Loyola University Chicago

Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy

Wonderfully Made @LUC

In partnership with the Institute of Pastoral Studies and the Department of Theology, and with financial support from the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the Graduate School, the Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy's Anti-Oppressive Film Series presents Wonderfully Made — LGBTQ+R(eligion) directed by Yuval David and produced by Mark McDermott!

Synopsis: Wonderfully Made — LGBTQ+R(eligion) is a combined fine art project and feature-length documentary that together strike at the root of anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes by exploring the challenges and aspirations of LGBTQ+ Catholics. The message, however, applies to any religious tradition that does not fully embrace our LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters.

Find out more about the film, art project, & watch the trailer at lgbtqreligion.com  

Date/Time/Location: Damen Student Center, 6511 N. Sheridan Rd, Chicago, IL, 60660

  • October 16th, 2023
  • 10:00am-8pm (Open to all LUC students, staff, & faculty)
  • 5:00pm - 8:00pm (Open to the public)
  • Note:
    • Events from 10:30am - 5:00pm are restricted to LUC students, staff, & faculty ONLY
    • Events from 5:00pm - 8:00pm are open to the public
    • Accessibility:
      • ALL screenings will be captioned
      • Damen Cinema & the Sister Jean Multi-Purpose Room are mobility-aid accessible
      • Damen Student Center has elevators with easy access to program spaces

Register to attend the event here!

Join us for a full day of drop-in events: multiple film screenings and filmmaker talkbacks, panel discussions and presentations by LUC students, staff, & faculty as well as representatives from local LGBTQ+ organizations, a resource fair, and an art gallery of the images seen in the film!

While this is an all-day event, participants are not expected to attend the entire time. Please feel free to drop into whichever film screenings, panels, and other events of the day interest you!

Why This Film?

Rationale

In a time where discrimination and violence against LGBTQIA+ individuals are on a rise, and where the source of much of this discrimination stems from religious belief, educational institutions, particularly those of Jesuit heritage, have a mandate to promote equity, inclusion, and social justice.

The purpose of Wonderfully Made @ LUC is to engage the LUC community on the issue of LGBTQ+ inclusion from the perspective of faith traditions and in a contemporary context of socio-cultural change, increasing legal issues at the state level across the country, and heightened political discourse around human rights. The screenings and subsequent panels and presentations of this event support our work towards teaching and learning in providing LUC educators opportunities to engage with their colleagues in the continual development of their pedagogical skills. The presentations and panels focus on themes of intersectionality, interdisciplinary perspectives on gender and sexuality, crafting inclusive pedagogical spaces, and contemporary challenges impacting LGBTQ+ communities, among others, highlighting the need for a critical analysis of how Jesuit and other religious institutions make space for and support LGBTQ+ individuals. These presentations as well as the talkbacks with the director and the producer of the film, also provide applicable ways of crafting belonging, enacting pedagogical equity, and advocating for the LGBTQ+ members of our educational community.

Wonderfully Made @ LUC overwhelmingly supports our Jesuit values of reflection and discernment: reflecting upon and critically analyzing how Jesuit institutions like ours have and have not historically made space for and supported the LGBTQ+ members of their communities, so that we might discern the best paths toward being true contemplatives in action by crafting belonging, enacting pedagogical equity, and advocating for the LGBTQ+ members of our educational community. This event, even further, promotes our institutional mission and the values of our Ignatian heritage towards magis (or a progressive excellence), a true cura personalis (or care for the whole unique person), and our orientation towards accompaniment and walking/working/laboring with our community of practitioners and learners towards a more transformational, equitable, and just world.

Departmental/Organizational Collaborators

Click to see the schedule here!

Exhibitors
Panels & Presentations

10:30am to 11:45am:

11:00am to 12:00pm:

12:00pm to 1:15pm:

  • Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality (Location: Sr. Jean MPR South)
  • Crafting Belonging, Creating Inclusive Spaces (Location: Sr. Jean MPR North)
    • Justin D. Wright, Anti-Oppressive Pedagogies Specialist, LUC Faculty Center for Ignatian Pedagogy
    • Lauren Schwer, LUC Director of Ignatian Spirituality
    • Dr. Dana K. Harmon, Clinical Associate Professor, LUC School of Social Work
    • Morgan Ransom, Coordinator, Center for Black Student Excellence
    • Orion Elrod, Graduate Intern - QUEST/Q-Initiatives, Center for Diversity & Inclusion

1:30pm to 2:45pm:

  • Understanding the Legal Challenges Impacting LGBTQ+ Communities (Location: Sr. Jean MPR South)
  • Religion's Profound Impact on Health and Heart: Acknowledging Trauma and Aspiring to Life-Giving, Spiritual Inclusivity (organized by LUC’s School of Health Sciences and Public Health) (Location: Sr. Jean MPR North)
    • Rev. Don Abram, M.Div., Pride in the Pews
    • Devona Alleyne, LPC, M.Div./MAPC, Institute of Pastoral Studies
    • Cecilia Hardacker, MSN, RN, CNL, Director of Education, Howard Brown Health
    • Donovan D. Meachem, Sophomore, Quinlan School of Business, LUC
    • Facilitators: Cynthia P. Stewart, M.Div., PhD & Kim Rusk, EdD, MSHS, BSN, RN, Parkinson SHSPH, LUC

3:00pm to 4:15pm:

  • Why Queer Catholic Theology? (Location: Sr. Jean MPR South) 
    • Dr. Aana Vigen, LUC Dept. of Theology
    • Dr. Craig Ford, Theology and Religious Studies, St. Norbert College (Wisconsin)
    • Dr. Adam Beyt, Theology and Religious Studies, St. Norbert College (Wisconsin)
    • Dr. Miguel Diaz, LUC John Courtney Murray, S.J University Chair in Public Service
  • Remembering Original Holiness: Coming Out as a Gay Catholic (Location: Sr. Jean MPR North)
    • Kevin Pease, LUC Institute of Pastoral Studies, Director of the IPS Scripture School
Screenings & Schedule

Screenings: (90 mins + 30 min talkback w/ Filmmakers)

  • 10:00am Film Screening (Damen Cinema)
  • 1:30pm (Damen Cinema)
  • 6:00pm (Sister Jean Multipurpose Room - Open to the public)

Ecumenical Prayer Service: 5:00pm, Open to the public

  • Holy Rosary Chapel - Saint Joseph's Hall, Lake Shore Campus (1120 W Loyola Ave)

Panels & Presentations: Sister Jean Multi-Purpose Room, Damen Student Center

(see panel & presentation details in the drop-down below)

  • 10:30am to 11:45am
  • 12:00pm to 1:15pm
  • 1:30pm to 2:45pm
  • 3:00pm to 4:15pm

Art Gallery: Open 12:00pm - 8:00pm

  • Damen Student Center, 2nd Floor

Art Gallery of the photography seen in the film!

Related Events:
  • Our friends at Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park (on the South Side of Chicago) are hosting a screening of this film the next day, on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at 6:30pm. Check their event page for more information: CTU Movie Night
A note on FCIP’s Anti-Oppressive Film Series
  • This series is an effort to cultivate anti-racist and anti-oppressive thought, action and pedagogy by examining race, structural and systemic racism, structural oppression, belonging, identity, and other themes through the medium of film. The series is designed to give participants different perspectives on issues of the day, as well as educate them on different aspects of anti-oppressive thought. As a non-didactic and group discussion-oriented series, participants are able to learn about salient issues of identity, intersectionality, marginalization, and anti-oppression through the transformative experience of "witness" through the creative medium of film.