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First Friday Club of Chicago podcast

The mission of the First Friday Club of Chicago is to provide a forum for men and women to make connections between work, faith, values and issues that affect their daily lives.
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Mar 8, 2024

"The Sacredness of Storytelling"

Through the power of stories that speak to the heart, Otis Moss III tackles the theme of democracy—and what we can do in this moment, when we fear that ours is coming apart at the seams. “Appropriate storytelling leads to appropriate action,” he says. “If you don’t have the right story, you repeat the last chapter over and over again--you never get to a new one.”

This father of two calls us to consider our responsibility for the future: “Every generation has a call it must accept, to lay a brick in the cathedral that we’re attempting to build for our children’s children.”  A believer in the sacredness of history, Moss will tell stories of people who, despite having fewer resources than many of us, made an incredible difference in our world.

 

Feb 4, 2024

Shermann 'Dilla Thomas:

"Everything Dope About America Comes From Chicago" :
Chicago's Urban Historian Shares his passion for teaching people about the city he loves.

Also, a special performance from the Leo High School Choir.

Jan 7, 2024

Join us to hear how the Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul traces his commitment to social justice back to his Haitian immigrant parents and his childhood on Chicago’s South Side

Dec 13, 2023

Howard Reich, son of Holocaust survivors and journalist for the Chicago Tribune, was handed a simple assignment to interview Elie Wiesel, best known for his famous Holocaust memoir Night and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Daily phone calls and multiple in-person meetings with Wiesel would eventually turn Reich’s “simple” assignment into four years of intimate conversations which ended shortly before Elie died. The time spent together grew into a friendship through shared stories and a common bond between Howard’s father and Elie; both men were liberated from the Buchenwald death camp on April 11, 1945. 

 

Nov 5, 2023

Arts in Chicago: Remaining Relevant

Barbara Gaines, founder and recently retired Artistic Director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, has been instrumental in bringing outstanding stage productions to Chicago for 37 years. Beginning in 1986, with an inaugural performance on a pub’s roof top in Lincoln Park, Barbara's creativity, intelligence and hard work provided the catalyst needed to showcase Chicago Shakespeare’s talented organization which in turn, brought high praise and recognition from the Chicago arts community and the global stage as well.


Rick Kogan, Born and raised in Chicago, a Tribune columnist, author, WGN radio show host, and past contributor to Chicago Daily News and the Sun-Times, Mr. Kogan is often referred to as one of the great voices of Chicago radio and the last in a great tradition of classic newspaper men. He’s one of the true chroniclers of our city.


Together, Barbara Gaines and Rick Kogan will join ranks on stage at the Union League Club to discuss highlights and challenges facing the Chicago arts community along with a grab bag of other topics. And as old friends go, the two of them share a few “inside” Chicago stories never to be found in the Tribune or heard on the radio.

Oct 27, 2023

Violence in Chicago - Do We Want a Solution or a Band-Aid?

Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina parish has long been an impassioned voice against injustice in its many forms in our city and our nation. He will address what Chicago must do to stem the tide of gun violence that so stubbornly afflicts our city. 

Father Pfleger has consistently spoken out against gun violence during his decades at St. Sabina. He has organized not only an annual Peace Rally and Stop the Violence March at the parish, but also weekly Friday night peace marches in the community every summer. He sponsors gun buy-backs. He recently proposed that all city churches, mosques, and synagogues forfeit their tax exempt status unless they provide a full slate of activities for young people, especially on weekends.  

“Children are our best investment; they could be our peacemakers; and they are getting killed, burying our future,” he said. “Now everybody has to step up because we no longer have a choice.”Having lost a foster son to gang crossfire in 1998, he also speaks eloquently on behalf of those who have lost loved ones to senseless shootings.

 

Jul 14, 2023

Sports in our changing culture: Why we still lavish faith, hope, and love on America’s second religion

Certain questions in sports have more serious ramifications than the ever-popular “How ‘bout dem Bears?”  Consider the meteoric rise of sports gambling, or the now acknowledged risk of severe brain injuries in football.  Not to mention the middle class being priced out of most tickets—and now out of watching games on TV as well.

Join Mike Mulligan, co-host of the Mully and Haugh show on WSCR 670-AM, as he takes a swing at top issues in sports today, including how sports interact with our faith and our values. 

More on Mr. Mulligan …

Mr. Mulligan is a native Chicagoan who grew up on the South Side and graduated from Loyola University. Before switching to radio, Mike spent 27 years with the Chicago Sun times as an award winning journalist. Mike is a huge White Sox fan and he and his wife, Christina, have three children.

Apr 19, 2023

A lawyer first, an author second: A reflection on the development of the law in his lifetime and its impact on society and his books.

For more than 30 years, Scott Turow has been fortunate to be a bestselling author.. Beginning with Presumed Innocent published in 1987 to his to his current legal thriller, Suspect, he has written 14 novels, all New York Times bestsellers, which have been translated into dozens of languages abroad and read by millions worldwide.

But hand in hand with his writing, Turow has remained a practicing lawyer. He retired as a partner at the Dentons firm in August 2020, but continues to work on a limited number of pro bono matters. He has always defined himself as a lawyer, as well as a writer, and an appreciation of the law animates all of his novels.

Mar 5, 2023

Sometimes it causes me to tremble: Let Lent lead us through our fears for the future of the church

The Catholic Church in the US faces some daunting realities: falling attendance, suspicion of the institution, and young people who are opting out of religion altogether.

How does Sister Barbara Reid, who heads up a school that trains seminarians and lay religious leaders, prepare these students to serve the church of today and of the future? How will they address the rampant spiritual hunger of young people, for example, who are so committed to social justice, community, and service, but who seldom see the church as meeting their deepest needs? 

Join us to hear how Sister Reid and CTU are navigating these rough waters, and why she believes the church will thrive in the future--provided it looks different from the church of today. Reid finds great hope in one of the Gospel stories of Holy Week, which invites all of us, especially our leaders, to a different model of church. What might Jesus, who always stands at the center of our faith, be asking of us and our church this Lent?

Sister Barbara Reid was elected president of Catholic Theological Union in 2020, and has served on the CTU faculty since 1988. A renowned New Testament scholar who has served as president of the Catholic Biblical Association, she has received numerous awards for her contributions to the field. Reid has led many of CTU’s travel and retreat programs in the Holy Land, as well as lecturing in South and Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, and a former Spanish teacher.

Catholic Theological Union in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English speaking world; it trains women and men for lay and ordained ministry within the Catholic Church. Its more than 4,000 vowed religious women and men and lay graduates are serving in 60 countries worldwide. 

Feb 8, 2023

Rooftop Pastor works to break the cycle of violence, poverty and racism in Woodlawn

Pastor Corey Brooks of New Beginnings Church and founder of Project Hood is leading the Woodlawn neighborhood as they create a safer place and give their children the tools to reach for a brighter future. 

Spending nearly a year on a Woodlawn rooftop, raising awareness of critical deficits in his own backyard, pastor Brooks raised $20 million dollars; enough money to break ground for the Leadership & Economic Opportunity Center at 66th and King Drive.

In addition, Pastor Brooks and his wife Delilah have fully invested in the community of Woodlawn by spearheading a community initiative called Project H.O.O.D. to revitalize the neighborhood. Through it, they are raising up a new generation of peacemakers, problem solvers, and entrepreneurs.

Current Project H.O.O.D. programming includes a Core and Carpentry Level I course, which places participants in entry-level construction jobs post-program, an entrepreneurship course, and separate business workshops for aspiring and new business owners, a co-working office space for business owners, job placement programs, and community-wide events including The World’s Largest Baby Shower. 

Pastor Brooks attended Ball State University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Grace Theological Seminary. He has been pastoring since 1990 and established New Beginnings Church of Chicago in November 2000 in the heart of Chicago's South Side.  

Jan 14, 2023

A Wild Ride: How the Holy Spirit Propelled me from Business School to the Boardroom to Battling Poverty

Heralded by her peers as a “natural change agent,” Sally Blount has made her mark not only in the corporate world but in the field of academia—she served as dean at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management for eight years. Her ability to pivot, helping organizations do more and better, has also served as a catalyst for her own faith journey, leading her to take on a new role as Executive Director and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2020.

Ms. Blount is the first layperson to lead Catholic Charities, which began more than a century ago amidst a global flu pandemic. Today she is leading this institution out of another pandemic, challenged by soaring budgets, poverty, and social justice issues that seem to change daily.

We hope you can join us on January 6th as Sally Blount discusses the challenges that lie ahead for Catholic Charities in 2023 and how the complexities of her own faith journey and career accomplishments have intertwined to bring her to this next chapter in her life.

More Background on Ms. Blount ...

In addition to Catholic Charities, Sally Blount holds the Michael L. Nemmers chair in Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she is a proud alumna and served as dean from 2010-2018.

Blount is an expert on organizational transformation and leadership. A record-setting fundraiser, organizational change agent, and highly sought-after speaker — she has been regularly featured in top news outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes, The Economist, Businessweek, Fortune, and MSNBC. She has been a featured speaker at WEF Davos and the Vatican.

Blount sits on numerous boards including the advisory board for the Aspen Institute Business and Society program and the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Finance Council. She also served as dean at NYU Stern College of Business for six years and on faculty at NYU and the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago for nearly two decades. She holds MS and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University and a B.S.E. from Princeton University. Blount began her career at the Boston Consulting Group.

Jan 14, 2023

Rediscovering Awe and Mystery: What Science and Faith Can Tell Us This Advent

Long before he became a priest, Chicago’s Father John Kartje was a scientist, getting a Ph.D. in  astrophysics from the University of Chicago. What’s the one constant between these two vocations? “Both the scientist and the person of faith are always engaging with mystery,” he says. 

Kartje describes Advent as that pregnant pause in each year when we once more engage the mystery, bringing along our new hopes and anxieties, seeing the story through fresh eyes whether we’re 30 or 70.  

Currently the rector/president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, Fr. John Kartje takes issue with the supposed disconnect between faith and science. The way science looks at the world should absolutely inform the way people of faith do so, he says. That’s why the Vatican convenes groups of scientists, of any faith or of none, to report on conditions such as climate change. Good scientists, he says, can help people of faith to stay honest.

Jan 4, 2023
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It's a Whole New Ballgame: Guiding Our Next Generation Through Anxious Times

As depression rates increase dramatically, especially among teens and young adults, learn why it's important for everyone to understand what's happening.

What young people face today looks nothing like what most of us experienced during adolescence, says Dr. John Duffy. The combined pressure of ever-present drama on social media, isolation due to covid, unreasonable expectations of perfection, and worries about climate change and war create a difficult challenge. We can't simply hand this concern off to parents and grandparents, says Dr. Duffy. The problem involves the whole community, and the solutions lie with all of us as well.

A nationally recognized parenting and relationship expert, Dr. John Duffy has worked in his clinical practice with individuals, couples, teens, and families for nearly 25 years. He is the author of the # 1 best-sellers Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety: A Complete Guide to Your Child's Stressed, Depressed, Expanded, Amazing Adolescence (2019) and The Available Parent (2014). Dr. Duffy has been a parenting and relationship expert on hundreds of national television programs, including CNN, Today, various NewsNation shows and Steve Harvey. He is part of the CNN Wellness team, and appears often on WGN and WLS radio as well as on other television, radio, and print outlets, including the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, NPR and the Wall Street Journal.

Nov 28, 2022

The First Friday Club welcomes Fr. Gregory Boyle, SJ, founder of Homeboy Industries

Jun 8, 2020

On May 20th, 2019, Ms. Lori Lightfoot succeeded in becoming the first black female and openly gay Mayor of Chicago. We welcomed her to be our March 2020 speaker.

Feb 10, 2020

In May 1988, Phil Andrew, then a 20-year-old college student, was shot in the chest in the aftermath of the Hubbard Woods elementary school shooting in Winnetka—one of the nation’s first modern mass school shootings.

Andrew survived his injuries, but the experience would ultimately shape his priorities and his career. In the 30 years since the shooting, he has dedicated his life to fighting violence—first as the executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and later as an FBI agent and crisis negotiator.

Jan 10, 2020

"Suicide: The Aftermath"

The painful reality of suicide has become too prevalent in our culture today. It has been said that one soldier in our military takes his life every day. The rate of suicide among veterans is not far behind. There is also an alarming rise in the number of police officers and first responders who choose to end their lives. And finally, the number of school age kids who commit suicide and have so much to live for, continues to rise annually.

Dec 10, 2019

On Friday, December 6, 2019, at Noon,
in the President's Hall : 2nd Floor
of the Union League Club
The First Friday Club Welcomes
Fr. Edward Foley
Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality, Professor of Liturgy and Music at Catholic Theological Union

"Advent: The Art of Paying Attention"

Most Christians think that Advent is preparation for the "birth of Jesus," but we cannot prepare for a past event. It is also not simply the preparation for his annual "birthday." Rather, this season is an intense rehearsal of what Christian living is supposed to be each day: paying attention to the sacred revelations and surprising Incarnations that the Holy One springs on us each day. Every day of our lives ... every moment of our lives is a potential "divine ambush." Advent is a four week intensive that each year re-certifies us ... recalibrates Christians for detecting God's unpredictable yet constant reincarnating in the world.

Fr. Edward Foley is Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality and the founding director of the Ecumenical Doctor of Ministry Program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He is a Capuchin-Franciscan and ordained Roman Catholic priest. An award winning author, he has produced more than twenty books, translated into multiple languages including From Age to Age and Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals with Herbert Anderson. A well-known speaker, he has taught in venues such as the University of Chicago and Notre Dame, presented in settings as diverse as the Mayo Clinic and the Houston Astro Dome, and lectured in over 60 Roman Catholic dioceses from India to the Philippines.

Dec 1, 2019

The First Friday Club Welcomes
Edward J. Wehmer
Founder, President & CEO of Wintrust
"Faith at Work...Let's Talk About It"

A great champion of local business and advocate for entrepreneurs, Wehmer will discuss the challenges of maintaining faith and values while growing professionally.

Please join us as we welcome Edward J. Wehmer, Founder, President & CEO of Wintrust, to the podium on November 1st.

Oct 4, 2019

Alan Krashesky walked through the door of Channel 7 in Chicago as a 21 year old. Now, 37 years later, he has become the dean of broadcast journalists in the Chicago television market. He is considered one of the top reporters in the Chicago market, and has been praised for his coverage of the Catholic Church.

Sep 23, 2019

In a conversation format Rick Kogan will chat with Fr. Cusick about the issues he raises in his recently released book, “Never Be Ordinary – Wisdom from My Father.”

Apr 30, 2019

“Challenging One of the Last Social Taboos –

Discrimination Against Mental Health, Addiction, and Other

Brain Diseases”

Mar 4, 2019

The First Friday Club of Chicago in Cooperation with

the Authors Group (Union League Club)

 

Welcomes

Ms. Joy Loverde

Author: Who Will Take Care of Me When I’m Old? and

The Complete Eldercare Planner

 

Who will address the topic:

“Caring for Aging Parents and Loved Ones while Planning for Your Future Self - Are You Ready?”

 

The Baby Boom Generation has become the new senior citizen generation, with more than 6000 Americans turning 65 every day. At the same time more and more people are living into their 90s. This data presents us with two fears: the fear of dying and the fear of living too long.

Many of us might become--if we aren’t already--the caregivers for grandparents, parents, spouses, siblings, and beloved friends. Without careful planning, that role as caregiver can put our own physical, emotional, financial, housing, and legal needs at risk. 

But wait--what about you and me, especially if we have no children or others to rely on as we grow older? Joy Loverde points to the increasing percentage of the middle-aged and Baby Boomers who are aging solo: the never married, separated, divorced, and widowed. Given this reality, the number one question we all need to ask ourselves is, “Who will take care of me and be my advocate when I’m old?”

Feb 26, 2019

On Friday, February 1, at Noon,

in the Presidents Hall of the Union League Club,

The First Friday Club of Chicago

Welcomes

Ms. Mary Meg McCarthy

Executive Director

National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC)

Who will address the topic:

The Statue of Liberty

Every Immigrant’s Dream of a Better Life

 

Jan 4, 2019

We welcome Arne Duncan as our January 2019 speaker.

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