Spring 2010 Courses at Iona College

Pax Christi Metro New York and The Iona Spirituality Institute

Sunday, January 10, 2010
2:30 pm to 4:30 pm

The Hermit in New York
St. Joseph's Greenwich Village Church 371 Sixth Avenue (one block north of West 4th Street) New York, NY 10014

Cost: $30 for PCMNY Supporters and Patrons of the Iona Spirituality Institute; $35 all others ISI Members are asked to bring this brochure for discount ticket.

This play about Thomas Merton written by Teresa Weed and produced by the Still Point Theatre Collective of Chicago begins on a weekend in New York when Merton met with Zen scholar D.T. Suzuki. It then weaves together the poetry and prose of his public and private lives, his spiritual development and his advocacy for peace and justice. This performance will benefit the work of Pax Christi Metro New York. Consider it a New Year's gift to yourself, your friends and family, as well as to PCMNY.

For more information and to purchase tickets: (212) 420-0250 nypaxchristi@igc.org www.nypaxchristi.org

Light of the Torah hosted by The Driscoll Professorship in Jewish-Catholic Studies and The Iona Spirituality Institute

Tuesday, February 9, 2010
7:30 pm - 9:00 pm Burke Lounge, Spellman Hall

The Light of Torah is an occasional seminar series that will guide participants across faith traditions to read the Hebrew Bible through the interpretive eyes of Jewish sages - ancient, medieval and modern - conducted according to the traditional method of havrutah Torah study.

Moses and the LORD: A Narrative of Intimacy An obituary gives us a significant insight into the life and the personality of the person being remembered. The death notice at the end of the life of Moses, recorded in Deuteronomy 34, presents us with just such an opportunity. God denies Moses, who is dying within sight of the Promised Land, the satisfaction and fulfillment of four decades of leading the Israelite wilderness trek. Yet we have evidence of deep intimacy between Moses and the LORD: in life they spoke face to face, at the end, he dies with the LORD's companionship. The biblical narrator assures us: Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses. What are the sources of such intimacy? What might be lessons for my own life-long love affair with the LORD?

Join us for this insightful reading which will open the richness of the scriptures anew. We are honored to have John G. Driscoll, CFC, PhD, former President of Iona College (1971 - 1995) lead these engaging and illuminating sessions, which have been offered to a variety of Christian communities around the world. Brother Driscoll is currently in residence at the Center for the Study of Christianity at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, a faculty member of the Bat Kol Institute in Jerusalem and the Light of Torah initiative in Sydney, Australia.

The Iona Chapter of the International Thomas Merton Society

Tuesday, February 16, 2010
7:00 pm The End Zone of LaPenta Student Union
Offering $5

If you have not yet seen the latest Merton film biography please come to the screening of "Soul Searching - The Journey of Thomas Merton" by Morgan Atkins. Addressing features of Merton's life that have only come to light with the publication of his private journals, this exploration gives new insight into the life and legacy of one of the great Catholic spiritual masters of our tradition.
This evening the Iona College "Daggy Scholars" - undergraduate students and post graduates from Union Theological and Harvard Divinity who have made Merton scholarship a special focus of their own academic and personal life - will be our conversation hosts sharing how Merton's journey has illuminated and inspired them on their way and inviting us to reflect on his wisdom for our own work of soul searching.

The Berry Series: Exploring the Vision and Challenge of Thomas Berry With Dr. Daniel Martin

Session I
The New Story and the Ecological Age
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The End Zone, La Penta Student Union 7:30 pm - Offering $5

Session II
Finding a Way Forward
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
The End Zone, La Penta Student Union 7:30 pm - Offering $5

Daniel Martin is Founder and President of Cross River Connections (CRC), a training and consulting project for personal, organizational and social change and of International Communities for the Renewal of the Earth (ICRE), which convenes creative conversations around issues of our time, fostering an ecological spirituality as the basis for a creative and sustainable society. A native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Dr. Martin was educated in Ireland, Italy, and the U.S.A. His doctoral work was directed by Thomas Berry with whom he facilitated the first "Berry Series" of dialogues between Thomas Berry and representatives of various academic and professional disciplines. A religious consultant to the UN Environment Program, he designed and directed the Environmental Sabbath Programme and was a founded member of SoundWaters and The Whidbey Institute.

The Berry Forum: Opening to The Great Work of Our Time
An Earth Day Convocation

Saturday, April 24, 2010 1:00 pm - 5:30 pm
The End Zone, La Penta Student Union
Offering $20

Join us for an intensive inquiry into the challenges of this new moment of Earth history whose crises summon us to undertake The Great Work of our time - a comprehensive reinvention of not just the way human life is conducted on this planet, but of human life itself. Inspired and informed by the thought of Father Thomas Berry, we will examine the great themes of his legacy: The New Story that has changed our understanding of the universe and the human, The Ecozoic Age toward which we labor in hope, and the Great Work that will usher it in. Our facilitators for the afternoon are Dr. Daniel Martin, Dr. Brian Brown, Dr. Kevin Cawley, CFC and Dr. Kathleen Deignan, CND - all students of the work of geologian and ecological prophet, Thomas Berry. Please join us for this important conversation.

Fellowship in Prayer

June 24 - 27, 2010
Princeton, New Jersey

Share your commitment to spiritual practice - your passion for peace and justice!

Featuring: Gustav Niebuhr, Sister Joan Chittister, Zen Master Bernie Glassman, Dr. Uma Mysorekar, Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, Daisy Kahn, Fr. Edward Beck, Rev. James Forbes and many more.

Learn more and register at www.fellowshipinprayer.org

 

 

Spring 2010 RST Courses

RST 320. Thomas Berry: Spiritual Masters Series
Wednesdays 6:30 pm - 9:15 pm
Kathleen Deignan, CND, PhD

In a rich and multi-media context, this course will examine Father Berry's most complete analysis of our present planetary crisis and the routes for
moving forward - The Great Work: Our Way into the Future - and also his collections of essays, The Dream of the Earth (1988), and The Christian Future and the Fate of the Earth (2009).

RST 315. The Sacred Universe.
Tuesdays and Thursdays 2:00 pm - 3:18 pm
Brian Brown, PhD

This course will explore the significance of the universe, the emergence of the earth and the evolution of life as creative, sacred events, considering those aspects of human religious traditions that sustain a comprehensive valuation of the cosmos and the role of human consciousness within its unfolding processes.

To register contact kdeignan@iona.edu Course fee: $100