Fr. James Keenan, S.J., a nationally-recognized theological ethicist, spoke on the transformative power of learning from grief at the latest Marianist Lecture this month.
Keenan urged attendees to see grief not as something to “get over,” but as part of a complex and personal process of “moving forward.” “I think grief is a form of love,” he said, speaking February 9 in the Mystical Rose Oratory.
“Those who know grief … experience terrible pain and that experience is what liberates them to be responsive.”
He added, “Mourning is not something that can be finished.”
Keenan serves as the director of the Jesuit Institute and vice provost of Global Engagement at Boston College. He also founded Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church, an international network of ethicists, and has published several books on ethics.
The Marianist Lecture, sponsored by the Marianist Center of Hawai‘i, Chaminade University and Saint Louis School, is aimed at fostering inclusive dialogue on Catholic thought and responsibility. Marianist Lecture presenters are honored with the Mackey Award for Catholic Thought, named after the first president of Chaminade University.
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Dustyn Ragasa, Ph.D., an assistant professor of Religious Studies and director of Chaminade’s Master of Pastoral Theology program, said Keenan served on his dissertation committee. In helping to introduce him at the lecture, Ragasa said he can attest to Keenan’s “generosity, wisdom, compassion and empowering insight.”
“Over the last 40 years, Dr. James Keenan, Jesuit and ethicist, has been a leading voice of hope, an advocate for the marginalized, and a prophetic voice for the call to mercy,” Ragasa said. “Father Keenan has influenced generations of ethicists around the world.”
Keenan’s talk was titled “Learning from Grief: Epiphany in the Upper Room,” and he encouraged attendees to eschew the standard “get over it” model of grief and consider Jesus’ teachings on personal growth and love.
Under that new model, he said, “grief is shared. In light of grief, one needs not to find the way back but the way forward.”
To watch Keenan’s full lecture on Facebook, click here.