To commemorate the 183rd anniversary of Fr. Leo John Dehon’s birth on March 14th, the Dehon Study Center hosted a colloquium titled, “He Loved Us, I Have Loved You: The Heart of Christ, the Poor, and the Church Today.” It took place both in-person at the Provincial Conference Center in Hales Corners, WI, and via livestream.
Fr. Joseph Mukuna, SCJ, DSC director, noted that the colloquium would focus on two texts: Dilexit Nos, the encyclical letter by Pope Francis, and Dilexi Te, the apostolic exhortation by Pope Leo XIV. With those texts as a backdrop, Dr. Megan Furman, PhD, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, did a presentation on “Who Is the Poor Other?” She was followed by Dr. James Stroud, STD, Assistant Professor of Moral Theology at SHSST, who spoke about “Holiness and the Poor.”
By highlighting sections of Dilexit Te, Dr. Furman emphasized that we are called to serve the poor as a way of serving God, of being with God. She highlighted a passage from Paragraph 26:
“One cannot love God without extending one’s love to the poor.”
Focusing on the closing paragraphs of Dilexit Te, Dr. Stroud noted what Pope Leo calls the Church to be in the world today:
“Christian love breaks down every barrier, brings close those who were distant, unites strangers, and reconciles enemies. It spans chasms that are humanly impossible to bridge, and it penetrates to the most hidden crevices of society. By its very nature, Christian love is prophetic: it works miracles and knows no limits. It makes what was apparently impossible happen. Love is above all a way of looking at life and a way of living it. A Church that sets no limits to love, that knows no enemies to fight but only men and women to love, is the Church that the world needs today.”
In the Q&A session that followed, Dr. Furman turned the focus on the SCJs who were in the room. “What,” she asked, “is your experience of the vow of poverty and ministering to the poor?”
Fr. John Divine is an SCJ from Cameroon, visiting family in the United States. He sat in on the colloquium and shared his experience of ministering to the poor in his home country. “We missionaries have meals together every day, we have shelter. Then we go to the villages where people may not have eaten, who don’t have what we take for granted.
“We are always reminded that a person must first have access to clean water to drink before he can listen to you talk of the riches of Christ.”
Click here to view a recording of the colloquium.
Click here to view a few photos.
