Weekly Update

Friends:

The immediate often overtakes this blog–that is,
there are so many things happening
that I don’t have time to reflect.

1. The Consortium Student Ecumenical Orientation took place on Thursday, September 14. Caldwell Chapel at Catholic University was full. After warm greetings from the Dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies, Msgr. Kevin Irwin, we had a prayer service prepared by the Consortium Student Board. Dr. Judy Fentress-Williams preached and preached well–encouraging and challenging the students. Early reports on the dinners at seven neighboring religious houses indicate that the interaction and sharing were quite positive. This is usually the most important student ecumenical event.

2. The Student Board of the Consortium will meet on Saturday, October 10th at Virginia Theological Seminary. One agenda item will be to evaluate this event.

3. On Monday, September 14, Dr. Richard Jones, who holds Alwani Chair in Muslim Christian Relations at the Consortium, conducted his first event to familiarize students with the Certificate Program in Muslim-Christian Dialogue. Several faculty and about 10 interested students, both Christian and Muslim, took part in this discussion. It was held after lunch at Virginia Theological Seminary.

4. I was happy to attend the Retreat of faculty and students at Virginia Union in Richmond on Saturday September 19th. The prayer service was lively, to say the least, and Associate Dean Mary H. Young preached about traveling with Jesus to the other side despite the storms. This was very moving. I gave my usual Consortium intro for the new students–and got several inquiries.

Well I try not to go beyond 4 points–so more later.

Peace,
John