THE LEGO MOVIE REVIEW
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Leg’go of your other plans, block out time to see this movie Page 6
Duhawks’ season comes to a close after facing Luther Page 12 February 27, 2014 — Vol. 92, Issue 9
Students upstage expectations by MARY AGNOLI | co-executive editor
Thirteen students spent the night in Hoffmann Hall last Friday creating three original one-act plays. The 24-Hour Theater Project, sponsored by the Guild of St. Genesius, challenges participants to use the right side of their brain in an exercise that requires quick thinking and creative capacities. Participants formed three separate teams and were given a prop, a setting, a character and a stack of newspapers on which they based their script. The next 24 hours were spent in Hoffmann classrooms, racing against the clock. “It’s the best way to get creativity flowing,” said junior Colin Halbmaier, the secretary and treasurer for the Guild of St. Genesius. “Nothing gets you motivated quite like a deadline. It’s incredible what you can do in 24 hours when you focus.”
The performances of the three groups support this. Topics included a murder mystery in a secluded cabin, a newlywed game show, and a quest by the homeless for a place to live. A panel of judges offered comments on the performances and rated their use of what they were given. Despite the sheer fun of the process, the event also served as a fundraiser for the St. Stephen Food Pantry. Not only were nonperishable food items collected as admittance to the show, but the audience casted votes for their favorite team with loose change, which was also donated to the Pantry. Over one-hundred dollars was raised, in addition to the food. Now with the 24-Hour Theater Project behind them, the Loras Players now are looking forward to their next major event, DuProv, on March 21.
Loras will host a free series of presentation about the contemporary Irish Catholic Church photo by COLIN HALBMAIER
Active Loras Players, Luis Santoyo, Stephanie Benic, Michael Okas and Emma Horst pose with their assigned prop for their production during a long night locked in Hoffmann Hall.
Renowned author sheds light on Church’s ‘time of transition’ by HANNAH WAY
|
executive copy editor
In a world which seems to value technology, science, and progress above all else, many Catholic Christians are becoming more and more concerned with the role that faith will play in modern culture. On Tuesday, Loras brought to campus one of the greatest observers of the global Catholic Church today in order to address this specific question along with offer insight into the development of the modern Church. George Weigel, a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center as well as a New York Times bestselling author, has spent much of his career chronicling the Church in novels, essays, and articles. Perhaps best known for his authoritative and comprehensive book, Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II, Weigel has become a distinctive and well respected voice in both religious circles as well as contemporary media. As a part of Loras’ 175th anniversary, Weigel offered a free lecture and book signing where he primarily focused on his latest book “Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st Century Church.” The well-attended lecture brought faculty, staff, students as well as community members together with the intention of engaging this relevant and important topic. “We are being asked to reach back into history, to recover the originating, missionary, evangelical impulse of the church and to put that at the center of Catholic identity today,” said Weigel. “We thought the Church of our grandparents was unchangeable. The church was just the way it was. It was set in concrete. But we have learned in the past 50 years that this wasn’t the case. We live, my dears, in a time of transition.” His lecture focused on unpacking this idea of a Church encountering transition and transforming into a Church of the 21st century. Beginning by placing the Church in the context of the last 200 years, his lecture culminated with his emphasis of the importance of the pontificate of John Paul II and his call to the new evangelization. “If we are going to be the kind of missionary disciples who can bring the world to Christ, we are going to have to be a people who know the answers, who understand the symphony of how Catholic truth plays together,” said Weigel. “That
Learn about the Catholic Church in Ireland
photo by KATHERINE EDWARDS
Renowned author George Weigel discussed his latest books, “Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st Century Church” and “Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches” during Tuesday’s lecture. requires continuous learning, continuous study, and a thirst. Religion class is never over, and it shouldn’t be because that extraordinary symphony of catholic truth is something we should more deeply and more broadly be in touch with our entire lives.” At the closing of his lecture, Weigel reflected specifically on Loras and the role it plays in helping the Church encounter the modern world. Drawing upon the 175 years of tradition, he recognized the changes that the school has witnessed and encountered. Still, he pointed to the fact that Loras, and schools around the country, still have an important job in modern culture. “Catholic institutions of higher learning have an important role to play in this conversion,” said Weigel. “They are a kind of safe deposit box for Western civilization. But we aren’t just saving it to save it. We are saving it to form young people to go out and transform their world.” The lecture, which was followed by a Q&A session and the book-signing, was well received by the diverse crowd. “I appreciated the emphasis Weigel gave to the fact that the Church responds to the historical context in which it finds itself,” said Amanda Osheim, professor of
religious studies. “He drew on the need to ground ourselves in a Church united together in Christ, but also what it means to invite others into Christ and the need to respond to the needs of the times.’ In addition to offering the free lecture in the evening, Weigel spent his day on campus, including spending the lunch hour with a small group of students and faculty. The discussion centered on many of the same topics of his evening lecture. “We got to ask him questions relating to modern day Catholicism and what the Church is doing to counteract these problems,” said first-year Allison Klimesh. “Learning about Catholicism here at Loras has been transformative, and relating that back to my own life has allowed me to grow, but it is totally different when you learn about it on a global level. It definitely added perspective.” Ultimately, what Weigel ended his evening with was the challenge to embrace the mission of the Church, the “Great Commission” to bring Christ to the world. “Mission territory is not out there,” said Weigel. “Mission territory is right here: our neighborhoods, our lives as friends, colleagues, business associates. All that is mission territory.”
Loras College is hosting a free series of presentations and discussions examining the contemporary Irish Catholic Church Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29. Split into four unique sessions, The Catholic Church in Ireland Today symposium will include experts from Ireland, the United States and Canada. This event will take place in the Marie Graber Ballroom within the Alumni Campus Center. “Given the extent and speed of changes to the Catholic Church in Ireland during the past decade, it’s surprising that there have been so few opportunities in the United States to meet and discuss what has transpired. This gathering is unique: not only is it timely, it is designed to reach a very wide audience. Our speakers are here to share their knowledge but also to stimulate conversation and promote discussion,” said John Waldmeir, Ph.D., Loras College associate professor of religious studies and a symposium co-organizer and speaker. The keynote session will feature two of Ireland’s foremost experts on contemporary Catholicism: Eamon Maher, Ph.D., director of the National Centre for Franco-Irish Studies at ITT Dublin, author of The Church and its Spire: John McGahern and the Catholic Question; and John Littleton, director of The Priory Institute, Dublin, The Catholic Times weekly columnist and author of Encountering God and Discovering Our True Identity and The Fulfillment of God’s Saving Promise. Maher and Littleton are authors/editors of: Irish and Catholic? Towards an Understanding of Identity; The Dublin/Murphy Report: A Watershed for Irish Catholicism; What Being Catholic Means to Me; and Contemporary Catholicism in Ireland. “Eamon Maher and John Littleton are two of Ireland’s best known and most influential commentators on Irish Catholicism. The series of books they have edited over the last decade there have helped shape their country’s conversation on the state of the Church and its future in Ireland. We are very fortunate to have them headlining this event at Loras College,” said David Cochran, Ph.D., professor of politics and symposium co-organizer. The subsequent sessions will include presentations on growing Irish secularism, the changing image of Irish bishops, generational divides in the Church, Catholic migrants to Ireland, the abuse crisis and responses in Ireland and the U.S., Irish missionaries, the political role of Irish priests, the Dublin Eucharistic Congress, contemplative strands in Irish identity and more.