2008-2009 Forums

October 5

"And Heaven and Nature Sing": Reclaiming Christmas from Toxic Consumerism”
 
The Rev. Lise Hildebrandt will explore the local, global, environmental and social effects of toxic-products-driven Christmas consumption from a Christian perspective. With time to prepare in advance of the season, she will bring resources and encourage conversation about how we can create celebrations that can bring joy, not harm, to our communities and the planet. The Rev. Hildebrandt holds a Master’s degree in Public Health from Boston University and a Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School. She is an Episcopal priest (Diocese of Western MA) and the Healthy Churches Consultant for the Massachusetts Council of Churches. She will preach at the 8 and 10am services as well.

October 12

“How do I love my child just as she is?”

April Prewitt  Ph.D. will help parents and caregivers learn how to best work with their children by learning about their temperaments.  Defining dimensions of our children’s temperaments like mood, persistence, distractibility, and intensity can help us be the kind of parents and care givers our children need. There will be    practical tools and handouts. April is in private practice in Lexington, on staff with Boston IVF, and an adjunct professor at Boston College.

October 19 

“Perspectives of a Southern Baptist at Trinity”

The Rev. Ken White is a second year student in the M.Div program at Harvard Divinity School and is Trinity’s seminarian this year. An ordained Southern Baptist minister, Ken has had rich life experience including serving in the Navy, pastoring churches, and teaching elementary school. He has degrees from the University of Texas and Loyola University in Baltimore.

October 26

“How can I make a difference in the lives of children?”

The Rev Liz Steinhauser. Will talk about the B-Safe and After School Programs at St. Stephen’s, our partner church in the South End of Boston. From small beginnings, the B-Safe program kept nearly 600 kids off the streets this past summer and the after school program serves hundreds of children. Liz is the director of youth programs at St. Stephen’s and will be our preacher as well at the 8 and 10am services.

November 2

Pre-Convention Forum

Trinity delegates to Diocesan Convention as well as our clergy will be on hand to preview and discuss the issues to be addressed at Convention. These include the reorganization of the Diocesan offices, the diocesan budget, elections to diocesan committees, and resolutions.

November 9

The Book of Nature: Ecotheological Ethics
The Rev. Dr. Maureen Dallison Kemeza

Insights from science and the evidence of environmental degradation combine to challenge profoundly traditional theological worldviews. In light of what we know now about the evolution of life and the human impact on nature, how do we answer the perennial questions of faith-seeking-understanding: who are we and how ought we to live? The Rev. Dr. Maureen Dallison Kemeza has served four parishes in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, taught theological ethics at Andover Newton Theological School and the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, and led clergy retreats in several dioceses.

November 16

350.org: The Global Climate Change Movement
Mr. Jeremy Osborne

It’s called 'global' warming for a reason; and in the past half year a project called 350.org has begun coordinating local activities around the next United Nations treaty on climate change. How do we connect local actions to these international decisions? Hear stories from around the world and see what others are doing.  Jeremy is a recent graduate of Middlebury College and co-coordinator of the international climate change project 350.org. He also co-authored Fight Global Warming Now with Bill McKibben and other environmentalists.

November 23

Caring for Loved Ones at the End of Life
The Rev. Judy Krumme

Two things are sure in life:  we are born, and we will die!  We live in a society where death is rarely talked about, especially as one moves along the spectrum of life. Good palliative care at the end of life offers comfort and compassion in a loving way to those who are transitioning out of this life. It enables one to live fully and to die well, as one chooses. Learn about the characteristics of a good palliative care program, and the positive impact it can have on the dying and their loved ones.  In addition, we will discuss a compassionate new approach to caring for our loved ones called “Slow Medicine”, recommended by Geriatrician Dennis McCullough in his new book, My Mother, Your Mother.  Judy is an Episcopal priest and spiritual director who has served parishes, chaplaincies,  and palliative care ministries in New York and Massachusetts.

November 30

God in the Wings: Our Hope in Uncertain Times
The Rev. Christine Visminas

Worried about the future? Too frazzled even to think about what’s happening in the world today? God can help us feel calm and safe in these unsettling times. Come explore artists’ images of Advent which open us to new ways of finding God’s presence in a bewildering world. Chris is an Episcopal priest with a ministry of adult education in the  Episcopal Diocese of  Massachusetts and beyond. For decades she has been interested in the ways in which the visual arts can help educate and form us as Christians. Her designs for bulletin covers and stationery are carried by Morehouse Publishing.

December 7th
No Forum: One service at 9am, followed by presentation by Tayor and Burns, Architects
 
December 14th
How did we get into this economic mess? And how can we clean it up?  Professor Catherine L. Mann

Have you been wondering how we've arrived at this point? Wondering what the consequences might be? How do we ease the negative effects? What lessons can be learned? Come hear Trinity parishioner Cathy Mann offer her thoughts and expertise, with time for questions and answers. Featured on NPR and in other media sources, Cathy is Professor of International Economics and Finance at Brandeis University. Prior to Brandeis, she served in Washington D.C. as the Assistant Director of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, which is the policy making arm of the Federal Reserve Bank. She currently advises the presidents of both the Federal Reserve Banks in Boston and New York.

February 1 (was originally scheduled for January 18)

Christian Parenting in a Consumer Culture
As the opening talk in our new Adult Forum series on Faith and Parenting,
we are pleased to welcome Mary Doyle Roche, Ph.D (Boston College), Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and the Edward Bennett Williams Fellow at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.  In the wake of the holiday season, Mary will discuss the impact of consumer culture on children and explore several parenting and household strategies for bearing witness to gospel values of compassion and justice. Mary has presented papers on ethical issues involving children at the American Academy of Children, the Society of Christian Ethics, and the Catholic Theological Society of America. She and her husband Dennis live in Westborough with their 2 elementary school aged children and attend St. Luke the Evangelist Catholic Church.
Wonderful professional childcare begins in  our nursery at 9am

February 8
Teens at Trinity: What are they up to?

Our Youth Group program, Journey to Adulthood, is growing! Come
meet our two groups of middle school and high school students (Rite-
13ers and Pilgrims) and their current Mentors. Hear descriptions of
what both mentors and kids get out of this program. And listen to
what they have been up to on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings and
in the community at large. We will also describe the upcoming Rite-13
Liturgy scheduled for May 31, and the Holy Pilgrimage coming in
summer 2010. These groups are planning for both of these events.

February 15

How will I make it through these ‘Tween years?
Theological Paradigms for Parenting: From Young Children to Tweens and Beyond

The second in our continuing Adult Forum Series on Faith and Parenting.

The parent of a ‘tween herself, Holly Taylor Coolman, Ph.D (Duke University), Lecturer in the Theology Department at Boston College, invites us to consider how our understandings of God can inform and energize our own parenting, especially in the transition from younger children to ‘tweens and teens. She and her husband Boyd live in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston with their three home-schooled children (Anna, 11, Benjamin, 8, and James, 5) and attend Most Precious Blood Catholic Church. You can read Holly's most recently published reflection on parenting at http://holly.taylor.coolman.googlepages.com/what_child.

Cutting Global Poverty in Half --The Millennium Development Goals:
An Adult Forum Series for Lent. 

With a deep domestic economic crisis and pervasive domestic social needs, why should Christians in general and we at Trinity in particular care about global mission; and what can one person do in terms of global outreach anyway?  Our Sunday Adult Forum in Lent will explore these issues with an extremely high caliber set of speakers.  Professional child care will be available from 9am.  

February 22:  Bishop Arthur Walmsley, co-founder of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, a movement dedicated to empowering individuals, parishes and dioceses to "carry on Christ's work of justice and reconciliation in the world.” Throughout his ministry, Walmsley has been an advocate for social justice. Walmsley is the retired Bishop of Connecticut, and maintains an active schedule of preaching, teaching and retreat leading.

Click HERE to read Bishop Walmsley's remarks.

March 1:  Robert W. Radtke, President of Episcopal Relief and Development
Under Radtke’s leadership, ERD began a domestic emergency preparedness and response program and is expanding its work in the areas of hunger and disease prevention to more than 40 countries worldwide. In addition, ERD has launched a major malaria prevention partnership, NetsforLifeSM  scheduled to reach over 1 million people in 16 countries in Africa before the end of 2008. As a Rhodes Scholar, Radtke earned a doctorate in Modern History from Oxford.

March 8:  Prof. John Hammock, Associate Professor of Public Policy at Tufts University, was the Executive Director of Oxfam America (1984-1995). He recently co-authored Practical Idealists: Changing the World and Getting Paid. , is a board member of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, and is a member of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in the South End.

March 15:  Richard Parker, Lecturer and Senior Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, Harvard University trained as an economist, has worked for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and is cofounder of Mother Jones magazine. His books include: The Myth of the Middle Class;Mixed Signals: The Future of Global Television News; and the intellectual biography, John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics. He has written for numerous academic journals as well as the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, Nation, Harper's, Le Monde, Atlantic Monthly, and International Economy, among others.

March 22:  Lallie Lloyd, Chair of the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism, and author of Eradicating Global Poverty: A Christian Study Guide on the Millennium Development Goals, which was written for the National Council of Churches. She is an independent ecumenical consultant working on issues of poverty and development, and a member of Trinity Church, Boston.

March 29:  Rev. Arrington Chambliss, Director of Relational Evangelism of the Diocese of Massachusetts will chair a discussion of what one person can do to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. (tentative) Chambliss previously served as assistant rector at the St Andrew’s Episcopal Church  in Marblehead, Mass. Founder of No Ordinary Time, an organization dedicated to integrating faith and practice in social activism, Arrington is also the author of Light One Candle: Quotes for Hope and Action.  

April  26: The Rev. Dr. David Steele, US Institute of Peace (USIP): Making Peace in a Violent World
David is the senior reconciliation facilitator with USIP’s Baghdad office, providing reconciliation programming to support Provincial Reconstruction Teams operating out of the U.S. embassy in Iraq. Among the highlights from his peace making experience over the last 16 years include back channel communication between governments during the Kosovo War; training workshops for participants in the Final Status Talks in Kosovo; training workshops for Iraqi facilitators and for provincial and central government officials in Iraq. He has also worked in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. Steele holds a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh and is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ.

May 10: The Rev. Dr. Maureen Kemeza
The Virtues of Good Parenting (Third in the Faith & Parenting Series)
Every mother and father wants to be a good parent. But being a good parent may be easier to aspire to than to achieve, under the pressures of daily life with the demands of career, community involvement, and the parent’s own needs for balance and personal happiness.  It can be helpful to take time to reflect together on the virtues of good parenting. Virtues are qualities of character that enable us to do the right thing for the right reason in the right way at the right time. What are the qualities of character that enable mothers and fathers and other primary caregivers of children to do their vitally important work well? Philosophers have long considered the virtues needed for public leadership, like wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. Moral theologians have reflected on virtues of personal holiness, like charity, patience, persistence, and faithfulness.  How might those same virtues apply to the practices of parenting, enabling mothers and fathers and caregivers to foster their children’s growth in true happiness? Maureen is a wife, mother, grandmother, Episcopal priest, moral theologian and ethicist, and has served congregations, seminaries, and colleges in the greater Boston area. 

May 17: The Rt. Rev. Gayle E. Harris, Suffragan Bishop of Massachusetts
In addition to her regular visitation, Bishop Gayle will be helping Trinity mark its 125th Anniversary.
 
May 24: The Urban Residents Program:  Jack and Peggy Roll.
For the past 5 years, the Diocese has sponsored a program which places newly ordained priests in urban parishes who can use the vitality and creativity of a second clergy person, but who may not have the resources to afford a second clergy person. The Diocese  pays the salary and benefits of this person for three years, after which it is expected the Urban Resident will move on to another urban parish with skills and knowledge unique to this ministry setting. Having placed Urban Residents in Lowell, Salem, Lynn, Dorchester, and Lowell, this program has been a great success, and Bishop Shaw wants to get the word out to suburban parishes who might feel moved to help with this ministry by connecting with an urban parish in the diocese. Jack and Peggy Roll, of Church of the Epiphany in Winchester, are coordinating the education effort on the Program. We hope to have an Urban Resident to Trinity to preach in the summer or fall.
 
May 31:  The Rev. Canon Mally Ewing Lloyd, Canon to the Ordinary, the Diocese of Massachusetts
Mally will be our preacher at 8 and 10 as well as our Forum presenter. Mally was formerly Rector of Christ Church, Plymouth, where she had a rich and effective ministry. In her current post, she helps the bishops administer the diocese. She will be available to answer questions about the diocese, the upcoming General Convention this summer, or whatever else people have on their minds.

June 7: Godly Play Demo Ever wonder what’s going on in the undercroft
during the first part of the service?  Ever wonder why so many kids march in at the peace, and why some of our classrooms are bursting at the seams?  The Godly Play curriculum is one of the important reasons why.  Come see a demonstration of the wondrous Montessori-based method of guiding children to discover the faith that is within them through story and movement. 

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