An important dimension of Lumen Civitatis' mission to evangelize the culture is our commitment, informed by recent papal calls for a New Evangelization and by Catholic Social Doctrine, to help cultivate a new generation of leaders for the city, particularly among university students and those seeking to put their talents and resources at the service of the common good. 

 

 

University Students

 

Lumen Civitatis helps to cultivate leaders among university students by supporting efforts in campus ministry, undergraduate and graduate level courses in Catholic Studies, and guest speakers and discussions on university campuses. 

 

I think in particular of our need to speak to the hearts of young people, who, despite constant exposure to messages contrary to the Gospel, continue to thirst for authenticity, goodness, and truth.  Much remains to be done, particularly on the level of preaching and catechesis in parishes and schools, if the new evangelization is to bear fruit for the renewal of ecclesial life in America.

-- Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, meeting with US Bishops, April 16, 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In January 2015, Lumen Civitatis funded scholarships for 25 students from the University of Memphis, Rhodes College, and Christian Brothers University to attend SEEK2015, a Fellowship Of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) leadership conference, where the students worshipped, learned, and fellowshiped with about ten thousand other Catholic university students from around the United States.

 

Lumen Civitatis, in collaboration with the Diocese of Memphis, has spearheaded the effort to bring FOCUS to the University of Memphis. Three FOCUS missionaries arrived in August 2015 to begin their ministry among the students, and a fourth missionary will join them in early 2016. 

 

 

The main task for us all is that of a new evangelization aimed at helping younger generations to rediscover the true face of God, who is love.

--Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Message for World Youth Day, 2009

 

 

 

Catholic Social Doctrine at the Service of the Common Good

 

Lumen Civitatis organizes and supports various efforts to explore and promote Catholic Social Doctrine and its practical implications in Memphis, giving particular emphasis to Pope Francis' constant call to seek out and serve those on "the peripheries".  Building on the principles of the dignity of the human person, subsidiarity, solidarity, and the common good, we focus on topics such as impact investing and enterprise solutions to poverty; business and theology, and the family. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Miller,  Founder of PovertyCure, Director and Producer of Poverty, Inc., and Advisory Board member of Lumen Civitatis, discusses enterprise solutions to poverty.

 

Love for the other, and in the first place love for the poor… is made concrete in the promotion of justice. Justice will never be fully attained unless people see in the poor person, who is asking for help in order to survive, not an annoyance or a burden, but an opportunity for showing kindness and a chance for greater enrichment. Only such an awareness can give the courage needed to face the risk and the change involved in every authentic attempt to come to the aid of another. It is not merely a matter of 'giving from one's surplus', but of helping entire peoples which are presently excluded or marginalised to enter into the sphere of economic and human development.

 

-- Pope St John Paul II, Centesimus Annus 58