Relearning Belonging

2023 Jesuit Lecture with Fr. Patrick Gilger, S.J.

 

  • Father Patrick Gilger - Event Image

  • March 6, 2023 - 7:00 PM

    Theatre 100, St. Paul's College
     

    Speaker: Fr. Patrick Gilger, S.J.

    Fr. Patrick Gilger, S.J. is assistant professor of sociology at Loyola University Chicago and contributing editor for culture at America Media. His scholarly writing focuses on how religious actors can help thicken the weave of our fraying public sphere and support democracy thereby. His public writing has appeared in The Washington Post, Vox, Zocalo Public Square, La Civiltà Cattolica and Public Seminar, his 2014 edited volume The Jesuit Post was awarded first prize from the Catholic Press Association, and in 2021 he won a New York Press Club Award for his essay “Litany for a Pandemic.” His Ph.D. is from the New School for Social Research.

     

ABOUT THE LECTURE: 

We cannot belong to a community without knowing, and then living, that community’s story. The trouble with this, for most members of Gen Z at least, is not that we don’t know our community's story, it’s that we know too many. The trouble is not that those living in our secular age lack a story, it's that we're awash in an ocean of narratives, each of which we could use to understand ourselves, one another, and the world. Living in this sea of advertisements, of denominations, brands, self-help practices, workout regimes, and Instagram influencers vying to be the central story of our lives is… well, it’s not so easy. What are we to do? How are we to choose? What prevents us, even when we think we know what story we want to live in, from making a choice? These are some of the questions this year’s Jesuit Lecture, “Relearning Belonging,” will help us think through.