Saint Mary's to Host 'Embody'

July 6, 2016 (Notre Dame, Ind.)—Saint Mary’s College is proud to announce the first annual “Embody: Beauty, Justice, and Faith in Action,” a weeklong residential theology institute, will be held July 10-15 on campus. The institute is sponsored by the Lilly Endowment Inc.’s High School Youth Theology Institutes initiative, which seeks to encourage young people to explore theological traditions, ask questions about the moral dimensions of contemporary issues, and examine how their faith calls them to lives of service.

The institute has accepted girls entering their sophomore, junior, or senior years in high school and select incoming first-year students. The week offers lecture, reflection, and active involvement through art activities, community engagement, and interfaith dialogue.

Campus Minister Jessica Kimmet said the institute will provide high school girls with insight into theology and the value of beauty with God as the source.

“Although many voices in our culture agree that young women should embrace their unique beauty and step into leadership roles, we hope to offer a unique theological foundation for these beliefs. We tell our participants not just that they are beautiful, but that they are beautiful because they are created and beloved by God, the source of all beauty.”

Vice President for Mission Judith Fean looks forward to the first institute and expressed gratitude for the grant that made it possible.

"Saint Mary's is very grateful to have been awarded a grant from the Lilly endowment Inc. to bring together high school women of faith who want to know more about what it means explore their own beauty and learn to recognize themselves as beloved by God. Many of them expressed in their applications the importance of having a community in which to grow as strong women of faith and they see this week long institute as a way support one another in a world that is very complex. They expressed the importance of being open to learn how everyone is connected and how they are called to live out what they learn to care more deeply about others and to contribute to making this world a better place.

Fean said the mission of Saint Mary’s College and the Sisters of the Holy Cross are fundamental to “Embody.”

“We are very excited to be part of this enriching opportunity to do what we do best at this Catholic women's college: help young women discover themselves, the world and their place in it, grounded in the tradition of the College's founders, the Sisters of the Holy Cross."

The Endowment gave $44.5 million in grants to 82 private four-year colleges and universities around the nation to create the institutes. The grants are part of the Endowment’s commitment to identify and cultivate a cadre of theologically minded youth who will become leaders in church and society. 

The 82 schools to receive grants for this initiative are located in 29 states and the District of Columbia. Some of the schools are independent, but many, including Saint Mary’s, reflect the religious heritage of their founding traditions. These traditions include Roman Catholic, Baptist, Brethren, Lutheran, Mennonite, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches, as well as Pentecostal, non-denominational, and historic African-American Christian communities.

About Lilly Endowment Inc.: Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private philanthropic foundation created in 1937 by three members of the Lilly family - J.K. Lilly Sr. and sons J.K. Jr. and Eli - through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly & Company. The Endowment exists to support the causes of religion, education and community development. LillyEndowment’s religion grantmaking is designed to deepen and enrich the religious lives of American Christians.  It does this largely through initiatives to enhance and sustain the quality of ministry in American congregations and parishes.

About Saint Mary's College: Celebrating over 175 years of empowering women to make a difference in the world, Saint Mary’s College is recognized as a pioneer and continued force in the education of women. A Catholic, liberal arts institution in Notre Dame, Indiana, the College offers more than 50 undergraduate academic programs and also offers co-educational master’s degrees.