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Brother John McGowan is 45 years a member of Little Brothers of the Gospel, a Roman Catholic order, founded in 1956 and inspired by the life and writings of Blessed Charles de Foucauld, whose pending canonization Pope Francis approved in May.
One of only two Americans in the order, Brother John had been living in fraternity with his brothers in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico, for nine years when health concerns required him to move back to the United States in 2017. He currently lives alone in Everett, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, where he was scheduled to undergo his third open-heart surgery in July.
Despite heart troubles, Brother John had been active in Everett, volunteering at a senior day center and developing an English-language tutoring program for first-generation American high school students, until last year, when COVID-19 hit.
At about the same time, Brother John discovered the Lumen Christi Institute — he doesn’t remember how — and began attending webinars during the lockdown. He was impressed by the way the institute addressed matters of faith with great respect for difference and diversity, reflected in its programming, but also in the mix of men, women, clergy and laypeople among its speakers and the varied perspectives they presented.
Welcoming the other in their difference is part of the charism of the Little Brothers of the Gospel, who take on menial jobs and live among the poor and marginalized, witnessing to the Gospel through what Brother John calls “a Nazareth life” — community, simplicity, hospitality and friendship.
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In his religious vocation, Brother John has lived in Canada, Algeria, Lebanon, Italy, Switzerland, Mexico and New York. In these various places, he labored in sweatshops, studied Arabic and theology, dined with monsignors and assisted AIDS and Alzheimer’s patients. While everywhere he experienced “wonder at the difference,” he approached everyone based on a fundamental truth of the human person, he said.
“At the basic level, at the level of friendship, we’re all the same. We are all beloved of God, and we try to meet others at that level,” he said, explaining his order’s apostolate of friendship. “The Lumen Christi lectures keep me within that tradition,” he added.
Brother John also expressed appreciation for Lumen Christi’s non-dogmatic approach and how it encourages people to think about the faith, engage in the intellectual life of the church and “incorporate theology with life.”
“The spirit of learning and knowing at the Lumen Christi Institute is fascinating,” he added.
Brother John said the many webinars he attended offered him a “rereading” of his faith through his “exposure to the differences of our faith and the way it’s lived out.” He offered as an example the Hispanic Theology Series.
“You’re never too old to learn,” said the 70-year-old.
Grateful for Lumen Christi’s mission, Brother John joined the Fidelitas Society, comprised of donors who commit to monthly giving. Living on a meagre fixed income, Brother John has pledged $10 monthly.
“The Lumen Christi Institute has helped me grow,” said Brother John. “And I believe in giving back. I believe in sharing.”
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The Lumen Christi Institute & Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey
present
Monastic Wisdom Summer Webinar Series:
Wisdom from the Heart of the Cistercian Tradition
Join us once per month, June through September, for four Sunday evening sessions featuring monks from Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey who will lead us through a series of reflections examining the contours of the monastic intellectual tradition. At the foundations of the Cistercian order is the reform movement of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. In faithfulness to their founder, these webinars invite participants to see how the monastic approach to Scripture, theology, and the common life might reform our own understanding and endeavors in the labors of daily Christianity.
This series is organized and copresented by Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey and the Lumen Christi Institute, and is cosponsored by the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, and the Studies in Catholic Faith and Culture at the University of Dallas.
Event Schedule:
June 27, 7:30 PM CT:
The Song of Songs in Monastic Interpretation
Fr. Joseph Van House, O. Cist.
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July 25, 7:30 PM CT:
A School for the Lord’s Service”: A Meditation on the Rule of St. Benedict
Fr. Abbot Peter Verhalen, O. Cist.
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August 22, 7:30 PM CT:
The Monastics before the Scholastics: An Introduction to Medieval Monastic Theology
Fr. John Bayer, O. Cist.
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September 26, 7:30 PM CT:
The Christological Structure of Spiritual Growth In the Thought of St. Bernard
Fr. Roch Kereszty, O. Cist.
A Colloquium on Learned Devotion in the Jesuit Way of Life
27–29 May 2021
Chicago, Illinois
Committee Chair: M. Ross Romero, S.J. (Creighton University)
Committee Members: Matthew Baugh, S.J. (Saint Louis University), Sam Conedera, S.J. (Saint Louis University), Brian Daly, S.J. (Notre Dame University), Stephen Fields, S.J. (Georgetown University), Thomas Levergood (Director, Lumen Christi Institute)
In 1523 Ignatius of Loyola left Manresa in mid-February and set out for the Holy Land. He planned to start the journey from Barcelona on a certain galley that sank soon after departing. Although Ignatius had already placed several books on this ship, fortunately he never boarded it but sailed instead on another vessel some days later. As Ignatius was scrupulously cultivating poverty (especially at this time of his life), it is curious that he did not consider these books a luxury. What books, one wonders, would he have considered essential? How might scholarly and spiritual motivations have played a part in his selection? And what might his choice of texts have been after his Parisian studies, if the companions had achieved the Holy Land mission as late as 1537? These scenarios suggest a parallel question for our time: What books (or works) do we as Jesuits consider essential for learned devotion in the Society of Jesus? Just as Ignatius decided to put certain books onto the ship at Barcelona so we might make choices about particular works for our mission today. Which works would we propose be carried in our souls and in the souls of others who aspire to lead a Jesuit way of life?
Colloquium contributors will discuss how particular works (written texts, performances, works of art, historical periods/events, or historical figures), achieve a spiritual effect in the souls of Jesuits. Contributors will discuss how a work contributes to and deepens the understanding of the way of life disclosed by The Spiritual Exercises, the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, the Autobiography of St. Ignatius, the Ratio Studiorum, devotional practices (i.e. the Sacred Heart), and other sources. Contributors might also address how the Jesuit way of life advances the scholarly understanding of that work.
Schedule
Thursday, May 27th
7:15 PM
Welcome from Austin Walker, Assistant Director of Lumen Christi Institute
7:30 PM
Docta Pietas, the Ratio Studiorum, and Renewing the Society of Jesus Today – Claude Pavur, S.J., Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies
Friday, May 28th
9:00 AM
Bonus vir, dicendi peritus: Cicero’s De Oratore and the formation of virtue through rhetoric – Pierce Gibson, S.J., St Ignatius College Prep
9:45 AM
Augustine: Foundation of Ignatian Prayer – Stephen Fields, S.J., Georgetown University
11:00 AM
Renewing the Social Dimension of the Sacred Heart Devotion – Peter Nguyen, S.J., Creighton University
11:45 AM
500 Years: from Ignatius, through the Sacred Heart to the Pope’s Prayer Network – Joe Laramie, S.J., The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network
12:30 – 2:30 PM
Break
2:30 PM
Nietzsche on the Catholicity of an Education: A Temptation! – Matthew Baugh, S.J., Saint Louis University
3:00 PM
Fr. Louis Lallemant’s The Spiritual Doctrine: An Essential Manual on Prayer in the School of the Heart – Chris Krall S.J., Marquette University
3:45 PM
Ludolph of Saxony’s Vita Christi: A Key to Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises – Stephen Molvarec, S.J., Boston College
Saturday, May 29th
9:00 AM
Jesuit Philosophy as a Way of Life: The Contributions of W. Norris Clarke and John F. Kavanaugh – M. Ross Romero, S.J., Creighton University
9:45 AM
Ignatian Thomism: Integrating First Studies through the Work of W. Norris Clarke, S.J. – David Paternostro, S.J., Saint Louis University
10:30 AM
San Pedro de Andahuaylillas as a Monument of Learned Devotion Yesterday and Today: Jesuit Art and Mission in the Southern Andes – Taylor Fulkerson, S.J., Christo Rey Jesuit High School
All sessions will be held both in-person and online. To request a Zoom link, contact Fr. Ross Romero, S.J.
