[Message from our Executive Director, Daniel Wasserman-Soler]
Dear friends of the Lumen Christi Institute,
As we remember the life of Pope Francis, I would like to reflect on a passage from Evangelii Gaudium (2013). The Pope described the Church as “a mother with an open heart.” He added, “Everyone can share in some way in the life of the Church; everyone can be part of the community.” The Church “is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems.”
It seems to me that these insights of the Holy Father run parallel to the vision of my predecessor, Thomas Levergood, the founder of the Lumen Christi Institute. In a 2020 essay written for America magazine, Thomas reflected on the brokenness of American politics:
Well-intended reforms have destroyed the ability of our political parties to function as vehicles of citizen participation in democratic life. We need to stop seeking political victories at all cost and vilifying the people who disagree with us; instead we need to work together to renew our political order. Then, sharing in the common good of a functioning political system, we can get back to the normal democratic life of creative debate, disagreement and compromise (a nearly forgotten concept).
Thomas saw the Catholic intellectual tradition as an antidote to the problems of American politics. In the same essay, he also referred to Pope Francis, who wrote the following in Laudato si (2015): “We urgently need a humanism capable of bringing together the different fields of knowledge, including economics, in the service of a more integral and integrating vision.” The pope’s insight affirmed Thomas’s view that Lumen Christi events should transcend ideological divisions and engage the universal Church. Thomas saw the Institute as a place not only for liberal Catholics or conservative Catholics (or even just for Catholics) – but for everyone, “with all their problems,” as Pope Francis said.
For me, this issue of The Beacon highlights Thomas’s enduring vision of bringing the different parts of both the Church and the academy into one conversation. Our tenth conference on Economics and Catholic social thought brought together scholars from a range of academic and ideological backgrounds to discuss polarization and social cohesion. Our symposium on gender and holiness in the Middle Ages demonstrated how the Catholic tradition can help us to have a thoughtful and fascinating conversation on the often polarizing issue of gender. Our visiting scholar, Fr. Adam Hincks, S.J. led several sessions in which he showed how the Church’s intellectual tradition complements scientific inquiry. Kristof Oltvai’s reading group brought students of different fields and community members into a conversation on Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Thank you for your support of our mission. Please know that you and your loved ones are in our prayers daily here at Gavin House.
Yours in Christ,
Danny