WEBINAR | RELIGIOUS LIFE IN AN EVOLVING WORLD

Most of the theological and spiritual tradition that forms us as religious is based on a classical view of a static universe. As science reveals more about the world God created, we have the opportunity to deepen our understanding of God, ourselves, and the reality around us. The focus of this webinar is cosmology and how this new knowledge and consciousness informs the vowed life, lived in communion and for mission.

We will discuss insights from cosmology and its significance for Catholic faith, spirituality, and religious life. Topics will include an exploration of ecological themes in Christian scripture and tradition, the challenge and gift of evolution, the unique role of the human and reading creation as the first book of revelation. 

Linda Gibler
Overwhelmed by the first Hubble Deep Field picture, Linda, a Dominican Sister of Houston, became enchanted with the magnificence of the Universe and intrigued by the image’s significance for a Catholic understanding of God. In 1999, she began formal study of cosmology at the California Institute of Integral Studies where she completed a MA then a PhD in Philosophy and Religion with an emphasis in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Before her cosmic epiphany, Linda was the director of social ministry for a parish in Houston where she coordinated direct services, social outreach, and social justice programs and served on a hospital medical ethics board. Linda is the associate academic dean of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio and an adjunct professor for the Loyola Institute for Ministry. Her book, From the Beginning to Baptism: Scientific and Sacred Stories of Water, Oil, and Fire was published in March 2010 by Liturgical Press.

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WEBINAR | DIVINE MYSTERY AT THE HEART OF THE COSMOS

This webinar will weave the Universe Story and the Paschal Mystery using art, poetry and theological reflection. The Great Flaring Forth of the universe is an invitation to contemplate how Divine Mystery enfolds the cosmos. On Earth Day and during the Easter Season, participants in this webinar will ponder and celebrate the mysteries of Deep Incarnation, Kenosis, Deep Resurrection and the Cosmic Story.

Linda Neil, SCJ, is a member of the Albany Province of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondolet.  An experienced educator who holds Masters’ degrees in Earth Literacy and in Religious Studies, Linda has presented programs created to inform minds, engage hearts, fire passion for transformation, and celebrate our relationship with the Earth Community in a variety of retreat centers and other venues.

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WEBINAR | KINDLING THE ENERGIES OF LOVE

We stand at an evolutionary juncture that is fostered by a deep yearning to be co-creators of the Universe. Led by the energies of that first primordial fire of the Divine, we are in communion with the Universe, Earth, and God. We strive, as sexual beings, to evolve and engage in life, seeking deeper understanding, interconnectivity and love. In this webinar, participants will explore how these energies within ourselves and beyond have evolved from that first fire that drove evolution. We will explore what God has intended for us all along.

“Some day after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity, we will harness for God the energies of love, and then, for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.” Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Essay: The Evolution of Chastity, 1934.

Maco Cassetta, CND, is a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame, a psychotherapist, and spiritual mentor. Based in New York, she is Director of Formation for her congregation.

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WEBINAR | WEBINAR: POSADAS, PARRANDAS, PASTORALES: PERFORMING RESISTANT HOPE IN TROUBLED TIMES

As Church, we have put the “waiting” back into Advent through catechetical efforts to counteract a consumer-driven Christmas season. The amount of time that is dedicated to the joyous news of the Incarnation, however, is disproportionately small in comparison to the overwhelming gracious mystery of God-among-us. The unfolding of liturgical time after Epiphany is compacted and we return swiftly to “ordinary time.” This webinar looks to popular religious practices of the season as sources for theologizing resistant hope in troubled times. The wisdom traditioned through these performative texts, often rooted in scripture, and their ways of structuring time and space before and after Christmas, offer opportunities to imagine new ways of being and acting. With eschatological and cosmological implications, these celebrations of life amidst struggle affirm the good news, and respond to the gift of the Incarnation.

Carmen Nanko-Fernandez, Ph.D.
Professor of Hispanic Theology and Ministry, Catholic Theological Union at Chicago.

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WEBINAR | THE COSMIC PASCHAL MYSTERY

Who of us can doubt that we are all glaringly living the paschal mystery? Though the interconnecting consequences of Climate Change, COVID, systemic racism and pervasive violence seem to thrust DYING into the forefront, our faith demands from us the understanding that BIRTH and RESURRECTION are integral elements of the cycle. This session explores how that faith flows from the greater context of the Cosmic Paschal Mystery. 

Webinar with Sharon Zayoc, OP

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Webinar | Advent Joy: Finding the Rising Star During Uncertain Times

Advent is a time of preparation for joy that has the possibility of changing our lives. In the midst of the current reality, COVID with its uncertainty illness, and death; Climate change with its catastrophic storms, floods, fires, and displacement; demographic and other changes in religious life, reduced energy, and questionable futures, how do we prepare for joy?

Advent gives us a clue with a rising star that led the wise ones to Emmanuel, God with Us.

This webinar by Linda Gibler, OP focuses us on the lessons of stars – How they form in uncertain conditions, how they shine while maintaining a precarious balance, how they create even as they give themselves away, and how they give new life that has changed the course of the Universe.

Formation teams and people attentive to their own formation will find this Cosmo-Centric conversation helpful as they negotiate holding on to joy in the midst of struggle.

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