Join us for Music and Art on July 26

Please join us July 26 for a time of music and art at Wisdom House. From 9:30 a.m. until noon, enjoy a drumming at our seven-circuit outdoor labyrinth led by master drummer John Marshall. This pastoral setting will make it easy to be united with nature and each other. Bring a cushion, blanket, or folding chair and a drum if you have one. (Click here for a recent interview with John in Seasons magazine and here to view his website.)

Then, from 1 to 3 p.m., share in the opening reception of "Natural Connections: Works of Amelia deNeergaard" in the Marie Louise Trichet Art Gallery at Wisdom House. This show will run until October 11. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Click here for a New York Times review of Amelia's work and here for a Connecticut Arts Scene review.

Living Gently: Gardening

Last week, this blog suggested ways to minimize the amount of garbage in landfills by considering the packaging of products as well as the products themselves when we shop. The ideas were provided by the Ecology Action Alliance, which offers these gardening tips among its suggestions on how to care for the earth in our daily lives:

• Start or expand a garden.
• Reduce or eliminate toxic pesticides in your garden.
• Stop using toxic sprays on the lawn.
• Join a gardening club.

Living Gently: More Suggestions to Reduce our Carbon Footprint

The Ecology Action Alliance suggests taking the following steps to help reduce our carbon footprint:

Become an urban livestock keeper (bees, eggs, poultry),

Order and use catalogues specializing in cotton clothing and natural materials, and

Buy/use recycled paper whenever possible.

Photo Credit: Stock Exchange

Exploring Catholic Culture: 'Vatican II: Achieving the Unexpected'

The three video-segments above present the Rev. John R. Donahue, S.J., as he discusses "Vatican II: Achieving the Unexpected" to participants in "Exploring Catholic Culture: Interpreting Scripture" at Wisdom House on June 20 and 21, 2008.

Rev. Donahue discussed the intricate four-year process and the dispositions of the men whose work ultimately produced the document "The Word of God" (Dei Verbum, DV) in 1965. Under consideration over this time was the source of divine revelation. Was it Scripture? Tradition? Both? Both equally?

The Second Vatican Council determined that "the prime revelation is what God did in history in the Old Testament and the history of Jesus in the New Testament," Fr. Donahue said. The Scriptures are the earliest witness to that revelation.

"There is an upward scale as the Scriptures bring us to Christ and Christ brings us to God," he explained. "The texts are testimony that lead us to God."

Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the source of revelation, not Scripture or Tradition, Nevertheless, the two are closely connected because Scripture is handed down through Tradition. Reading from the DV, Rev. Donahue said Scripture and Tradition flow from the same divine wellspring and come together in a single current flowing toward the same end. Through Tradition we deepen our understanding of the meaning of Scripture in our time.

Over the weekend, Rev. Donahue discussed the impact of lay men and women on biblical studies, critical methods such as feminist criticism and liberation theology. He also led a close reading of the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 and presented ways to nurture our own spiritual journeys through the Bible.

Rev. Donahue is a Scripture scholar and author as well as Research Professor in the Department of Theology at Loyola College of Maryland. He has published more than 100 scholarly articles and reviews and lectured widely at scripture workshops in the US, Canada, South Africa, and in Manila.

Most recently, he has contributed an introductory essay to Christ in the Gospels of the Liturgical Year, a commemorative edition of Fr. Raymond E. Brown's six-volume series on preaching the Scriptures. The publication marks the tenth anniversary of Brown's death. (The book will be available through Liturgical Press.)

"Exploring Catholic Culture" is a collaborative endeavor of the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, and Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center. Together, we are committed to handing on the faith in a manner that promotes the ideals of the Catholic tradition and encourages an integrated Catholic identity.

Sisters Participate in Documentary on Animal Treatment and Religion

The Humane Society of the US (HSUS) is sponsoring the creation of a documentary film on animal treatment and religion.

Sisters Rosemarie Greco,DW and Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP of Wisdom House were invited to be part of this documentary film. In preparing for the interview, significant statements by Popes and Bishops Conferences were discovered. For example, In 1915 Pope Benedict XV called for protection of animals in Italy, to "keep them from every suspicion of roughness, cruelty or barbarism…." Pope John Paul II in 1990 reminded Catholics that "animals possess a soul: and people must love and feel solidarity with these creatures. Present Pope Benedict XVI said that "industrial use of creatures…degrades living creatures to a commodity that contradicts the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible."

The documentary expects to be premiered in Washington, DC in mid September 2008. The documentary is being produced by Two Cats TV (photo of crew, right). The website for HSUS is www.hsus.org.

Photos: Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP