Gabriela Buitrón Vera

Lecturer of Spanish, Department of Modern Languages, Loyola University Chicago.

Indigenous Deities and Catholic Prayer: an Undocumented Immigrant Cry for Help in the memoir Solito (2022) by Javier Zamora

This project specifically investigates how institutions like the Catholic church have become a symbol of sanctuary for undocumented immigrants in the United States. It draws from this aspect and examines the importance of divinity for undocumented immigrants depicted in Javier Zamora's memoir Solito (2023). To this end, this research sheds light on how characters in this book use 1) Catholic rituals for well-being and 2) ancestral oral teachings for coping with uncertainty. 

Parts of my research findings will be presented at upcoming national and international conferences. In addition, the results from this project will help me create one new course: “Migration and the Divine.”

Jeffrey Fisher

Lecturer, Department of Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago

The Origins of Social Justice: Aristotle, Aquinas, and Taparelli

Over the past few decades, the phrase ‘social justice’ has become central to much political discourse. Today, many people—both critics and proponents of social justice—view it as a specifically progressive ideal. The term ‘social justice’, however, was coined by a 19th century Jesuit Thomist, Luigi Taparelli (who, somewhat ironically, was often derided as a reactionary or conservative), and through Taparelli’s work and influence, it became a central plank of Catholic Social Teaching.

Taparelli employed it to describe and to extend what Aquinas called “general” or “legal” justice, a notion which Aquinas himself inherited from Aristotle’s discussion of justice in the Nicomachean Ethics. My project is to recover and articulate this Aristotelian account of social justice, by tracing its development from Aristotle, through Aquinas, and into Taparelli.

Guillermo Sanhueza

Associate Professor, School of Social Work

Faith-based organizations and the reintegration of the incarcerated: mapping out initiatives, analyzing their possibilities and challenges in Chicagoland

The promotion of dialogue between faith and contemporary culture, as well as the preferential attention towards the poorest are two aspects where the Catholic Church has emphasized in recent years (National Catholic Reporter, 2022; America Magazine, 2019). In the US, in particular, one group that has been historically marginalized are the incarcerated (Bellin, 2022). Indeed, the US puts behind bars more people per capita than any other country in the world, especially African Americans, with devastating effects (Beckett & Goldberg, 2022; Wildeman & Wang, 2017).

To respond to this so-called “mass incarceration” phenomenon (Wacquant, 2017), many people of faith, alongside with others of good will have been implementing initiatives aimed to support formerly incarcerated individuals as they return to their communities (Levad, 2019; Erzen, 2017). Our pilot, previous work in Chicagoland has shown that, among the reentry programs, there are many that identified themselves as faith-based initiatives, yet from various denominations and degrees of an explicit message. At the same time, most of them seemed rooted in a religious message of compassion, justice, and second chances (Sanhueza & Christensen-Cabrera, 2023).

Beyond good intentions, though, one modern criterion for analyzing such initiatives with the lens of reason has to do with contemporary social science, in general, and program evaluation in particular. Through these lens, well-intended purposes must be accompanied by a certain “logic of work” to make sure that actions taken are consistent and possibly beneficial for society and for participants themselves. Thus, this research project aims to map out current faith-based initiatives in Chicagoland; to understand how they are currently working; and to analyze possibilities and challenges that faith-based organizations face for a successful reintegration.

Phyllis Ann Solari-Twadell PhD, RN, MPA, FAAN

Associate Professor, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.

The Long-Term Impact of an International Service Immersion for Nursing Students Focused on Spiritual Care 

There have been twelve International Lourdes Service Immersions completed with a thirteenth scheduled for May 2025. Over the years, there have been over one hundred and thirty traditional nursing students who have participated in the Lourdes Service Immersion. This international service engages nursing students in week-long service to pilgrims from around the world assisting these pilgrims with their devotions by helping the pilgrims act of faith through the sign of the water in the bathes in Lourdes. Lourdes is the largest Roman Catholic shrine dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, faith, and healing. The shrine is in Lourdes, France.

This research project is a mixed method, study using Husserl's Theory of phenomenology and a modified Inner Strength Questionnaire (Roux, and Dingley, 2009), Spiritual Well-Being Scale (Daaleman and Frey, 2004) and Quality of Life Scale (Burckhardt& Anderson, 2003) aimed at identifying current practices, rituals, meditations or other strategies learned through their experience and service in the bathes with pilgrims from around the world and are used today to support “inner strength” ND "quality of life" while sustaining their wellbeing and nursing practice. The research questions include:

1. What are the demographics of past Lourdes Service Immersion Alumni including: current role in nursing, Any participation in a graduate nursing program, how long since graduation and serving in the bathes in Lourdes?
2. What is the Lourdes Service Immersion Alumni’s report of their current inner strength and spiritual well-being and quality of life?
3. What practices, rituals, meditations, or other strategies learned through their experience and service in the bathes in Lourdes are utilized today to support their health, well-being, quality of life and nursing practice?

Given the recent impact of the pandemic on the well-being of nurses and the number of nurses leaving the profession, the findings of this study may reveal practices utilized by nurses that have sustained them through difficult episodes in their nursing career.