Hello all, I am back from my blog hiatus. This is the first of a series of updates since last year.
June 8, 2016:
10th Anniversary of the Duke Center for Reconciliation, honoring the co-founders, Chris and Emmanuel.
June 10, 2016:
Speaking at the CTSA plenary in San Juan Puerto Rico, responding to Margaret Farley. Read my plenary address here.
June 17, 2016:
Plenary Keynote address at the American Society of Missiology Annual Meeting, St. Paul Mn. Read my address on “Field Hospital”.
March 12, 2016.
It has been a while since we posted anything here. Not because there has been nothing to share. On the contrary, we have been experiencing an overabundance of gifts, happenings and events such that there has been little time to process the “too much”. Now, thanks to a dedicated and persistent research assistant, Fr Emmanuel is able to share some developments on the Bethany Land Institute http://emmanuelkatongole.com/pilgrim/kiumpa-bethany-greens/ . Three highlights over the last six months have brought much needed momentum to The Bethany Land Institute initiative as we prepare for take off:
Highlight One:
The gift of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si
Laudato Si
which provides the much needed and fresh pastoral/theological vision on care for our human home. See Fr Emmanuel’s reflection on the urgency of the ecological challenge in Africa, which reflects on Laudato Si and also casts a vision for the BLI, see ROOTING GOD’S MISSION IN THE AFRICAN SOIL .
Highlight Two:
Seed funding from two organizations allowed us to clear any remaining huddles on the land and to have the 78 acres of the future campus of the BLI surveyed and fenced off.
Fr Katongole planting a tree at BLI
Cornelius planting a tree at BLI
Highlight Three:
BLI successfully incorporated in Uganda (August); held first board meeting (Jan)
First BLI Board Meeting
and board site visit….
Board site visit
Some pictures of board meeting and of site visit.
I can honestly say, “I do not know what God is doing, but am glad to be part of it.”
Watch this space for more updates.
After two and half years of renting in South Bend, the gift of a new home: 3401 Creekwater Lane, just a little over two miles to the North of Notre Dame.
Five days in Rome (June 3-8) for a Contending Modernities meeting. As always Rome is full of delightful surprises. The highlight: Corpus Christi mass, presided over by Pope Francis at the Basilica of John Lateran, followed by a mile long procession with the blessed Sacrament to Maria Marjore. At the mass, Francis prayed for persecuted Christians around the world while reminding (during the homily) the congregation the unique gift of that the Eucharist is to the church: “not a reward for the holy, but food for the hungry, pardon for sinners and strength for the weary.”
Another highlight: time with my friend Fr. Simon Peter, who is in formation at the Pontifical Ecclesiatical Academy, preparing for ministry in ecclesiastical diplomacy:
A bitter and cold winter in Chicago – but in its midst, a spring-full of gift, chief among them, 4 month residence and company of priest friends (Stan & Ken especially) at St. Clement Church Lincoln Park, while serving as a senior fellow at the De Paul Center for World Christianity and Intercultural Theology (thanks especially to Bill and Mike), working on a manuscript: Born of Lament: The Theology and Politics of Hope in Africa I am happy with the first draft, and will hopefully be ready to submit to publishers a revised manuscript in the Fall. For a preview of the Why, How and What of Born of Lament, watch here at vimeo