2024 October Season of Justice, Peace and Creation Schedule
Celebrate God’s Creation! A Blessing of the Animals on the Eve of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Celebrate God’s Creation! A Blessing of the Animals on the Eve of the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, 6 p.m., Our Lady’s Grotto
Bring your animals, live and stuff! We gather next to the Headwaters Sanctuary, a Nature preserve and one of the last undeveloped forests in San Antonio, 53 acres where the San Antonio River begins and native peoples have lived for over 10,000 years. We commit ourselves to the Laudato Si Action Plan caring for our common home.
For more information: kirk@uiwtx.edu or (210) 883-5934
All Are Welcome
Oct. 14 -15, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., SEC Ballroom
Presentations for First-Year Experience Students based on the first public statement of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word in 1869 inviting people to the Santa Rosa Clinic. “All persons regardless of nationality or creed are welcome” was published in the San Antonio newspaper. Today, this calls the Incarnate Word community to respect the dignity of each person moving beyond prejudice based on gender, religion or ethnicity. All are part of co-creating the score on the INSPIRES Campus Climate.
Enjoy our World Heritage Site, the Spanish Missions, and the Opportunity to Bike by the River
October 19, 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Starting at Mission Concepcion and the new El Camino Center, come learn about these treasures. The Center has children’s activities and an interpretive film. Drive or bike to Mission San Jose. Discount monthly pass for $8 from San Antonio BCycle. Circle back to the Pilgrimage Center to eat the picnic you brought or buy sandwiches in their hospitality area. This event is sponsored by UIW Employee Wellness, New Faculty Family Fun, and Incarnate Word Sisters who once sheltered orphans at Mission Concepcion.
Contact: Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, kirk@uiwtx.edu or 210-883-5934
Students at the World Summit of Nobel Laureates by the map of the Camino today because they are planning ways of transformation. Chase Taylor, UTSA student in Political Science and Modern Languages, San Antonio Council for International Visitors Intern. From the University of the Incarnate Word: Estrella Needham, Psychology and Art student who has been a leader in Artistic Bridges; Adelina Geraghty, student in the School of Osteopathic Medicine active in Street Medicine, reaching out to the homeless; Getting doctoral degrees in Education, Jacky Zavala Aguila while serving in the UIW Office of Research and Graduate Studies, and Teofilo Reyes while serving in the UIW Ettling Center for Civic Leadership and Sustainability. Mentored by Sister Martha Ann Kirk, CCVI.
Enjoy our World Heritage Site, the Spanish Missions, and the Opportunity to Bike by the River
October 19, 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Starting at Mission Concepcion and the new El Camino Center, come learn about these treasures. The Center has children’s activities and an interpretive film. Drive or bike to Mission San Jose. Discount monthly pass for $8 from San Antonio BCycle. Circle back to the Pilgrimage Center to eat the picnic you brought or buy sandwiches in their hospitality area. This event is sponsored by UIW Employee Wellness, New Faculty Family Fun, and Incarnate Word Sisters who once sheltered orphans at Mission Concepcion.
Contact: Sr. Martha Ann Kirk, kirk@uiwtx.edu or 210-883-5934
Peace Day
October 30, 2024, Student Engagement Center (SEC), Rooms 2040-2041 and Online
Join the meeting (Teams Meeting ID: 265 991 206 995) Need help?
9 a.m. - 11 a.m., Building a Camino of Compassion and Peace: Young Leaders Shine
In July 2024, some young leaders from Texas encouraged by the San Antonio Rotary attended Nurturing Hope, a peace education academy in Corrymeela, Northern Ireland. Other youth leaders attended the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates World Summit of Nobel Laureates for Peace (charterforcompassion.org) in Monterrey, Mexico. Both Monterrey and San Antonio are Cities of Compassion seeking to grow in that ethic. They invite people all along the Camino to the pathway to become Cities of Compassion.
Learn about the Charter for Compassion and the growing alliance with Peace on Earth by 2030. Learn about Artistic Bridges Artistic Bridges (charterforcompassion.org), a global education project for 18 to 4-year-olds to build understanding and empathy. Hear from the students about their personal Caminos with peace work. Then move into a conversation about current efforts to create a systematic corridor.
Speakers include: Anun Mulla, Global Youth Strategist for the Charter for Compassion speaking from New Delhi, India; San Antonians who participated in the Nobel Summit, Estrella Needham of UIW and Chase Taylor of UTSA, Migdalia Garcia, Director of the Peace Center at Northwest Vista College, and Dr. Eric Castillo, Alamo Colleges Associate Vice Chancellor of Arts, Culture, and Community Impact. Invited speakers from the countries participating in Artistic Bridges: Darlene Jasso and Edwin Mendoza, Guatemala, Dana Osaily, Palestinian Authority Intern speaking from Ramallah, Palestine.
11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Peace on Earth by 2030
Join Peace on Earth by 2030 led by internationally acclaimed David Gershon. Be with about 70 peacebuilders from various countries including Afghanistan in the fifth session of the “Peace Games” series. The topic is Abundance, what is needed to build peace on earth is abundant. As the weekly participants go into team discussion groups, be with local people Sister Martha Ann Kirk of UIW, Paul Dubay, a graduate of the IW MA Program in Peace and Justice, and Jacky Zavala Aguila, of the UIW Office of Research and Graduate Studies, to learn how you might be a part of this significant growing movement. In conjunction with this, consider the Positive Peace Index.
1 p.m. - 2:45 p.m., Biodiversity, Sustainability, and the Sacredness of God’s Creation
Join us for a Palestinian lunch with recipes from NORAH: From My Grandmother’s Kitchen: Palestinian Recipes and Memories by Dr. Rolla Alaydi, holding a Ph.D. in Education from UIW. We are grateful to Dr. Ana Carla Cepeda Lopez and her Nutrition students have prepared the lunch.
Dr. Mazin Qumsiyah, scientist and author, founder and director of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability and the Palestine Museum of Natural History at Bethlehem University shares virtually their work. Dr. Qumsiyah is president of the Rotary Club in Bethlehem and connects with us through the Rotary Peace on Earth by 2030 organizing team.
He will be joined by two presenters from the recent International Creation Care Conference at UIW. Visiting Scholar Vladimer Narsia from the perspective of the Eastern Christian tradition and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew’s teachings on sustainability shares. Sister Mary Lou Rodriguez, U.S. leader of the Justice, Peace, and Care of Creation Committee of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, shares on Socio-Economic Justice and Laudato Si. Issues raised by each presenter led to a conversation with session participants on the importance and urgency of preserving life.
3 p.m. - 4:15 p.m., Social Justice and the Teaching of World Literature
Highlights from the Inaugural International Symposium hosted by the UIW English Department in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, moderated by Dr. Manzur Alam joined by Dr. Jim Baker, Taniajit Kaur, Dr. Paul Lewis, and others. Participate in conversation with presenters and consider ways of creating a more peaceful world. “If you want peace, work for justice,” by Pope Paul VI.
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., Día de los Muertos Ofrenda for Peace & Justice
Note: This session will be held where the alter is displayed in the Mabee Library’s entrance lobby until November 8. The session will not be online.
Rooted in the ancient rituals of both our Indigenous and European ancestors, we pause to honor our loved ones who have died. We will also honor the lives of so many brothers and sisters who were victims of hate crimes. Join us for an educational presentation in the auditorium and a short prayer service of commitment to work for peace and justice in their names. You can also request a special presentation for your class while the altar is on exhibit.
6 p.m. - 7:15 p.m., Building a Camino of Compassion and Peace, Peace and Prayers Are Not Enough, a new book
Adelina Geraghty, Dr. Patrick Muehlberger, Rev. Julie Rowe, Teofilo Reyes, and Jacky Zavala Aguila, who participated in the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and are working on the alliance of the Charter for Compassion and Peace on Earth by 2030 will share. What is a City of Compassion and how can those be multiplied? How does one create a “Peace on Earth Zone”? How might we grow all along the way to Monterrey?
San Antonio Street Medicine helping the unhoused is an example of compassion and Dr. Patrick Muehlberger and Adelina Geraghty will share their work.
Finally, we consider a new book, Peace and Prayers Are Not Enough by Rev. Julie Rowe. She has lived and worked in Jerusalem for four years and repeatedly returned. She describes what she has seen and invites all to deeper questions about authentic ways to build peace through justice.
Continuing the commitment to building compassion, justice and peace, join us next month.
Do We Love Enough to Listen?
Saturday, Nov. 9, 9 a.m. - Noon, University of the Incarnate Word Benack Music Building
A workshop with award-winning actor Jesse Borrego and an introduction to oral histories shared by the San Antonio African American Community Archives and Museum. An opportunity for certified teachers to get 3 CPE hours for participation.
The descendant of an Apache great-grandmother, Jesse Borrego, and the descendant of a settler, Sister Martha Ann Kirk, Th.D., who was given their land, are developing a drama, “Land Taken, Land Given” to invite dialogue in the classroom and society. Do we love enough to listen to different sides of a story? Do we love enough to create futures for all to flourish?
For those interested in stories, cultures, history, performing arts, creative teaching methods and reconciliation between peoples. The drama is enriched by Papa Bear (Issac Cardenas), Evan Santos and Catherine Cuasay. The American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions invite you to join the University of the Incarnate Word conversation to remember.
UIW Education Professor Dr. Ann David shares the relevant theoretical frameworks from education that support the integration of storytelling and diverse histories into classroom teaching.
In 1869, the Ursuline Sisters’ leader, who welcomed the first three Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word when the convent for them had burned down, was from Espada Mission, from the families of the descendants of the indigenous peoples there. What are ways that the histories of Catholic Sisters are interwoven with Native American history and Black history?
Questions: kirk@uiwtx.edu or (210) 883-5934
We are grateful to all of the contributors and exhibitors for these programs, especially Darrin Dunbar and his staff in the SEC, the UIW Office of Communication and Marketing, and Lorena Cestou, GRA for Service Learning.