2014-15 Events

Alumni Seminar Series

One of the many benefits of being Seattle University alumni is the opportunity to continue your education through such programs as the Alumni Seminar Series.  The Alumni Seminar Series unites faculty and alumni around topics they are passionate about. This fall the Alumni Seminar Series focuses on the topic, “Pope Francis and the Future of the Church.”

The seminar will meet for six sessions beginning October 7 to read and discuss the Pope’s biography, writings, interviews and recent letters to the world and the Church.  The group will also focus on the first Synod of Bishops that will meet with Pope Francis this fall.  

Faculty presenters include Patrick Howell, S.J., Catherine Punsalan, Fr. Michael Raschko, David Leigh, S.J., and others.


Conversations on Conversations

Featuring Fr. Howell, SJ and Connie Cantor on Jesuit Mission Integration

October 27, 2014

Fr. Howell, editor of Conversations magazine, and Connie Cantor, CFO, Seattle University, discuss mission integration and financial stewardship at Jesuit universities in light of the new issue.


Theology and Gender Equality: Models of Renewal Since Vatican II

Featuring Lisa Sowle Cahill | Anne O'Hara Graff Lecture

November 6, 2014: 

The Ann O'Hara Graff Lecture Series honors the memory of Theology and Religious Studies Professor Ann O’Hara Graff, known for her commitment to the vitality of the Church, the role of women in Catholicism, and diversity issues. The series is sponsored annually by the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. Cahill received her Ph.D. from University of Chicago Divinity School and is the recipient of 11 honorary degrees. A prolific writer and scholar, she most recently published Global Justice, Christology and Christian Ethics (Cambridge, 2013). A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she is a past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and the Society of Christian Ethics.


Theology on Tap!

November 12, 2014: Sr. Maria Giovanni Discusses the Saints

November 19, 2014: St. Francis and St. Dominick: Models of the New Evangelization


Pope Francis: The Reform Pope - Can it last?

Featuring Fr. Pat Howell, SJ, ICTC Distinguished Professor in Residence

March 5, 2015

Pope Francis continues to surprise his own Catholic Church as well as the rest of the world. People warm to his frank openness and his embrace of a simple lifestyle. He says that the Church has been too narcissistic, too self-referential and concerned about itself. He has set about a comprehensive reform of the Church. Can it happen? Will it last? Fr. Patrick Howell, S.J., is the co-founder of the School of Theology and Ministry and continues to teach there. He also gives public lectures throughout the city, many focused on Pope Francis. 


What is Good Catholic Sex?

March 11, 2015

An enlivening conversation of Catholic sexual ethics, this event is a panel discussion hosted by Jodi O’Brien, PhD, Wismer Professor for Gender and Diversity, featuring panelists Rev. Mike Raschko, Michael Jaycox, PhD, and Mary Kay Brennan, MSW. This event centers the question of whether sexuality always be a point of contention in the Church. Panelists lead a discussion outlining Catholic sexual teachings, the histories of those teachings, the developments of the recent Synod on the Family and the possibilities for interpretation in the future with regard to sexuality and gender. Co-sponsored by Wismer Office/Professorship.


Ignatius and Zen: Spiritual Exercises with Ruben Habito

April 10, 2015

Ruben L.F. Habito is a former Jesuit priest turned master practicing in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Zen. Habito has been a pioneer, both in practice and theory, of the interrelation and mutual illumination between the Spiritual Exercises and Zen meditation. This talk is a rare dialogue between these two venerable practices. Co-sponsored by Ecosangha.


Synod on the Family: Global Perspectives

May 14, 2015

Panel with Jeanette Rodriguez, PhD, Michael Jaycox, PhD, and Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos, PhD. Sponsored by the Sponsored by the Robert D. O'Brien Chair, Patricia Wismer Professor, the Albers School of Business and Economics and the Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture. 


Our Global Problem: Human Trafficking from a Philippine Perspective

Featuring Sr. Mary John Mananzan, O.S.B

May 18, 2015

This is a public forum event featuring a talk from notable Filipina feminist activist, Sr. Mary John Mananzan, O.S.B. This gathering also includes representatives and activists from Seattle-based community organizations with space for discussion of Seattle University's place in the issue of human trafficking. Co-sponsored by: Women and Gender Studies Department, Wismer Office/Professorship, Center for Global Justice, Center for the Study of Justice in Society, Criminal Justice Department, School of Theology and Ministry, Gabriela Seattle, The Filipino Community of Seattle.


Constantinople and D.C.: The Virgin Mary in Battle 

Featuring Dorian Llewelyn, SJ

May 20, 2015

From the third century, Christians have looked to the mother of Jesus seeking protection and invoked her not only as a maternal figure of peace but also as a warrior and defender in religious, cultural and military conflicts. Underneath our contemporary evocations of Mary lie surprising ancient roots. Father Llywelyn holds degrees in English and theology from universities in the United Kingdom, Spain and the United States. He has lived and taught in eight different countries in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wales and has taught both there and at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, where he is director of the Catholic Studies program and associate professor of theology. 


Film Screening of Monsignor

May 20, 2015

In honor of the beatification of Oscar Romero. Co-sponsored by Campus Ministry.


Our Global Problem: Human Trafficking from a Philippine Perspective

May 18, 2015

This is a public forum event featuring a talk from notable Filipina feminist activist, Sr. Mary John Mananzan, O.S.B.. This gathering also includes representatives and activists from Seattle-based community organizations with space for discussion of Seattle University's place in the issue of human trafficking.

Sponsored by: Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, Center for Global Justice, Wismer Center for Gender and Diversity, Center for the Study of Justice in Society, Women and Gender Studies Department of Seattle University, Criminal Justice Department of Seattle University, Gabriela Seattle, The Filipino Community of Seattle


Think Globally, Act Locally: Pope Francis' Invitation to the Whole People of God

April 23, 2015

In his first words as pope, the Argentinian Jorge Bergoglio joked that the cardinals had to go to the ends of the earth to find Rome a bishop. In that one line, Pope Francis signaled his vision of a global church whose mission is lived out in local communities—whether that be Rome, Manila, Lagos, or Seattle. In this final segment of the 2014-15 Catholic Heritage Lecture Series, The Church Pope Francis Invites Us to Build, keynote speaker Edward Hahnenberg, PhD, explores how Pope Francis’ hope for a “poor church, for the poor,” demands consultation, collaboration, and commitment on the part of all those “missionary disciples”—bishops, clergy, and laity—who together constitute the local church.

Panelists Sr. Linda Haydock, SNJM, and Joe Orlando, EdD, continue a dialogue on what it means to view the Church as the people of God, a human embodiment of the Gospel that spans an array of cultures and classes.

Sponsored by: Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture

 


Ignatius and Zen: Spiritual Exercises

April 10, 2015

Habito has been a pioneer, both in practice and theory, of the interrelation and mutual illumination between the Spiritual Exercises and Zen meditation. This talk is a rare dialogue between these two venerable practices.

Ruben L.F. Habito is a former Jesuit priest turned master practicing in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Zen.

Sponsored by: Ecosangha, Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture


Field Hospital on the Border(s): A Church in Kinship with Migrants

February 19, 2015

This is the second of the 2014-15 Catholic Heritage Lecture Series, The Church Pope Francis Invites Us to Build, centering how Pope Francis has offered a compelling model of church as “field hospital,” calling Catholics to engage those who suffer wherever they may be found. Keynote speaker Kristen Heyer, PhD, examines this model, one which calls Catholics to engage not only with personal issues but with social issues as well, particularly the exploitation, violence and family separation faced by migrants in America.

Panelists Mark Potter, PhD, and Patty Repikoff, DMin, explore how local faith-based and community organizations—specifically the Kino Border Initiative and ministry to Latino communities on the eastside of Seattle—serve as “field hospitals” for migrants in Washington and California.

Sponsored by: Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture