The Plight of the Eastern Christians

Sunday, March 13^th

Join Credo St. Louis as we welcome Deacon Louis Peters, Chancellor of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, as the guest speaker for our annual St. Joseph forum. Deacon Peters will address the current persecution of the Eastern Christians in the Middle East, as well as give an overview of the Eastern Churches and reflect on the future of their communities.

Coptic Martyrs Deacon Peters is a St. Louis native who attended Catholic elementary and secondary schools (St. Cecilia’s parish school and St. Mary’s High School). He received a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Missouri, a Master’s Degree from the University of Arkansas and a Doctorate in Educational Administration from St. Louis University. He served 3 ½ years in the United States Air Force. He has been a teacher and principal of an Archdiocesan parish elementary school and served as a staff member in the Catholic Education Office of the Archdiocese as the Director of Personnel. He spent his last 14 years in education as a teacher and principal of Chaminade College Preparatory School. After 40 years in Catholic education he retired in 2013. He was ordained a deacon serving the Maronite Church of St. Raymond in St. Louis in 2005. In 2013 he was appointed the Chancellor of the Maronite Eparchy (Diocese) of Our Lady of Lebanon by the new bishop, Most Reverend Elias Zaidan. The Eparchy covers 32 states with 45 parishes and missions.

The forum will be held on Sunday, March 13th at the Clayton (Crowne) Plaza Hotel in Clayton, Missouri. Dinner will be served promptly at 6:00pm. Cost of registration, which includes a full dinner and parking, is $35.00 per person, with a discounted student rate of $15.00 per person. Menu options are Beef Lasagne, Chicken Parmigiana, or Vegetable Medley, with a cash bar available. Registrations must be received by Wednesday, March 9th. You may register online, or mail your registration form along with your payment to:

Credo of the Catholic Laity
c/o Tom Hoover
3835 Westminster Place
St. Louis, MO 63108

Events

Communion for Divorced and Remarried Catholics?

6 PM Sunday March 22^nd in Clayton

Communion for Divorced and Remarried Catholics? At this year’s forum in honor of St. Joseph, head of the Holy Family, Fr. Brian Harrison, O.S., S.T.D., will speak on this topic. It’s the now-famous proposal (promoted with particular vigor by Cardinal Walter Kasper and other German-speaking bishops) to officially relax the Church’s discipline that debars divorced and civilly remarried Catholics from receiving the Eucharist. This is without any doubt the most burning and controversial question on the agenda for the upcoming Ordinary Synod of Bishops in October 2015, dedicated to marriage and family issues!

Paragraph 52 of the Final Relatio of last year’s Extraordinary Synod raised this question (although it received less than the 2/3 majority of votes required to make it an official recommendation of the Synod). It tentatively asks whether psychological or social factors might in some cases reduce the subjective guilt for such objectively adulterous unions from the level of mortal to only venial sin (or maybe even no sin at all), thereby opening the way for such couples to receive Holy Communion. Paragraph 52 calls for “deeper study” of this question as part of the preparation for this year’s Synod.

Don’t miss Fr. Harrison’s own answer to this call, in which he will argue the case for maintaining the Church’s discipline in this matter, as recently confirmed by Pope St. John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio, no. 84. Read more “Communion for Divorced and Remarried Catholics?” →

Events

The Natural Desire to See God A Conversation With…

THE NATURAL DESIRE TO SEE GOD

A Conversation With
David Bentley Hart and Lawrence Feingold

Friday, March 20^th, 2015 2 PM

Anheuser-Busch Auditorium, John Cook School of Business
Saint Louis University

Free and Open to the Public

Surnaturel bu Henri de Lubac Does every human being desire to see God? How ought we interpret the legacy of Henri de Lubac, S.J. and his assessment of St. Thomas Aquinas and his interpreters? What are the implications of these questions for the
ecclesial-cultural situation today?

David Bentley Hart, Ph.D., Danforth Visiting Professor of Theological Studies, Saint Louis University. Hart is the author of many books, including The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth and The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, and Bliss.

Lawrence Feingold, S.T.D., Associate Professor of Theology and Philosophy, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. Feingold is the author of The Natural Desire to See God According to St. Thomas Aquinas and His Interpreters.

For questions or to confirm your attendance, please contact Dr. Randy Rosenberg at rrosenb3@slu.edu.

The Event is sponsored by the Department of Theological Studies, Saint Louis University

Category: Events