Film Screening and Discussion of Poverty, Inc.

Along with 15 other student organizations, academic departments, and programs at Hope College, the Saint Benedict Forum invites you to join us for a screening of the thought-provoking and award-winning film, Poverty, Inc.

Saturday, April 2, 2016 7:00 p.m.

The Knickerbocker Theater 86 E. 8th Street Downtown Holland Free and Open to the Public

Focusing on the worldwide "poverty industry," the film asks some hard questions about the West's involvement in international poverty alleviation, including whether some of our methods of helping might actually be hurting those experiencing poverty. We hope you will consider attending and perhaps suggest the same to others by forwarding this email or inviting them to the screening through this Facebook event page.

Following the film, a faculty panel comprised of Dr. Virginia Beard (Political Science), who specializes in the policy and politics of Africa, and development economist Dr. David Phillips (Economics and Business) will lead off an audience discussion of the film and how Christians might respond to the issues it raises.

Contact Professor Sarah Estelle (estelle@hope.edu), director of Hope's Markets and Morality student organization, with any questions. We hope to see you on April 2 for what is sure to be a memorable and edifying community event!

Desire of the Everlasting Hills: Movie Screening and Talkback with David Michael Phelps

On Wednesday, March 9, 2016, the Saint Benedict Forum was pleased to host a screening of the powerful documentary film, Desire of the Everlasting Hills, an intimate and candid portrait of three Catholics who try to navigate the waters of self-understanding, faith, and homosexuality.  After the film, there was a talkback with the writer, producer, and Hope College alumnus, David Michael Phelps. This event explored the themes and questions raised by the Gay and Christian Symposium, hosted a few weeks ago.

Homosexuality and Anthropology Day of Study

On Saturday, February 20, 2016, from 9:00-4:00, the Saint Benedict Forum hosted a Day of Study on the theme, "Homosexuality and Anthropology."  The study day consisted of four papers, each of which addressed the question, "What does the virtue of chastity mean for the gay person?" Joshua Gonnerman, Daniel Mattson, Eve Tushnet, and Daniel Keating all offered 25 minute papers on this question.  Each paper was followed by 30 minutes of conversation with the twenty invited "thoughtful interlocutors" from the region: priests, counselors, family and marriage therapists, chaplains, professors, artists, leaders from the Diocese of Grand Rapids, and religious sisters.

It was a riveting day of fellowship and meaningful exchange.

Sr. Miriam Inspires Hope College

Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, inspired Hope College this week with a series of talks.  On Tuesday night, Sr. Miriam led a workshop entitled, "Called to Love: A Heart Fully Alive," where she discussed John Paul II's Theology of the Body with Hope College women.  One of the participants, Rebecca Pavlock, said, "This was easily in the top five best things I've ever done at Hope."  Another student shared, "This is exactly what I needed right now in my life."The following day, Sr. Miriam spoke to a thousand students in Hope College's chapel.  Her theme was "God's Masterpiece" and she brought the house down.  You can listen to her inspiring talk here.  Even President Knapp thought she was great.

Later that evening, Sr. Miriam led the annual Saint Benedict Forum Lent Retreat where she spoke on "Merciful Like the Father: Living in Forgiveness and Freedom."  Over a hundred people crammed into Western Seminary's Mulder Chapel to listen to Sr. Miriam's beautiful words.  Her talk was followed by adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, confession, and Mass. On the walk back to the car after the retreat, two students stopped us and said what everyone was feeling: "Sr. Miriam!  You were so awesome today.  You have no idea how much you touched people.  Everyone has been talking about you all day.  Seriously, you have message that people really need to hear and reached a lot of people with it today.  Thank you."

SR. MIRIAM JAMES HEIDLAND, S.O.L.T. is a popular speaker on the Theology of the Body, authentic love and conversion, the healing power of Christ, and the dignity and beauty of woman.  She is the author of Loved As I Am: An Invitation to Conversion,  Healing, and Freedom through Jesus (Ave Maria Press, 2014).

Gay and Christian: The Conversation Continues

The Gay and Christian Symposium was a beautiful and moving event. The Saint Benedict Forum is hosting three follow up events to highlight major themes and keep the conversation going. 

CALLED TO LOVE: A HEART FULLY ALIVE A Workshop with Sr. Miriam James Heidland Tuesday, March 1 · 7:00 − 9:00 p.m.

Why are we so attracted to beauty and why do we long for infinite satisfaction and a life of meaningful communion? In this workshop we will discover what is revealed in our  humanity—male and female—what is at the root of our deepest desires and how, through the healing of our call to love, our lives become fruitful and free.  Participation is limited to twenty students.

Contact Dr. Jared Ortiz (jjortiz@hope.edu) if you are interested in participating.

DESIRE OF THE EVERLASTING HILLS Movie Screening with film writer David Michael Phelps Wednesday, March 9 · 8:00 p.m. · Winants

Three intimate and candid portraits of Catholics who try to navigate the waters of self-understanding, faith, and homosexuality. Talk-back after the film with the writer and producer, David Michael Phelps, a Hope College alum.

Free and open to the public.

PASTORAL APPROACHES TO SAME-SEX ATTRACTION A Workshop with Pastor Adam Barr Tuesday, March 15 · 7:00 − 9:00 p.m.

Are you considering a future in vocational ministry, or do you simply want to help serve faithfully as a layperson in the local congregation? Every church leader should be equipped to minister with integrity at the intersection of sexuality, Scripture and pastoral practice. In this workshop, led by Adam Barr, author of Compassion Without Compromise: How the Gospel Frees Us to Love Our Gay Friends Without Losing the Truth, you’ll have an  opportunity to participate in a hands-on workshop, exploring these issues from a perspective that embraces a traditional understanding of human sexuality while  encouraging radical hospitality for all people.  Participation is limited to twenty students.

Contact Dr. Jared Ortiz (jjortiz@hope.edu) if you are interested in participating.

Gay and Christian: Exploring Vocation, Friendship, and Celibacy

The Saint Benedict Forum was pleased to host Eve Tushnet, Joshua Gonnerman, and Ron Belgau for a powerful symposium on Gay and Christian: Exploring Vocation, Friendship, and Celibacyon Monday, February 22, 2016 at Hope College.  All three speakers gave powerful testimonies and inspired a diverse crowd of 300 students, faculty, administration, parishioners, and others.

The three talks were:

“The Radical Challenge of Gay Celibacy”Eve Tushnet

“A Different Conversation: Changing How We Think about Gay Politics” Joshua Gonnerman

“Understanding the Bible's Teaching on Homosexuality”Ron Belgau

See below for the video of the talks.

Ron Belgau is the cofounder of Spiritual Friendship, an ecumenical group blog dedicated to recovering the Church's traditional teachings on friendship and applying them to contemporary debates about homosexuality. He has studied philosophy at the graduate level at St. Louis University and Notre Dame, and has taught ethics, medical ethics, and philosophy of the Human Person at St. Louis University. He is a nationally known speaker, and in 2015 became the first openly gay Catholic to speak at the World Meeting of Families, in conjunction with Pope Francis's visit to Philadelphia

Joshua Gonnerman is a writer and doctoral student in theology at The Catholic University of America, writing his dissertation on Augustine's theology of grace and predestination. His articles have appeared in First Things, Spiritual Friendship, and PRISM Magazine.

Eve Tushnet is the author Gay and Catholic: Accepting My Sexuality, Finding Community, Living My Faith and Amends: A Novel. She lives in Washington, DC. Hobbies include sin, confession, and ecstasy.  She blogs at Patheos and has covered topics ranging from pro-life horror movies to the US National Figure Skating Championships. She was received into the Catholic Church in 1998.

This event is co-sponsored by Hope College's Religion Department, Women's and Gender Studies, Campus Ministries, Center for Ministry Studies, GRACES, and the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.

Flapjacks with Jack

Many thanks to our friends in the Knights of Columbus Council #7115 (Saint John Neumann) who organized a pancake breakfast at St. Francis de Sales Church in Holland to benefit the Saint Benedict Forum.  It was great to see so many of our friends, fellow parishioners, and students turn out to support our work.  God bless you all and stay warm!

March for Life 2016

Sadly, due to the dangerous weather conditions, the trip to the March for Life was cancelled.  Fortunately, we were not trapped on the PA Turnpike for 24 hours.  Please pray for us as we continue to witness to a culture of life.

Ecumenical Dialogue: What Does It Mean to Be Catholic? (VIDEO)

what does it mean catholic pic

On January 28, 2016, the Saint Benedict Forum hosted a Catholic-Reformed Dialogue about Jack Mulder's new book, What Does It Mean to Be Catholic?(Eerdmans, 2015).  Dr. Mulder's book is the meditation of a Hope College professor and convert to Catholicism from the Reformed tradition.  It was written as an effort to practice robust ecumenism, the idea that different Christian groups should share the distinctive gifts of their own tradition as they walk together toward full Christian unity.

Two Reformed scholars offered generous, yet critical responses to Dr. Mulder's book.  Han-luen Kantzer Komline, Assistant Professor of Church History and Theology at Western Theological Seminary, took up the question of the relationship between Scripture and Tradition.  Lynn Japinga, Associate Professor of Religion at Hope College, challenged Mulder on Mary, development of doctrine, women's ordination, and contraception.  Dr. Mulder responded to each presenter.

This event was co-sponsored by the Philosophy and Religion Departments, Campus Ministries, Center for Ministry Studies, Lilly Group on Robust Ecumenism, the Office of the Provost, and the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.

Calendar of Events 2015-2016

Dawn Eden on Chastity, Duncan Stroik on Architecture for the Poor, Anthony Esolen on the Liberal Arts, Spiritual Friendship authors on being gay and Christian, Sr. Miriam James Heidland on hope....check out our Calendar of Events 2015-16.

Dr. Ortiz on the Journey Home (VIDEO)

Cradle Catholic and director of the Saint Benedict Forum, Jared Ortiz, tells the harrowing tale of how he drifted away from God in his youth and how God slowly drew him back through providential encounters with Muslims, Jews, a few Catholics, and reading a lot of books.  Watch it here: 

Have a Heart: Dr. Anthony Esolen on the Value of a Christian Liberal Arts Education (VIDEO)

by Maria Gowon, Public Accounting Major, Class of 2016

Dr. Anthony Esolen of Providence College lectured on “Liberal Arts and the Christian College in a Post-Christian World.” His lecture drew an eclectic group of educators, students, clergymen and the general public. His talk was similarly eclectic, including a casual recitation of a portion of Dante’s La Vita Nuova and a nod to Kim Kardashian. Even so, his theme was clear. Dr. Esolen spoke of the rare and precious gift that only a Christian liberal arts college can bestow - an education with a heart.

Dr. Esolen described to us the state of the students he is currently teaching. He is grateful for the bright eyed and bushy tailed freshmen who “do not yet have mildew growing on their souls,” but instead have unbounded amounts of enthusiasm. They also have a lot to learn. Many step into his Classics courses never having heard of Milton, Tennyson, or Chaucer. Upperclassmen (who are sans the enthusiasm) are also unacquainted with these literary pioneers. This is not their fault, but rather offers a critique of the present state of high school education.

The American educational system looks bleak: schools eerily resemble prisons or factories, and should it surprise us when form begins to follow function? Class work places an unhealthy emphasis on 20th century dystopian novels and has a strong aversion to anything that even faintly bears the scent of theology. Dr. Esolen holds that the attempt to excise theology and all traces of Christ from high school education has removed the true core - the heart - of education.

According to Dr. Esolen, many secular colleges and universities are no different. Secular universities have abandoned their ties to early and medieval Christian writers. They unknowingly do themselves a disservice by severing themselves from literature brimming with ideas of truth, love, and what it means to be human. Additionally, there is no multidisciplinary dialog. There is no longer a core, no center axle around which the university rotates. Instead, each school or department operates in isolation, training their students in narrow, robotic excellence. Thus, the “university ceases to be a university, but becomes a polytechnical institution,” a place starved of wonder, depth, and meaning. There is no bigger picture, nothing held in common, and nothing to unite a public save a shared zip code.

Dr. Esolen went on to say that polytechnical institutions will not continue to grow unchallenged, for students are not machines made to function in a fractured, utilitarian manner. We are humans, “with great heart.” The Christian liberal arts college, he states, recognizes this. Through a liberal arts education and an abiding devotion to theology, these colleges help students keep their sense of wonder through brushes with beauty, providing a place to practice contemplative longing. Rather than disenchantment, students and professors alike know that they are “related to one another, embarking on a pilgrimage, and bound by something that transcends all of them.” Dr. Esolen related one such brush with beauty by describing how a former student came to know Christ through exposure to great Catholic-influenced literature.

Hope students, I imagine, understand a little about this. It’s the surprising acknowledgement that you can enjoy your general education required courses more than your major courses. It’s the harmony that exists between the Sailing and Physics Clubs. It’s also the dreaded interdisciplinary studies and coffee infused conversations that all center around the question, “Why?”

I was not fooled by Dr. Esolen’s soft-spoken character and his unassuming poetical delivery; his lecture was nothing short of a valiant cry for the preservation of beauty, and a charge for both educators and students to “behold” more often. There was nothing piecemeal or utilitarian in his demeanor; his heart was indeed behind his ribs, in his legs, and in his hands. He was guided by the belief that instruction in love, by love, is an education that makes us more human. And I think he might be right.

This event was co-Sponsored by Hope College's Religion Department,  the English Department,  the Philosophy Department,  the General Education,  Senior Seminar,  and Cultural Heritage Programs; Klesis,  Markets & Morality,  and the Our Sunday  Visitor Institute.

Anthony Esolen teaches Medieval Literature and Theology, Renaissance Literature, and the Development of Western Civilization at Providence College. He is a senior editor for Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity. He is author of Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child and, most recently, Reflections on the Christian Life. Professor Esolen has also translated Dante’s Divine Comedy.