the art & practice of
Mission Week 2014 Marquette university February 2–7
Welcome to Mission Week Now in its 14th year, Marquette University’s Mission Week offers all members of the Marquette community the opportunity to reflect deeply on the Catholic, Jesuit mission that animates our university. Mission Week is a time to reflect on the why of Marquette: why we teach, learn, explore, and serve the common good, why the integration of faith and justice is fundamental to our identity, and why a Jesuit university can make a lasting difference in the world This year’s Mission Week theme — The Art and Practice of Forgiveness — cuts to the core of our human experience. The ability to forgive ourselves and others after tragic events affects our spiritual, psychological and social development in profound ways. Forgiveness is a constitutive part of Christian life and finds widespread expression in the teachings and rituals of the world’s major faiths. Growing in our understanding of forgiveness ignites the compassion that underlies Marquette’s mission and helps us live that mission with credibility. Mission Week 2014 will examine the theme of forgiveness in many forms. What does it mean to be a forgiving person, family, university, church or nation? What are the differences between forgiveness, reconciliation and restorative justice? When is the right moment to forgive? How might forgiveness also free the forgiver? How do we seek the forgiveness of others? Don’t miss the chance to take a deep dive into forgiveness through the lives of men and women who have chosen hope over despair.
Mission Week 2014 Marquette university February 2–7 marquette.edu/missionweek
For information about Mission Week and updates on all events, go to marquette.edu/missionweek.
Mission Week Book Discussion
A Week of Unforgettable Speakers
The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness
Mission Week keynote
In this landmark book, author Simon Wiesenthal recounts his experience as a medic at the end of World War II, caring for a member of the Nazi SS who
Immaculée Ilibagiza Tuesday, February 4th, 4 p.m. AMU, Monaghan Ballroom
was close to death. Sensing his fate, the soldier confessed to Wiesenthal his participation in horrific war crimes and asked for his forgiveness. One question
Immaculée Ilibagiza survived the 1994 Rwandan massacre by hiding for 91 days with seven other Tutsi women in a small bathroom at the home of
haunted Wiesenthal for years: Should he forgive? This riveting book offers
her Hutu pastor. During the genocide, most of Ilibagiza’s family was killed
responses from 53 women and men from around the world who have, in one
by Hutu Interahamwe soldiers. The only other survivor in her family was
way or another, wrestled with the same dilemma. Some are notable global figures and others are anonymous victims of war and injustice. What would you do? Read The Sunflower and talk with other faculty, staff and students
her brother, who was studying abroad and unaware of the war. Immaculée is the author of seven books, including Left to Tell: Discovering God amid the Rwandan Holocaust, a New York Times bestseller translated into 15 languages, in which she shares the ways her Catholic faith sustained her through unthinkable heartbreak and injustice. It was her faith that led her
about the real-life meaning of forgiveness.
eventually to forgive the perpetrators and view her family’s murderers with compassion. A highly sought after speaker and recipient of many honorary degrees, Immaculée received the Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Reconciliation and Peace in 2007. She has appeared on many television programs, including 60 Minutes and in the documentary, The Diary of Immaculee. She has addressed national groups, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2008 National Migration Conference and the National Black Catholic Congress. Immaculée recently signed a contract with MPower Pictures to produce a major motion picture about her story of courage and hope. The love and forgiveness that she embodies are an inspiration for people everywhere.
Get your free tickets to this year’s keynote speaker, Immaculée Ilibagiza, on Forgiving the Unforgivable. Keynote tickets are available to Marquette students, faculty and staff beginning Jan. 13 in the Brooks Lounge, Alumni Memorial Union, first floor. Available while supplies last. Limit two tickets per Marquette ID. Beginning Jan. 23, remaining tickets will be made available to the general public on a first-come, first-served basis.
Book DIscussions Monday, February 3 4-5 p.m. Raynor Library, Beaumier Suite
Tuesday, February 4 7-8 p.m. Raynor Library, Beaumier Suite
Wednesday, February 5 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Raynor Library, Beaumier Suite
Brooks Lounge hours: Monday through Thursday: 10 a.m. – 11:30 p.m., Friday: 10 a.m. – 11 p.m. Saturday: 2 p.m. – 11 p.m., Sunday: 2 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.
Major Addresses
Lunch Program Speakers
Rabbi Abie Ingber
Justice Janine Geske
Rabbi Abie Ingber is the founder and executive director of the Center for Interfaith Community Engagement at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he also serves as adjunct professor of Theology. As an immigrant and son of Holocaust survivors, he has advocated throughout his life on behalf of immigrants, interfaith understanding and peace. His list of fascinating experiences includes talking his way into John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s 1969 -Bed In for Peace, where they signed his petition to free Soviet Jews; co-creating the 2005 award-winning exhibit, A Blessing to One Another: Pope John Paul II and the Jewish People, (which has toured over 18 American cities); and delivering 31,009 prayers written by exhibit visitors to Jerusalem’s Western Wall.
Justice Janine Geske, Law ‘75, recently retired as a distinguished professor of law and director of the Restorative Justice Initiative at the Marquette University Law School. Under her direction, this initiative served as a resource for victims, communities and non-profit organizations, as a restorative justice clinical experience for law students, and as a program promoting scholarship, research, and dialogue on restorative justice. The initiative was respected internationally for its groundbreaking work to support victims and communities in their healing process.
Known for his work on interfaith dialogue and his out-of-the box approach to bringing religiously disparate groups together, Rabbi Ingber’s international influence has taken him to refugee camps in Darfur, allowed him to serve as an eyewitness in Ethiopia to the repatriation of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, and resulted in his role as keynote lecturer at the Cameroon Muslim Student Union annual conference. He sees his interfaith work at a Jesuit university as a dimension of the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam: healing the world.
Rev. Bryan Massingale Rev. Bryan Massingale, Arts ‘79, received his doctorate in moral theology from the Academia Alphonsianum in Rome. He specializes in social ethics and teaches courses on Catholic social thought, African American religious ethics, liberation theologies and racial justice. In social ethics, he focuses on religious faith as both an instrument of social injustice and a catalyst for social transformation. Father Massingale is the author of Racial Justice and the Catholic Church, a first-place award recipient from the Catholic Press Association. He has authored over 70 articles, book chapters and book reviews for scholarly and pastoral journals. His current research projects explore the contribution of Black religious radicalism to Catholic theology; the notion of “cultural sin” and its challenge to Catholic theological ethics; and the intersections of race and sexuality in both social life and Catholicism. His academic leadership roles include a term as the president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. Father Massingale has received two honorary doctorates and the Marquette University Teaching Excellence Award. In addition to his academic pursuits, Fr. Massingale strives to be a scholar-activist serving faith-based groups advancing justice in society. As a noted authority on issues of social and racial justice, he has addressed numerous national Catholic conferences and lectured at colleges and universities across the nation. He has served as a consultant to the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, providing theological assistance on issues such as criminal justice, capital punishment, environmental justice and affirmative action.
Rev. James Voiss, S.J. Rev. James Voiss, S.J., Ph.D. is a Jesuit of the Oregon Province. After receiving his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from the University of Notre Dame, Fr. Voiss taught for nearly 14 years at Saint Louis University. He returned to the Pacific Northwest to take a sabbatical during which he worked on a book (under contract with Liturgical Press and now nearing completion) on Christian forgiveness. Before completing his sabbatical, he accepted a position as Assistant Vice President for Mission at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, where he works primarily with faculty and staff in promoting the mission of Jesuit Higher Education. He also teaches part time, as his schedule allows.
Justice Geske was named in 1993 to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where she served for five years. She responded generously to the needs of the Marquette community by serving as interim dean of the Law School from 2002 to 2003 and to the Milwaukee community in the capacity of interim County Executive in 2002. In addition to extensive professional accomplishments and three honorary degrees, she has received many awards lauding her faith and commitment to social justice.
Janan Najeeb Janan Najeeb, a founding member and the current president of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, has been a spokeswoman for Milwaukee’s Muslim community to media outlets, government officials, interfaith leaders, academic institutions, hospitals and community groups. A microbiologist by profession, Ms. Najeeb left her career to concentrate on bridging the gap between the erroneous perception of Islam and Muslims in society and the actual beliefs and practices of the vast majority of the world’s Muslims. Ms. Najeeb serves on the boards of the Islamic Society of North America’s Leadership Center, the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts and the Milwaukee Association for Interfaith Relations. Ms. Najeeb serves as an adjunct professor at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, teaching the Religious Culture of Islam, and directs the new Islamic Resource Center in Milwaukee. Najeeb has been recognized with the International Institute of Wisconsin’s World Citizen Award, the Wisconsin Community Fund’s Grantee of the Year Award, the Council on American Islamic Relations’ national award for activism. Wisconsin Woman Magazine has named her a Leader Making a Difference. Ms. Najeeb is married and has 5 children.
Pardeep Kaleka and Arno Michaelis On August 5, 2012, an American white supremacist fatally shot six people and wounded four others at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, before taking his own life. This unfathomable act of violence shocked the nation and drew expressions of compassion from around the world. Six weeks after the tragedy, Pardeep Kaleka, a Marquette alumnus, Arts ’00, and the son of slain temple president Satwant Singh Kaleka, contacted Arno, author of My Life After Hate, in the hopes that he could discover how someone could commit such a heinous act. Their connection eventually resulted in an astonishing partnership and the creation of Serve2Unite, a nonprofit organization seeking to teach interfaith youth to build a more peaceful and compassionate world. Together, Kaleka and Michaelis work to replace hate and bigotry with the knowledge, truth and love. Their compelling story is a testament to forgiveness at its deepest levels.
Sunday, february 2
Tuesday, february 4
Mission Week Mass
Morning Prayer: “Forgiveness within Our Families”
11:30 a.m. Church of Gesu
8:10 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Chapel of the Holy Family, AMU 2nd Floor
Join Rev. Doug Leonhardt, S.J., associate vice president of Mission and Ministry, who will be the principal celebrant at the Mission Week 2014 opening liturgy, where we will prayerfully begin our week. All members of the Marquette community are invited to attend.
Begin each day of Mission Week with a brief interfaith prayer experience, focusing on one dimension of forgiveness The St. John’s Bible (illuminated text) will be on display during the week, as a source of reflection and inspiration.
Monday, february 3
Co-sponsored by the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences and Campus Ministry
Morning Prayer: “Forgiveness of Ourselves”
Keynote address
8:10 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Chapel of the Holy Family, AMU 2nd Floor Begin each day of Mission Week with a brief interfaith prayer experience, focusing on one dimension of forgiveness. The St. John’s Bible (illuminated text) will be on display during the week, as a source of reflection and inspiration. Co-sponsored by the Counseling Center and Campus Ministry
Soup with Substance Noon AMU 227
“The Sikh and the (former) Skinhead: Love and Forgiveness Will Triumph” Pardeep Kaleka and Arno Michaelis How is it possible for enemies to become friends and work for a common cause? Following the tragic death of Pardeep Kaleka’s father at the Sikh Temple of Milwaukee, he and former white supremacist Arno Michaelis joined forces to create a world that is absent of hate and bigotry. Their personal work of forgiveness and reconciliation is resulting in new life for others. Sponsored by the Center for Peacemaking
“Forgiving the Unforgivable” – Immaculée Ilibagiza 4 p.m. AMU, Monaghan Ballroom Tickets available at Brooks Lounge Immaculée Ilibagiza’s harrowing personal story of the Rwandan genocide reflects a depth of suffering beyond what most people will ever experience. In the midst of losing nearly everyone dear to her and being threatened to the point of death, she now stands as a beacon of forgiveness for others. Her story is internationally recognized as a testament to light amid darkness. Reception and book signing to follow.
Book Discussion on The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness 7-8 p.m. Raynor Library, Beaumier Suite Sponsored by the Raynor Libraries
Wednesday, february 5 Morning Prayer: “Forgiveness within Our University” 8:10 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Chapel of the Holy Family, AMU 2nd Floor
Book Discussion on The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness
Co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Campus Ministry
4-5 p.m. Raynor Library, Beaumier Suite
Prayer Breakfast for Interfaith Leaders
Sponsored by the Raynor Libraries
“Rethinking Christian Forgiveness: Theological, Philosophical, and Psychological Explorations” Rev. James Voiss, S.J. 7 p.m. AMU, Monaghan Ballroom Sometimes what we think we know about forgiveness is just one part of the picture. Fr. Voiss draws on multiple disciplines and perspectives to think creatively about forgiveness and how a changed perception might allow us to become more forgiving people. Sponsored by Alpha Sigma Nu
8 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Lunda Room – by invitation only. Religious leaders of Milwaukee-area congregations will join Rabbi Abie Ingber for a continental breakfast and a prayerful reflection on forgiveness.
Book Discussion on The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness
Leading from the Spirit Luncheon: “Women, Faith, and Forgiveness” Noon – 1 p.m. AMU, Monaghan Ballrooms ABE • Janan Najeeb, President of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition • Kathleen Coffey-Guenther, Ph.D., Associate Vice President for Mission and Ministry • Jacqueline Schram, Governmental and Community Affairs Associate, Office of Public Affairs Join three women of faith as they reflect on women’s spirituality and forgiveness in the Muslim, Christian and Native American traditions. Registration is limited. RSVP before January 29 to missionandministry@marquette.edu
“God of Our Fathers and Mothers: Forgiveness in an Interfaith World” – Rabbi Abie Ingber 4 p.m. AMU, Monaghan Ballroom The hope and wisdom of Rabbi Ingber emanate from his lifelong commitment to interfaith dialogue and celebration. His ability to find creative ways for engaging dialogue in Jesuit higher education is unparalleled, and his life has been devoted to loving the “other” across religious boundaries.
Film: The Power of Forgiveness 7:30 p.m. Cudahy Hall 001 The Power of Forgiveness explores recent research into the psychological and physical effects of forgiveness on individuals and within relationships, and examines the role forgiveness holds in various faiths traditions. Looking candidly at the intensity of anger and grief that human beings experience, the film shows the role that forgiveness can play in alleviating suffering and the physical, mental, and spiritual benefits that come with it. It includes feature stories on the Amish, the 9/11 tragedy and peace-building in Northern Ireland, along with interviews with renowned Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, best-selling authors Thomas Moore, Marianne Williamson and others.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6 Morning Prayer: Forgiveness within the Church 8:15 a.m. Chapel of the Holy Family, AMU 2nd Floor
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Raynor Library, Beaumier Suite
Begin each day of Mission Week with a brief interfaith prayer experience, focusing on one dimension of forgiveness. The St. John’s Bible (illuminated text) will be on display during the week, as a source of reflection and inspiration.
Led by Rabbi Abie Ingber
Co-sponsored by the Department of Theology and Campus Ministry
Sponsored by the Raynor Libraries
Soup with Substance: “When Forgiveness Must Wait: The Need for Restorative Justice” – Prof. Janine Geske Noon – 1 p.m. AMU 227 When is the right time to forgive and when must it be preceded by other forms of reconciliation? Prof. Geske shares her decades of experience in restorative justice and the effect in can have in healing loss or conflict. Sponsored by Campus Ministry
“Race and Reconciliation” Rev. Bryan Massingale 4 p.m. AMU, Weasler Auditorium Fr. Massingale addresses the profound ways in which issues of race and ethnicity can too often divide us, and the possibilities for reconciliation that are possible, personally, spiritually, and nationally.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7 A Day of Atonement and Forgiveness The concluding day of Mission Week will be spent in reflection on the week’s events, the dimensions of our lives that are in need of forgiveness, and how we are called to forgive others. Historically, Christians have marked important moments of reconciliation with God through the acts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving (charitable giving). Therefore, in addition to morning prayer and a closing service at 4 p.m., collection jars for Catholic Relief Services and will be placed throughout campus.
Morning Prayer: Forgiveness and the Protection of the Earth 8:15 a.m. Chapel of the Holy Family, AMU 2nd Floor Co-sponsored by the College of Engineering and Campus Ministry
“Celebrating God’s Mercy” -- Timothy Johnston, assistant director of Campus Ministry Noon Chapel of the Holy Family, AMU 2nd Floor When we seek to forgive or to be forgiven, how does God act first in welcoming us home? Across faiths and throughout history, religious ritual has played an important part in helping us reconnect with God. This reflection on sacramental reconciliation and the reconciling traditions of many faiths reminds us that forgiveness is found in community. Reservations are appreciated but not required. Please RSVP to ann.hilbert@marquette.edu
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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7 (continued) Individual Sacramental Reconciliation (for Catholics) and Spiritual Conversation on Forgiveness (for those of other religious traditions) 1-4 p.m. • Faber Center for Ignatian Spirituality, Schroeder Complex 111 • Chapel of the Holy Family, AMU 2nd floor, • Schroeder Hall Chapel, 1st floor
the art & practice of
Examination of Consciousness: A Reflection on Forgiveness Join others in the Marquette community for this Ignatian reflection,at which we will quietly look back at the words, images, and learnings of the week, and our reactions to them.
4-4:30 p.m. Chapel of the Holy Family, AMU 2nd Floor
ONGOING EVENTS Jesuit Voices The Faber Center will offer video reflections by members of the Jesuit community on what Marquette’s mission means to them and the value of Ignatian Spirituality for people today. Go to www.marquette.edu/faber.
Forgiveness Project Exhibition The Forgiveness Project works at a local, national, and international level to help build a future free of conflict and violence by healing the wounds of the past. “The f Word: Images of Forgiveness” tells the stories of people whose lives have been shattered by violence, tragedy and injustice and who are learning to forgive, reconcile or move on. Their words and images are sure to move you. AMU SITE TBD
AFTER MISSION WEEK Holocaust Museum Pilgrimage Students are encouraged to explore the theme of reconciliation during a pilgrimage to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, IL, on Sunday, February 9th. Join other members of the Marquette community for this powerful experience of memory and hope. Buses will leave from SHAMU at 12:30 p.m. and will return to campus by 6 p.m. Cost is $8 per student. To sign-up, visit: www.marquette.edu/cm. Registrations will be accepted until Monday, February 3rd. Sponsored by Campus Ministry, Hillel Milwaukee, Cru, Department of Theology, Lutheran Campus Ministry, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Marquette University Student Government, Office of Student Development, and Orthodox Christian Chaplaincy. For more information on the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, please visit: http://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/.
Mission Week 2014 February 2–7