St Anslem Institute

for Catholic Thought

Calendar- Spring 2010

March 25, 2010
Robert Louis Wilken
, UVA Dept. of Religious Studies
“Catholicism and Culture”

April 9, 2010
Elizabeth Schiltz, Univ. of St. Thomas Law School
"Taking Gender Complementarity Seriously"
View Full Calendar
 
Lenten Faculty and Friends of the Institute Retreat

February 20, 2010
Lenten Retreat Topic: "The Truth will set you free"

Location:    St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish (Charlottesville, VA), 12:00-8pm
Guest Speaker:   Dr. Thomas Russman
, (retired, formerly Director of the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas (in Houston) and past President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association)
Retreat Chaplain: Fr. Stephen Alcott, O.P.

Lenten Retreat Schedule
11:00-12:00: Adoration and Confessions (optional)

12:00pm: Assemble in St. Thomas Hall, Sixth Hour (Noon) Prayer
12:15: Lunch
1:15: Session I: Thomas Russman, "Journeying the Biblical Cosmos, pt. 1"
2:45: Ninth Hour Prayer
3:00: Stations of the Cross
3:30: Coffee/Tea break
3:45: Session II: Thomas Russman, "Journeying the Biblical Cosmos, pt. 2"
5:15: Mass
6:30: Dinner
8:00pm: Evening Prayer

 

March 27-29, 2009 – Lenten Retreat Topic: The Love of God and the Spiritual Life

Location: Mary, Mother of the Church Abbey (Richmond, VA)
Guest Speaker:     Dr. Robert Louis Wilken
        William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of the History of Christianity, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia
Retreat Chaplain: Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P.

Readings:     
1. Origen, Commentary on the Song of Songs, pp.21-39.
2. The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux. Vol. Two. Song of Songs, pp. 1-20.
3. Augustine, Confessions, 13.vi(7)-13.xi(12), pp. 276-80; AND 9.4.8
4. Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and the Resurrection, ch. 6, "Purification of the Soul," pp. 75-81.
5. Augustine, City of God, Bk.XIV, ch.9, pp. 561-566.
6. Maximus Confessor. Selected Writings. Four Hundred Chapters of Love, esp. 36-39, 70-71.
7. Augustine, The Catholic Way of Life and the Manichean Way of Life, (11.18-17.32) pp. 39-46.
8. Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought, Chapter 12 and Epilogue, pp. 291-321.
 

 


Schedule of 2009 Retreat
Friday, March 27, 2009
6:30-7:30pm: Arrive at Mary Mother of the Church Monastery
7:30: Evening Prayer (Conference Room, Lower level)
8:00: Faculty Reception and Dinner (Lower level)
9:30: Night Prayer

Saturday, March 28, 2009
8:00-8:30am: Breakfast
9:00: Morning Prayer             
9:30-11:30:     First Session--Origen (185-232), Bernard of Clairvaux (c.1090-1153)
Presenter: Robert Louis Wilken, Religious Studies, University of Virginia
Background Readings:
a) Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought, Chapter 12 and Epilogue, pp. 291-321.
b) Origen, Commentary on the Song of Songs, pp.21-39.
c) The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux. Vol. Two. Song of Songs, pp. 1-20.
d) Augustine, Confessions, 13.vi(7)-13.xi(12), pp. 276-80.
11:30: Mass
Noon: Lunch
1:00-2:30: Free time (Confessions available,1:30-2:30: Location TBA)
2:30-4:30: Second Session--Augustine (354-430), Gregory of Nyssa (c.329-c.389), Maximus Confessor (c.580-662)
Presenter: Robert Louis Wilken, Religious Studies, University of Virginia
Background Readings:
a) Augustine, City of God, Bk.XIV, ch.9, pp. 561-566.
b) Gregory of Nyssa, "Purification of the Soul," pp. 75-81.
c) Augustine, The Catholic Way of Life and the Manichean Way of Life, (11.18-17.32) pp. 39-46..
d) Maximus Confessor. Selected Writings. Four Hundred Chapters of Love, esp. 36-39, 70-71.
4:30: Evening Prayer 
5:00: Dinner                           
7:00-8:00: Third Session--"The Psalms and the Spiritual Life"
a) Augustine, Confessions, 9.4.8
8:00: Night Prayer 
8:30pm: Faculty Social

Sunday, March 29, 2009
7:30-8:00am: Breakfast
8:30: Morning Prayer
9:00: Mass with the Benedictine Abbey monks (Abbey Church)
10:00: Departure
 
Contact Numbers
Robert Wilken (Religious Studies): This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Joe Davis (Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture/Sociology): This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
 
Additional Opportunities at the Abbey
-Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is available in the Abbey chapel from 5 a.m. until Midnight.
-The Abbey is located on 50 acres overlooking the historic James River.
-Basketball Gymnasium access; outdoor soccer fields and track.
 
Driving Directions from Charlottesville
Take I-64 E for about 50 miles.
Merge onto VA-288 S at Exit 175 to Chesterfield (about 5.5 miles)
  
Exit at Patterson Ave/VA-6 E towards Richmond and drive about 1 mile,
Then turn right on Pagebrooke Dr and travel another mile.
Turn right on River Rd. The Abbey is located at 12829 River Road.
 

March 14-16, 2008 - Lenten Retreat Topic: What is Catholic Social Doctrine?

Location: Mary, Mother of the Church Abbey (Richmond, VA)
Guest Speaker:  Dr. Russell Hittinger
      Warren Professor of Catholic Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of Tulsa
Retreat Chaplain: Fr. Ralph Hamlet


Readings:
  • Russell Hittinger, “The Personhood of Society: What Makes Catholic Social Doctrine ‘Social’?”
  • Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum (1891)
  • Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (1931)
  • Russell Hittinger, “Human Nature and States of Nature in John  Paul II’s Theological Anthropology”
  • John Paul II, Centesimus annus (1991).

March, 2007 - Lenten Retreat Topic: What is it that we university faculty do, and what contribution is made to our doing it by the fact that we are Catholic?

Location: Mary, Mother of the Church Abbey (Richmond, VA)
Guest Speaker:  Dr. Reinhard Huetter
             Professor of Christian Theology, Duke University Divinity School  
Retreat Chaplain: Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P.

Readings:

  • Joseph Pieper, Leisure the Basis of Culture
  • Jacques and Raisa Maritan, Prayer and Intelligence
  • Joseph Pieper, The Four Cardinal Virtues (selections)
  • Alice Ramos, "Studiositas and Curiositas,"  Educational Horizons 83/4 (2005)
  • Alasdair Macintyre, "The End of Education," Commonweal (October 20, 2006)
  • Robert Louis Wilken, "Catholicism in the Secular University,"  First Things (forthcoming).