2011 Spring - UUCSV to Offer Interfaith Contemplative Services

On four Wednesdays during March and April, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Susquehanna Valley (UUCSV) will offer Contemplative services at 7:30 pm. The focus of these services will be Peace Within/Peace Without. The Rev. Ann Keeler Evans, preacher at the UUCSV, will open and close each service with an interfaith liturgy that explores inner peace and searches for the support for of creating peace in our world.

• March 16, Dr. JoAnne F. Henry, will offer a service of mostly Taizé chant, assisted by musician Bill Stetz. These chants come from an ecumenical monastery, established after WW II by a man named Brother Roger in Taizé, France. The Taizé services are a form of meditation that goes back to the medieval Christian church. The services were recreated in the late 20^th century to embody a centering peace. Millions of people have flocked to Taizé over the years to experience the warmth of this communal celebration. JoAnne will also introduce chants from other spiritual traditions during the evening.
• March 23, Lenore Askew will offer an evening of simple yogic meditation practices. Most people think only of Hatha Yoga, (yoga with postures) but there are other yogic practices such as pranayama,(breathing) and mudras (yoga for the hands) that will be used. Everyone will be able to participate in this simple, meditative service. Lenore has been teaching yoga for twelve years and believes that yoga offers many ways to connect body, mind and spirit.
• March 30, Dr. Sharlene Gilman will offer an easy introduction to Buddhist sitting meditation. Simple meditation, regularly practiced (even for short periods of time) can put distance between an event, our reactions to the event, and a wiser action. It teaches us to slow ourselves and be in the moment, which builds patience and reflection, interrupting the narratives in our heads. As we come to know and see ourselves as people who are caught up in our thinking and our projections of thoughts on others, we become aware of how those habits of thought create suffering. We are better able to extend compassion to ourselves and thus to others as well. Sharlene will keep the sitting periods short so that all may participate easily in this evening's service.
• April 6, the Rev. Liz Hallen will bring the portable Labyrinth, which is a joint project at First Presbyterian Church in Bloomsburg and Grove Presbyterian Church in Danville. Walking the labyrinth is an ancient tradition that found a home in medieval Christianity. It's very exciting to have the opportunity to experience this ancient meditation technique.

Please join us at 265 Point Township Drive, Northumberland 17857 (see http://uucsv.org for directions). None of these services require special equipment. Take some time away from your busy schedule, come and sink into Peace.

2011 March - Susquehanna University's 16th Annual Latino Symposium: Immigration, Latino and Beyond

• Wednesday, March 16

  • Debut of Exhibition and Opening Reception: “Personal Reflections on Immigration: A Community Forum,” 6:30 pm at Mellon Lounge, Degenstein Campus Center The exhibit will be on display throughout the week.
  • Premier showing of documentary film Which Way Home with introductory comments by Dr. María L.O. Muñoz 7:30 pm at Faylor Lecture Hall, Fisher Science This film was a 2010 Emmy Award Winner and a 2010 Academy Award Nominee for Best Feature Documentary

• Thursday, March 17

  • Showing of film, The Middle of The World Start times: 8:15, 10:00, 12:35, 2:25 Run Time: 85 minutes (running throughout day, in conjunction with class schedule) Isaacs Auditorium, Seibert Hall Filmed in Brazil and based on a true story, the film gives the struggles of immigration a human face
  • Daytime class sessions: 10:00 11:35 and 12:35 2:15 History 300: History Methods, Dr. Ed Slavishak; Student presentations on immigration Meeting rooms 2 and 3
  • 3:00 Round Table: “Pathways to Citizenship” moderated by attorney Christine J. Sabas Meeting Rooms 4 and 5
  • 5:30 Reception Honoring Edward Schumache-Matos Hosted by President and Mrs. L. Jay Lemons Pine Lawn - the President's Home
  • 6:00 Dinner Honoring Edward Schumacher Matos Hosted by President and Mrs. L. Jay Lemons (Invitation only) Pine Lawn - the President's Home
  • 7:30 “Immigration Reform: Truths, Myths, and Politics” Presented by Arlin M. Adans Center For Law And Society Keynote Address by Edward Schumacher-Matos, Director, Harvard Inter-Faculty Initiative on Immigration and Integration Policy and Studies Stretansky Concert Hall

    Edward Schumacher-Mato, Director Harvard Inter-Faculty Initiative on Immigration and Integration Policy and Studies; Born in Colombia, Edward Schumacher-Matos was in the U.S. illegally from age 14 to 21, when he declared his citizenship and joined the Army to serve in Vietnam. Educated at Vanderbilt University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, he served as a Fulbright Fellow in Japan, and as a Bi-National Commission Fellow in Spain. He was executive director of the Spanish Institute in New York, a nonprofit dedicated to U.S.-Spanish political, economic and cultural affairs. In 2003, Schumacher-Matos founded Rumbo Newspapers/Meximerica Media, a chain of four Spanish language dailies in Texas. He also was the founding editor and associate publisher of The Wall Street Journal Americas and was a member of the Pulitzer Prize-winning team for public service at The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1979. His work has appeared in the journal Foreign Affairs, and he has published numerous op-ed articles, which, he says, express the value of human dignity over self-righteousness and realism over wishful thinking. Today, he applies his rich experiences - immigrant, soldier, reporter, editor, publisher, author, ombudsman, professor, academic fellow - to his weekly column on national and international affairs. The Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor for Latin American Studies at Harvard, Schumacher-Matos is also a Shorenstein Fellow on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, where he teaches a graduate seminar on immigration from Latin America into the U.S. and is writing a book on the subject.

• Friday, March 18

  • 10:00 - 11:00 “Educating Latino Youth in the Central Susquehanna Valley” A discussion with area educators moderated by Dr. Debra Mathinos, Director of Instruction, Milton Area School District Meeting Rooms 4 and 5
  • 11:15-12:20 Daytime class sessions: Political Science 314: Diversity in American Politics, Dr. Michele DeMary Student presentations on Immigration in the US with Valerie Burch, Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania, as Discussant Meeting Rooms 2 and 3
  • 12:30-1:30 Luncheon, Political Science Students and Invited Guests with guest speaker: Valerie Burch, Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Pennsylvania Meeting Room 1 (Invitation only)
  • 1:45-2:45 “The Changing Face of Europe…” Department of Modern Languages Faculty Round Table, moderated by Dr. Shari Jacobson (organized by Alicia Cerezo Paredes) Meeting Rooms 4 and 5
  • 3:00-4:00 “The Changing Face of Europe…” Department of Modern Languages Student Presentations and Posters Meeting Rooms 2 and 3
  • 4:00-8:00 Visit to Campus by Latino High School Students enrolled in regional high schools
  • 4:15-4:45 Bi-lingual Drama Presentation: El Soldado Razo by Luis Valdéz Presented by Spanish 305 Students Meeting Rooms 4 and 5
  • 4:45-6:00 Dinner featuring DJ José Rivera Evert Dining Room
  • 6:00-7:30 Pasos Caribeños Dance Troupe performance under the direction of Andy Zayas Degenstein Theater
  • 9:00-1:00 Evening Gala Dance featuring live music by YeraSon, sponsored by H.O.L.A. TRAX

For more information, please contact: Charity Ney, ney@susqu.edu, (570) 372-4283 Leona Martin martinl@susqu.edu

2011 April 5 - The Road to Peace: Practicing Nonviolence in a World of Violence and War

Tuesday, April 5, 7:30 pm. in the Trout Auditorium, Vaughn Literature Bldg., Bucknell University

John Dear, SJ is a Jesuit priest, internationally known peace activist, organizer, writer and Nobel Peace Prize nominee who is at the forefront of the peace and justice movement in the United States. He is the author/editor of more than 25 books on non-violence, including Living Peace; Mohandas Gandhi: Essential Writings; Disarming the Heart: Toward a Vow of Non-violence and the autobiographical A Persistent Peace. He has served as executive director of the Fellowship for Reconciliation, the largest interfaith peace organization in the United States.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, Dear volunteered as a Red Cross chaplain at the New York Family Assistance Center and was coordinator for the Red Cross Chaplaincy Program. During this time, he worked with and counseled some 1,500 family members who had lost loved ones in the tragedy, as well as with hundreds of firefighters and police officers, while at the same time speaking out against the U.S. retaliatory bombing of Afghanistan.

Dear's work has taken him to El Salvador, where he lived and worked in a refugee camp in 1985; to Northern Ireland, where he served at a human rights center during the year leading up to the Belfast Good Friday Agreement; to Guatemala, Nicaragua, the Philippines and most recently the Middle East, where he led a delegation of Nobel Peace Prize winners to witness the devastating effects of U.S. sanctions on Iraqi children.

He worked closely with Mother Teresa of Calcutta on a project to abolish the death penalty and has been arrested more than 75 times for acts of non- violent civil disobedience for peace. He was the 2009 recipient of the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award for his leadership in non-violent resistance and Gospel living, the 2010 Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award, and the 2011 Pax Christi Annual Peacemaker Award. He has been named a distinguished lecturer at Drew University. His papers on peace and non-violence are housed in the Swarthmore College Library Peace Collection, Swarthmore, PA.

Nominating Fr. Dear for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008, Desmond Tutu, Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, wrote: He is the embodiment of a peacemaker. He has led by example through his actions and in his writings, and in numerous speeches, sermons and demonstrations. He believes that peace is not something static, but rather to make peace is to be engaged, mind, body and spirit. His teaching is to love yourself, to love your neighbor, your enemy and the world, and to understand the profound responsibility in doing all of these.

From his fraternity brother, party-all-night lifestyle as an undergraduate student at Duke University, to his conversion to the Jesuit priesthood to the extreme dangers and delights of a life dedicated to truly living out his mission of peace and non-violence, Dear's incredible story will touch anyone who believes in the power of peace.

For more information, contact Suzanne Domzalski at smd019@bucknell.edu or 570-577-3766. Visit John Dear's website at: www.fatherjohndear.org

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