Brandy Burgess, who graduated with her Master of Religious Education degree in 2019, will be putting her degree to work as she embraces two new positions. Brandy was hired as the Education Technology Specialist for Bishop Manogue Catholic High School in Reno, NV. As Ed Tech, she will be facilitating the school’s 1:1 transition. Beginning with the freshman class, students will engage with class materials via their own personal device. An eventual goal is to offer courses for students online.
Diana is the Young Adult Minister at St. Angela Merici Parish in Youngstown, Ohio, where she has been serving for the last 3 1/2 years. She earned a master’s degree in Pastoral Studies from LIM and has worked in parish young adult ministry and evangelization for the past 10 years.
This National Advisory Team provides ongoing input and feedback on young adult ministry to the bishops, offers pastoral support to parish and diocesan leaders in the field, and develops a national coalition of young adult ministry leaders.
Michael A. Cowan, Ph.D., will be engaged in a collaborative project in the Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion (CSSC) in the School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography at Oxford University which has recently appointed him a Research Affiliate. This project will build upon his study of how communities facing deep conflict—which is characterized by distrust and power imbalances and structured along racial, ethnic, religious, national, and class divides—are able to cross group boundaries to address chronic conflict.
LIM Director Tom Ryan, project manager Sarah DeMarais, and student Sr. Mary Dolores Urassa, CDNK recently presented at the University of Notre Dame’s Catholic Social Tradition conference in South Bend, IN.
The presentation “Forming Women Religious as Agents of the Catholic Social Tradition” highlighted learnings and successes of LIM’s project “Catholic Sisters in Partnership for Sustainability,” funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
LIM graduate and adjunct faculty member Dr. Deborah Wilhelm has authored a chapter in the new book Effective Preaching: Bringing People into an Encounter with God. The book grew out of presentations at the 2017 Marten Preaching Conference at Notre Dame. Her contribution is entitled "'Murder Your Darlings': How to Edit for Effective Preaching." The quotation in the title is a reference to the writing advice Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch delivered in a lecture at Cambridge University.
Two Loyola students are Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa, Kenyan natives currently ministering to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Wau, South Sudan. Sr. Anne Mbithi Wandia and Sr. Leonidah Mokua, along with many other women religious serving in South Sudan, foster hope for survivors of tremendous violence, trauma, and disruption. See the Global Sisters' Report story on their congregation's work.
LIM graduate Tony Melito appeared recently in an article and photos in the local New Orleans Advocate newspaper because of his work as the defensive spotter for the Superdome's announcing crew at New Orleans Saints football games. Tony received an MRE from the Loyola Institute for Ministry and now teaches Religion at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans.
Recently, Religious Education, the official publication of the Religious Education Association, published faculty member Tracey Lamont’s article, “Catholic Schools as Spaces for Transformative Encounter.” It explores how Catholic secondary school curriculums on “Ecumenical and Interreligious Issues” can unfold through intentional pedagogical methods that help religious educators teach about religious pluralism in a way that nurtures the developmental needs of adolescents, deepens their religious and moral identity, and develops habits of mind committed to the common good.
Alumna Lorraine Hess (MPS 2018) presented a workshop titled “Eucharistic Adoration: A Communal Invitation to Mission” with Fr. Rick Hilgartner at the 2018 convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. A podcast of the presentation is now available. In it, Lorraine and Fr. Rick offer suggestions regarding how worshiping communities might enhance their members’ experience of Adoration.
Born and raised in Kisii, Kenya, Alloys Nyakundi came to study at the Loyola Institute for Ministry at Loyola University New Orleans because of his passion for leading and promoting Young People Small Christian Communities, or YPSCCs, in the nine countries of Eastern Africa where he was working with AMECEA Pastoral Department. During his undergraduate studies at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Alloys gained valuable insight into the needs of Eastern African youth and how they can be met through YPSCCs.