September 11, 2019
Convention Speaker Innovates to "Liberate" Religious Rituals
Casper ter Kuile, a researcher and fellow at Harvard Divinity School, will give the keynote address at the Diocese of Chicago's annual convention in November.
Ter Kuile, who holds masters of divinity and public policy degrees from Harvard, is a co-founder of How We Gather, which describes itself as a “Millennial-led spiritual startup collaboration between Harvard Divinity School and the Fetzer Institute.” The project studies how people find meaning, connection and community in an increasingly secular world.
“What drew human beings to religion in the first place has not disappeared,” ter Kuile says. “The consistent yearning for meaning and purpose and connection and the joy of experiencing ritual or something bigger than yourself. All of these elements, marking stages of time and life journeys, all of that is still 100% relevant. And what our research has always focused on is, ‘well what are people doing to fulfill that and how can we help them do it better?’”
Despite his research on secular communities, ter Kuile, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his husband, Sean Lair, is far from finding organized religion irrelevant. Our traditions have great wisdom to offer, he says, in an age when “an undercurrent of stress and disconnection is having massive implications for our health and wellbeing.” He advocates innovating based on tradition to “liberate” religious rituals. More.
June 21, 2019
Standing in Solidarity with Immigrants: A Letter from Bishop Lee
Bishop Lee writes, "Today, local and national news outlets are reporting that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will begin rounding up migrant families who have received deportation orders early on Sunday morning in Chicago and other major cities. It is expected that these raids will also result in the arrest of many undocumented immigrants who have not received deportation orders.
"For the past several years, as federal immigration policy has become harsher, deportations have increased and families, including Episcopalians in our own congregations here in the Diocese of Chicago, have lived in unprecedented fear. This news of new raids and mass deportations threatens to make these fears real as families are torn apart and members of our communities and congregations are wrenched away from lives they have labored for years to build. Coupled with recent reports of inhumane and even deadly conditions in shelters for migrants on our southern border, the threat of these raids makes it difficult not to conclude that our immigration system is failing to operate with common humanity or to embody the highest values of our country or its people." More.
Events
Clergy Conference (new location)
October 6-8 | Loyola Retreat in Woodstock, IL
Understanding & Analyzing Systemic Racism
October 17-19 | Catholic Theological Union
Hispanic Liturgy
October 26 | St. James Cathedral
Diocesan Convention
November 22-23 | Westin Chicago Lombard
Understanding & Analyzing Systemic Racism
January 23-25, 2020 | Oakton Community College, Des Plaines
Electing Convention
June 20, 2020 | St. James Cathedral
Feature
Bishop Search & Nomination Listening Sessions in September
In August and September, the Bishop Search & Nomination Committee will hold listening sessions across the diocese.