FFCC-1712: John Shea, Theologian and Storyteller

On Friday, December 1, 2017, At Noon

In the Main Lounge of the Union League Club

The First Friday Club of Chicago

Welcomes

John Shea

Author, Poet, Theologian, Storyteller

Who will address the topic

“Christmas: It Never Grows Old.”

It will happen again very soon. We will gather around tables, in church pews, and on chairs and sofas in family rooms, living rooms and great spaces for our celebrations of Christmas 2017. It is inevitable. The calendar tells us so.

Yet, it is possible that our Christmas can get lost amid all the expressions of Christmas we are about to encounter. Somewhere woven between the layers of Christmas shopping, retail discounts, gift giving, favorite seasonal movies and music from classic to pop, charming stories about a Grinch and another about a reindeer with a red nose, there is found yet another story, a Gospel story about a young Jewish woman who birthed her first-born son, wrapped him in love and placed him in a manger. All expressions of Christmas are rooted in this Story that never grows old.

It has been the practice of the First Friday Club to invite a speaker each first Friday in December to raise our consciousness of the spirituality of this wonderful season culminating on Christmas Day. There might be no one better this year than John Shea to speak to the spirituality of this special time of the year. He is a very creative writer, theologian, storyteller and poet.

John (Jack) Shea is the former Professor of Systematic Theology and former Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. He was Research Professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies, Loyola University Chicago. He was also Senior Scholar in Residence at the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethic.

He is a very popular speaker in parishes, organizations and programs throughout the Chicago area and beyond.