During this Jubilee year, Catholic communities across the United States are coming together to organize local Catholic pilgrimages—including Laudato Si’ pilgrimages, Jubilee pilgrimages, and Jubilee of Hope pilgrimages—as sacred opportunities to pray for the grace to encounter Christ in Creation and renew our relationships with God, the Earth, and one another. The Stuart Center for Mission is proud to be among the more than thirty Catholic organizations who have been working together throughout the past twelve months creating this program. To learn more, or to plan your own pilgrimage, visit the Pilgrimages of Hope for Creation website) or email Clara Dorsch Callahan, ccallahan@stuartcenter.org
Clara Dorsch Callahan was invited to be a member of the planning committee tasked with setting the agenda for the October 2025 in-person gathering of the Continental Popular Education and JPIC (the network formerly known as LARed). This gathering, scheduled to take place in Bogotá, Colombia, will include the closing ceremony to the network’s year-long Fortieth Anniversary Celebration and will include an invitation for each Philippine Region Province to invite a lay partner in mission to attend.
Jennifer Morfin, who leads our language services and facilitation office, offered a Basic Interpretation webinar, which was very well received. The webinar gave bi/multi-lingual speakers an opportunity to learn what it means to act in the role of interpreter and how their gift of language may be able to provide additional income to them and their family. In all, Jenny gave this webinar three times and had fiftysix participants total. For those interested in furthering their interpretation skills, she has begun a monthly Communities of Practice web event.
Contact jmorfin@stuartcenter.org for more information.
For those wishing to attend a Basic Interpretation webinar, there is another series planned for October 2025.
In March, our Conference Center Staff was blessed by the addition of a new member. Edward “Teddy” Byrdy, a rising junior who is studying politics at The Catholic University of America joined us just in time to welcome RSCJ who were here for the Gather. Discern. Create. weekends. Teddy’s friendly smile, can-do attitude, and desire to always be of service has made him a valuable member of our team.
In April Clara Callahan and Jennifer Morfin were invited to meet with Father Juan Molina, President and CEO of the Mexican American Catholic College (MACC), his key department heads and representatives of St. John School of Theology and Seminary and Benedictine College to discuss the Stuart Center for Mission’s programming and possible points of collaboration. Of special interest were interpretation, facilitation, and the Sacred Heart Transformative Learning Program. And later in the month, Jennifer was asked to share this same information about programming at the Stuart Center with the diocesan representatives of the San Antonio Archdiocese who will be participating in MACC’s Rural Ministries program. The Rural Ministries program is a new MACC initiative, which is being funded by a Lilly Foundation award.