Vocations Newsletter

Today we're here with Kevin Ahern, Orbis Books Author and Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College. In this episode we dive into the challenges and opportunities the Church offers from the perspective of young people as it relates to today's social movements and the current political and religious divisions that exist not only in western society, but throughout the world.   As a young Professor, Kevin truly has his finger on the pulse of young people in the Catholic Faith. Not only from a domestic perspective but from a global one, with his extensive experiences with small Christian communities around the world.  Episode NotesA Brief Bio'Kevin Glauber Ahern, PhD is an assistant professor of religious studies at Manhattan College. He defended his doctoral dissertation in theological ethics from Boston College in 2013.His dissertation was entitled “Structures of Grace: Catholic NGOs and the Church’s Mission in a Globalized World.” From 2003 to 2007, Kevin Ahern served as the President of the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS-Pax Romana), an international network of students in over eighty countries. He continues to be active on the boards of several national and international networks, including he Catholic Common Ground Initiative, the board of directors of America…
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Elizabeth A. Donnelly (Preacher Coordinator) is a frequent speaker and writer on Catholic affairs. She has served on several boards, including those of Jesuit Volunteers International, Maryknoll Lay Missioners, Bread for the World, and the Ignatian Solidarity Network. She received an MTS from Harvard Divinity School.Russ Petrus serves as co-director for FutureChurch, which sponsors the “Catholic Women Preach” project. He holds an MDiv from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology and the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College, where he focused on liturgics and catechesis.About the Book: Catholic Women PreachThis series of three volumes, following the A, B, C Cycles of the lectionary, offer homilies by Catholic women from the around the world. This is taken from an ongoing project, “Catholic Women Preach,” https://www.catholicwomenpreach.org/ which has featured videos every Sunday for six years. Though the texts are available on the website, this series will make them available in print form for weekly meditation, an inspiration for homilists, and a resource for courses in homiletics.A project of FutureChurch: see https://www.futurechurch.org/
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Our reflection today focuses on the brief, yet profoundly insightful, first reading where we hear some very concrete, practical advice from the Book of Leviticus: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (19:18). Indeed, there is one debt that we will always owe and never be able to pay fully. The command to love remains constant; love can never say: “I’ve done enough.”
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Our Gospel today and the Gospel of next Sunday together form an integral section of Jesus’ profound Sermon on the Mount. It is commonly called Jesus’ “six antitheses.” We know that an “antithesis” is an alternate assertion different from the original “thesis.” Thus, Jesus is giving a new, more profound interpretation of six basic elements of Jewish law.
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