This month, St. Mary Church will offer a series of talks focusing on pain and suffering. Entitled “Hearts and Minds,” these presentations will seek to help folks understand the human reality of suffering.
The presenters will also offer solace and practical means for coping with our own pain and suffering as well as the anguish of others. The members of Chelsea Ministerial Association invite everyone to join the group at 6:30 p.m. for pre-talk, refreshments and hospitality, and the lectures take place from 7-8 p.m.
We would appreciate knowing you will be joining us by emailing [email protected]. This will enable us to provide enough refreshments.
Nov. 5:
The first lecture will take place on Thursday, Nov. 5 and the topic is, “Beyond Diagnosis: The Psychological Dimension of Suffering” facilitated by Richard Howlin, Ph.D.
Howlin is a clinical developmental psychologist. He has over 30 years of clinical experience in autism and developmental disorders. His writings and clinical work address both child and adult challenges in autism and the role of creativity in mental illness. He teaches on the subjects of child development and creativity and has lectured in clinical psychology at the University of Michigan.
He was trained at the University of Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research. Originally from London, Howlin resides with his family in Chelsea.
Nov. 12:
The second lecture will take place on Thursday, Nov. 12, and the topic is, “Dealing with the Losses Caused by Dementia” by James F. Peggs, MD. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan (BA, 1970) and Wayne State University (MD, 1975). Peggs completed a residency in Family Medicine (1978) and joined the faculty in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan in August of that year. He recently retired and now holds the title Emeritus Professor.
Peggs has practiced Family Medicine in Chelsea and been a member of a medical staff at Chelsea Hospital, now St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea, since that time. He completed additional training in Geriatrics including specialty certification and has provided care for patients at the Chelsea Retirement Community since 1986.
Married in 1976, Dr. Peggs and his wife have two children and two grandchildren and reside in Ann Arbor.
Nov. 19:
The third lecture will take place on Thursday, Nov. 19, and the topic is, “Addictive Illness Has no Boundaries” by Sister Mary Ellen Merrick, IHM.
Merrick is a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Scranton, PA). She is the Executive Director of the Women’s Treatment Program at Guest House in Lake Orion, Mich., and has worked in the addiction field since 1983.
Prior to coming to Michigan, she taught at Loyola University in Maryland, directed an outpatient trauma clinic, and had a private practice with adults dealing with addictions, dysfunctional family systems, and general mental health issues.
She has experience with both residential and outpatient facilities as a therapist and clinical director. Merrick taught a course on substance abuse at Loyola College in Maryland and supervised clinical interns for 25 years.
Her talk is a brief overview that will look “underneath the rock” that is addictive illness and identify how it can take everything away from people who get sucked into its powerful grasp. It seduces and convinces the person that he or she is in control when the opposite is the reality. It hurts and it’s the kind of hurt that can last a lifetime. This conversation will look at the reality and the hope that lies in healing and recovery.
Jan. 14:
The fourth lecture will take place on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, and the topic is, “The Spiritual Dimensions of Suffering as Challenging and Transforming,” by Sister Mary Ellen Sheehan, IHM.
Sheehan is a native Detroiter and member of the Roman Catholic religious congregation, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters of Monroe, Mich. She received her M.A. in philosophy from St. Louis University and a doctorate in theology (STD) from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
Sheehan is Professor Emerita of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College of the Toronto School of Theology where she taught graduate theology in an ecumenical setting for 35 years. Currently, she resides in Windsor, Ontario.
She offers lecture, workshops, and retreats that relate theology to a range of pastoral questions emerging in our current cultural context. She draws on both the intellectual and contemplative character of theology to deepen our experience and understanding of God and to explore the meaning of committed Christian discipleship in our world of today.
Her lecture explores everything that exists undergoes suffering. There is birth, growth, strength, diminishment, and then some form of ultimate loss or change built into the very cycle of nature. Human suffering includes conscious awareness of it: knowledge and also felt pain and anticipated loss on the part both of the suffering one and of all who are in relationship with the person. Human suffering is complex, happening in both an individual and communal context and also having at once physical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. It carries us into a range of emotions, including both fear and hope.
How is religious faith or some sense of the “spiritual” involved in the experience of suffering? How does it unfold? When does it stump us and when does it surprise us with truly new and life-giving insights into the mystery of life and death? This lecture will explore some of these themes and invite comments and questions from the participants.
Contact Cathy Guinan at [email protected] for more information.
