There are going to be some odds and ends in this blog posting.
First, I want to say thank you for everybody who came to the Salzmann Library Spring Lecture, April 21. School Sister of Notre Dame Debra Sciano, did an excellent job combining her personal stories as well as educational material, and made the lecture both fun and informative. We are hoping to have a fall lecture again, probably in October, and the tentative topic is “How a person becomes a saint.” Stay tuned for more information.

I want to remind you once again that our Salzmann Selections book group will be meeting this coming Thursday, April 30th, starting at 6:30 p.m. The book they will be discussing is Amy Jill-Levine’s “Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi.” Even if you only read a small part of the book, or are just interested in the topic, please come and participate. All are welcome. Here is the excerpt from the back book cover, taken from Amazon.com.

     “Jesus was a skilled storyteller and perceptive teacher who used images from everyday life to stir up interest in his message about the Kingdom of God. But life in first-century Galilee and Judea was very different from our world today, and many traditional interpretations of Jesus’s stories not only ignore this difference, but also often import anti-Jewish and sexist views. As eminent Bible scholar Amy-Jill Levine writes in Short Stories by Jesus:
     Jesus was requiring that his disciples do more than listen; he was asking them to think as well. What makes the parables mysterious, or difficult, is that they challenge us to look into the hidden aspects of our own values, our own lives. They bring to the surface unasked questions, and they reveal the answers we have always known, but refuse to acknowledge. Religion has been defined as designed to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. We do well to think of the parables of Jesus as doing the afflicting. Therefore, if we hear a parable and think, “I really like that” or, worse, fail to take any challenge, we are not listening well enough.
     In this wise, entertaining, and educational book, Levine explores Jesus’s most popular parables, revealing their hidden depths, exposing their misinterpretations, and showing how they can still challenge and provoke us two thousand years later.”

Also, the Saint Francis de Sales Seminary is having its annual open house this Sunday, April 26th. Mass is in the chapel at 11 a.m., with guided tours and refreshments to follow until 2 p.m. All are welcome to come and learn more about the entire seminary, as well as come and visit the library if you want.

As always, if you have any ideas or comments for things I could change, please let me know. If you have any books that you have read or have read the books I mention, please leave a comment. We here at Salzmann also want to know what people are reading. Remarks are always appreciated – anything I can do to make this better I will strive my best to accomplish.

Here is some basic information about the library:
• Our standard hours are Tuesdays, Thursdays, noon to 8 p.m.; Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Our address is 3257 S. Lake Dr., St. Francis, WI 53235, right next to Henni Hall, due west of the South Parking Lot.
• The library’s phone number is (414) 747-6479. If you would like to contact me through email, it is mschrauth@sfs.edu.
• There is free Wi-Fi available.
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