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• Promoting Civilized Discourse on Immigration

  • When
    1 Jul 2026
  •  
    7:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

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  Bishop Brendan Cahill, chair of the USCCB Committee on Migration, advocates for humane, "pro-life" immigration policies that prioritize family unity and oppose mass deportation and detention. He strongly opposes expanding private detention centers, calling them a "industrialization of human suffering," and pushes for comprehensive, compassionate reform.  How do we respond to this crisis? Bishop Cahill has suggested, "While people can honestly disagree about the ways to achieve these goals, we can all agree that we must urge our government officials to listen to the voices and concerns of the people they serve.” He will share more of his reflections and suggestions at this Zoom presentation.

  Bishop Cahill was ordained a priest in 1990 in the Diocese of Galveston-Houston where he was raised.  Pope Francis promoted Cahill to bishop of the Diocese of Victoria, Texas in 2015.  Cahill speaks English, Spanish and Italian, and has a working knowledge of French and German. Since becoming the Bishop of Victoria, he joined the Communities of Faith in Victoria with other Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders and has been an active supporter of the Gulf Bend Center Coalition of Mental Health. 

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• “Love My Enemies? Really?”: Real-World Mentoring from St. Thérèse of Lisieux with Marisa Guerin

  • When
    3 Aug 2026
  •  
    7:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

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  St. Thérèse of Lisieux is famous for her Little Way of nonviolent love. In her own words, “No doubt, we don’t have any enemies in Carmel, but there are feelings.” Like us, she encountered difficult and damaged people who aroused in her feelings of resentment, anger, or indignation. Her intuition told her that unloving feelings are the wellsprings of violence if not managed appropriately.

  Through reflection, prayer, patience, and the grace of God, Thérèse gradually came to see others with the compassionate eyes of Jesus. She also learned how to avoid violence to herself by understanding her own limits and needs. Tonight, we consider how Thérèse cultivated a non-adversarial stance towards ourselves, others, and life itself – trusting in God who never abandons our suffering world.

  Marisa Guerin, PhD, is the co-author with the late Br. Joseph Schmidt, FSC of “Life Lessons from St. Thérèse of Lisieux.” She is a retired consultant and educator with expertise in organizational behavior and the psychodynamics of leadership. Marisa is married living near Philadelphia.

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• LIBERATION, TECHNOLOGY, AND HOPE: A CATHOLIC THEOLOGY OF AI with John Slattery

  • When
    1 Sep 2026
  •  
    7:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom and St. Paul of the Cross Retreat Home, 148 Monastery Ave., 15203

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  In light of Pope Leo's Magnifica Humanitas, what is the role of theology in discussions of AI? Dr. John Slattery will present the current field of AI ethical studies and argue for a liberative, eschatological resistance to AI platforms. Paired with Pope Leo's language of disarmament, liberation theology offers a helpful lens for addressing the needs of community alongside the demands of modern technology. Through theology, we can resist the dehumanizing tendencies of capitalism and work together to build a humane and holy future.

  John Slattery, Executive Director of the Grefenstette Center for Ethics at Duquesne University, is an ethicist, theologian, and historian of science. Slattery works at the intersection of technology, science, theology, and racism. His education was at Georgetown University’s St. Paul School of Theology, and Notre Dame. He serves on the AI Research Group at the Vatican Dicastery on Culture and Education, through which he co-authored the volume Encountering Artificial Intelligence.(2024). 
  

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• Just Peace and Just War with Maryann Cusimano Love

  • When
    5 Oct 2026
  •  
    7:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

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  Donald Trump and JD Vance have been publicly scolding Pope Leo over the Catholic Church's teaching on just peace and just war. What are these teachings? How do just peace and just war teachings fit together? What are the Church's positions on current conflicts, such as Russia's war on Ukraine, and U.S. attacks on Iran? How have Popes Francis and Leo advanced the Catholic understanding and use of the just war principles? What are the criteria for peacemaking, especially in a nuclear age?

  Dr. Maryann Cusimano Love is Chair of the Politics Department of The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. She serves as a consultant to the Holy See Mission at the United Nations, where she participates in the UN negotiations on nuclear weapons, and Artificial Intelligence and Lethal Autonomous Weapons systems. Dr. Love is a New York Times best selling author; she lives on the Chesapeake Bay with her husband Richard Love and their three children. 
  

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• Democracy, Community, & the Common Good with Simone Campbell

  • When
    5 Nov 2026
  •  
    7:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

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  Sr. Simone will explore today’s challenges to democracy, community, and the common good. She brings vast experience as an attorney for the poor, as head of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, and as a listener on Nuns on the Bus and later in travels through the South. Seeking the common good across the cultural divide and continuing in her contemplative practice, she will share her special perspective, many remarkable stories, and her Hope. "When you touch the pain of the world as real, there is a solidarity, an engagement with the Gospel, a living faith that blossoms forth."

  Sister Simone, a Sister of Social Service, is a religious leader, attorney, author and recipient of a 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian honor). For 17 years she was executive director of NETWORK, gaining much experience in public healing. There she led Nuns on the Bus. She currently is an Emerson Elder with the Emerson Collective focusing on political healing. Her healthcare policy work was seminal in passing the Affordable Care Act. Her two award winning books are A Nun on the Bus (2014) and Hunger for Hope (2020). 
  

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• Intersectionality: An Urgent Gospel Call with Yuneun Trujillo

  • When
    3 Dec 2026
  •  
    7:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

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  Are we our race? Our legal status? Our gender? What makes us us? Every human being is intersectional, and many people experience marginalization through more than one aspect of their identity. Yet overly simplistic theological approaches and current political trends have pushed segments of American Christianity toward the further exclusion– a direction that stands in tension with the Gospel.

  What does it mean to recognize the full humanity of one another and to stand in defense of that humanity? This presentation explores intersectionality as an urgent Gospel call to prophetic ministry — one that recognizes the dignity of every part of the Body of Christ, actively confronts injustice, and invites the Church back to the radical compassion, solidarity, and liberating message of the Gospel.

  Yunuen Trujillo is a Catholic lay minister, author, faith-based community organizer, and an immigration and workers’ rights attorney. As a lay minister, she has served in Young Adult Ministry for more than 15 years and has served in inclusive Catholic LGBTQ ministry. Currently, Yunuen is focused on using her intersectional voice and lived experience to advance justice and build much-needed bridges across social justice movements. 
  

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