Salesian Scholars Seminar

The 2008 Salesian Scholars Seminar began today with the theme "Propagating the Salesian Spirit". Ten papers are being presented this year. The procedure is that each scholar presents the paper of another scholar. Then the group gives feedback, asks questions, and carries forward the discussion.

The DeSales Resources and Ministries Center has hosted this scholarly event from its inception. In fact, this began as the initiative of Fr Joseph F. Power, OSFS, who studied Francis de Sales as his own passion… He succeeded in gathering scholars from universities and from religious communities. From the informal if studious gathering organized by Joe Power, the group gained its own identity. After Joe's death in 2002, the group decided that the effort needed to be strengthened and continued.

The new director of DeSales Ministries, Fr John Graden, has been supportive of sponsoring the event every two years. Joseph Chorpenning and Wendy Wright have been co-charing the event since 2002. There is a lot of energy around all this, considering also that Salesian Spirituality is seen as a backwater tradition in the Church.

The presenters and papers that were presented today are as follow:

Joseph Chorpenning, “Francis de Sales’s Emblematic Interpretation of the Death of St. Joseph”

Paula McCarthy, “The Shroud of Turin and St. Francis de Sales”

Alexander Pocetto, “The Sternness of the Gentle Francis de Sales [1567-1622]”

Daniel Wisniewski, “Chains of Love: The Eternity of Friendship in Salesian Spirituality”

Christian Krokus, “Spiritual Friendship in the Salesian Tradition Read in Light of Lonergan’s Understanding of Vertical Finality”

Tomorrow's papers and presenters will be:

Wendy Wright, “The Transmission of the ‘Salesian Spirit’ in the 19th-Century Année sainte”

Patricia Siegel, “Caroline Carré and the Founding of the Daughters of St. Francis de Sales”

Thomas Dailey, “The Spiritual Directory as a Privileged Means of Propagating the Salesian Spirit”

Joseph Boenzi, “Salesian Spirit, Lay Movements and Consecrated Life in the Church”

Kathy Brown, “St. Francis de Sales and a Theology of Vocation”