NEWS
Second Gathering of North American Province, Tucson, Arizona USA
Redemptorist Retreat Center, Tucson
North American Province Gathering 24-27 January 2012
Twenty-five people have gathered for the second bi-annual retreat/meeting of the North American Province of the Society. The retreat subject/focus is presented below. The Powerpoint presentations of the speakers will be posted in the Articles and Sermons section.
Expressing the Inexpressible: The Language of Science and Spirituality
Coordinator: Rev. Dr. Thomas J. Lindell
Retreat leaders: Rev. Dr. Lucas J. Mix, Episcopal Chaplain, University of Arizona
Rev. Dr. William Stoeger, S.J., Vatican Observatory
OBJECTIVE: To employ verse, story and poetry to reveal the language of spirituality within the context of a scientific world-view.
Meditation I Wednesday morning: Myth, Metaphor, and Imagination [Tom]
The central orientation role of myth/story in both science and religion as revealed through the language of logos, mythos, and metaphor and how the latter invites spiritual and liturgical imagination.
Meditation II Wednesday afternoon: Cultural Cosmology (Cosmogony) [Bill]
Myths of creation and why they are important as revealed through sacred story and verse; engagement and mystery, faith and the advent of spirituality.
Meditation III Wednesday evening: Physical Cosmology [Bill]
Scientific speculations as to the origin and evolution of the universe: what we know and what we don’t. Living with mystery and ways we have been invited into a spirituality of the unknown through prose and poetry.
Meditation IV Thursday morning: The Struggle for Existence [Lucas]
Biological evolution and theological grace (“…Nature red in tooth and claw…”); origins of evolving life as revealed from science and through story; reconciling science with theology and spirituality.
Meditation V Thursday evening: Nature and Art [Lucas]
Scientific, theological, and poetic understandings of our place in nature.
Final Reflection Friday morning: Closure/Sharing [Bill and Lucas]
What we want is power, what we get is frailty,
What we want is certainty, what we get is ambiguity,
What we want is answers, what we get is questions,
What we want is self-sufficiency, what we get is interdependence,
What we want is permanence, what we get is transience,
What we want is clarity, what we get is mystery,