Civic Reflection News Update — December 2010

THE CALLING

PBS Miniseries Airs December 20 and 21

A special PBS mini-series on vocation is coming to TV screens nationwide next Monday and Tuesday—and it will be engaging viewers in reflection on their own calling with the help of the Project on Civic Reflection.

The Calling, a four-hour documentary miniseries, premieres in two parts on two consecutive nights on PBS's Independent Lens, nationwide and in prime time on Dec 20 & Dec 21, 2010 from 9-11 pm EST and 8-10 pm CST (check local listings). Produced by The Kindling Group, this riveting documentary follows seven Catholic, Evangelical Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Americans who are training for religious leadership. An interfaith team of filmmakers takes viewers into the seldom-glimpsed world of seminaries, revealing the real people "behind the robes" and telling compelling personal stories of how faith is lived today.

The Illinois Humanities Council will be presenting The Calling on Saturday, December 18, at 2:00 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with director Danny Alpert and others. The screening is free and open to the public. Learn more about the event here.

To help viewers reflect on their own calling, the filmmakers have also launched What's Your Calling?—a national engagement campaign aiming to take a new look at that very big question. Through a constantly expanding online stream of videos, articles, and interviews of individuals of diverse backgrounds—from sports legends to jazz musicians, tug boat captains to academics, seminarians to Muay Thai fighters, social workers to toy inventors—What's Your Calling? shares what people have been called to do with their lives and how they hope to change the world. The Project on Civic Reflection has been a partner in the campaign, designing questions for the website and guides for group discussion.

• Watch a trailer of the film.
• Check out What's Your Calling? online and watch the Project on Civic Reflection's Adam Davis talk about his own calling—and the value and importance of questions in a culture focused on definitive answers.
• Check out the Facebook page for What's Your Calling?

REGISTER SOON FOR JANUARY TRAINING

Time is running out to register for our next two-day facilitation training workshop, being held at Columbia College in downtown Chicago January 27-28, 2011. The registration deadline is Friday, January 7. Don't miss out! Join us for two days of presentations and debriefs led by expert trainers, good food and conversation, individual feedback, and hands-on practice facilitating civic reflection discussions. Instructional materials and a copy of The Civically Engaged Reader are included. We will be holding another training at the same location on May 19-20, 2011. You can register for either training by clicking the link below.

• Download an informational flyer and registration form for the January and May trainings.

NEW PHOTOS

Check out the photos of the California trainings we held in Northern California in November on Facebook. The trainings were sponsored by California Campus Compact and the Cal Corps Public Service Center at UC Berkeley. The work of the sponsors and the new trainers and facilitators in California will be featured in our next issue.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

All of us at the Project on Civic Reflection wish you and yours a festive holiday season and a happy, healthy New Year. See you in 2011!