Newswise — SPOKANE, Wash. – A $294,415 grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. will establish the Gonzaga University Theology Institute for High School Youth. The grant is part of Lilly Endowment’s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative, which seeks to encourage young people to explore theological traditions, ask questions about the moral dimensions of contemporary issues and examine how their faith calls them to lives of service.
Gonzaga’s one-week Institute is expected to start in summer 2016 with up to 48 students entering the 11th and 12th grades. It will draw on Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Si: On the Care of Our Common Home,” as well as Gonzaga’s Jesuit and Catholic tradition, its liberal arts foundation, and commitment to sustainability to address issues of moral awareness with global implications.
The Institute aims to help future leaders consider complex questions regarding the stewardship of God’s creation through a wide variety of activities, including directed readings of sacred and theological texts, mini-lectures, multimedia presentations, dialogue, guest speakers, storytelling and reflective journaling. Seeking to integrate the Ignatian model of educating the whole person through experience, reflection, and action, the Institute also will engage students in vocational contemplation and discernment through interviews with community leaders on topics including social and environmental justice, the relationship between religion and science, and the welfare of local and global communities.
Elisabeth Mermann-Jozwiak, dean of Gonzaga’s College of Arts & Sciences, will oversee the program, which will be co-directed by Gonzaga religious studies faculty Joe Mudd and Anastasia Wendlinder. GU faculty from disciplines including organizational leadership, political science, environmental studies, and philosophy will deliver the program.
An announcement regarding applications for the program will be posted on Gonzaga’s news website at news.gonzaga.edu.
“We are so grateful to Lilly Endowment for supporting this project. Youth education is absolutely central to the Jesuit mission, and this Institute will allow Gonzaga faculty and staff to share our expertise with high school students who seek transformational summer experiences and who aspire to become tomorrow’s leaders,” said Dean Mermann-Jozwiak. “We will begin working on implementing our plans right away and look forward to welcoming our first cohort next summer.”
Gonzaga is one of 82 schools participating in the initiative. The schools are located in 29 states and the District of Columbia. Although some schools are independent, many reflect the religious heritage of their founding traditions. These traditions include Baptist, Brethren, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches, as well as Roman Catholic, non-denominational, Pentecostal and historic African-American Christian communities.
“These colleges and universities are well-positioned to reach out to high school students in this way,” said Christopher L. Coble, vice president for religion at the Endowment. “They have outstanding faculty in theology and religion who know how to help young people explore the wisdom of religious traditions and apply these insights to contemporary challenges.”
The Endowment is giving $44.5 million in grants to help a select group of private four-year colleges and universities around the nation to create the institutes. The grants are part of the Endowment’s commitment to identify and cultivate a cadre of theologically minded youth who will become leaders in church and society.
An additional grant to the Forum for Theological Exploration will establish a program that will bring together leaders of the high school youth theology institutes to foster mutual learning and support.
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family – J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli – through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly & Company. The Endowment exists to support the causes of religion, education and community development. Lilly Endowment’s religion grantmaking is designed to deepen and enrich the religious lives of American Christians. It does this largely through initiatives to enhance and sustain the quality of ministry in American congregations and parishes.
For more information contact program co-directors Joe Mudd at (509) 313-6799 or [email protected] or Anastasia Wendlinder (509) 313-6786 or at [email protected].
Gonzaga University News Service • Spokane, Washington 99258-0070 • 509-313-6398
RSS