Christian Worship Opportunities at St. Thomas

I wanted to share this post I wrote that was featured this week on St. Thomas' Admissions blog, marketed to prospective students (see the original post here):

"I have had a wonderful experience here at St. Thomas, especially with opportunities to deepen my faith and stay connected with God’s calling. I’m delighted to share with you!
I’m a 3rd year (3L) here at St. Thomas, so I’m almost done with law school, which seems crazy! I was excited coming here after learning about the daily Reflection Period, from 12:00-12:30, where time is set aside for worship, prayer, meditation, even yoga. There are no student group meetings and no professors or staff hold office hours; it is a time set completely aside. Daily Mass is offered in the chapel, and there are also several other opportunities to use that time for centering yourself.
When I first started at St. Thomas, I attended a gathering called Weekly Manna during orientation week, and have stuck with it ever since. The group gathers each Wednesday during the law school’s designated Reflection Period. I always compare it to an adult forum or adult Sunday school. We have lunch, then usually open with a reading, feature a speaker reflection (often a member of the faculty), and close with communal prayer. It’s a great chance to connect with other Christians and get free lunch!
As a 1L, I wanted to have more frequent opportunities for Christian worship, so I worked with a few other students and faculty to set aside a room for quiet prayer and reflection each day, as well as start a weekly Bible study, and a weekly Christian worship. Earlier this year, two 1L students wanted to start a prayer group. I helped them get organized, and they now meet every Thursday morning from 8:15-8:45 for breakfast and communal prayer for our community and the world. It has been wonderful to have the administration and faculty be so supportive of students who want to start new activities for spiritual nourishment.
The Bible study has since grown, and Christian Legal Society is working on launching a daily Discipleship group that would gather every day during the Reflection Period for scripture, prayer and fellowship. So, coming soon, there will be not just a quiet space, but actual activities each weekday during the Reflection Period for Christian faith enrichment.
And there’s even more: Prof. Susan Stabile leads several series throughout each semester called “Retreats in Daily Living” that gather weekly, and provide prayer material for each day of the week during the 4-8 week sessions. There are also several Mid-Day Reflections. While she comes from a Catholic perspective, I find it easy as a Protestant to connect with the material. It’s another great community to plug into. She and other faculty also lead Vocation Retreats at the beginning of every semester that help students to focus on God’s calling in their vocation as law students and future lawyers. I have benefited greatly from both the Vocation Retreats (I’ve attended 4) and the Retreats in Daily Living. Her blog contains most of the info on these, http://susanjoan.wordpress.com/, including podcasts of recent sessions.
As I said, St. Thomas has been more than a wonderful place to attend law school; it’s been a nurturing environment for my faith and focus on God’s calling for me."

In Christ,
Kelli

Father Erich Rutten Provides Food for Thought

"If we already have the Truth, why dialogue?"

Kelli: Father Rutten asked this question during his talk yesterday, and I think it bears reflection. There are perceived dangers in dialoguing with a person who does not share your same concept of the Truth, that he might dillute, or pollute, the Truth, or that you might compromise your understanding of the Truth in the interest of being polite. The first thought that jumped into my mind when Father Rutten asked this question was that by engaging in discussion with someone with whom (we believe) we share no common ground, we may very well discover that we have common enemies. By this I mean that in discussing the barriers between us, we may well discover issues we both face in serving our missions. Here's an example: Nationwide, there are ballot issues popping up to require voters to present government issued identification in order to vote. I'm opposed to it because it jeopardizes a person's civil right to vote if they are part of a population for whom it is difficult to obtain a valid, current ID. Those who support it propose it to protect the integrity of the voting system to protect against voter fraud. Now I could say "They just don't want certain populations to vote," or they could say "They just want to allow voter fraud." I don't think we could accurately support either of those assertions just based on the fact that we oppose each other. I used to work at a food bank, and our marketing director used to say "No one is pro-hunger. It's not about convincing them to support your cause; it's about showing them how their involvement makes a difference." Similarly, I don't think anyone is pro-voter fraud, and I don't personally know anyone who is pro-civil rights violations. The common ground that we are having a hard time seeing is that we both want to protect democracy. If we discussed the hurdles we are facing in doing that, we might find that some of the barriers we face are the same, like low voter turnout. Maybe we can't both get everything we want, but we might be able to find common ground after all and appreciate the other side by working together on that common struggle.

The other insight I really took to heart from Father Rutten's talk was the suggestion that we begin dialogue by befriending the "other." I can demonize someone I don't know, but that becomes harder to do when we attend the same church, or have lunch together,or live on the same block. If we get close enough to see them as people, we're more open to sharing about those common struggles and looking for the "unity in diversity" that Father Rutten suggested.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dialogue not Debate

Stephanie: During our law school education we tend to default to contentious debates where there are only two outcomes - one side wins, the other side loses. However, Father Erich Rutten offers a different and more productive perspective - a dialogue. The term dialogue comes from the Greek dia - logos which implies an exchange of both listening and talking. Dialogue necessitates an openness to learning and understanding the others participating in the dialogue. Where a debate lacks common ground, a dialogue starts with the basis of a common goal towards the truth. A dialogue maintains the importance of both sides, where a debate seeks to prove one side is better than the other.

A dialogue doesn't need to be a compromise of recognizing the importance of both sides and "agreeing to disagree." No one learns from this conversation. It is a too easy cop-out. Instead, why not enter into a dialogue to learn more about another's perspective? With this understanding, a dialogue serves to aid us in deepening our understanding in both our own perspective and learn from others.

Dialogue use in many different areas becomes increasingly important. Be it religious environments, political, or law life the ability to interaction with others in a meaningful and respectful way raises the communication to a new level. Dialogue permits a multi-dimensional perspective, taking into account many different perspectives that a debate cannot. Perspectives in a dialogue do not neatly fit into the "right" and "wrong" categories. Rather, the perspectives serve to provide a more full picture of the topic.

Dialogue can help inter-religious communities find a common solution to neighborhood crime. Dialogue can help political opponents and adversaries find a solution to our economic crisis. And lastly, dialogue can help parties find a mutually beneficiary solution to problems be it a contract breach or marital disputes. The mission of UST Law includes the search for truth. Dialogue and not debate serves as an effective vehicle for this search for truth.