Speaker Series March 2010

Plan to join us for some good food, good conversation, and fellowship. Comfortable atmosphere and interesting topics abound!

• February 24: Quizzo! – Test your knowledge about Catholicism, Religion, and Spirituality, with a little bit of pop-culture thrown in for fun. Prizes! Prizes! Prizes! 
  
  
• March 03: Sr. Sheila Galligan, IHM: "Forgiveness, The Best Revenge!"
  
  
• March 10: Maria Hornung of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia, author of Encountering Other Faiths.
  
  
• March 17: Why not celebrate St. Patrick's Day with your friends at Kildares!
  
  
• March 24: Jerry Beyer, Ph.D., Asst. Professor of Theology, St. Joseph’s University.

Plan to arrive around 7pm for some light hor'dourves and drink specials and stay for the presentation beginning 7:15pm-7:30pm. Want to receive a gentle nudge about upcoming events? Sign-up for E-Reminders.

February 25: TOT Quizzo - our own spin on the popular bar game. PRIZES! PRIZES! PRIZES!

Think you know your Theology? Do you consider yourself knowledgable about traditions and history in Buddism, Catholicism, or Taoism? Do you know who directed the Last Temptation of Christ? Come join us for TOT's own spin on the popular bar game -- Quizzo. Join a team and test your skills against our ingenious questionnaires.

March 03 - Sr. Sheila Galligan, IHM: "Forgiveness, The Best Revenge!"

Are you in a state of unforgiveness? Are you (or someone you know!) caught in a vortex of resentment and anger or a desire for revenge or retaliation? This presentation will explain how “giving the gift” of forgiveness benefits both the forgiver and the forgiven. Practical ways to provide the enemy with the “medicine of mercy” will be explored.

Sr J. Sheila Galligan, IHM is currently a professor in the Department of Theology at Immaculata University. Sister Sheila studied (MA) at St Charles Seminary, Overbrook, Pa and completed her doctoral work STD) at the University of St Thomas (Angelicum), Rome. She focused on the writings of C S Lewis. Sr. Sheila has had teaching experience in primary and secondary levels. She has published articles in various religious and educational journals and is actively engaged in promoting respect for life.

See Sr. Shelia's full C.V. at Immaculata University

You might also be interested in this article:
"A Soldier In the Nonviolent Army: Through anger and
pain, father of son killed in Iraq works for peace.".

March 10 - "The Art of Dialogue in Our Religiously Diverse Society' with Sr. Maria Hornung of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia, author of Encountering Other Faiths.

Sister Maria Hornung, MMS has served as Coordinator of Interfaith Education for the Interfaith Center since the fall of 2005. In her early years as a Medical Mission Sister, Maria Hornung served as a pharmacist in Africa, then was called to education and administrative work. Her life in Africa spanned twenty five wonderful years. Most recentl,y she completed a six year term as Sector Coordinator of Medical Mission Sisters in North America, a position that connected her both nationally and internationally with pressing needs.

Believing in the great potential of faith groups to influence our world for the better, Maria Hornung undertook studies in interreligious dialogue at Temple University and received her Masters in Religion (Interreligious Dialogue). She works with diverse groups, facilitating an understanding of their commonalities, and an acceptance of their differences. Maria Hornung is author of a book, Deepening Faith Through Interreligious Dialogue, Paulist Press, 2007, as well as an accompanying manual that is available to guide congregations and community groups in a process of adult education and dialogue.

Explore more about the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia
Learn more about Encountering Other Faiths on Amazon

March 24: "Pope Benedict’s Caritas in Veritate: An Encyclical for our Troubled Economic Times" with Jerry Beyer, Ph.D., Asst. Professor of Theology, St. Joseph’s University.

Jerry will discuss Pope Benedict’s timely encyclical on the global economy. He will argue that Pope Benedict demonstrates it is neither socialist nor passe to offer prudent guidelines for regulating market capitalism.

Gerald J. Beyer is assistant professor of theology at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA.  He holds a doctorate in theological ethics from Boston College, an M.A.R. from Yale University Divinity School, and B.A. in philosophy from Georgetown University.  He also studied in Krakow, Poland for several years, including a year as Fulbright fellow.

Jerry teaches courses on Christian social ethics, economic ethics, war and peace, and the ethic of Solidarity in Poland.  His research interests include the nature of solidarity and its feasibility in the contemporary world, Catholic social thought, human rights, economic justice, contemporary Polish society and its transformation to democracy and a free-market system, access to education at U.S. Catholic institutions of higher learning, and human evolution and morality.  He is the author of Recovering Solidarity: Lessons from Poland’s Unfinished Revolution (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009). He has published in The Journal of Religious Ethics, Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics and Public Policy and other academic journals.  He has also written articles for wider audiences, including a recent piece in Commonweal magazine that applies Catholic principles to elections: "Yes, You Can. Why Catholics Don't Have to Vote Republican" (Commonweal, June 20 2008).

[Jerry’s full C.V. can be found on his personal web site.]

Couldn't make it to one of our previous Speaker Series? Find out who came and what we discussed in our Archived Events section.