Faith Odyssey 2013
Saturday, January 19

Please join us for a faith lift and for a day of spirit and fellowship with eight featured subjects and keynote speaker: Juliette Marsh Williams.

Cost:
$45 per person, received by January 10
$50 per person, received after January 10.

Lunch is included. We can  guarantee lunch only for those who register by Monday, January 14, 2013.

Event Schedule

8:30 - 9:15 am  Registration & Continental Breakfast
9:15 - 9:35 am  Welcome
9:45 - 11:00 am  Sesson One
11:15 - 12:30 pm  Session Two
12:30 - 1:20 pm Lunch
1:30 - 2:45 pm Session Three
3:00 - 3:50 pm  Keynote Speaker
4:00 pm  Liturgy
Wine & Cheese Reception to follow

Topics and Speakers

Session One: 9:45-11:00 a.m

W1: Books for the Year Ahead
Monsignor Lloyd Torgeson
  
Join Msgr. Torgerson as he enthusiastically shares insights from his most recent reading list. Monsignor constantly encourages all to read with the St. Monica Book Club or privately and to always share the holy Word with others. He frequently quotes the poet David Whyte who says, “One good word is bread for a thousand.”

Born in East Los Angeles, Msgr. Torgerson was ordained a Catholic priest in 1965. He completed a graduate degree in Religious Education at Fordham University in New York in 1970.  After returning to LA , he has served as Director of Youth Ministry and later became Director of Religious Education for the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Msgr. Torgerson has been in residence at St Monica for 29 years, 22 of which he has generously served as pastor.


W2:  Listening with an Open Mind - Welcoming with an Open Heart

What does it mean to truly listen to another? How might listening bring about personal and/or institutional transformation?

Anne Hansen is Director of the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, Los Angeles and a columnist for the Tidings newspaper. She holds a Masters degree in both Educational Psychology and Pastoral Theology.



W3: Walt Disney and Jesus: A Vision of Welcoming
Fr. Chris Ponnet

The parables of Jesus and the Disney stories will be used to focus on a vision of welcome and acceptance. The stories will be used to ask questions on how we as a church need to change or present ourselves as communities that would welcome Jesus and be a sign of love, compassion, and hope for the world. Feel free to bring your Bible and open mind and heart.

Fr Chris was ordained a priest in the Los Angeles Archdiocese in 1983. The youngest of eight , he was born and raised in St. Luke’s Parish in Temple City. He has been Pastor and Chaplin at LACC+USC Medical Center since 1995. He holds an MA in Theology and M. Dvinity and is a National Board Certified Chaplin. He serves the Archdiocese as HIV/AIDS Office Director, Death Penalty Focus, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace and Pax Christi USA.

Session Two: 11:15am - 12:30pm

W4: Muslim/Catholic Dialogue
Fr. Willy Raymond and Hassan Zeenni
Mr Hassan Zeenni and Fr Willy Raymond will dialogue about the similarities and differences of their respective Faiths. Each will begin with a short statement about his own tradition and beliefs. Dialogue and questions will follow and will provide an interesting exchange in which all can participate.

Fr Willy Raymond is a member of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Since 2000 he has been the Director of Family Theatre Productions in Hollywood. He has also served at Stonehill College in MA and in the Provincial Administration and Leadership of the Eastern Province of Holy Cross. He is in residence at St Monica.

Hassan  Zeenni is a former chairman of the Islamic Center  of Southern California and the Muslim Public Affairs Council. He is a board member of the Muslim Public affairs Council and the Bayan Claremont College. He is a lecturer and public speaker on Islam.



W5: Ministry on the Margins
Sr. Margaret Farrell
For some people the streets of LA are very tough and challenging. With the support and assistance of a wider community, youth at risk can be enabled to help themselves. Sister Margaret will share how everyone from a retired priest to teachers and groups of school children to news reporters can come together and make a difference.

Sister Margaret is a member of the Religious Sisters of Charity. With a background in psychology and spirituality and a deep love for those on the margins of society, she has been involved in outreach ministry In Ireland, England, and California for the last twenty years. Currently she ministers to youth at risk as Director of Spiritual Ministries at Covenant house in Hollywood.

Session Three: 1:30 - 2:45 pm

W6:Storing Up Our Treasure in Heaven
Heather King
Join Heather as she focuses on the following: The sacrament of the present moment, Christ as the sorrowing servant, and unless the seed falls to the ground and die, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Heather is the author of three memoirs: Parched, Redeemed: Stmbling Toward God, Marginal Sanity, and the Peace that Passes All Understanding, and Shirt of Flame: a Year with St. Therese of Lisieuz. She is a sober alcoholic, an ex-lawyer, a Catholic convert, and full-time writer. She lives in LA and blogs at shirtofflame.blogspot.com. For more information, visit her website at www.heather-king.com.

W7: Thomas Merton as our Guide in renewing our faith, love and service to others
Dr. Jim Finley
Turning to Thomas Merton as our guide, we will explore the intimate and subtle ways we are renewed from within by prayer, love, and compassionate concern for others.   Practical guidelines for staying tuned to the perpetual newness of God’s presence in our lives will be presented and explored.

James Finley leads retreats and workshops throughout the United States and Canada. These events attract men and women from all religious traditions who seek to live a contemplative way of life in the midst of today’s busy world. He is also a clinical psychologist. He is the author of Merton’s Palace of Nowhere, The Contemplative Heart and Christian Meditation: Experiencing the Presence of God.



W8: “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief”  Inspiration from the Greatest Saint Movies of All Time
Fr. David Guffey
Faith grows through our own experience but also through encounters with the stories of our tradition, families, friends and of artists. Using video clips and photos we will review the greatest saint films of all time, especially with regard to their inspirational impact on audiences. The way the best saint films tell their story also speaks to us about how to witness to faith in service of others.

Father David Guffey, CSC, is a filmmaker and serves as the head of production at Family Theater Productions, a Catholic media company founded by Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, in 1948.  In addition, he gives frequent talks and retreats using art and film to explore and deepen the spiritual life. For the last eight years, he has lived in-residence and served at St. Monica.

Keynote Speaker: 3:00 - 3:50 pm

Come explore the transformative spirit of Vatican II, as this address will engage both the historical impact of the past 50 years and the potential for the wisdom of the Council to continue to transform both the Church and the world. Discover what the spirit of the Council called forth in you and demands of you, as we each strive to embrace our own baptismal call and how together we hold the potentional to transform the world.

Juliette Marsh Williams has a wealth of ministry experience as a lay woman in the Catholic Church from Parish to Archdiocesan level – as a preacher, workshop leader, teacher, advocate and spiritual counsellor. Juliette was recently honored by Leadership America and Women’s Resources as one of the 40 young women leaders in the United States.  She is the first married woman to be extended the invitation to study Canon Law for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and holds a degree in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America. Currently she is an adjunct professor of Canon Law and Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University, is on the preaching team at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, and facilitates the Heritage Institute at Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles.