a CRS's Fair Trade Sale! This year's sale will feature a wide variety of items, ranging from winter accessories to Christmas ornaments to home decor. Practice ethical purchasing and support sustainable development with CRS." For more info contact Andrew Belfield
Lessons & Carols
Adoration
Exciting New opportunity
JUSTICE WALKING
"Justice Walking” explores the social implications of faith and what it means to respond with compassion, live with integrity, and ask challenging questions. Key to this process are the relationships created within each Justice Walking community and those they encounter at the margins of our society. Through prayer, retreats, reading, dialogue, and encounters, studentsStudents who participate in this program will broaden their circle of awareness and expose their lives to the compassionate spirit of gospel justice through the following:
- group sessions for dialogue and prayerful reflection
- justice resources
- social service agency partnership
- justice immersion pilgrimage
- two retreats
- community engagement and dialogue
If interested in Justice Walking, please contact Elise Gower by Monday, December 7 . Information and logistics will be shared prior to break.
ON GOING CAMPUS MINISTRY PROGRAMS
Koinonia
Campus Ministry's Koinonia groups are student led faith-based discussion groups that meet weekly for prayer and discussion. Undergraduate students are welcome to join a group at any point during the semester. For more information email: Koinonia@loyola.edu
St. ALPHONSUS DINNER PROGRAM
The St. Alphonsus Dinner program welcomes groups of students of all class years for an evening of contemplative conversation over a delicious home-cooked meal every Tuesday! Topics of conversation include discernment, getting involved, your favorite things about our University, reflection over the past years here, and looking ahead to life after Loyola. For more info or schedule a group please contact Gigi Conger at ggconger@loyola.edu or Michael DiBianca at msdibianca@loyola.edu If you attended one of our dinners please help us in making our program better by taking a brief survey below
Catholic Social Teaching of the Month: Option for & with the Poor and Vulnerable
In November, the Catholic Social Teaching we will be focusing on is Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, this principle calls to mind the well being of our community members who are suffering from socioeconomic hardship, or are vulnerable to injustice and mistreatment. This teaching calls us to empower our suffering brothers and sisters, and put their needs before our own.
Issues of Injustice related to Option for the Poor and Vulnerable: poverty awareness, homelessness, human trafficking, child abuse, mental and physical health
Sunday Mass Schedule during the Academic Year (2015-16)
- 11:00 a.m. in Alumni Chapel
- 6:00 p.m. in Alumni Chapel
- 8:00 p.m. in Fava Chapel (Hammerman)
- 10:00 p.m. in Hopkins Court
Weekday Mass & Liturgy Schedule during the Academic Year
- 12:10 p.m.: Daily Mass in Alumni Chapel
- 5 p.m. Every Thursday: Evensong (Evening Prayer) in Alumni Chapel | This week's presider: Patrick O'Connor class of 2016
- The Sacrament of Reconciliation is celebrated each day (Mon. – Fri.) before the 12:10 p.m. Daily Mass
What's Been Happening
Syrian Refugee Crisis Campaign
To reflect on the life and dignity of the human person, Campus Ministry hosted tables on the quad that invited students to remove their shoes. In an effort to be in solidarity with what thousands of Syrian Refugees are currently facing, over 60 students chose to take part in this activity. Many students shared that walking barefoot throughout the day gave them the opportunity to reflect on the Crisis and raise awareness about what is really going on in Syria.
Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice
Messina Retreat
What are students saying about Messina?
"As a person struggling to connect with my faith, the Messina retreat was incredibly helpful. The retreat provided me with an introduction to basic Ignatian spirituality and concrete practices to live out these ideas through reflection, meditation, discernment and prayer. It allowed me to feel connected to my faith in a way that I have so desperately been desiring. It was truly some of the best couple of days I have had in a long time and I am so grateful to have participated in the Messina retreat." - Student Retreatant 2015
"I had never been on a Jesuit retreat before, so everything was new to me. I really enjoyed the basic meditation, group prayers, and guided personal reflection. After the Messina retreat, I was able to reevaluate how I live and make important decisions about how to balance my day-to-day life." - Student Retreatant 2015
Engage On CAMPUS
Conversations in Grey: Drop-In Conversations about Race in Baltimore
Five conversations will take place each week at various locations around campus. For more information please visit the webpage
Migration Justice: Beyond Rhetoric
Rev. Joe Muth will moderate a panel of students and community members who will discuss their personal connections to migration justice. Panelists include Malaika Wanjihia, Chijioke Oranye, Maureen Sweeney and Loyola student Carlos Amador.
Jesuit universities are called to be of service at the frontiers, and Jesuits have identified migration as a key focus. As the Loyola community, how may we deepen our understanding in order to respond to this call? How may we each contribute, going forward? Join us for 2015 Loyola Commitment to Justice Event Lecture. Rev. Joe Muth will moderate a panel of students and community members who will discuss their personal connections to migration justice. Panelists include Malaika Wanjihia, Chijioke Oranye, Maureen Sweeney and Loyola student Carlos Amador. For more information visit the Messina website.
Leadership Week
This week-long initiative celebrates and promotes leadership within the Loyola community through discussions, presentations, and information sessions.
Are You a Sophomore and Looking for a Retreat? Check out RoadTrip
Newsletters from other offices
COMING to a CAMPUS NEAR YOU
Movies with Meaning
Next semester, Campus Ministry will be leading the campus community in dialogue about issues of social justice in pop culture. Please send your suggestions for films, TV shows, music, and other media to discuss to Andrew Belfield
Interfaith Advisory Board
As we close the semester, Campus Ministry will be launching its Interfaith Advisory Board. This board will be composed of undergraduate and graduate student leaders, faculty, and administrators. The board will serve as a point-of-reference for interfaith visioning, programming and communication. By encouraging interfaith dialogue and community, this board will strive to strengthen Loyola's value and commitment to diversity and inclusion. Contact Elise Gower with questions.
FAITH & JUSTICE COHORT
We are excited to offer "Crossing Borders," a small group faith and justice cohort which will utilize prayer, reading, reflection, and discussion to explore how immigration has reshaped the cultural, economic, and political landscape of the planet.
More information on Crossing Borders, including sign-up information, will be available next semester. Contact Elise Gower with questions.
Faith & Justice Resources
PRAY AS YOU GO
Downlaod this app!! Pray As You Go is a daily prayer session, designed for use on your phone, iPad or computer, to help you pray whenever you find time, but particularly while traveling to and from work, study, the gym, etc.
A new prayer session is produced every day of the working week and one session for the weekend. It is not a 'Thought for the Day', a sermon or a bible-study, but rather a framework for your own prayer. Each session is between 10 and 13 minutes and combines music, scripture and some questions for reflection.
Pray As You Go aims to help you to:
- become more aware of God's presence in your life
- listen to and reflect on God's word
- grow in your relationship with God
Reflection Questions
How does your faith affect the way you feel or think about issues of racism and racial justice?
How are you opening yourself up to encountering the experiences of others?
When and how have you challenged racism? What happened and what did you learn about yourself and/or others?
When and how have you failed to challenge racism? What happened and what did you learn about yourself and/or others?
If you are looking for places and people to have conversations about race please consider attending a Conversation in Grey session on campus.
WHATS SO GREAT ABOUT EVENSONG
Juliana share's her reflections on Evensong. Check out her blog: http://ow.ly/UkZgl
Cultivating Gratitude
- Take 5 minutes in your life every day
- List all the blessings in your life: people, abilities, acts of kindness, privileges, etc...
- Ask God to reveal to you one person for whom you should perform an act of kindness that day as a concrete expression of your gratitude.
- Act accordingly
Happy Birthday Dorothy Day! Learn more about her life & vocation.
POST GRADUATE SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
Joseph A. O'Hare, S.J. Post Graduate Writing Fellowship
ACE Teaching Fellows
The three pillars of ACE—teacher formation, community, and spiritual growth—inform, inspire, and mobilize ACE teachers throughout their time in the program and beyond.
Bon Secours Volunteers
A Call for Justice
Pass Emergency Funding for Refugee Crisis
So far this year, over 644,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe by sea and more than 3,100 people have perished in the Mediterranean in an attempt to reach safety. Now is the time for the U.S. to act. Urge Congress to support critical humanitarian assistance funding by passing S.2145
Go to http://cqrcengage.com/jesuit/app/write-a-letter?3&engagementId=139633
Ask Congress to Support More Humane Immigration Policies
Let's build on Pope Francis' message to Congress by urging Congress to act on immigration reform! By clicking the link below you can send a message to your Senators and Representative asking them to support the following policy principles:
• A path to citizenship that ensures that all undocumented immigrants have access to full rights;
• A legal employment structure that protects both migrant.
To act now go to: http://ignatiansolidarity.net/immigration-resources/