Raymond (Ray) O’Connor Bio and questions

 

Raymond (Ray) O’Connor lives in San Francisco, California. He has been a Catholic secondary educator for 28 years of which 19 years have been with Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco (Convent & Stuart Hall) where he taught courses in Sacred Text, Ethics, World Religions, Social Justice and directed the Service Learning Program. He has been an RSCJ Associate since 2003. He retired from secondary education in 2020. Ray holds advanced degrees in Humanities from Fordham University, Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, and Theology from St. Patrick’s Seminary. He completed his Doctor of Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley. He continues to teach Hebrew Scriptures in the Institute for Pastoral Leadership of the Diocese of San Jose for over 20 years. 

Reading with Mary Frohlich, rscj 

The Heart at the Heart of the World: Re-visioning the Sacred Heart for the Ecozoic Era

Wednesday August 7, 2024

First Session: Intro, Part One, Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Prepared Questions by Ray O’Connor  (To be discussed randomly considering of the conversation)

1. INTRODUCTION

1. You recall a childhood experience around eight years old that you call “the epiphany at the lake” and you write: “I want to put words not only on my experience but on what it revealed: that an infinite depth of love and life permeates all creation” (Page X). Can you delve a bit more into this experience and what it reveals to you? (There is also the “hummingbird moth” experience [Page XVI]).

2. You introduce the term “more-than-human”. Can you contextualize that term for us vis-a-vis your book’s focus?

3. The state of the environment today seems dreadful. You mention, according to geologists, that the final epoch of the Cenozoic era, the Holocene epoch that lasted 11,650 years, is “crashing to a close” (Page XV). Then you bring in Thomas Berry (d. 2009) whom I believe many in this conversation may know. Berry suggests that the coming era be titled the “Ecozoic” Era which you summarized as “a time when human beings relearn how to live sustainably within the reality of our physical and spiritual interdependence with the Earth” (Page XV). Can you delve a bit more into Berry’s idea? 

4. You mention Arthur Frank’s “restitution narrative”, “chaos narrative” and “quest narrative” as he applies them to severe physical trauma. Can you apply these narratives to our environment?

5. What appears to be normal for most of us is what is familiar to us. How we were raised and educated influences our claims on normality. Given your Introduction, how would you critique the idea of what is normal for humanity facing environmental crises.

2. CHAPTER 1

1. You focus on the heart in Chapter 1 and name four essential heart functions: Interiority, Bonding, Belonging, Meaning. Can you briefly explain each function and how they work to create a healthy heart. 

2. You write: “The breakdown of modern dualism is bringing us to a re-discovery of how radically human beings, in all our dimensions of body, mind, and spirit, are immersed in the dynamic web of interconnections that we call ‘Earth’” (Page 10). What are some examples of how modern dualism pervades our thinking and experience and how it may undermine the Earth’s dynamic of a  “web of interconnections?”

3. Your distinction between selfhood and personhood reminds me of Richard Rohr’s two halves of life based on Jungian psychology. The first half (selfhood) is spent developing one’s sense of self or ego. The second half (personhood) is spent discovering a deeper sense of purpose. Does this fit with your understanding of selfhood and personhood? How could this contribute to a healthier earth, especially given your definition of personhood as “an apophatic participation of creatures in the personal reality of God” (Page18).

4. You make a claim by stating “the challenge of our time is that our very survival as a species is calling for a vastly broadened and deepened level of relationality…” (Page 19). I think most people experience themselves as relational via-a-vis their families, friends, colleagues, etc. but perhaps this experience is too thin when the need is for broader and deeper relationships. Can you break open this idea a bit more and connect it to Jesus’ heart in its physicality, tender mercy, and cosmic divinity?

3. CHAPTER 2

1. In Chapter Two you offer a survey of heart devotions over the centuries. You mention many names and experiences connected to Jesus’ heart. Can you name for us the one definitive heart devotion that most influences beliefs today, whether that influence be positive or negative?

2. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin may be one of the more recognizable thinkers/theologians whose ideas directly connect to the environment. Can you offer an overview of his thinking and his concept of the “Omega Point”?