 An Update from The Cornerstone Forum |
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Dear Friends,
To say that May was an eventful month is an understatement.
An old Franciscan friend of mine once told me that giving oneself as best one can to Christ and the Church doesn't mean there will be no hardships or heartbreaks, but what it does mean is that one will discover the God of surprises.
To borrow a phrase from C. S. Lewis: however clumsily I have given myself to my vocation, I have lately been "surprised by joy." Or rather by Kathleen, Joy being the name of the woman who brought such late and unexpected joy into C. S. Lewis' life.
There's more below more specifically related to the Cornerstone mission. Thanks as always for your support and prayers, and for your many kindnesses.
Sincerely,
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Kathleen Sanglier and I were married on May 8th at St. Francis Solano Catholic Church in Sonoma, California, in the presence of our families and a few close friends. Fr. Mike Kelly who performed the ceremony is an old friend and one of the finest priests I have ever known.
Suffice it to say that God has been extraordinarily good to me, and that Kathleen and I hope to conduct ourselves in keeping with the rare gift we have been given.
We are grateful to all those who sent messages of congratulations and kept us in prayer.
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Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
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On May 22nd, it was a great honor for me to be inducted into the College of Fellows and awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree by the President of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Fr. Michael Sweeney, O.P. (Video of this is HERE.) I lectured monthly at DSPT for a year and came to know what an oasis of sound scholarship and joyful Catholic fidelity it is, surrounded though it so often is in Berkeley, California by academic and cultural forces antithetical to its mission. In this environment, the Dominican School offers a calm, friendly, and credible alternative. I was fortunate to be inducted into the Fellows program along with Congressman Dan Lungren, the former California Attorney General, and a gifted and principled man with a generous spirit. Congressman Lungren and I were fortunate in turn to be inducted at the graduation at which the Honorable John T. Noonan -- also a Fellow at DSPT -- gave the commencement address. Judge Noonan is the Senior Judge of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and his address to the graduates and those assembled was extraordinary. You may view a video of his speech HERE. |
The Four-Letter Word: BOOK
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The blessings that have befallen me in these last months have been accompanied by major changes in my life, the most daunting being a move from Massachusetts back to California. This move will preoccupy me for most of the summer and likely enough beyond that. (Selling a home in rural Massachusetts under current conditions promises to be a long and drawn out affair.) But there are other adjustments as well, albeit most of them very happy ones.
When the physical transition is made, I hope to once again turn to a writing project, and I will have more to say on that in subsequent newsletters. In the weeks ahead, the Forum's Executive Director Coleman-Riese and I will be exploring ways in which we can carry on our work -- and our collaboration with our friends -- even as I put more of my focus on producing a manuscript. When we have a better idea about how we will proceed, we will send along a newsletter.
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The Blog: Reflections on Faith and Culture
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With varying degrees of regularity I have tried to maintain the weblog that I began during Liz's illness in the summer of 2006. The focus of the blog is the intersection of faith and culture, and it routinely obliges me to address cultural and moral and political issues that are, I feel, historically consequential. I have long been unhappy with the tone of the blog, for which I can only blame myself. Since not everyone feels the urgency I sometimes feel about the cultural and moral changes that are now overtaking us, others may have reservations as well.
In any case, going forward I will probably pay a good deal less attention to the daily news cycle -- and the sense of urgency it tends to foster -- and try instead to post short but more thoughtful reflections. As the writing project begins to demand more of my attention, I may simply share outtakes from it or quotations from theologians and cultural analysts whose wisdom I feel is worth sharing.
I do hope, however, that others will visit the blog often and/or subscribe to it. As always, I welcome comments and feedback. The blog is here:
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Colloquium on Violence and Religion
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Both Randy and I will attend the June 30th to July 4th conference of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion which will be held this year on the campus of Notre Dame University. For more information about the conference, go HERE.
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We continue to rely on your support.
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Our work continues to depend on the financial support of our friends. Donations are tax-deductible, and donors receive a detailed account of contributions for tax purposes at the end of each year. You can donate by going to the donation page of our website HERE, or by emailing me or the Forum's Executive Director, Randy Coleman-Riese.
My new contact information and the existing contact information for Randy are as follows:Gil Bailie
P. O. Box 90459
San Diego, California 92169
Voicemail: 866-506-5451
Randy Coleman-Riese
P. O. Box 9249
Santa Rosa, California 95405
Voicemail: 866-506-5451
Office: 707-996-4704
We are deeply grateful to all those whose donations help sustain our work.
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