 Fr. Andrew Greeley Visits USF and ICEL
Noted author and sociologist Fr. Andrew Greeley challenged faculty and students of the university’s Institute for Catholic Educational Leadership (ICEL) to revive and spread the many stories of the Catholic faith tradition.
“Catholicism is a religion that is mesh in stories, wonderful stories,” Fr. Greeley said during a Feb. 20 address to a filled Gershwin Theater. “The reason why people are Catholic is because they like stories. The spoilsports are trying to take our stories away.”
Greeley, who has sold more than 20 million copies of his fiction and nonfiction books, visited USF to deliver the final jubilee lecture in honor of ICEL’s 25th anniversary celebration. Since June 2000, ICEL has held lectures, conferences, and dinners in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Hawaii, in honor of its legacy. Fr. Greeley commended the Institute’s work, saying “it was a grand idea to start it, a grand idea to continue it.”
Often described as a mix of storyteller, priest, and academic, Fr. Greeley urged ICEL to join in the effort to recover and revive, even in the face of criticism, the many symbols, mythologies, and superstitions of the Catholic tradition. Throughout his lecture, he shared stories of the sacrament, the Madonna, Bethlehem, St. Brigid and St. Brendan, and others.
“Our stories are out there, still being used whether we like or not,” he said. “And they’re good stories. They demand to be used. The challenge for ICEL is to reinterpret and rearticulate some of our stories so they represent some of the original stories.”
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