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< PreviousFAITH IN THE REAL WORLD Twice in my career serving with Catholic Relief Services, I have been introduced as Father O’Keefe. Twice, I have clarifi ed that I am a father, but not that kind! Like any good priest, though, I do see my work as a vocation and that has made all the diff erence. During the Rwanda genocide, I was in CRS’s then Africa regional offi ce in Baltimore covering West Africa. Across the cubicle wall, two young women evacuated from Kigali spent all day calling our Rwandan staff , stuck there as they were hiding and being pursued by the Interahamwe. I could hear gunshots in the background and the whistles the murderers, drunk with genocidal intent, blew to signal they were on the hunt. Beyond Borders: A Lifelong Commitment to Humanitarian Work William O'Keefe '84 7. William O’Keefe, CRS Executive Vice President of Mission, Mobilization, and Advocacy, visited Ranomafana National Park with a delegation to learn about the CRS SPICES project, which aims to slow deforestation in Madagascar. Photograph provided by David Snyder/CRS Ifanadiana District, Madagascar8. When the hundred days of killing were over, we had an interfaith novena of prayer for those who had died and for peace and healing. Aft er the fi rst service, I walked into our empty, little chapel and wept for almost an hour. That was when I fi rst experienced deeply why I needed God and my Catholic faith. Rwanda was on top of Ethiopia, Sudan, Angola, Liberia, and other confl ict-driven humanitarian catastrophes that I had visited, supported, and advocated for. Since then, I have visited and been engaged with many other confl ict and humanitarian disasters including the horrifi c destruction and suff ering in Gaza. It can be a lot to bear if one tries to stay present to the suff ering of others without being drowned by it. My faith has and continues to carry me through this challenge. First, its teaching gives me hope that love will prevail despite seemingly irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Following Jesus means accepting and embracing the cross while waiting for the Resurrection. Second, it opens my eyes (“let him who has eyes see”) to the decency, courage, and commitment of my CRS colleagues and the many local groups and people we support. Love is already prevailing through them: the Kingdom of God is now if you look carefully. The worst situations bring out the best people who, out of the limelight, are always at work bringing God’s love into the world. I am blessed to have my vocation. It hasn’t always been easy. I am sure I would have given up long ago without my faith and what it teaches and provides. n William O'Keefe is Executive Vice President for Mission, Mobilization and Advocacy. He oversees eff orts to ensure that U.S. foreign policy reduces poverty and promotes justice in developing countries where Catholic Relief Services (CRS) works. He and his staff advocate to Congress and the administration on a range of issues, including migration, refugees, food security, and all aspects of U.S. foreign aid. In Nyamirambo Village, a Rwandan woman tends to one of her gardens in front of her home. She is an active member of the coffee farmers’ cooperative, a collaboration between CRS, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and Caritas Gikongoro. Photograph provided by Laura Elizabeth Pohl “I tell those who work with me, we are going to be the last ones standing with hope.” – William O'Keefe9. More House Lecture: Kristin Colberg '00 M.Div., Ph.D. Celebrating Global Catholic Discourse Emily Yankowitz '17 Ph.D. '25 For anyone looking to see examples of STM alums making contributions to the Catholic Church after leaving Yale, Dr. Kristin Colberg is a wonderful exemplar. Colberg, who received her M.Div. from Yale Divinity School in 2000, worked as a graduate student assistant at STM (then More House) and volunteered at the STM Soup Kitchen, where she met her husband. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and is now an Associate Professor of theology at Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary. Colberg is the author of numerous articles and the book Vatican I and Vatican II: Councils in the Living Tradition. If all of this isn’t impressive enough, Colberg is the only member from the U.S. on the international theological commission supporting the Synod on Synodality and was one of three North Americans on the drafting committee that wrote the synod’s continental document “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent.” She is a member of the official U.S. Reformed Catholic Dialogue and was appointed by the Vatican to the Anglican-Catholic International Commission. For all of these reasons and more, we were excited for Colberg to return home to STM to deliver the More House Lecture. With her expertise on the relationship between Vatican I and Vatican II, knowledge of theology, and experience participating at every stage of the synod, Colberg offered an insightful and engaging perspective on the current synod. She is an incredibly engaging speaker, adeptly blending jokes and photos of bishops on buses at Vatican II with serious explanations about the Church’s history and general wariness of reform. While the term “synodality” is new to most of us (including those who study ecclesiology), the concept of ongoing reform within the Catholic Church is not. Pope Francis had revitalized the early church notion that reform was necessary and ongoing. Unlike prior synods, which were called to address an immediate crisis and focused on “observable behavior and juridical laws,” the current synod is centered around listening and “internal conversion,” and concentrates on “updating, closeness, walking together, and experience.” The Synod on Synodality has included listening sessions around the question “What is the Holy Spirit calling the Church to today?” and has occurred on local, continental, and universal levels. Colberg explained how the current “One of Colberg’s biggest takeaways from reading the reports was that there were more commonalities than differences.” Dr. Kristin Colberg delivers the More House Lecture at STM in February.10. synod process is grounded in the “theology, experience, and style” of Vatican II. In particular, this involves bringing Vatican II’s “vision of the Church rooted in Baptism” into fruition. While the first part of Colberg’s lecture provided listeners with a better understanding of the history of synods and the motivations behind the current synod, the second part provided an “insider’s” view of what it was like to be at the synod. During the continental phase, three people from each continent were chosen to distill the 112 national reports into a twenty-page document for Pope Francis. Colberg, one of the three individuals selected from North America, described her excitement and nervousness as she and the other representatives faced their task. As they read the reports, the delegates asked, “What did the people of God say?” and kept an empty chair in the room to remind themselves to ask, “Whose voices are we not hearing?” According to Colberg, the representatives did not seek to “theologize” or “explain” what they read. Instead, they “took the voices of the people of God…lifted them up” and presented them as a question: “‘This is what we heard you say. Is this what you said?’” Colberg also recounted what it was like to deliver their “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent” report to Pope Francis. One of Colberg’s biggest takeaways from reading the reports was that there were more commonalities than differences. She was amazed by the similarity of “what the people of God want around the world.” For example, all the reports mentioned a desire for “more formation” for laity and more opportunities for lay leaders to participate. In addition, all of the reports mentioned the need for a “reconsideration of the role of women” in the Church. Colberg also recounted some more lighthearted moments, such as a dinner where everyone brought food representing their continent. On another occasion, someone brought a guitar for a sing-along. Since the delegates spoke different languages, they often worked using translators, and Colberg wondered which song everyone would know the words to. This question was quickly answered when everyone joined in singing “Yesterday” by the Beatles. Using images from past synods, Colberg illustrated how the current approach to the synod was different. Delegates sat around round tables instead of in a lecture hall. While synods typically meet to draft and edit a document, when the bishops came together in October 2024, they were handed out worksheets to fill out. Even more notably, women were allowed to vote. As the synod moves into its next phases, we can all consider Colberg’s insights, as well as acknowledge the significant role that an STM alum has played in this process. n Emily Yankowitz '17 Ph.D. '25 is studying history and is a member of STM’s Graduate Council. “One of Colberg’s biggest takeaways from reading the reports was that there were more commonalities than differences.” – Emily Yankowitz Dr. Kristin Colberg was the sole U.S. member on the theological commission for the Synod on Synodality.11. Alternative Spring Break Trips 2024 Guatemala: Encountering the Paradox of the Beautiful and the Broken Kashmiri Schmookler '24 M.A.R. In the spring of 2024, I had the opportunity to participate in Saint Thomas More’s Alternative Spring Break trip to Guatemala. Four undergraduate students, two graduate students, two STM chaplains, and two Maryknoll leaders journeyed alongside one another. We sought to encounter the stories of Guatemala for seven days. We all came for diff erent reasons—some of us were curious about Catholic and indigenous spirituality, others were interested in sustainability, and others were drawn to human rights and education activism. Yet, we all had a common thread of longing to encounter the stories of Guatemala. “I can see how the story of Christ is also the story of Guatemala. For Guatemalans, the way of the cross is truly the way of life.” – Kashmiri Schmookler '24 M.A.R. An indigenous woman shares her traditions on the plaza in front of the church and home where Fr. Stanley Rother was martyred.12. Kashmiri Schmookler '24 M.A.R. graduated this spring from Yale Divinity School. She was a member of the Graduate Council and the STM intern. Guided by Maryknoll, a Catholic organization that leads immersion trips around the world, the trip was grounded in three key elements: seeing, judging, and acting. This theological framework guided the trip as we sought to hear stories, encounter the active triune God in the daily lives of Guatemalans, learn about the history and hope in communities around Guatemala, and respond to the way that God is abundantly present and working in Guatemala. This journey came at a signifi cant point in my own life. Confi rmed in the Catholic Church at Saint Thomas More’s Easter Vigil in 2023, I came on this trip aft er one year of being Catholic. A large reason I found a sense of home in the Catholic Church was due to the universality of the Church. Wherever I found myself in the world, I could fi nd a home in the Church where my body knows the Catholic liturgy by heart even if I do not understand the language. In Guatemala, I entered more deeply into the home of the Catholic Church. I saw the triune God present in the liturgies we attended, the hospitality of education nonprofi ts, the spiritualities of Mayan leaders, the activism of children's rights leaders, and the hidden lives of locals laughing on the sides of streets. I can see how the story of Christ is also the story of Guatemala. For Guatemalans, the way of the cross is truly the way of life. Guatemala is a land of wounds—from the martyrdom of numerous Catholic priests and Mayan spiritual leaders to the oppression of children’s and women’s rights. Yet, in these wounds, new life and hope emerge through education non-profi ts, social justice organizations, and women’s artisan co-ops. Guatemala revealed a lived reality that new life can only truly emerge in the wounds of the old. This paradox of the brokenness and beauty of Guatemala was present throughout our trip. In this paradox, Guatemala off ers an important lesson that is at the heart of all the stories we encountered. We must not run from our wounds or the wounds of our communities, yet we must also not sit alone in our grief; rather, we must acknowledge our wounds, learn from our wounds, and allow our community to hold our wounds with us. Further, we must learn to hold the wounds of our own community in New Haven, to hear the stories of people we may usually turn away from. The ASB Guatemala trip revealed Christ’s everyday invitation to see the new life emerging in the midst of the old, and to encounter the abounding word of God in the brokenness and the beauty. nCongratulations, Graduates! 13.Entrust your works to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3 14.El Paso, Texas: Reflections on Preserving Human Dignity Lauren Kim '26 This past March, I spent a week on an Alternative Spring Break trip in the U.S.-Mexico border region with a group of students from STM. On Wednesday of that week, we crossed the border into Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Our first stop was the house of Sister Betty Campbell, a woman whose career has been shaped by her solidarity with the people of Latin America. Sr. Betty started our conversation by saying, “I don’t talk about immigration and politics. I talk about Juárez and Mexico.” She told us about the history of violent killing in Juárez and about her motivation to dedicate her life to helping address this crisis. In 1973, Sr. Betty co-founded a Catholic Worker community called Tabor House. The initiative aimed to give hospitality to refugees and the homeless. After witnessing violence towards women in her own neighborhood, she started facilitating women’s groups to discuss issues such as domestic violence and workers’ rights. Sr. Betty believes having a space for these discourses is crucial to strengthening the family, our most central social institution. She then took us to her backyard, where she had created a beautiful collection of memorials listing names of men, women, journalists, and migrants who were killed in Juárez. We each took a slip of paper with a name on it and individually added that person’s name to the memorial with a marker. We prayed for them together, and when we looked up at each other, we all had tears in our eyes. It was truly heartbreaking to think about each valuable life that had been lost and the difficulties these people must have faced. The sentiment that every human life is sacred has grounded Sr. Betty’s life and work. Meeting Sr. Betty taught me valuable insights related to Catholic social teaching and the overlap between faith and social justice work. Catholic social teaching is about preserving human dignity and the common good. It is about having conversations related to the role of government and how we can best help the poor and oppressed in our world. We also met a number of Catholics who have been guided by the same kind of mission that Sr. Betty has. We served lunch at a soup kitchen, and a coordinator named Christina talked to us about the dangerous situa- tions that people in Juárez are in. Her mission is to ensure that each strug- gling person can sit down to have a proper meal. We met Sister Carol Wirtz, who runs Proyecto Santo Niño, a daycare center in the neighbor- hood of Anapra for children with special needs. She told us that the center was created because these children were not accepted in local schools. After this, Columban priest Father Bill Morton talked to us about apply- ing the gospel to contemporary problems, and how our faith is essential 15.Lauren Kim '26 is a junior in Timothy Dwight College. to understanding social justice. When our group reflected on the day after dinner, we talked about the idea of looking for God in our everyday lives. Allan Esteron, one of STM’s assistant chaplains, said, “I saw Him everywhere today.” Our goal for this trip was to learn about complex issues at the border through faith-based immersion. Standing in front of the actual towering fence was much more emotional than I expected it to be. Fr. Bill reflected, “You’ve seen it from the other side, but it feels different when you’re in Mexico, when you’re in the midst of people who want to get over this wall.” After this visit to Juárez, my perspective on the border crisis certainly developed and changed. It is so important to seek policy solutions that both consider the well-being of our society and respect the human dignity of each individual. Every person is created in the image of God, and those seeking asylum or migration must be treated with compassion. A society is judged by how it treats their most vulnerable members, and we as Catholics have a duty to advocate for the protection of their basic rights. There must always be faith underlying our discussions of justice and service. n Pictured at top left: Lauren Kim adds a name to the memorial wall. Pictured at bottom left: Students pray the Stations of the Cross at Mount Crisco Rey, Sunland Park, N.M. Pictured at right: Gabriella Crivelli hugs Sr. Betty goodbye. 16.Next >