Walking Together in the Light of Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si'

Over 2.4 thousand people from all around the world joined the online conference held from February 2-4, 2023, as both a World Interfaith Harmony Week event and a Pre-Parliament of the World's Religions event. It is now up to 2.5 K views. As more and more people view the conference presentations, we continue to "Walk Together" in interfaith solidarity toward a more sustainable future fostering human rights, ecological and environmental integrity, justice, peace, diversity, and equality.

Journey with us! Watch the entire proceedings at https://www.youtube.com/c/InternationalConferenceonFratelliTutti



Learn all about the conference at https://fratellitutticonference.org/

Educators should consider using the webinars and panel presentations from the FT/LS conference in their classes to foster global understanding and cooperation.

"Walking Together in the Light of Fratelli Tutti and Laudato Si'" was listed as an event on the United Nations Interfaith Harmony Week Calendar.

The conference is also an official Pre-Parliament of the World's Religions (PoWR) event. President Grudzen, Marita Grudzen, Fr. Augustine Pamplany and other GMU faculty and graduates will present at this year's PoWR taking place in Chicago on August 14 – 18, 2023. 

The Board of Directors met with GMU staff and partner institution administrators on February 20, 2023. President Gerald Grudzen announced Lance Beizer’s retirement from the Board and expressed GMU’s gratitude for Lance’s service as Board President since the launch of GMU in 2001.

New members Genie Florczyk, Bob Graf, Marita Grudzen, and Thomas James were welcomed. Bob Graf (pictured on the left) was unanimously elected president and Marita Grudzen was unanimously elected secretary.

With a M.Div., D.Min., and MBA, Bob brings a wealth of experience in education, ministry, and pastoral work to GMU. Bob has generously contributed his time and expertise to the launch of GMU's Community Chaplaincy Program and many other initiatives.

Now is the time to enroll in the degree or certificate program you have always wanted to take but put off because of COVID-19 or economic concerns. Global Ministries University is offering a 20% discount on tuition for all of its degree and certificate programs to all those who apply during the month of February 2023. Take advantage of this limited-time offer which will end on March 1, 2023. The low application fee of $25 remains the same. Please note that this applies only to GMU programs. The Center for Celebrant Training and the People’s Catholic Seminary have their own separate tuition schedules.

Rev. Margie Schneider to conduct Creation Spirituality course

The Basics in living the theology of Creation-Centered Spirituality will be given in this course and a clear differentiation from Fall-Redemption theology will be made. The student will study the four paths - Via Positiva, Via Negativa, Via Creativa, and Via Transformativa - with an emphasis on the experiential as well as the intellectual content:

1. To understand the basic teachings of Creation Spirituality;
2. To see how Fall-Redemption theology differs from Creation Spirituality;
3. To comprehend the four paths in a practical, personal way -- a new way to live.

Feeling depressed by the headlines? Looking for a positive way to address current events? GMU offers degrees, certificates and courses in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from an interfaith perceptive.

Prison Chaplaincy Degree and Certificate Programs

Courses offered include:

TH425 Ministry to the Incarcerated: The problems of the incarcerated will be examined by the instructor who is an ordained minister, a nineteen-year police veteran, and a prison chaplain.

TH427 Prison Minister: Chaplain and Volunteer Ministry to the Inmate: This course will provide a step-by-step examination of the basics of ministering to the incarcerated by studying the prison inmate, the crisis in our Criminal Justice System, the history of the Penal System, and the modern prison setting.

TH430 A Study of Prison Culture: The minister/chaplain will be introduced to prison ministry as a form of prisoner empowerment through a comprehensive examination of prison culture.

President Grudzen promoted GMU's interfaith programs at an international conference organized by the Department of Religious Studies of California State University on "The Hizmet Movement: Responses to Contemporary Challenges" on Feb. 16-17, 2023 at the Long Beach, CA, campus.

Exploring Bibliographies

Going deeper down the rabbit hole….

When you’re researching a subject for an academic paper, thesis, or project, don’t overlook the

importance of bibliographies.

Let’s say you’ve used our GMU databases to find resources, and they’ve led you to some excellent books and articles. But you want to know more. And you want to track down the sources of those sources—where did the author of that book or article get their information?

At the end of nearly all scholarly books and articles there will be a bibliography, citing sources the author recommends, finds useful, and has used in researching the topic. For example, let’s say you’re writing a paper on Celtic spirituality and the environment. Using the link to Google Scholar (found on the GMU Library listing) you find an extremely useful article, available full text, from the Journal of Religion & Society: “Lord of lark and lightning: Reassessing Celtic Christianity’s ecological emphases” by Bruce Martin, of Taylor University College. 

After reading the article, you examine Martin’s bibliography, found at the end. You see a book by Philip Sheldrake, Living between the Worlds: Place and Journey in Celtic Spirituality. Cambridge, MA: Cowley. When you look that up in WorldCat, another of our available databases, you can find out which libraries own the book and request it via interlibrary loan through your local library, or you can view it as an eBook, or buy it on Amazon.  

And then you can examine Mr. Sheldrake’s bibliography to find more relevant sources, and the sources used by those sources, and on…and on, and on… (Does this process remind you of the Russian dolls—inside of dolls, inside of dolls? Maybe.)

Enjoy the journey of discovery! And let me know if you would like more suggestions and guidance.

~Judy Clarence, M.L.I.S., GMU Librarian

Our Celebrant Training Program enables students to focus on creating funeral services and/or wedding ceremonies for a particular religious or ethnic group or for the non-religious.

The DIVINE MYSTERY which we call “GOD” is BEYOND the BEYOND and BEYOND that also! So, how do we embark on the journey of Lent once we have moved beyond theistic notions of “GOD”? How do we follow the radical teachings, life, and death of Jesus into the wilderness of Lent when we no longer believe in a supernatural being which requires placating? Once you no longer believe Jesus was or is a sacrifice for sin, the various atonement theories which have undergirded so many of our Lenten practices fail to lead us into or out of the wilderness toward RESURRECTION.

The Women's Ordination Conference is in its seventh year of offering the Lucile Murray Durkin Scholarship, a $2,200 scholarship for women and non-binary people discerning priestly ordination—primarily in the Catholic tradition and secondarily in other denominations—and pursuing theology studies. The applicant does not have to be in school, but could be in some kind of formation or equivalent course. Our application process is open, and applications are due by April 29, 2023.

• Maryknoll's Office for Global Concerns Lenten Reflection Guide 2023: Inspired by Laudato Si'
• Interfaith Immigration Coalition’s Lenten Values: Springing into Action
• Ignatian Solidarity Network’s Lenten Migration Advocacy Challenge
• Ignatian Solidarity Network’s No-Buy Lent Registration
• The Festival Center’s 50 Years of Failure: A Lenten Devotion on Mass Incarceration
• Pax Christi USA’s Collection of Lenten Resources for 2023