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Sophia Center Events Donations to support the projects of
the Sophia Center may be sent to: For more information on these and other upcoming events:
Sunday, February 24, 2002 ~ 1:30 p.m. The Sophia Center is pleased to present This lecture will be the introductory lecture of a four-part quarterly Huntington-area lecture Series on Joyce’s masterpiece by Peter A. Bien, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Emeritus, of Dartmouth College. His guest lectures in recent years included an annual one at the U.S. State Department to prospective diplomats, whom he told that politics can be understood through poetry. Several years ago, he began a series of New York area lectures on 20th century novels sponsored by the New York law firm of Thacher Proffitt and Wood, which cosponsors these lectures, on the occasion of its 150th anniversary, including lectures on works of Mann, Joyce, Kazantzakis, Wolfe and Kafka. Reception immediately following lecture. LOCATION: The Sophia Center, Immaculate Conception Seminary, 440 West Neck Road, Huntington, New York 11743 RSVP: Ms. Donna Bottone, Thacher Proffitt & Wood (dbottone@tpwlaw.com; 212-789-3684), or The Sophia Center (SophiaRVC@aol.com; 631-425-6114). Fall of 2001 A series of film discussions began with a showing of Kieslowski's DECALOGUE, a remarkable series of hour-long films produced in 1988-89 for Polish TV. "....shown at several festivals ... belongs with ... Bergman ... (the series) breathes - almost trembles with - compassion and insight ... Kieslowski and his co-writer ... saw it as a chance for inquiry, not for sermon, ten avenues of exploration into the acceptances and values of their world." In the Fall of 2001 the series included films by contemporary American directors: Francis Ford Coppola’s THE CONVERSATION, Woody Allen’s CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS, and BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, directed by Martin Scorsese. Sunday, October 21, 2001 The Sophia Center held a poetry reading by Alicia Suskin Ostriker at the Huntington Jewish Center 510 Park Avenue, Huntington, New York. This was the third in our series of readings & discussions exploring the role of imagination in the spiritual experience of the Muslim, Jewish & Christian traditions. Alicia Suskin Ostriker, a major American poet and critic, is the author of nine volumes of poetry, including The Imaginary Lover, which won the 1986 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and The Crack in Everything (1996), which was a National Book Award finalist and won both the Paterson Poetry Prize and the San Francisco State Poetry Center Award. Her most recent book, The Little Space: Poems Selected and New, 1968-1998, was also a National Book Award finalist and a finalist for the Lenore Marshall Award of the Academy of American Poets. Ostriker's critical works include Stealing the Language: The Emergence of Women's Poetry in America (1986), Feminist Revision and the Bible (1992), and The Nakedness of the Fathers: Biblical Visions and Revisions (1994). Ostriker has performed her poetry at many universities and festivals in this country and abroad: in England, Italy, Japan and Israel. Her work has been extensively anthologized in collections dealing with women & poetry, spiritual poetry, and Jewish poetry. Sunday, May 6, 2001 What should be the role of religion in setting public policy? A timely and vital discussion sponsored by the Sophia Center, an ecumenical forum in the Diocese of Rockville Centre, and by the Interfaith Center and the Center for Aging at C.W. Post College. Held at the Hillwood Commons of C.W. Post College in Greenvale, this symposium explored a variety of fascinating questions facing our society, such as... How has religion played a role in the past? Whose religion? What religion? What benefits can religion bring to public policy? Would this endanger separation of church and state? Would this risk religious domination of public institutions? How would religion go about affecting public policy? In what areas of public policy would religion find a role? Would religion in public policy strengthen our democracy, or is any religious element suspect? A formal discussion by a distinguished group of panelists explored the many facets of the subject, with time set aside for questions and comments, as well as an informal reception to meet and talk to the speakers. Distinguished panel members included:
Sunday, April 29, 2001 The Sophia Center presented the second in a series of poetry readings, this one by Eavan Boland in the Student Center Theater of Hofstra University. Universally acknowledged as the preeminent female poet of her native Ireland, Boland seeks to revitalize the image of women, pulling them out of their silent hiding places in history or out of the shadows of contemporary suburbs. Her most recent publication is The Lost Land, which unravels the impact of Ireland's history on a people and on the poet's imagination. Her poems, saturated with grief and longing, celebrate the heroism of motherhood as well as the fierce desire of women to be known and recognized by the world at large. Among her other publications are An Origin Like Water: Collected Poems 1967-1987 and her 1995 memoir, Object Lessons: The Life of a Woman Poet in Our Time. Dr. Boland is Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at Stanford University, and lives in Dublin when not in residence at Stanford. February 9-11, 2001 An Informal Retreat: THE PRACTICE OF SPIRITUAL FRIENDSHIP The retreat was held at the Seminary the weekend of February 9th thru 11th, 2001 and provided an opportunity for silence, and for reading and conversation about the practice of friendship. Readings provided for the participants drawn from classical, medieval and modern authors, and from the Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions. We hope this shared experience will provide the impetus for ongoing meetings. Early 2001 The Sophia Center presented the first in a series of poetry readings and discussions exploring the role of imagination in the spiritual experience of Muslim, Jewish and Christian religious traditions. In this first program, Coleman Barks read from his translations of the works of RUMI, the 13th Century Sufi mystic, and participated in a conversation with the audience. Mr. Barks is well known as the featured poet and translator in Bill Moyer's poetry special, "Fooling with Words" (1999). Contact us for more information on these and
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