To commemorate Loyola Marymount University’s centennial, the Bellarmine College of Liberal Art is sponsoring a yearlong examination Ignatian tradition and the future of Jesuit higher education through symposia, lectures, art exhibits and plays in an expanded Bellarmine Forum.
The goal of this year’s forum will be to engage the LMU community in a campuswide exploration the question posed by Father Adolfo Nicolas, superior general of the Society of Jesus: “What kind of universities, with what emphases and what directions, would we run if we were re-founding the Society of Jesus in today’s world?” To help answer this question, the three sponsoring religious orders at LMU will have major symposia this academic year.
In October, the Jesuits will host the first “Conference on Jesuit Higher Education: Rhetoric, Philosophy, and Theology,” which will examine ways in which the history of early Jesuit rhetorical education may speak to today’s challenges and civic duties. The speakers at this two-day event will include: John O’Malley S.J., Georgetown University; John C. Haughey, S.J., Georgetown Woodstock Theological Center; LuAnn Homza, College of William and Mary; Steven Mailloux, President’s Professor of Rhetoric, Loyola Marymount University; Robert A. Maryks, The City University of New York.
In January 2012, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary will host a symposium titled, “Transcending Boundaries: Working Toward a Globalization of Solidarity and Hope . . . So That All May Have Life.” The speaker is Veronica Brand, R.S.H.M. (Africa) who will address Nicolas’ challenge to Jesuit and Jesuit co-sponsored institutions of higher education to shape “the future for a humane, just, sustainable globe.”
In March 2012, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange’s symposium, “Compassionate Response to Critical Needs: Ignatian Charism and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange,” will explore the collaborative efforts of the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Society of Jesus, who with their lay partners seek to serve Church and society now and in the future.
Another highlight of the forum will be a production of the play, “Equivocation,” by Bill, Cain, S.J., which the New York Times said, “explores the moral obligation of artists to resist the manipulations of those in power.” Produced and performed by LMU’s Del Rey Players, the play will start a six-performance run on Thurs., Sept. 29, in the Del Rey Theater.
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Sept. 21, 2011
News Contact: Celeste Durant | 310.338.7708 | celeste.durant@lmu.edu