Sunday, December 30, 2007

Girard and von Balthasar

A friend who knew the great Catholic theologian Henri de Lubac recalls that, late in life, de Lubac remarked that, if he were young and beginning his theological work again, he would begin with René Girard.

What de Lubac wrote about his friend and colleague Hans Urs von Balthasar could also be said of Girard, namely:
Despite the silent hostility that superiority invariably encounters, and despite the remarkable resistance of certain professionals to take note of this unclassifiable man and acknowledge him as one of their own, even in France . . . von Balthasar’s thought has captured one by one the spirit of an elite youth.
As for the “diverse presentations of Christian origins by contemporary writers," de Lubac says of von Balthasar what could as well be said of
René Girard:
He takes hold of them, so to say, in one fell swoop which in itself is an intellectual feat – and then, with keen discernment comes up with an altogether different and unexpected view.
And then again:
. . . instead of, like many others, laboriously striving to rejuvenate scholasticism, for better or worse, by making gestures toward contemporary philosophy, or else abandoning, as so many others, all organized theological thought, von Balthasar shapes a fresh, original synthesis with radically biblical inspiration, without sacrificing any of the traditional dogmatic elements. His acute sensitivity to cultural developments and to the problems of our own times give him the necessary courage to do so.
The Emmaus Road Initiative is an effort to bring René Girard’s extraordinary anthropological insight into Christian uniqueness into conversation with the equally extraordinary theological contributions of Henri de Lubac, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI), and others. In a few days, I will resume the monthly round of Emmaus Road Initiative sessions in (in chronological order) Washington, DC; Glastonbury, Connecticut; San Francisco, California; Santa Rosa, California; Dallas, Texas; San Diego, California; Wheaton, Illinois and Houston, Texas.

I hope to see as many friends – old and new – as are able to join us. For a schedule of the sessions, go here.

Happy New Year


Friday, December 28, 2007

2008 Emmaus Road Initiative


Emmaus Road Initiative for 2008

Inspiring a Wholehearted Faith in a Half-Hearted Age

Deepening Faith, Bringing it to Maturity,
& Passing it on to the Next Generation

A Project of the Cornerstone Forum

In this Newsletter:

* A message from Gil Bailie
* What's new in the 2008 Schedule
* The 2008 Emmaus Road Initiative Schedule
* A message from Randy Coleman-Riese


Glancing Back and Looking Forward

From Cornerstone Forum President, Gil Bailie

Dear Friends,

Christmas this year was an extraordinarily quiet time for me, surely the most contemplative Christmas I have ever had. But it was touched with grace, and I am grateful for the time I've had to recollect myself.

As I begin to pack my things for the first monthly round of 2008 Emmaus Road Initiative sessions, I look forward to continuing the explorations we began last fall and to deepening friendships, old and new.

I'm grateful to those who sent Christmas greetings and to those (mostly unknown to me) who have kept me and the Cornerstone Forum in prayer during this season of renewed hope and faith.

A digital recording of the November session of the Emmaus Road Initiative -- entitled: "What is happening in history? History and Hope" -- has been made and is now available (free) from the "store" on our website. We will have CDs of each of the three fall sessions at the fourth session in the series in January. I hope as many as can will join us in January.

If you live in or near Washington, DC - Hartford/Glastonbury, CT - San Francisco, CA - Santa Rosa, CA - Dallas, TX - San Diego, CA - Seattle, WA - Chicago/Wheaton, IL - or Houston, TX - please join us if you can. If you have friends in these locations who might be interested, please forward this newsletter to them by clicking here. (You can add a personal message as well.)

Below is the January-to-May schedule of the Emmaus Road Initiative, and below that an appeal for your participation and your help. I hope you will be able to take part in our efforts in whatever way is possible. If you live close enough to one of the nine cities where we will be holding monthly sessions, please join us. Otherwise, you can listen in on our explorations each month -- either by ordering the monthly CD or downloading the free audio file from our website: here.

If you are able to support our work with a tax-deductible donation, we would be most appreciative. Our work depends on the generosity of our friends. Toward the bottom of this newsletter you will find some information about supporting us.

Thank you again. On behalf of Randy Coleman-Riese, the Forum's Executive Director, and our Board of Directors, I wish you a most happy and holy new year.

Gil Bailie


What's New in the 2008 schedule:

San Francisco:
We meet on January 9th at St. Mary's Cathedral. Our San Francisco venue for the February to May sessions will be announced soon.

Seattle:
We are now meeting on Saturday morning rather than Tuesday evening, and the session will be followed by a brown-bag lunch at which we will have an informal discussion of the material presented at the morning session.

Dallas:
Our Monday evening session (now at St. Monica's parish) will now be an informal discussion of the material presented on Saturday morning 10 a.m. to noon at St. Monica's parish and on Sunday noon to 1:45 p.m. at St. Joseph's parish. All are invited.

Houston:
Our regular session at St. Cyril's on Wednesday evening will be followed on Thursday evening with an informal discussion session led by Fr. Mario Arroyo and Gil Bailie.

The 2008 E.R.I. Schedule
Washington, DC
Washington Theological Union
6896 Laurel Street NW
Washington, DC 20012
Saturday: 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
January 5
February 9
March 8
April 5
May 10
For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Glastonbury, Connecticut
St. Dunstan's Church
1345 Manchester Road
Glastonbury, CT 06033
Monday: 7:30 - 9:15 p.m.
January 7
February 11
March 10
April 7
May 12
For more information: 860-633-3317

MAP

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San Francisco, California
St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral
1111 Gough Street (at Geary Boulevard)
San Francisco, CA 94109
Wednesday: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
January 9
February 13
March 12
April 9
May 14
For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Santa Rosa, California
Spiritual Enrichment Center
St. Eugene's Catholic Cathedral
Montgomery Drive at Farmers Lane
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
Thursday: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
January 10
February 14
March 13
April 10
May 15
For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Dallas, Texas
St. Monica's Catholic Church
9933 Midway Road (at Walnut Hill)
Dallas, TX 75220
Saturday: 10:00 - Noon
January 12
February 16
March 15
April 12
May 17
For more information: 972 416-5815

MAP

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Dallas, Texas
St. Joseph's Catholic Church
600 S. Jupiter Road
Richardson, TX 75081
Sunday: Noon - 1:45 p.m.
January 13
February 17
March 16
April 13
May 18
For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Dallas, Texas
An Informal Discussion about the material presented at
the Saturday and Sunday sessions.
St. Monica's Catholic Church
9933 Midway Road (at Walnut Hill)
Dallas, TX 75220
Monday: 7:15 - 9:00 p.m.
January 14
February 18
March 17
Our April session will be on Sunday, April 13 at St. Joseph's Parish:
600 S. Jupiter Road in Richardson.
May 19
For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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San Diego, California
University of San Diego
Degheri Alumni Center
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, CA
Wednesday: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
January 16
February 20
March 19
April 16
May 21
For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP - Map to the Campus

MAP - Map of the Campus

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San Diego, California
Immaculate Conception Church
2540 San Diego Avenue - Old Town
San Diego, CA 92101
Thursday: 10:00 - 11:45 a.m.(Coffee at 9:45)
January 17
February 21
March 20
April 17
May 22
For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Seattle, Washington
St. Benedict's Catholic Church
1805 North 49th Street
Seattle WA 98103
Saturday: 10:00 - 11:45 a.m.
(Followed by a "brown-bag" lunch and informal discussion)
January 19
February 23
March 22nd
The March session will be held at Blessed Sacrament Parish
5041 Ninth Ave N E, Seattle
April 19
May 24
For more information: 866-506-5451

MAP

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Wheaton, Illinois
St. Michael Catholic Church
310 S Wheaton Avenue
Wheaton, IL 60187
Monday: 7:30 - 9:15 p.m.
January 21
February 25
March 24
April 21
May 5
For more information: 630 220-7329

MAP

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Houston, Texas
St. Cyril of Alexandria Catholic Church
10503 Westheimer Road
Houston, TX 77042
Wednesday: 7:30 - 9:15 p.m.
January 23
February 27
March 26
April 23
May 28
For more information: 713 789-1250

MAP

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Houston, Texas
An Informal Discussion -- with Father Mario Arroyo and Gil Bailie --
of the material presented at
the Wednesday evening session.

St. Cyril of Alexandria Catholic Church
10503 Westheimer Road
Houston, TX 77042
Thursday: 7:30 - 9:15 p.m.
January 24
February 28
March 27 (Gil Bailie will be unable to attend this session)
April 24
May 29
For more information: 713 789-1250

MAP

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Supporting Our Efforts

From Cornerstone Forum Executive Director, Randy Coleman-Riese


Dear Friends,

We are extremely grateful to all those who have helped make our Emmaus Road Initiative such a success in 2007. We hope you will want to continue to support our efforts. We will, as always, work tirelessly to live up to the trust you place in us by contributing to our work and by keeping us in your prayers.

As you know, the E.R.I. sessions are free and open to all, and we make the CDs of the sessions available at no charge to those who attend the sessions and/or download audio files from our website, here. The extraordinary assistance and cooperation we receive from our local hosts notwithstanding, the expenses involved in this project are considerable. Our efforts are only possible because of contributions we receive from those who appreciate our work. If you are able to make a tax-deductible donation to our work, we would be most grateful.

There are several ways you can contribute:

* You can simply send a tax-deductible donation to:
The Cornerstone Forum
Post Office Box 9249
Santa Rosa, California 95405

* You can make credit card donations by click here: "Make an Online Donation."

* For those able to do so, the most helpful way to support our work is to make a regular monthly donation, either through the automated online banking system now provided by most banks or through a recurring credit card donation. This is a convenient way to donate to our work, and it is extremely helpful to us, for it allows us to better budget our resources. I would be happy to speak with you about this option. You can reach me simply by replying to this email newsletter or by calling toll-free: 866-506-5451, ext. 703.

* And finally, we welcome the opportunity to speak with those interested in making a more substantial contribution to our work. If you are interested in a more generous program of support, please contact me or Gil Bailie and we will arrange to sit down with you and explain in more detail our goals and needs. Messages can be left at 866-506-5451, choose extension 703 for me and extension 704 for Gil.

We are sincerely grateful for your support, encouragement, and prayers.

Randy Coleman-Riese

Best wishes for the new year.


Friday, December 21, 2007

Warmest Christmas Greetings

The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness cannot overcome it.

Christmas 2007

Warmest Christmas Greetings
from the Cornerstone Forum

With gratitude for your friendship,
fellowship, support, and prayers.

Gil Bailie, Randy Coleman-Riese,
and our Board of Directors


- - - - - - - - - - -
Dear Friends,

Please know that you are in our thoughts and prayers during this Christmas, as we count our many blessings and remember all the kindness and generosity that has come our way during the last year. It was a year of great personal sadness for me, as my saintly wife passed away in February, but it was a year of unexpected graces as well. Indeed the Light shines in the darkness.

On behalf of Randy Coleman-Riese, on whose friendship and wise counsel I constantly depend, and the Cornerstone Forum Board of Directors, I wish you a blessed Christmas and pray that the new year will be filled with grace and peace.

Affectionately,

Gil Bailie

Monday, December 03, 2007

In Hope We Were Saved . . .

Hardly anyone who has read Pope Benedict's latest encyclical has been able to resist the temptation to excerpt it or post musings about it, and I am likewise unable to resist this impulse.

For what it is worth, here are a few passages from the encyclical that struck me:
It is not science that redeems man: man is redeemed by love. This applies even in terms of this present world. When someone has the experience of a great love in his life, this is a moment of “redemption” which gives a new meaning to his life. But soon he will also realize that the love bestowed upon him cannot by itself resolve the question of his life. It is a love that remains fragile. It can be destroyed by death. The human being needs unconditional love. He needs the certainty which makes him say: “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38- 39).
In our Emmaus Road Initiative literature and elsewhere, we have said this:
Christianity spread through the ancient world in part because of the hope it awakened in a world engulfed in crisis. As the revelation of the Cross was freeing humanity from the spellbinding power of sacred violence and the myths and rituals that perpetuated it, the Resurrection was opening up a panorama of hope invulnerable to worldly disappointments. At the very moment when civil order seemed to be dissolving, and the barbarians were closing in on its besieged outposts, Christians – St. Augustine prominent among them – bore witness to a hope unlike anything the surrounding pagan world had ever known. In the 21st century, under similar circumstances, it will fall to those directly or indirectly inspired by Christianity to recover a hope capable of filling the vacuum left by the collapse of modernity’s naïve optimism, on one hand, and postmodernity’s erudition of despair, on the other.
In this encyclical, Benedict gives specificity to these general remarks.
Amid the serious difficulties facing the Roman Empire—and also posing a serious threat to Roman Africa, which was actually destroyed at the end of Augustine's life—this was what he set out to do: to transmit hope, the hope which came to him from faith and which, in complete contrast with his introverted temperament, enabled him to take part decisively and with all his strength in the task of building up the city.
In these remarks about Augustine, however, it is easy to recognize something of Benedict's own understanding of the responsibility that rests very largely on him at this moment in history. Augustine, he writes:
. . . once described his daily life in the following terms: “The turbulent have to be corrected, the faint-hearted cheered up, the weak supported; the Gospel's opponents need to be refuted, its insidious enemies guarded against; the unlearned need to be taught, the indolent stirred up, the argumentative checked; the proud must be put in their place, the desperate set on their feet, those engaged in quarrels reconciled; the needy have to be helped, the oppressed to be liberated, the good to be encouraged, the bad to be tolerated; all must be loved.”
And in light of Joseph Ratzinger's earlier desire to return to the quiet life of a theologian, the pope's depiction of the Bishop of Hippo has the feel of a personal signature:
. . . Augustine dedicated himself completely to the ordinary people and to his city—renouncing his spiritual nobility, he preached and acted in a simple way for simple people.
. . . And then there is this:
All serious and upright human conduct is hope in action. . . . Yet our daily efforts in pursuing our own lives and in working for the world's future either tire us or turn into fanaticism, unless we are enlightened by the radiance of the great hope that cannot be destroyed even by small-scale failures or by a breakdown in matters of historic importance. If we cannot hope for more than is effectively attainable at any given time, or more than is promised by political or economic authorities, our lives will soon be without hope.
And finally this beautiful insight, one that serves as a powerful reminder to me of how many lives have spilled over into mine and how blessed I have been as a result.
Our lives are involved with one another, through innumerable interactions they are linked together. No one lives alone. No one sins alone. No one is saved alone. The lives of others continually spill over into mine: in what I think, say, do and achieve. And conversely, my life spills over into that of others: for better and for worse.
You can find the entire encyclical here.

I hope you have a blessed Advent.