Garaventa Center Podcast

Fr. Pat Hannon, C.S.C., debuts his new book, an incisive and ruminative From Glory to Glory: A Pilgrim’s Notes From the Badlands of Grace. Occasioned by the author’s walking, with siblings, the famous Camino de Santiago in the fall of 2024, the book traces all manner of other pilgrimages—to and from home, family, love, self, and God. Each page shines with the craft and vision of a spiritual essayist who has lived the insights he has arrived at over more than three decades as a teacher, writer, preacher, and pilgrim.  At once a meditation on the Christian tradition regarding pilgrimage as well as a reaching out to the broader cultural understanding of that word, Hannon’s book—which includes a foreword by acclaimed essayist and biographer Michael N. McGregor—offers nourishment for all those seeking wisdom for their own journeys.

While liturgy is often viewed as healing for survivors of clergy abuse, Liturgy in the Shadows of Trauma reveals how the crisis undermines worship’s ability to offer grace. Authors David Turnbloom, Megan Breen, Noah Lamberger, and Kate Tyschper highlight the church’s role in hindering recovery while offering foundations for genuine liturgical healing.

Book launch and talk with the editors of Beneath the Roar and Tumult, Karen Eifler and Rachel Wheeler.  Beneath the Roar and Tumult: Promoting Radical Hospitality and Belonging in College Classrooms is a collection of essays from professors across the many disciplines in Catholic colleges and universities who offer portable practices to embolden students to employ a prophetic lens to see the world clearly as it is, and then creatively imagine a better way forward. At a time when higher education is under extraordinary political pressure to be silent rather than prophetic, the volume makes a case for why and how the religious commitments of the institutions and faculty often compel prophetic education.

Drawing on his background in science and international affairs, UP alum Scott Knackstedt shares how innovation can be used to advance health equity in low-resource settings around the world, transforming barriers to access into opportunities for impact. As a Senior Commercialization Officer at PATH, a global health nonprofit based in Seattle, Scott helps develop affordable, life-saving technologies that range from low-cost devices to next-generation vaccine platforms. His work focuses on overcoming access challenges through formulation and delivery innovations that make health solutions more effective, scalable, and equitable.

Drawing on his experience in government, non-profit, and private sector roles, David Austin will shares insights on how technology, innovation, policy-making, and strategic partnerships intersect in the global humanitarian fight against hunger. David Austin, former Director of Strategic Partnerships with the United Nations World Food Programme, has spent the last 30 years working with mission-driven organizations in the relief and development sectors. As board chair for the Children’s Literacy Project, he is currently working on disrupting generational poverty in America through literacy intervention in church-school partnerships. David is a UP School of Business non-profit MBA alum.

The Future of Human Engagement: A Guide for Real People Living Through Unreal TimesWhat does it mean to stay human in an age of rapid acceleration and AI? Dr. Anctil offers a grounded, voice-driven guide to building trust, connection, and meaning in a world that feels increasingly unreal.

Join us for this Beckman Humor Project dive into biology with UP’s Dr. Molly Matty. Dr. Matty’s research is at the intersections of genetics, microbiology and behavioral neuroscience. She aims to inspire everyone to feel empowered to explore biology.

2024 Zahm Lecture - Earth Democracy with Dr. Vandana Shiva, Indian scholar, author, ecofeminist, environmental activist, and food sovereignty advocate based in Delhi. Pope Francis's call for environmental justice and care for the earth in his encyclical Laudato Si makes the connection between our environmental collapse and its impact on the poor and vulnerable: “We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” (LS, 139)This lecture brings one of the foremost voices in environmental activism to University of Portland to expand on that insight and advocate for "Earth Democracy."

Holy Cross priests Fr. Bob Antonelli, Dick Berg and Richard Rutherford sit down with lay collaborator Karen Eifler to share their memories of attending Vatican II sessions as seminarians, the impact of that Council on their decades of ministry, and the links to the current Synod underway.

A conversation co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center, Office of Student Affairs, OIEDI, and Campus Ministry. Fr, Martin answered several questions from the UP community arising from his book Building a Bridge.

Cognitive psychologist Marianne Lloyd of Seton Hall University and Fr. Kevin Grove CSC of Notre Dame unpack what their two academic disciplines can teach us about memory, laughter, prayer and being human.

Dr. Deborah Pembleton, of Saint John's University/College of Saint Benedict, examines how the life of Sister Thea Bowman infused Catholicism with gospel music and influenced global leadership and cultural competence.

Dr. Karen Eifler of UP’s Garaventa Center pokes around the smash hit Ted Lasso and illuminates themes of grace and transcendence the show’s writers may not have anticipated. Or did they?

Dr. Eric Anctil of the University of Portland provides an unblinking examination of everyday technologies that create true gluttony in us when engaged and offers strategies for helping people be the processors of they own experiences. Part of the Beckman Humor Project

Fr. Michael Driscoll walks through the elements of the Eucharist and unpacks how the Mass can school us toward better loving of one another

Beth Burns, Executive Director of p:ear, shares about her work with Portland's homeless youth and joins Professor Alice Gates in conversation about living out Dorothy Day's legacy today.

Dr. Matt Eggemeier of College of the Holy Cross speaks as a guest of UP's Garaventa Center

Lecture by Dr.Bill Cook for the Garaventa Center

Dr. Christie Klimas, DePaul University environmental scientist, focuses on the Amazon rainforest to illustrate how our individual and collective actions impact our global economy and ecology, and how this can be informed by Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment, Laudato Sí. Presented March 30, 2021. Hosted by the UP Garaventa Center.

Dr. Matthew Eggemeier, associate professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, offers an analysis of neoliberalism, how it intersects with a number of social crises (racism, environmental destruction, democracy), and why it stands in tension with Catholic social teaching. Sponsored by the UP Garaventa Center, 3/23/21.

Dr. Karen Eifler, co-director of the Garaventa Center, highlights elements of Schitt’s Creek – the series that swept the comedy category in the 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards – and proposes what we can learn from this Canadian sitcom to deepen our understanding of Catholic faith. March 2, 2021. Co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center and the Beckman Humor Project.

Married Portland area poets Jerry Harp and Mary Szybist take turns reading from their work and illuminating the power and powerlessness of poetry to confront life's most searing moments, 2/11/21.

We are a great band of pilgrims journeying together toward the Kingdom of God.

Behold 3 illuminations by Donald Jackson from The Saint John's Bible

Theologian Dr. Jessica Coblentz explores the tensions between notions of sanctity and depression, and offers strategies for navigating those. Hosted by the Garaventa Center, 10/20/20.

With the saints, in Christ, we are members of a great family.

Dr. Gintaras Duda of Creighton University in Omaha Nebraska gives the annual Zahm lecture (via Zoom webinar) speaking on "From the Big Bang to The Saint John's Bible: The Role of Astonishment in A Scientist's Journey to Integrate Faith and Reason"

MIT Professor of History Jeffrey Ravel focuses on "The Case of the French Revolution of 1789 and French Catholicism" as he explores the role of religion in watershed historical events and its relevance in global politics today, 2/18/20. Sponsored by the Garaventa Center.

UP Senior Theology student Andrew Plasker explores Marie Kondo's methodology for "tidying up" and how her attitudes toward cleaning can enrich spiritual practices and help us look at our faiths in new ways, 2-11-20.  Co-sponsored by the Beckman Humor Project and the Garaventa Center.

Set before you are fire and water – life and death – stretch forth your hand to whichever you choose.

"O gates lift up your heads; grow higher ancient doors. Let him enter, the king of Glory."

Why does sinless Jesus insist on being baptized by John? Perhaps as evidence that He is fully human, as well as fully divine.

Linda Plitt Donaldson, MSW, PhD, examines the life of Dorothy Day, Catholic Social Teaching, and evidence-based practices to address and end homelessness, 11/5/19. Donaldson is Director of the Institute for Innovation in Health and Human Services at James Madison University in Virginia, and has worked and studied homelessness in the D.C. area for over 25 years. Co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center and the Dorothy Day Social Work Program.

Dr. Ryan Kenton of UP Biology dives into the world of actual parasitic wasps, worms, and fungus that have been found to turn thousands of other species into assorted forms of "zombies!" 10/30/19. Co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center and the Beckman Humor Project.

Photographer and painter Anne Goetze tells the story behind her artwork depicting the lives of the Visitation Nuns in Annecy, France, 10/22/19. Sponsored by the Garaventa Center.

Dr. Robin Jensen, Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame and concurrent Professor of the History of Art, presents a survey of the ways the Holy Cross and Christ's Passion have been depicted in the history of Christian art. Jensen also discusses reasons for the late emergence of both the cross and crucifixion in Christian iconography and consider the ways their depictions developed, varied, and were transformed in different places and through the centuries. Sponsored by the Garaventa Center.

Keeping our eyes on the prize is fine, as long as our eyes are on the correct prize.

In the Eucharist, everything that is precious, everything possessed of mortalbeauty, takes its place at the one table – at the foot of the one Cross.

What is the most you’d be willing to do for a friend?

This essay won a top award in the 2019 Garaventa Center High School Essay Contest.

This essay won a top award in the 2019 Garaventa Center High School Essay Contest.

Like Thomas, we too recognize Christ by his wounds.

Celebrated writers read from their works, followed by a moderated panel examining how their faith influences and intersects the inspiration, process, and products of their imaginations. The panel includes:Poet GC Waldrep, Professor of English at Bucknell University, whose new book Feast Gently, was just released by Tupelo Press. GC is the acting director of the Stadler Center for Poetry at Bucknell, and editor of West Branch magazine. Poet and fiction writer Rachel Jamison Webster, Director of the Creative Writing Program at Northwestern University, whose new book Mary is a River, is out now and (among many other things) considers and creates using the voice of Mary Magdalene. Novelist and essayist Allison Grace Myers, who currently teaches at Texas State University, is working on her first novel. Her essay "Perfume Poured Out," was published by Image Journal, and was honorable mention for the 2017 Best American Essays anthology. Poet, professor and scholar Sr. Eva Hooker, CSC, Professor of English and Writer in Residence at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana. Her most recent book of poetry, Godwit, has been described as pastoral, startling and luminous.Moderator Matthew Minicucci, Adjunct Instructor for the UP English Department.Co-sponsored by the Garaventa Center, UP Dept of English, Schoenfeldt Distinguished Writers Series and Portland Magazine. 

Christopher Pramuk, PhD, Chair of Ignatian Thought and Imagination at Regis University, presents the remarkable story of one-time slave trader John Newton, the composer of the song “Amazing Grace,” as a portal into the struggle for diversity and inclusion in the US and beyond, 3-20-19. Pramuk, the author of Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters Across the Color Line, explores the many beautiful and often painful ways that grace can break open our social horizons, from the classroom to the political realm to our efforts to create a truly diverse and welcoming environment on our university campuses. Sponsored by the Garaventa Center.

If we read our Gospel closely, we learn that it was the Spirit, not the devil, who led Christ into the desert. It is the same Spirit who leads us into Lent.

Ultimately, it’s what we say, and not how we say it, that matters.

2-23-19 Performance of Angel of the Amazon, a new American opera by Evan Mack, in UP's Buckley Auditorium. The opera presents the riveting story of Sr. Dorothy Stang and her 2005 martyrdom as she worked to help the poor in the Brazilian rainforest, and features UP faculty member Nicole Hanig in a supporting role. Co-sponsored by Performing & Fine Arts and the Garaventa Center.