DYING TO LIVE: THE DEATH THAT LEADS TO A FULLER LIFE

In discussions of Christian spirituality, we often read or hear of the necessity of “dying to self.” But what “self” needs to die? It is the false self, the ego that imprisons us in varying degrees of misery, pain and suffering. This two-day long course will offer instruction about the formation of the false self and best practices for ongoing transformation into our true selves, the selves made in the image and likeness of God.

The second day will also include experiences of lectio divina and centering prayer.

Instructor: Teresita Pia, M.A.
Saturdays: March 5 & 12, 2022
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM; Clare Room;

Fee: $40.00

The Letters of St. Paul, Part 2

In this eight-week course we will introduce the second half of the Pauline epistles. We will proceed in roughly chronological order and cover those letters generally accepted to be written by St. Paul himself as well as the disputed letters attributed to Paul. We will study the letters to investigate Paul’s understanding of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, of salvation and of the nature of the Church and the development of these ideas in the later letters attributed to Paul. In the process we will also discuss life in these early communities, Christian living and the relationship between Christianity and its parent religion: Judaism.  It is helpful to have taken the fall course introducing the first half of Paul’s letters, but not necessary.  Participants may take this course without having taken the first course.

We will be studying: Romans, Second Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, First Timothy, Second Timothy and Titus.

Instructor: Joseph Nuzzi, M.A.
Wednesdays, February 16^th – April 20, 2021
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM, Clare Room (in person)
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM, Clare Room (in person and on ZOOM)

Fee: $70.00

STEPHEN CRANE: TALES OF AN AMERICAN NATURALIST 

A poet, journalist and fiction writer, Newark native Stephen Crane portrayed characters pushed to extremes.  We will begin with a New York story, Maggie, A Girl of the Streets.  Then we will read the Civil War novel, The Red Badge of Courage.  We will conclude with the 9 short stories collected in The Open Boat and Other Stories. 

The novels are widely available in print or digital format.  Some editions of The Open Boat and Other Stories do not contain all 9 stories, but they are available in some print editions, in digital editions of the complete works of Stephen Crane or on the web through Project Gutenberg.

Instructor: Sr. Fran McManus, RSM, M.A.
Thursdays: February 17 – March 31, 2022
12:30 – 1:30 PM;  ZOOM MEETING

Fee: 60.00

A DAY OF CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

Contemplative prayer is the opening of the mind, the heart and our whole being to God. It is a process of interior transformation initiated by God, a process that leads, if we consent, to friendship, trust, love and deeper union with God, and to ongoing conversion from our false self into our true self, the self which is God’s image and likeness.

This daylong program, recommended for new and long-time practitioners, will include periods of instruction as well as the actual experience of traditional forms of contemplative prayer.

Instructor: Teresita Pia, M.A.
Saturday: February 26, 2022
10:30 AM – 4:30 PM; Clare Room;

Fee: $40.00