Southern Nebraska Register
Dr. Jennifer Bryson of Lincoln will present a six week course, Introduction to the Life and Work of Ida Friederike Görres.”
The course is offered by the Archdiocese of San Francisco and Bryson will teach from her home in Lincoln. All are welcome to enroll.
The classes will be held on six Tuesdays, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Pacific Time (9 to 10:30 p.m. Central). Each session will include a lecture, Q&A, and discussion.
The weekly topics will be: The Life of Ida Görres, Sanctity and the Saints, Marriage, The Church, On Being Catholic in the Modern Era and The Church Since the Second Vatican Council.
Those who register will have access to the course syllabus, a PDF reading packet, recordings of the sessions – particularly valuable since the time may not be ideal for those in eastern Nebraska, and discount codes to purchase the two books by Ida Görres for the course. Participants will read selections from the books during the course: “The Church in the Flesh” and “Bread Grows in Winter.
The fee for the course is a free will offering.
Bryson is a fellow in Catholic Studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) in Washington, DC. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and now lives in Lincoln. She has translated – from German to English – several books and essays by Görres.
In a December interview with the Southern Nebraska Register, Bryson said she discovered Görres in 2019.
“The first book I read by her was so beautiful and insightful and clearly so in love with the faith,” she recalled, “that when I discovered that it had never been translated into English, I had two thoughts. One, ‘how is this woman not completely famous today?’ And, ‘this has got to be available for Americans and others in English.’ … I find her a voice I think the Church needs today.”
At Görres' funeral in 1971, Father Joseph Ratzinger – later Pope Benedict XVI – with whom she corresponded, gave the eulogy. He called Görres “a brave and insightful voice given to the Church.”
Bryson said if three or more people sign up from the Diocese of Lincoln, she would be happy to meet in person for a seventh session, a discussion to be held Tuesday, June 2, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Learn more or sign up at https://sfarch.org/ida-friederike-course/.
