Margarita MooneyUniversity of North

Carolina at Chapel Hill

Faith Makes Us Live: Haitian Catholics and the Eucharistic Imagination

Talk given at DePaul University, April 13, 2011

Easter Triduum and Eucharistic Resources

Suffering (Good Friday)

Word and Light

(Easter Vigil)

Transfor-mation (Easter Sunday)

Individual Action &

Associative Work

“Fight, life is not easy; don’t be afraid, Jesus is there.” Embracing Suffering

“Alleluia. I will never forget what Jesus did for me. Alleluia.” Word and Light

“It’s not our color, nor our culture, we have to change. It’s our heart.” Transformation and Thanksgiving

Sacramental Permeability

“Jesus came with us on the boat”

“We should give without expecting to receive in return.” Transformation and Thanksgiving

Theology of Grace and Hope

Easter Triduum and Eucharistic Resources

Suffering (Good Friday)

Word and Light

(Easter Vigil)

Transfor-mation (Easter Sunday)

Individual Action &

Associative Work

Eucharistic Imagination and Social Transformation

• Deus Caritas Est (Pope Benedict XVI, 2005)– Three-fold responsibility of the

Church: Proclaiming the word of God, Celebrating the sacraments, Charity

• Caritas in Veritate (Pope Benedict XVI, 2009)– Two paths of charity: individual

action and associative work

Open Market for Religion and

Generally Pro-Religious Society and Government

Assertive Secularism: Religion

and State are Competing

Comprehensive Doctrines

Secular Nationalism: Placing Limits on

Immigrants’ Religious Practices

and Protecting National Identity

Haitians’ Associative Institutions in the U.S., France and Quebec

A Sociological, Theological, and Eucharistic Imagination

• What can theology learn from sociology?– Need to pay attention to histories of religion-state

relations to understand how the church carries out its moral and social teachings

– Need to speak out for religious freedom, not just freedom of conscience but freedom to create associations and advocate for the public good

A Sociological, Theological, and Eucharistic Imagination

• What can sociology learn from theology?– Need to put “deep relationality” at the heart of

human motivation. Human persons desire other human connections as least as fundamentally as they desire material things.

– Eucharistic communities are communities of gratitude; community life is an end in and of itself, not only a means to material or individualistic ends.

Book Website:

www.faithmakesuslive.com

Blog:

www.margaritamooney. blogspot.com

My Homepage:

www.margaritamooney.com