Ultimate Power Couple

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375px-Bert_and_Ernie

I made the mistake the other day of walking through a grocery checkout line. I’m calling it a mistake because going through the checkout line forced me to look at magazine cover with Kanye West and Kim Kardarshian. I find these people incredibly annoying and tedious, so seeing them on a magazine cover together just doubled my irritation. Separately they were tolerable, but together… “Kimye” reaches a new level of irritation.

I don’t imagine many Christians or any person of faith spending lots of time pondering the lives of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. But a glance at the amount of attention given to them may cause you to admit they are one of the new “power couples” of month…or maybe the week. On the surface “Kimye” are unconventional, non-traditional but unquestionably powerful in their ability to accumulate wealth, sell magazines and increase their popularity. Wealth, magazine sales and popularity are superficial goals by most standards, but they are goals nonetheless.

I enjoy seeing couples who aren’t like “Kimye.” For example, Barack and Michelle Obama seem cool together. The president regularly admits that he would not be the success he is today without having married Michelle. Separately they are great, but together they are awesome. This modern day “power couple” seems to emphasize that life can be better when you join forces with another powerful person.

The Christian communities I encounter appear to revel in the concept of the “power couple,” and I doubt they are unique in this. They enjoy the image of an ideal male and an ideal female representing them and their values. In fact, when vetting a new Pastor for a church, many congregations reveal an interest in the Pastor’s wife as much as the Pastor himself.

The idea of coupling or joining together for a common goal seems to make a lot of sense, but this can be complicated if you’re single and your options are few. For further insight, I suggest learning from Bert and Ernie. Bert and Ernie are a “power couple” of sorts. Their obvious friendship has a complementary affect. In those areas where one is weak, the other is stronger. Plus they seem to have a lot of fun together. Perhaps this is the true definition of “power couple” (and my reason to stop hating on “Kimye”) – people that complement and support each other and have a lot of fun.

Genesis 2:18 introduces the concept of “help meets”. The context suggest it’s gender specific or a “wife,” but later uses of the word make it clear the text simply means a powerful helper. Hmmm, I could certainly use some help from time to time! But do I have to get married to get help? Or to be a part of a “power couple?” Again Burt and Ernie lead the way and they help point me to God in two very cool ways. First, God can and will bring various people into one’s life to help increase efficiency, maximize one’s talents and skills, and walk through the tough times. You don’t have to be a “Kimye” a “Bennifer” or even a Barack and Michelle to experience that. It’s simply called friendship.

Perhaps most significant is the yearning from the divine to connect to man, and man’s desire to connect to the divine. Every time I hear of a person beating the odds, overcoming some great tragedy, accomplishing some rare goal or achieving an exceptional level of success, I think to myself … “they’ve had an encounter with the divine”. Mankind and the divine are the ultimate power couple. Like Burt and Ernie, God is seeking a “friendship” with humanity. A friendship that can joins us together as one in the same way that Kim and Kanye have smashed their names together… just a lot less annoying.

Rev. Keith Baltimore is a University Minister at DePaul University
Feel free to respond to his post in the Comments section at the bottom of this page.

Booknote: “Global Crisis: War, Climate Change & Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century.”

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From the Publisher:

Winner of one of the 2012 Heineken Prizes

Sunday Times History Book of the Year 2013

Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the History, Geography, & Area Studies Category.

Received an Honorable Mention for the 2013 American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence (PROSE), in the European & World History category.

Winner of the Society for Military History 2014 Distinguished Book Award for the best book-length publication in English on non-United States military history.

Revolutions, droughts, famines, invasions, wars, regicides – the calamities of the mid-seventeenth century were not only unprecedented, they were agonisingly widespread. A global crisis extended from England to Japan, and from the Russian Empire to sub-Saharan Africa. North and South America, too, suffered turbulence. The distinguished historian Geoffrey Parker examines first-hand accounts of men and women throughout the world describing what they saw and suffered during a sequence of political, economic and social crises that stretched from 1618 to the 1680s. Parker also deploys scientific evidence concerning climate conditions of the period, and his use of ‘natural’ as well as ‘human’ archives transforms our understanding of the World Crisis. Changes in the prevailing weather patterns during the 1640s and 1650s – longer and harsher winters, and cooler and wetter summers – disrupted growing seasons, causing dearth, malnutrition, and disease, along with more deaths and fewer births. Some contemporaries estimated that one-third of the world died, and much of the surviving historical evidence supports their pessimism.

Parker’s demonstration of the link between climate change and worldwide catastrophe 350 years ago stands as an extraordinary historical achievement. And the contemporary implications of his study are equally important: are we at all prepared today for the catastrophes that climate change could bring tomorrow?

The winner of the 2012 Heineken Prize for History, Geoffrey Parker is Andreas Dorpalen Professor of History and Associate of the Mershon Center at The Ohio State University. He lives in Columbus, OH.

The ‘Sweet’ Smell of Success

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DePaul women beat St. Johns
It felt like the whole season was on the line. A few nights ago I joined a gathering of DePaul faithful at Kelly’s Pub to watch our Blue Demons take on perennial power Duke on their home court in the 2nd round of the Women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. As these things go, our group was rather modest in size – we were perhaps 20 or so faculty and staff, alums and former athletes congregated at tables and bellied up to the bar of this hallowed watering hole under the “L” that has served the DePaul community for more than three generations.

Surrounded by framed pictures of Blue Demons from the past and mindful that our revered coach Doug Bruno was himself a player for legendary DePaul coach Ray Meyer, an aura of history – of continuity – was subtly in our midst. And with it came a quiet confidence. Those of us with eyes fixed on flat screen TVs knew that the young women charging time and again up and down the floor represented old school values like “team over self,” “hard work pays off” and “fair play above all else.” And we knew it was for those reasons that our team had advanced this far in the tournament. As our women rose to the challenge before them, it was clear that much of value comes from the past and tradition.

As the second half of the game began to wane and DePaul clung to a lead I was struck anew at the talent and athleticism of the women. Lightening passes, muscular rebounds, smart court sense and cool-headed free throws kept the Blue Devils at bay. In the unison cheers and groans of those assembled at Kelly’s as well as in the passionate dissection of each play by barroom coaches during time-outs, there was little difference between this game and one played by two men’s teams. Certainly in pride and desire, the women were claiming that which had been denied to female athletes for so long before Title IX. I was reminded that there is much good that comes with progress and the embrace of change.

DePaul won that hard-fought game against the favored Duke team and now advances to the 3rd round of the NCAA Tournament. And on this, the eve of their date to the Sweet 16, I find myself musing over the long season now drawing to its close…and contemplating the idea of success. With two victories (and counting!) in the Tournament and a sweep of both the Big East regular season and tournament championships it’s next to impossible not to feel pride and satisfaction – even exultation – in our team’s performance this year. And, naturally, our hopes are high that we can claim one more victory against yet another vaunted foe – this time Texas A and M.

But, do these accomplishments make up the essence of a successful season?

I’m afraid that if we focus only on our women’s won/loss record or set our sights solely upon a championship trophy, we’ll miss out on something important: the wisdom to be gained through sport and then applied throughout life. If we fail to see that game last Monday night – or any high profile athletic endeavor – for all the truth they hold out to us then we will cheat ourselves of rewards richer than any victory alone offers.

Success is a team endeavor. Before every basket there has to be a sharp-eyed pass or key defensive play or unselfish assist from others. There must be hours of scrimmaging that require commitment from every player on the team – lots of whom go unheralded – in order for starters to run 20 or 25 or 30 minutes up and down the floor before cheering fans. There must be years of support from families, teachers, coaches, advisors, administrators – and unknown others – before each and every athlete made it to that court in Durham, N.C.

Failure and disappointment are a part of athletics – they are a part of life. But they will not be wasted if we learn from them. If a loss makes us stronger, smarter, resolved to not make the same mistakes, more committed to our goals, more willing to seek help, more humble and compassionate – than it serves an important purpose.

As I prepare to leave for Lincoln, NE to watch in person the Blue Demons take on the Aggies, one more truth about our women’s team makes its presence known to me in a powerful way: I care about them. I care because I admire what they do. I care because we’ve shared moments of laughter or conversation or story-telling in the classroom or around campus or outside the gym. I care because in very simple ways we’ve developed relationships.

And, because of these relationships, I’ll want them to be at their best when they take the floor on Saturday night and I’ll feel a sting that will be somewhat out of proportion to the circumstances if they lose. In the final analysis perhaps that, too, is a life lesson we’re meant to learn: sport can break our hearts. But, then again, so can life.

Yet, we believe that isn’t all. For it is in taking a risk and allowing ourselves to be defeated and broken that we stand the greatest chance of encountering truth and grace and new life.

Tom Judge is a chaplain at DePaul University. Please feel free to leave a comment at the very bottom of this page.

Flight 370: Questions, emotions – and a lesson

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Flight 370

Flight 370 from Kuala Lumpur. The questions abound. From Twitter to casual conversations, from news streams to classroom discussions, questions about a missing jet filled with innocent people roll out as fast as ticker tape in a hot market. How does a HUGE jet just vanish? Was it a conspiracy? What if it’s a terrorist plot—what’s the end game? What about the people on the plane—when did they know something was wrong—are they alive—and if they’re alive, are they ok? Why hasn’t Malaysia been transparent about the investigation? Even today, thirteen days after Flight 370 went off grid, with chatter about potential wreckage sited in the Indian Ocean, more questions emerge. If the flight went down, was it mechanical…why was the plane diverted? The many questions surrounding this mysterious event will continue to be asked even if we never have solid answers – and even if we do. We humans must ask questions….why, when, how, why, when, where, why….?

Flight 370. The emotions are all over the place. Fear fills the hearts of families and friends who are clamoring for information. Anger explodes in the face of a perceived “run around.” Desperation hovers in the home where mother and child cling to the hope that the person who cares for them and offers them their only security is perhaps just missing. Frustration oozes out of the experts. Sympathy flows from those who know from their own experience how horrible it is to wait and wonder for hours, days, weeks. Apathy enters in on the part of those who are busy and distracted with their own struggles of life—sometimes followed by a sense of guilt for not reacting like “everyone else.” Ambiguity sums it up for others. And perhaps we might even name a gnawing sense of morbid curiosity driving those who cannot get enough tweets, news updates, and conversations about the mysterious missing flight. Each and every one of these reactions—or lack thereof—is legitimate in this situation and in all situations of life. Ours is the task of accepting our place on an emotional roller coaster and allowing others to enter into their emotional space on a crazy, mysterious ride that makes no sense at all.

Flight 370. The lessons are significant. Boeing is learning how to make cockpits even safer. Nations are learning—we hope—the importance of collaboration and communication. Satellite companies and governments are convinced that much more than a ping is necessary and possible in this global world of uncertainties and dangers. Families and communities are discovering ways of supporting one another. And we…those of us so far removed…we have things to learn also. The mysterious and confusing circumstances surrounding what should have been a routine part of life hold a lesson that comes to us from family and friends of the 239 who are watching, waiting, wondering. The last conversations, the last text messages, the last moments with their beloveds are being remembered and revisited over and over again. And herein lies our lesson: every interaction, every conversation, every action, every selfie, every moment leaves a footprint in the hearts and minds of others. Flight 370 has taught us that—again. In the midst of this mystery each of us has another routine moment to offer kindness, honesty, helpfulness, integrity, caring, loving, goodness. Each of us has the gift of this moment to honor the 239 missing souls and their loved ones by living and being the kind and loving people I believe we are all created to be. With questions swirling through our minds and emotions beating in our hearts, we have this moment—perhaps our only moment—to leave a footprint of kindness and love. In the midst of that which makes no sense at all–in the midst of the mystery behind Flight 370- may we learn the importance of every moment.

-Rev. Diane Dardon

Booknote: “Romantic Catholics: France’s Postrevolutionary Generation in Search of a Modern Faith.”

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Carol Harrison, is an associate professor of history at the University of South Carolina.
Cornell University Press, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-8014-5245-1

From the publisher: ” In this well-written and imaginatively structured book, Carol E. Harrison brings to life a cohort of nineteenth-century French men and women who argued that a reformed Catholicism could reconcile the divisions in French culture and society that were the legacy of revolution and empire. They include, most prominently, Charles de Montalembert, Pauline Craven, Amélie and Frédéric Ozanam, Léopoldine Hugo, Maurice de Guérin, and Victorine Monniot. The men and women whose stories appear in Romantic Catholics were bound together by filial love, friendship, and in some cases marriage. Harrison draws on their diaries, letters, and published works to construct a portrait of a generation linked by a determination to live their faith in a modern world.
Rejecting both the atomizing force of revolutionary liberalism and the increasing intransigence of the church hierarchy, the romantic Catholics advocated a middle way, in which a revitalized Catholic faith and liberty formed the basis for modern society. Harrison traces the history of nineteenth-century France and, in parallel, the life course of these individuals as they grow up, learn independence, and take on the responsibilities and disappointments of adulthood. Although the shared goals of the romantic Catholics were never realized in French politics and culture, Harrison’s work offers a significant corrective to the traditional understanding of the opposition between religion and the secular republican tradition in France.”

Booknote: “Hirondelle d’Allah: Une cornette en mission aus pays des sultans.”

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Brigitte Glutz-Ruedin,
Editions Saint-Augustin, 2014, pp. 333.
ISBN: 978-2-88926-070-6

“Ouvrage historique, Hirondelle d’Allah se lit comme un roman. Il contient un Journal tenu par Louise, une Suissesse qui vécut dans l’Empire ottoman. Ce document authentique, légèrement adapté, n’avait jamais été édité jusqu’ici. Il décrit la vie quotidienne et les difficultés d’une communauté de Filles de la Charité dans une ville d’Anatolie durant la Première Guerre mondiale, puis au début du conflit entre Grecs et Turcs.
Hirondelle d’Allah est aussi une biographie. La demoiselle de Neuchâtel quitta tout pour entrer en religion. D’aspect fragile sous sa grande cornette, comment devint-elle une héroïne ? Quelques éléments de l’histoire familiale et communautaire apportent un éclairage psychologique car en Soeur Louise se condensent d’autres héros et héroïnes restés anonymes. Dans cette fresque politique et religieuse, solidement documentée, tout est véridique à l’exception de quelques petits trous ravaudés par l’imagination.
L’ouvrage s’attarde sur les personnalités attachantes de trois grands Saints de France qui inspirèrent notre héroïne, Vincent de Paul, Louise de Marillac et Catherine Labouré. Il permet aussi de faire plus ample connaissance avec la Turquie, pays fascinant au passé prodigieux, au développement fulgurant. Mais Hirondelle d’Allah est d’abord et avant tout un témoignage de foi et de courage.”

Brigitte Glutz-Ruedin est nee a Sierre, au coeur des Alpes suisses. Bibliothecaire et pedagogue, elle vit avec sa famille a Geneve. Son premier livre, sorti en 2008 aux editions Monographic, s’intitule Sept ecrivains celebres en Valais: Tolkien, Manfield, Yourcenar, etc.

 

What to Look for in a Partner

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old luggage - wikimedia

You know how you push the button to send a paper to your prof and you remember you left out one of your BEST thoughts? Or, you do that presentation and sit down realizing you forgot the ZINGER comment? Well, that happened to me recently at the QIRC  – DePaul’s Quarterly Inter-Religious Celebration. I had just finished my three minute (I think it was more like five-oops!) answer to the panel question: “What do you look for in a partner?”  I looked down at my notes and realized I had left my ZINGER on the table! So, let me offer it here.

“What do you look for in a partner?” I think all of the panelists at QIRC’s night of “Love, Sex and Interfaith,” had great stuff to add to the list of things we look for in a partner: loyalty, sense of humor, beauty (inside and out!), real substance, like values, honesty, faith, spunk…. The one thing I forgot to mention – and I think this is one of the most important things I had to add – was vulnerability. A partner for life is someone who needs to be open to your vulnerabilities and someone who needs to be vulnerable with you. Face it, we all carry tons of baggage—some of us carry the entire set of luggage! Our partners need to know who we TRULY are. They need to know about our baggage and where we are in unpacking it. They need to know our hurts and dreams, our sorrows and joys. And often times, digging into the depths of our souls and sharing this kind of info is devastating and difficult—but oh, so freeing! A true partner is someone who cannot only meet you in your vulnerable places, but one who can invite you into his or her bags of vulnerability.

And right alongside vulnerability must come patience, kindness, openness and FORGIVENESS! Sometimes the very things that keep us from loving ourselves are the things that keep others out. We need to be vulnerable with ourselves and a partner and then, often times we need to offer forgiveness—perhaps to ourselves, perhaps to the other. And we need to be able to accept forgiveness or give forgiveness if that is what our vulnerable partner is offering or seeking.

I don’t have any magic formula for helping anyone find a really great partner (I’d be kicking Dr. Phil off his sofa if I did!). But I do know that if you can be truly open with someone, truly working at being vulnerable and encouraging openness and vulnerability with a partner—and then finding healthy doses of grace in those vulnerable moments–you will find magic!

– Pastor Diane Dardon

Negotiating Hospital Realities

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This is the recording of our Winter Quarter DRMA [DeAndreis-Rosati Memorial Archives] Lecture. The speaker was Kristine Ashton Gunnell, Ph.D. The full title of the lecture was: “Negotiating Hospital Realities: The Daughters of Charity in Nineteenth-Century Los Angeles.” The lecture was presented on February 18th, in the Richardson Library on DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Campus.