Reception of communion at Humanitas Mass 2023
(Jamie MacGuire, Abbot Michael Brunner, Bishop Thomas Tobin)
The Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture, a collaborative effort of the Saint Louis and Portsmouth monastic communities, has been offering programs of spiritual and intellectual enrichment since 2009. Over the past decade, the Institute has flourished, from its initial creation and leadership by School alumnus Jamie MacGuire ’70, and since 2014 under executive director Chris Fisher. Mr. Fisher has overseen the expansion of the Institute beyond its signature Summer Symposium to include a wide range of programs and events. The Institute, guided by a steering committee populated by monks of St. Louis and Portsmouth as well as friends of both communities, has helped to deepen the strong bonds existing between the two houses. It has also produced a witness for faith, a witness shaped by the Benedictine spirit, particularly in its hallmarks of prayer, the love of learning, and of community life.
Humanitas Summer Symposium (June 14-15, 2024). While the growth of the Institute has led to a number of programs away from the monastery, such as the annual Providence Symposium, the summer Oxford experience, and various other lectures and events, the signature summer Humanitas symposium remains firmly rooted in the monastic grounds here on the shores of Narragansett Bay. The symposium, whose theme and speakers will be determined soon, continues to gather “like-minded friends for a memorable weekend of learning, fellowship, and prayer.” It offers seminar-style discussion groups that explore topics introduced by its slate of eminent speakers representing a range of voices on faith in the modern world. The Institute has worked with Cluny Media to produce handsome volumes of texts that serve as the basis of analysis, discussion, and reflection. The events are all situated within a framework of prayer, joining the monastic community for the divine office and for Mass.
Executive Director Chris Fisher
Pietas: Intellectual and Contemplative Retreat for Teachers (June 23-28, 2024). Pietas has established itself over the past few years as an inspiring and challenging experience of community learning for teachers. Participants delve into the writings of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas More, John Henry Newman, Jacques Maritain, Jean Leclercq and more, “in order to discern the truly distinctive character of a Christian education.” Entitled “Pietas: The Soul of Christian Learning,” the retreat enables teachers to explore the purpose of Christian education and the distinctive character of the Christian teacher, or the Christian student. Not limited to theologians, the retreat allows teachers from all disciplines to better understand how their courses, whether explicitly religious or not, can be oriented towards God, infusing the classroom with Christian wisdom. Like the Humanitas symposium, Pietas is also steeped in the Benedictine life, with the divine office and the Mass woven into the schedule. The program also makes full use of our location for excursions and for the enjoyment of the beauty of our area.
Program Coordinator Lauren Revay
Center for Science and the Liberal Arts. The Institute has created a wide range of initiatives designed to more fully engage participants in issues of faith in our contemporary culture. The Center for Science and Liberal Arts has promoted research and discussion for student and teacher alike around issues arising in the interface of faith and religion. Its intention: “We propose here an interdisciplinary way of mending the relationship between science and the liberal arts.” Chris Fisher has teamed with Dr. Stephen Zins of the School’s Department of Science to produce an active climate of study, incorporating visits “to leading research institutions for a look into cutting edge scientific research... supplemented and grounded in conversations surrounding ethics and science…, be informed by a devotion to Christian truth and a sense of wonder towards God and the created order.” The Center also provides Interdisciplinary faculty seminars to foster conversation on scientific ethics and the human condition, with the additional goal of connecting faculty at Portsmouth Abbey and St. Louis Priory with researchers and scholars from across the region.