Speaker Series

and previous Zoom talks.

Upcoming Talks

Q&A with Fr. Jerome Cudden, O.P.

Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 7:15 pm St. Raymond Church (Chapel)

After asking for suggestions for future talks, several questions were submitted. Fr. Jerome will address the questions below, and others if time permits, on Oct 18th at 7:15 pm in the chapel. A potluck will proceed in the Parish Hall at 6:15 pm.

If God is good and all powerful, then why is there suffering?
Where do all the “extra” Catholic beliefs and practices come from and how do we know they are from God?
Why not just be “spiritual but not religious” since organized religion is so messy and has done awful things?
How to interact with people who have left the Catholic Church and strategies to help them return home?
Why are there so many natural disasters and diseases?
How to best integrate and grow in faithfulness in our careers?
What is the definition of “success” in the career of a Catholic?

The Name of Jesus as Early Christian Prayer, with Fr. Ambrose Sigman, O.P.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022, 7:15 pm St. Raymond Church (Chapel)

For centuries Christian ascetics have struggled to fulfill the Scriptural command to pray without ceasing. One such solution was to turn to the name of Jesus itself as a prayer during times of struggle and difficulty. This talk will examine this tradition, its spiritual and theological foundations, as it was practiced in the early centuries of the Church, and will attempt to offer some insight into how such practices could be adapted for the use of contemporary Christians.

Fr. Ambrose Sigman, O.P., has been a Dominican since 2006. After his ordination to the priesthood, he spent two years as the parochial vicar at St Raymond’s in Menlo Park before going off for doctoral studies. Having completed his studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, Fr. Ambrose is now a professor at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, CA.