Pulitzer Prize Winner - TRACY KIDDER
"STRENGTH IN WHAT REMAINS (2009)"
Tracy Kidder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for The Soul of the New Machine and author of the enduring classic Mountains Beyond Mountains among others, will speak about Deogratias Niyizonkiza the hero of his new best seller, Strength in What Remains. Deogratias, a young medical student and survivor of genocide and a civil war in Burundi, arrived at JFK airport in 1994 in search of a new life with two hundred dollars, no English, and no contacts. He eked out a precariou existance delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores. Then Deo met some strangers who changed his life, including Sharon McKenna at St. Thomas More. They pointed him, eventually, in the direction of Columbia University, medical school, and a life devoted to healing.
Many Americans only became familiar with the horrors of the genocide and civil war in the region through the movie "Hotel Rwanda" in which little or nothing was said about the smaller Burundi. One might ask and conclude that what ennobles the human spirit and enables it to hope and overcome is not found in "slogans and clichés" but, it would seem, in a combination of faith and reason.
Kidder "has become the highest priest of the narrative arts..." according to Ron Suskind of The New York Times (Aug. 2009), trusting his subject sufficiently to allow him (Deo) to tell his own story – from Burundi to New York City – and back to Kiguku.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2009
at 7:00 p.m.
THE ROCHESTER ROOM
of
Church of St. Thomas More
65 East 89th Street - (Between Park & Madison Avenues)
Tel: (212) 876-7719
Visit with the Speaker and Share Light Refreshments Following the Discussion
Free Will Offering Accepted
Sponsored by: The Education Committee of the Parish Council
Lessons of the Economic Crisis and Catholic Social Teaching
A Presentation
By
Professor Paul D. McNelis, S.J.
"We are far away from the protectionist, economically isolated world of FDR and the New Deal. More complex international financial transactions and spillover effects among national economies require a reform of the way policy is conducted, both at the international and national levels. The longstanding refrain of Catholic social teaching for global solidarity in the formulation of public policy has never been more relevant," said PAUL MCNELIS, S.J. in an article published earlier this year in "First Things."
As the economic meltdown continues with no definite end or resolution in sight, it is still instructive to look at the problem, its causes and some lessons that can be garnered from it for the future.
Paul McNelis holds the Robert Bendheim Chair in Economics and Financial Policy in the Department of Finance, Graduate School of Business Administ5ration at Fordham University and previously taught economics at Georgetown University.
He is the author of Computational Macroeconomics for the open Economu, with Guy C. Lim (MIT Press 2008), and Neural Networks in Finance: Gaining Predictive Edge in the Market (Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press 2005) and numerous articles on economics.
Born in Hazelton, Pennsylvania, Professor McNelis has a Ph.D from The Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD), a M.Div from Weston School of Theology (Cambridge, MA) and a B.A. from Boston College (Chestnut Hill, MA).
Professor McNelis, a Jesuit priest, was ordained in 1977.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2009
at 7:00 p.m.
THE ROCHESTER ROOM
of
Church of St. Thomas More
65 East 89th Street - (Between Park & Madison Avenues)
Tel: (212) 876-7719
Visit with the Speaker and Share Light Refreshments Following the Discussion
Free Will Offering Accepted
Sponsored by: The Education Committee of the Parish Council
MORE FOR LESS FAIR - 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
If your closets and drawers are filling up, give us your (almost new) designer and vintage clothing, silver, jewelry, crystal, glassware, knick-knacks, linen (new or vintage - antique). Art-work, antiques and small pieces of furniture are also gratefully accepted. Donations can be checked in at the Rectory Reception Desk from 10 AM to 5 PM, 7 days a week. Tax deduction contribution forms are available. Please note that items should be in good condition.
Fordham University Summer Course Offerings
The Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education is offering courses for credit or audit in theology, scripture, and spirituality.
Summer Session I June 22 - July 9
Summer Session II July 13 - July 30
www.fordham.edu/gre
718-817-4800
Cathedral of St. Patrick Young Adults Central Park Rosary Walk 2009
Young adults in their 20s and 30s will meet at the fountain in Grand Army Plaza (opposite the Plaza Hotel - 5th Ave. bet. 58th and 59th Sts.), no later than 6:30 PM.
Dates: June 9th and 23rd
July 7th and 21st
August 4th and 18th
Rain dates - the following Wednesdays
info@cspya.org or www.cspya.org
No-Place is Everywhere:
The Infinite Limits of Thomas More's Utopia
A Presentation
By
John D. Pilsner
ST. THOMAS MORE is a man of two legacies: first, as a Catholic statesman and martyr who resisted Henry VIII's encroachments on the Church, and second, as the author of Utopia, one of the most influential and controversial narrative fictions of all time. This second legacy has become, in our modern era, a literary-political touchstone as well as an indelible mark on our popular imagination. Studied more for its consequences than in its origins, Utopia reveals the mind of a uniquely creative thinker and writer at the moment of his own political ascendancy. Yet how do we reconcile the devout Catholic statesman with the ingenious literary artist? For the annual lecture on St. Thomas More, we will take up this question, discussing also the circumstances of Utopia's composition, its literary context, some of its many interpretive possibilities, and what relevance Utopia and utopianism have for us today.
JOHN PILSNER is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is a member of the Amici Thomae Mori, an international society dedicated to the life and times of St. Thomas More. During 1995 and 1996, he studied in Angers, France, at the research center Moreanum, under the direction of Fr. Germain Marc'hadour, renowned Morean scholar and founding editor of the journal Moreana. Between 1993 and 2006, Mr. Pilsner taught Comparative Literature and Philosophy at Queens College (NY). He is currently teaching at The Montfort Academy and completing his doctoral dissertation, which treats the subject of philosophical dialectic and paradox in More's Utopia and other works.
Mr. Pilsner received a B/A/ in Drama and English from Hofstra University, and an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Toronto.
MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2009
at 7:00 p.m.
THE ROCHESTER ROOM
of
Church of St. Thomas More
65 East 89th Street - (Between Park & Madison Avenues)
Tel: (212) 876-7719
Visit with the Speaker and Share Light Refreshments Following the Discussion
Free Will Offering Accepted
Sponsored by: The Education Committee of the Parish Council
ASH WEDNESDAY
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, will be Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Season of Lent. The following Liturgical notes have been sent to all parishes from the Office of the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of New York.
Why Ashes? On this day the Church invites us to receive a cross of ashes on our foreheads as a sign that during the coming Season of Lent we will make sincere efforts to cleanse our lives of sin and to discipline ourselves through prayer and fasting. (See note below on Lenten Fast & Abstinence).
Who may receive Ashes? Baptized individuals who have reached the age of reason and Catechumens may receive ashes. Babies and young children who have not yet received the Sacrament of Penance should not be presented to receive ashes as ashes are traditionally intended for those who are capable of personal sin. But babies and young children can certainly be presented for a special blessing when a parent comes to receive his or her ashes.
Ash Wednesday Schedule in our Parish
Ashes will be distributed after the homily at the parish Masses on Ash Wednesday at 7:00 and 8:00 a.m.; 12:15 and 5:45 p.m.
Ashes will also be distributed in conjunction with a Service of the Word at 4:00 p.m.
Important Note: In accordance with Church norms, ashes can only be distributed at Mass or at the scheduled Word Service. Please be on time as the ashes are imposed in the first part of each Mass and Service.
Lenten Fast and Abstinence
During the Season of Lent, the Church urges all the faithful to reflect a spirit of penance in their daily life through performing acts of fast and abstinence.
“Fasting” requires that only one full meal be taken per day. Two other smaller meals may be taken during the day to maintain physical strength, but these two meals together should not equal a full meal in quantity. Fasting obliges all those who have reached the age of 18 and continues to oblige until age 59.
“Abstinence” prohibits individuals from eating meat on a particular day. Abstinence obliges all those who have reached the age of 14 and continues to oblige throughout their entire life.
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of fast and abstinence. Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence.
2009 LENTEN RETREAT
The Spiritual and Liturgical Committee of the St. Thomas More Parish Council cordially invites all parishioners and members of our faith community to participate in its Lenten Retreat, which will begin on Monday, March 2, 2009 and conclude on Wednesday, March 4, 2009.
In advance of the Retreat, we are particularly blessed that Father Anthony Andreassi, C.O., has agreed to serve as the weekend homilist at all our Masses the first weekend in Lent, beginning with the anticipatory Mass at 5:45 on Saturday, February 28, and to serve as the celebrant at the 10:00am Mass on Sunday, March 1. His homilies will form the basis of the Lenten meditations that will be offered during the Retreat.
The Retreat Schedule is as follows:
Sunday, March 1 at 10:00 a.m.
Children’s Mass, Homily on Traditional Practices for Modern Catholics:
A new look at Fasting & Almsgiving, Forgiveness and Prayer.
Monday, March 2 at 6:15 p.m.
Lenten Meditations led by Fr. Andreassi on Fasting & Almsgiving
[following the 5:45 p.m. Mass]
Tuesday, March 3 at 6:15 p.m.
Lenten Meditations led by Fr. Andreassi on Forgiveness
[following the 5:45 p.m. Mass] Followed by Penitential Service and Confessions at 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, March 4 at 6:15 p.m.
Lenten Meditations led by Fr. Andreassi on Prayer
[following the 5:45 p.m. Mass] Followed by Wine and Cheese Reception/Rochester Room at 7:00 p.m.
