Near and Far Michael Budde

The World Cup, the Super Bowl, the Olympic Games—arguably, these and other sporting events are among the most "sacred" events on the calendar for people around the world. But how should Catholics and other Christians think about the role of sports in society, communities, churches, and families? In this interview with CWCIT's Michael L. Budde, J. J. (Jay) Carney thinks through such timely questions, offering wide-ranging and challenging thoughts on Catholicism and sport—the good and the not-so-good.

Jay teaches theology and African studies at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska (USA), where he also serves as director of the Contemporary Spirituality Program. He has written extensively on Catholicism and society in Africa, and most recently has co-authored "On the Eighth Day: A Catholic Theology of Sport."

Jodi Mikalachki is associate professor of English at the University of Burundi’s Institute of Applied Pedagogy in Bujumbura. She has written extensively on gender and nationalism. Her current project focuses on nonviolent responses to grief and loss in post–independence Burundi. Her essay, “Narrating Violence in Burundian Genocide and Civil War Literature: Pacifique Irankunda’s Playing at Violence,” appeared in ~Emerging Trends in Eastern African Literatures and Cultures~ (Galda Verlag, 2020). She has also translated two Burundian works engaging with the nation’s cycles of political violence: Zacharie Bukuru’s ~We Are All Children of God: The Forty Young Martyrs of Buta—Burundi~ (Paulines Africa, 2015) and Antoine Kaburahe, ~Hutsi: In the Name of Us All~ (Iwacu, 2019).

Jakob Egeris Thorsen joins CWCIT's Bill Cavanaugh to talk about the complex relationships among traditional Mayan Catholics, mainstream Catholics, and Protestants in the Guatemalan town of Santiago Atitlán. A Catholic theologian at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, Prof. Thorsen is married to a Guatemalan woman and has spent years in Guatemala researching the effects of modernization on traditional cultures there. He is particularly interested in the tensions between Catholics who maintain many traditional Mayan practices and other Catholics and Protestants who consider those practices heterodox, syncretistic, and pagan. Prof. Thorsen is interested in approaches to inculturation that respect and preserve local indigenous culture, which is threatened by modernization, while also maintaining the integrity of the Catholic theological tradition.

In this podcast, CWCIT's Karen Kraft speaks with Sr. Dr. Maria Vasantha about her life as both a religious sister and medical doctor who is skilled in both Western and traditional Indian medicine. Sr. Dr. Vasantha discusses her involvement with the Sister Doctors Forum of India, her medical work in the impoverished Tamil Nadu state, and the Catholic Church in India's support and promotion of traditional Indian medicine, through the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI), for example. Drawing on her own personal experience as well as what she has seen in her patients, she also describes specific instances in which Indian traditional medicine has succeeded where Western medicine has not.

Sr. Maria Vasantha, MD (or Sr. Dr. Maria Vasantha)belongs to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod, popularly known as the Holy Cross Sisters, and holds numerous positions at Leonard Hospital in the town of Batlagundu in India’s Tamil Nadu State including that of director, consultant, and surgeon within the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. Proficient in the practice of contemplative and Zen meditation, she is also certified in Bach flower medicine, reflexology, and yoga. She follows an integrative approach to women’s health, using a balance of Western science and alternative and spiritual therapies of Eastern science. Her passion is to bring the healing touch of Christ to everyone she meets, particularly the indigenous poor.

CWCIT director Bill Cavanaugh speaks with Paul Gifford, emeritus professor of the study of religions at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London, about contemporary Catholicism on the African continent. Among the topics they cover are the Catholic Church in Africa's huge involvement with development, its relative lack of interest in ecumenism, and its vulnerability in the face of the recent “Pentecostal” explosion.

Paul Gifford is CWCIT's fall 2021 visiting research fellow. He has been living on the African continent for several decades and is the author of numerous books, including "Christianity, Modernity, and Development in Africa" (Hurst, 2015) and "Ghana's New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalizing African Economy" (Hurst, 2003).

In this podcast with CWCIT's Stan Chu Ilo, Dr. Kochurani Abraham discusses her advocacy for gender equality in India and her ecumenical leadership in holding churches to account in India in the fight against rape, and other forms of gender violence against women. She also speaks of where she sees signs of hope for women and her prophetic witnessing in bringing about signs of hope in the lives of wounded and broken women in the Church and the wider society in India.

Dr. Abraham is a feminist theologian, gender researcher, and trainer from Kerala, India. She has a masters in child development from Kerala University, a licentiate in systematic theology from Pontifical University of Comillas, Madrid, and a PhD in feminist theology from the University of Madras, India. Currently, she serves as regional coordinator of the Indian Christian Women’s Movement for Kerala and vice president of the Indian Theological Association.