May you find the stirrings of new life as we pass through this Triduum apart, and yet together. 

Dear JST Community,

As we enter into Holy Week, we witness the suffering of the world in the midst of COVID-19 and all its effects. As a school community engaged in our mission of theological education and formation for ministry, may we be attuned to what God is revealing to us, and what our unique role is in responding to the pandemic.

This Tuesday evening, April  7, at 6:45 p.m., all JST students are welcome to a conversation with Interim Dean Alison Benders, who will share some perspectives on COVID-19 and invite students’ questions, reflections and concerns.  Please see the calendar entry below for further information and the zoom link.

Blessings of Holy Week!  May we die and rise once again with Christ, our light and our hope.

Paul

• Good Friday, April 10, is a GTU and SCU holiday.  There are no classes. The Magis will be published on Thursday, April 9.
• JST updates on COVID-19 can be found here.   This page links also to the SCU and GTU updates.
• If you are a JST student and need financial assistance as a result of COVID-19 developments, please see the list of resources on the JST COVID-19 page - see the March 27 update.
• Here are some virtual resources for mental health for JST students:
  • SilverCloud:    This is a clinically proven online mental health platform, available through August 2020 to all JST-SCU students.  To sign up, please visit gsh.silvercloudhealth.com/signup/ and choose “Santa Clara University” from the drop-down menu to get started.   To confirm your eligibility, you will need to use your school-issued scu.edu e-mail address.
  • BetterHelp:   BetterHelp provides professional counseling by licensed therapists 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via phone, video-conferencing, text, or chat.  JST students on the SCU health insurance plan may access this free of charge at this link.  If you are not on the SCU student health insurance, this service is available for $40-70/week at this link.  
• For assistance with Moodle, visit the Moodle Help page for students. You can also access the help page by logging into Moodle, and clicking "site home" on the left side of your screen.
• If you are a JST student and would like to lead or participate in a faith-sharing or prayer group virtually with other students, please e-mail pkircher@scu.edu.

Sara Postlethwaite, VDMF, JST S.T.L. student, created this video reflection for the Art & Pilgrimage seminar taught by Kate Barush. Sara composed and performed the music. Virtual Labyrinth Walk

To all that is chaotic

in you,

let there come silence.

 

Let there be

a calming

of the clamoring,

a stilling

of the voices that

have laid their claim

on you,

that have made their

home in you,

 

that go with you

even to the

holy places

but will not

let you rest,

will not let you

hear your life

with wholeness

or feel the grace

that fashioned you.

 

Let what distracts you

cease.

Let what divides you

cease.

Let there come an end

to what diminishes

and demeans,

and let depart

all that keeps you

in its cage.

 

Let there be

an opening

into the quiet

that lies beneath

the chaos,

where you find

the peace

you did not think

possible

and see what shimmers

within the storm.

 

from The Cure for Sorrow: A Book of Blessings for Times of Grief

Submitted by Mary Beth Lamb, received from Suzanne Gagne Bregman, JST Alumna

tUrn is designed as a dynamic interplay of shared goals, transformative headliner events, resources grouped by themes to spark conversation and action, and partners near and far who are making it all happen to develop SCU's climate crisis awareness & action via zoom. tUrn events are free and open to the public. RSVP for each headliner after 4-1 at tUrn headliners.

All GTU students, faculty and staff are urged to sign up for GTU's emergency notification system, called GTU-ALERTS to receive short emergency announcements via text and email. This is particularly important in our current situation as events continue to unfold.

In order to participate in this system, sign up at: https://gtu.omnilert.net/subscriber.php?command=show_signup.

You are encouraged to configure as many email addresses and mobile phone numbers as you regularly monitor in order to have the best coverage in case of emergency. The account expires one year from the date of creation unless you renew it. Renewal is a simple matter of clicking on a link contained in the expiration emails or texts you will receive when your account expiration approaches.  

On Wednesdays (April 1 - April 29) at 12:30, the SFTS library is hosting an online silent book club, which offers an opportunity to socialize, share what you are reading with others, and spend time reading your own book silently. For zoom info and more info on at home book clubs, see https://www.gtu.edu/events/gtu-home-book-club.

The GTU Library hosts workshops throughout the semester on Zotero (a free citation management program), Biblical exegesis, finding primary resources, and doing library research from a distance. Click here for the schedule.

The Metropolitan Opera is offering nightly Met Opera streams from their archives. Operas by Bizet, Verdi, Bellini, Puccini and Wagner are featured. The broadcast begins at 7:30 p.m. EDT and continues until 6:30 p.m. the next day. Met Opera Streams

Various museums from around the world are offering virtual tours of their exhibitions and art. Visit YouTube at #Museumfromhome or #museummomentofzen.

For the fourth year in a row, CM CARES will award up to $250,000 in scholarships to deserving graduate-level religious scholars. Fifty scholarship winners will each receive a $5,000 award that may be used to pay for tuition, fees, books or other costs of attending school during the 2020-21 academic year. Students of all faiths are encouraged to apply.

For more information, click here. To apply, click here. Deadline to register is April 8.

Scholarship applications are open to women and non-binary persons enrolled or accepted into an undergraduate or graduate studies program. To be eligible the candidate must be enrolled or participate in at least one class or significant volunteer ministry of comparable scope that they believe would forward the discernment of their call to a life in ordained ministry.  This scholarship is primarily directed to women and non-binary people who wish to be ordained Catholic Priests (including Ecumenical Catholic and Roman Catholic Women Priests). Secondarily it is open to those who are seeking priestly ordination in other denominations. For more information, click here.  To apply, click here.

Applications are accepted until April 29, 2020 and awardees will be notified in June 2020.  

The Conference on Religious Experience and the Crisis of Secular Reason, September 16-18, 2020 at the University of Vienna, is looking for abstracts. Please submit papers of no more than 600 words, formatted for anonymous review, to congressvienna2020@sophere.org before May 30, 2020. You can also enclose a full paper; submissions with ready papers will be given a priority. Enclose your biographic information in the body of email. Notifications of acceptance will be emailed by June 15, 2020. For more information, click here.