On Friday, December 1, 2017, At Noon
In the Main Lounge of the Union League Club
The First Friday Club of Chicago
Welcomes
John Shea
Author, Poet, Theologian, Storyteller
Who will address the topic
“Christmas: It Never Grows Old.”
It will happen again very soon. We will gather around tables, in church pews, and on chairs and sofas in family rooms, living rooms and great spaces for our celebrations of Christmas 2017. It is inevitable. The calendar tells us so.
Yet, it is possible that our Christmas can get lost amid all the expressions of Christmas we are about to encounter. Somewhere woven between the layers of Christmas shopping, retail discounts, gift giving, favorite seasonal movies and music from classic to pop, charming stories about a Grinch and another about a reindeer with a red nose, there is found yet another story, a Gospel story about a young Jewish woman who birthed her first-born son, wrapped him in love and placed him in a manger. All expressions of Christmas are rooted in this Story that never grows old.
It has been the practice of the First Friday Club to invite a speaker each first Friday in December to raise our consciousness of the spirituality of this wonderful season culminating on Christmas Day. There might be no one better this year than John Shea to speak to the spirituality of this special time of the year. He is a very creative writer, theologian, storyteller and poet.
John (Jack) Shea is the former Professor of Systematic Theology and former Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. He was Research Professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University Chicago. He was also Senior Scholar in Residence at the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethic.
He is a very popular speaker in parishes, organizations and programs throughout the Chicago area and beyond.
Our Children, our future - protecting their health and well-being Health Care has been a major topic of political and social conversation for the past eight months as well as a recurring theme in our country for almost eight years.
We welcome Justice Anne Burke, who discusses the founding of the Special Olympics
riday, May 5, 2017, At Noon At the Union League Club
The First Friday Club of Chicago
Welcomes
David Axelrod
Political Commentator and Author
Who will address the issue:
“The Evolving Media and Political Landscape”
David Axelrod was motivated by a sense of idealism at an early age. At 5 years old, he witnessed an inspiring speech by John F. Kennedy, in New York, which would set his life on a political course. Axelrod credits this formative experience with arousing a life passion for politics, and, in 1972, Axelrod moved to Illinois to study political science at the University of Chicago.
Upon graduating from college, Axelrod began working for the Chicago Tribune. In 1981, by the age of 27, he gained acclaim for being the youngest political writer in the newspaper's history.
After eight years of political reporting, Axelrod left the paper to pursue a career in campaign consulting. This included being the media strategist for 150 state, local and national political campaigns. He is the former chief strategist and senior advisor to President Barack Obama.
He currently serves as Director of the University of Chicago's non-partisan Institute for Politics; senior political commentator for CNN; and host of The Axe Files, a top-rated podcast jointly produced by CNN and his institute. Axelrod is also the author of The New York Times best- selling memoir, Believer: My Forty Years in Politics.
On Friday, April 7, 2017
The First Friday Club of Chicago in Cooperation with the Authors Group (Union League Club)
Welcomes
Mr. Mark Shriver
President, Save The Children Action Network
Author, PILGRIMAGE - My Search for the Real Pope Francis
Who Will Address the Topic
"My Search for the Real Pope Francis"
Pope Francis very quickly has become one of the most fascinating and one of the most popular people in the world. He is adored by millions and disdained by many others. Who is he? Where did he come from? What motivates him? How did he become so compassionate to the poor and marginalized?
Mark Shriver set out to find answers to those and many other elements in the life of Jorge Marie Bergoglio. In his journeys through Argentina to the places where Pope Francis was born, lived, educated and ministered as a Jesuit, Shriver not only entered into the heart of Francis, he also came into deeper contact with his own faith, values and his motivation for doing good for others. His biographical journey into the life of Pope Francis has also led him to question even his own work as head of the nonprofit, Save the Children.
Mark Shriver is the son of Sargent Shriver, who ran the Merchandise Mart here in Chicago and became the first head of the Peace Corps, and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, one of the founders of The Special Olympics here in Chicago.
Mr. Shriver will be joined in conversation by Rev. Pat McGrath, S.J., president of Loyola Academy and visiting priest at Old St. Pat's Catholic Church.
Cardinal Cupich will offer some thoughts on how believers can respond in a time marked by moral whiplash and acrimonious public discourse. The present moment seems to demand that we Christians choose between seemingly competing issues from protecting the unborn to caring for the marginalized, from defending religious freedom to preserving the environment. What is the average Catholic to do?
On Friday, February 3, 2017
At Noon at the Union League Club
The First Friday Club of Chicago Welcomes
Dr. Jo Ann Rooney
24th President, Loyola University Chicago
Who will address the issue: "IS THERE A CHANGING CATHOLIC IDENTITY IN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITIES TODAY?"
Contemporary America is experiencing two amazing phenomena: cultural/religious/social diversity and a rapidly increasing secularity. These phenomena are incarnated in the student and faculty populations of Catholic Universities. What is Catholic today in a Catholic University? Is there a Catholic world view that is taught and promoted? Is there a Catholic ethic and moral compass that clashes with a secular ethic?
Dr. Jo Ann Rooney, JD, LLM, EdD, is the 24th President of Loyola University Chicago and the first lay president in the University's history. She holds a Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School, a Master of Laws in taxation from Boston University School of Law, and a Doctor of Education in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.
Jeanne Bishop, Attorney, Author, Social Justice Leader
On Friday, January 6, 2017, at Noon
At the Union League Club
The First Friday Club of Chicago
Welcomes
Attorney and Author Jeanne Bishop
Who will address the topic
“Forgiveness: The impossible virtue”
Many people in Chicago remember the horrible events of an unspeakable crime that took place in the northern suburbs 26 years ago. Newspaper and television coverage was extensive and emotionally exhausting. The story is familiar but the names of the people involved appear to have been forgotten.
Our speaker, Jeanne Bishop and her family, seemed to be living the American Dream. She and her siblings were born and raised in a quiet, safe, well to do suburb. She attended Northwestern University and had a good job at a top Chicago law firm.
The world changed for them on a dark night in 1990, just before Easter. After a family dinner to celebrate the impending birth of her younger sister’s baby, tragedy struck. Jeanne received a phone call the next morning. Her sister Nancy, brother-in-law Richard, and the unborn baby were gone. Murdered in their own home, in the sleepy village of Winnetka. … How? … Why?
Did the family experience crushing sadness? Yes. Was there anger and bitterness? Maybe at first. Was there a Desire for Revenge??
Jeanne will share her long journey of Forgiveness. A journey that started when she told the police investigators that she didn't want to hate anybody. Along the way she spent time with the author of Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean, lobbied Gov. George Ryan about the death penalty, and met others who challenged her to examine her faith and Christian beliefs.
Would you have the courage or compassion to go to the prison where your sister’s murderer was incarcerated? Could you tell him he was Forgiven? Is Forgiveness an impossible virtue?