Reflect on SLU's Jesuit Mission As Part of the 'First Fridays' Fall Mass, Speaker Series

09/02/2019

All SLU friends and alumni are welcome to celebrate mass and learn about the ways University faculty, staff members and special guests express the Jesuit educational mission through their work.

(From left) Christopher Duncan, Ph.D., of the College of Arts and Sciences; Vatican astronomer David Brown, S.J.; Petruta Lipan, executive director of the Saint Louis University Museum of Art (SLUMA); and Ronny O'Dwyer, S.J., director of the Billiken Teacher Corps, will all headline this semester's "First Friday Mass and Speaker Series."

This semester’s series, sponsored by the Office of Mission and Identity, includes sessions that touch on topics celestial and earthly.

“First Friday” is a way to come together as a SLU community, to find fellowship through the worship and to renew one’s commitment to SLU’s Catholic, Jesuit mission among friends.

All series gatherings will be held monthly, on the first Friday, with Mass beginning at noon in Boileau Hall. Limited free parking is available. Reservations requested through jesuitmission@slu.edu.

Series Speakers and Talks

Friday, Sept. 6

Christopher Duncan, Ph.D., of the College of Arts and Sciences, “Individualism, Personalism, the Common Good and America.”

Friday, Oct. 4

David Brown, S.J., astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, “The Catholic Church and the Vatican: A Long Tradition of Astronomy.”

Friday, Nov. 1

Petruta Lipan, Ph.D., executive director of the Saint Louis University Museum of Art (SLUMA), “Why Art Matters.”

Friday, Dec. 6

Ronny O’Dwyer, S.J., director of the Billiken Teacher Corps, “To Teach as Jesus Did: Reflections from the Catholic School Vineyard.”

For more information, email jesuitmission@slu.edu or visit the Office of Mission and Identity’s Facebook page at @SLUjesuitmission.

Saint Louis University’s Office of Mission and Identity ensures that the principles and traditions of Catholic, Jesuit higher education, and the mission and core values of SLU are integrated into operations, structures, programs and practices, and the formation of its students, faculty, staff, administration and board members.

To further its goals, the Office of Mission and Identity sponsors several programs, on and off campus, each dedicated to the intellectual and spiritual growth of the participants, and all in the Jesuit tradition. Faculty, staff and students have numerous options as well, with mission programs, opportunities to present their own experiences and reflections, retreats and conferences year round.