Rev. Otis Moss III, Sr. Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ

Dancing in the Darkness: Spiritual Lessons for Thriving in Turbulent Times.

Through the power of stories that speak to the heart, Otis Moss III tackles the theme of democracy—and what we can do in this moment, when we fear that ours is coming apart at the seams.

This father of two calls us to consider our responsibility for the future: “Every generation has a call it must accept, to lay a brick in the cathedral that we’re attempting to build for our children’s children.”  A believer in the sacredness of history, Moss will tell stories of people who, despite having fewer resources than many of us, made an incredible difference in our world.

Moss has been named one of the “twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world.” He has been cited by Chicago Magazine as one o the city’s thirty most influential people. 

Shermann ‘Dilla’ Thomas, Chicago Urban Historian & American TikToker

Everything Dope About America Comes From Chicago”: Chicago’s urban historian shares his passion for teaching people about the city he loves.

Join us as Sherman “Dilla” Thomas, proud South Sider, founder of Mahogany Tours, son of a Chicago police officer, and TikTok dad, explains how the power of storytelling can change the narrative about Chicago. “My gift is that I understand history--that helps me to order my steps in the now,” he says. “We all have to do our part to make Chicago better.” 

Featured across Chicago media and nationally on both the Today and Kelly Clarkson shows, Thomas soared to fame with his 60-second TikTok videos on Chicago history, which have gathered more than 20 million views. His company, Mahogany Tours, visits neighborhoods such as Bronzeville, Englewood, and North Lawndale. “I wanted to have an asset-based tour,” says Thomas, as opposed to a lineup of notorious mob sites or the like--“not pointing out the site of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, but instead showing people where Pope John Paul II spoke, where Nat King Cole lived.”

Thomas, an employee of Commonwealth Edison, has been named the 2022 Chicago Tourism Ambassador of the Year by Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism agency. He has also received the prestigious Chicago Public Library Foundation's 21st Century Award, as well as the Studs Terkel Uplifting Voices Award.

Kwame Raoul, Illinois Attorney General

“...Rouse up defenders to plead the cause of the oppressed so that justice may be done in love.” --Prayer of St. Yves, patron saint of lawyers

Join us on this podcast as Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul traces his commitment to social justice back to his Haitian immigrant parents and his childhood on Chicago’s South Side.

Kwame Raoul was born in Chicago to Haitian-born immigrants. A lifelong resident of the Hyde Park/Kenwood area, he completed his undergraduate education at DePaul University and went on to earn a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Kwame started his legal career nearly 25 years ago as a prosecutor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and continued to practice as a labor and employment attorney for the City Colleges of Chicago.

In 2004, Kwame was appointed to fill the vacancy left in the 13th Legislative District by former state Senator Barack Obama’s election to the U.S. Senate. At the state Capitol, he quickly gained the confidence of leaders to handle difficult negotiations and landmark legislation, including the abolition of the death penalty, background checks on private transfers of guns and the strongest voting rights protection in the country.

An attorney concerned with both crime victims and the rights of the accused, Kwame has consistently introduced and supported criminal justice reform legislation that makes Illinois not just tough on crime, but smart on crime. He sponsored diversion and second-chance programs, made it easier for juveniles to have their records expunged and pushed through landmark law enforcement reform, including body camera and police training standards. Most recently, he passed a criminal justice reform package aimed at reducing gun violence by cracking down on repeat offenders while making sentences for nonviolent offenders more reasonable. He has also passed bills aimed at fighting the heroin/opioid crisis. Kwame has been recognized for his work to protect victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Howard Reich: Emmy Award-winning author, journalist and filmmaker

The Light of Elie Wiesel During the Darkest of Times

Howard Reich explores vignettes of wisdom and seeds of hope shared by Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel. Timeless insight which continues to resonate with current struggles around the world.

Howard Reich, journalist for the Chicago Tribune and son of Holocaust survivors, was handed a simple assignment to interview Elie Wiesel, best known for his famous Holocaust memoir Night and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Daily phone calls and multiple in-person meetings with Wiesel would eventually turn Reich’s “simple” assignment into four years of intimate conversations which ended shortly before Elie died. The time spent together grew into a friendship through shared stories and a common bond between Howard’s father and Elie; both men were liberated from the Buchenwald death camp on April 11, 1945.

A generation apart yet both scarred by the Holocaust, Howard Reich pulls shards of hope from Elie’s stories, fragments to be shared with children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and anyone struggling to find light in times of darkness.

Join us on this podcast as Mr. Reich illuminates this remarkable journey full of friendship, love and hope.

Barbara Gaines, Theater Pioneer and Rick Kogan, Author and Radio Personality

A conversation between two good friends

Barbara Gaines, Chicago theater pioneer and Rick Kogan, author and radio personality will discuss post-covid challenges facing the arts in Chicago and why institutions like Chicago Shakespeare Theater must remain relevant for all ages.

Barbara Gaines, founder and recently retired Artistic Director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, has been instrumental in bringing outstanding stage productions to Chicago for 37 years. Beginning in 1986, with an inaugural performance on a pub’s roof top in Lincoln Park, Barbara's creativity, intelligence and hard work provided the catalyst needed to showcase Chicago Shakespeare’s talented organization which in turn, brought high praise and recognition from the Chicago arts community and the global stage as well.

Rick Kogan, Born and raised in Chicago, a Tribune columnist, author, WGN radio show host, and past contributor to Chicago Daily News and the Sun-Times, Mr. Kogan is often referred to as one of the great voices of Chicago radio and the last in a great tradition of classic newspaper men. He’s one of the true chroniclers of our city.

Together, Barbara Gaines and Rick Kogan will join ranks on stage at the Union League Club to discuss highlights and challenges facing the Chicago arts community along with a grab bag of other topics. And as old friends go, the two of them will most likely share a few “inside” Chicago stories never to be found in the tribune or heard on the radio.

More on Chicago Shakespeare Theater & Barbara Gaines

Transitioning from the Red Lion Pub's roof top to residency at the Ruth Page Dance Center, where budget constraints initially allowed only one show a year, Chicago Shakespeare Theater would eventually enter into a period of rapid growth with Gaines joining forces with Executive Director Criss Henderson in 1990. The Theater would need to expand, with a move to its flagship campus on Navy Pier in 1999 and where the company’s offerings grew from exclusively Shakespearean productions to include musicals, world premieres, and hosted artists from all around the world.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has also served more than two million students and teachers through its nationally recognized arts-in-education programs and has engaged with Chicagoans citywide through creative community programs like the free Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks tour.

With 60 productions under her belt which includes 33 Shakespearean titles and six world premieres, Barbara Gaines is shifting gears away from decades of leadership, and is looking to spend more time on personal projects and reading a book from cover to cover. But theater is in her blood and regardless of retirement, Barbara will continue to be that beacon of light for the arts community and the city of Chicago.

Fr. Michael Pfleger: Social Activist and Parish Priest

“Violence in Chicago: Do we want a solution or a bandaid?”

Father Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina parish has long been an impassioned voice against injustice in its many forms in our city and our nation.  He will address what Chicago must do to stem the tide of gun violence that so stubbornly afflicts our city.  

Father Pfleger has consistently spoken out against gun violence during his decades at St. Sabina. He has organized not only an annual Peace Rally and Stop the Violence March at the parish, but also weekly Friday night peace marches in the community every summer. He sponsors gun buy-backs. He recently proposed that all city churches, mosques, and synagogues forfeit their tax exempt status unless they provide a full slate of activities for young people, especially on weekends.  

“Children are our best investment; they could be our peacemakers; and they are getting killed, burying our future,” he said. “Now everybody has to step up because we no longer have a choice.”Having lost a foster son to gang crossfire in 1998, he also speaks eloquently on behalf of those who have lost loved ones to senseless shootings. 

Father Pfleger's activism at St. Sabina, where he has served since 1981, also includes food giveaway programs, employment services, and homeless support to name a few. His involvement at all levels helps foster a community living out Jesus' command to love one another.  His decades-long work against gun violence is just one more example of this commitment.

Mike Mulligan

“Sports in our changing culture: Why we still lavish faith, hope, and love on America’s second religion”

Certain questions in sports have more serious ramifications than the ever-popular “How ‘bout dem Bears?” Consider the meteoric rise of sports gambling, or the now acknowledged risk of severe brain injuries in football. Not to mention the middle class being priced out of most tickets—and now out of watching games on TV as well.

Join Mike Mulligan, co-host of the Mully and Haugh show on WSCR 670-AM, as he takes a swing at top issues in sports today, including how sports interact with our faith and our values.

Mr. Mulligan is a native Chicagoan who grew up on the South Side and graduated from Loyola University. Before switching to radio, Mike spent 27 years with the Chicago Sun times as an award winning journalist. Mike is a huge White Sox fan and he and his wife, Christina, have three children.

Scott Turow

“A lawyer first, an author second: A reflection on the development of the law in his lifetime and its impact on society and his books.”

For more than 30 years, Scott Turow has been fortunate to be a bestselling author.. Beginning with Presumed Innocent published in 1987 to his to his current legal thriller, Suspect, he has written 14 novels, all New York Times bestsellers, which have been translated into dozens of languages abroad and read by millions worldwide.

But hand in hand with his writing, Turow has remained a practicing lawyer. He retired as a partner at the Dentons firm in August 2020, but continues to work on a limited number of pro bono matters. He has always defined himself as a lawyer, as well as a writer, and an appreciation of the law animates all of his novels.

Sister Barbara Reid, OP

“Sometimes it causes me to tremble: Let Lent lead us through our fears for the future of the church.”

The Catholic Church in the US faces some daunting realities: falling attendance, suspicion of the institution, and young people who are opting out of religion altogether.

How does Sister Barbara Reid, who heads up a school that trains seminarians and lay religious leaders, prepare these students to serve the church of today and of the future? How will they address the rampant spiritual hunger of young people, for example, who are so committed to social justice, community, and service, but who seldom see the church as meeting their deepest needs?

Sister Reid and CTU are navigating these rough waters, and believes the church will thrive in the future--provided it looks different from the church of today. Reid finds great hope in one of the Gospel stories of Holy Week, which invites all of us, especially our leaders, to a different model of church. What might Jesus, who always stands at the center of our faith, be asking of us and our church this Lent?

More Background on Sr. Reid ...

Sister Barbara Reid was elected president of Catholic Theological Union in 2020, and has served on the CTU faculty since 1988. A renowned New Testament scholar who has served as president of the Catholic Biblical Association, she has received numerous awards for her contributions to the field. Reid has led many of CTU’s travel and retreat programs in the Holy Land, as well as lecturing in South and Central America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She is a Dominican Sister of Grand Rapids, and a former Spanish teacher.

Catholic Theological Union in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English speaking world; it trains women and men for lay and ordained ministry within the Catholic Church. Its more than 4,000 vowed religious women and men and lay graduates are serving in 60 countries worldwide.

Pastor Corey B. Brooks

“Breaking the cycle of violence, poverty and racism in Woodlawn”

Learn how the Rooftop Pastor is leading the Woodlawn neighborhood as they create a safer place and give their children the tools to reach for a brighter future.

Spending nearly a year on a Woodlawn rooftop, raising awareness of critical deficits in his own backyard, pastor Brooks raised $20 million dollars; enough money to break ground for the Leadership & Economic Opportunity Center at 66th and King Drive.

In addition, Pastor Brooks and his wife Delilah have fully invested in the community of Woodlawn by spearheading a community initiative called Project H.O.O.D. to revitalize the neighborhood. Through it, they are raising up a new generation of peacemakers, problem solvers, and entrepreneurs.

Current Project H.O.O.D. programming includes a Core and Carpentry Level I course, which places participants in entry-level construction jobs post-program, an entrepreneurship course, and separate business workshops for aspiring and new business owners, a co-working office space for business owners, job placement programs, and community-wide events including The World’s Largest Baby Shower.

Pastor Brooks attended Ball State University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Grace Theological Seminary. He has been pastoring since 1990 and established New Beginnings Church of Chicago in November 2000 in the heart of Chicago's South Side.

Sally Blount

“A Wild Ride: How the Holy Spirit Propelled Ms. Blount from Business School to the Boardroom to Battling Poverty”

Heralded by her peers as a “natural change agent,” Sally Blount has made her mark not only in the corporate world but in the field of academia—she served as dean at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management for eight years. Her ability to pivot, helping organizations do more and better, has also served as a catalyst for her own faith journey, leading her to take on a new role as Executive Director and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 2020.

Ms. Blount is the first layperson to lead Catholic Charities, which began more than a century ago amidst a global flu pandemic. Today she is leading this institution out of another pandemic, challenged by soaring budgets, poverty, and social justice issues that seem to change daily.

In addition to Catholic Charities, Sally Blount holds the Michael L. Nemmers chair in Strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she is a proud alumna and served as dean from 2010-2018.

Blount is an expert on organizational transformation and leadership. A record-setting fundraiser, organizational change agent, and highly sought-after speaker — she has been regularly featured in top news outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes, The Economist, Businessweek, Fortune, and MSNBC. She has been a featured speaker at WEF Davos and the Vatican.

Blount sits on numerous boards including the advisory board for the Aspen Institute Business and Society program and the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Finance Council. She also served as dean at NYU Stern College of Business for six years and on faculty at NYU and the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago for nearly two decades. She holds MS and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University and a B.S.E. from Princeton University. Blount began her career at the Boston Consulting Group.

Please tune in as Sally Blount discusses the challenges that lie ahead for Catholic Charities in 2023 and how the complexities of her own faith journey and career accomplishments have intertwined to bring her to this next chapter in her life. 

Fr. John Kartje

“Rediscovering Awe and Mystery: What Science and Faith Can Tell Us This Advent”

Long before he became a priest, Chicago’s Father John Kartje was a scientist, getting a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Chicago. What’s the one constant between these two vocations? “Both the scientist and the person of faith are always engaging with mystery,” he says. 

Kartje describes Advent as that pregnant pause in each year when we once more engage the mystery, bringing along our new hopes and anxieties, seeing the story through fresh eyes whether we’re 30 or 70.

Currently the rector/president of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, Fr. Kartje takes issue with the supposed disconnect between faith and science. The way science looks at the world should absolutely inform the way people of faith do so, he says. That’s why the Vatican convenes groups of scientists, of any faith or of none, to report on conditions such as climate change. Good scientists, he says, can help people of faith to stay honest. 

Dr. John Duffy

“It's a Whole New Ballgame: Guiding Our Next Generation Through Anxious Times”

As depression rates increase dramatically, especially among teens and young adults, learn why it's important for everyone to understand what's happening

What young people face today looks nothing like what most of us experienced during adolescence, says Dr. John Duffy. The combined pressure of ever-present drama on social media, isolation due to covid, unreasonable expectations of perfection, and worries about climate change and war create a difficult challenge. We can't simply hand this concern off to parents and grandparents, says Dr. Duffy. The problem involves the whole community, and the solutions lie with all of us as well. 

A nationally recognized parenting and relationship expert, Dr. John Duffy has worked in his clinical practice with individuals, couples, teens, and families for nearly 25 years. He is the author of the # 1 best-sellers Parenting the New Teen in the Age of Anxiety: A Complete Guide to Your Child's Stressed, Depressed, Expanded, Amazing Adolescence (2019) and The Available Parent (2014). Dr. Duffy has been a parenting and relationship expert on hundreds of national television programs, including CNN, Today, various NewsNation shows and Steve Harvey. He is part of the CNN Wellness team, and appears often on WGN and WLS radio as well as on other television, radio, and print outlets, including the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, NPR and the Wall Street Journal.

Father Greg Boyle, S.J.

The First Friday Club Welcomes
Fr. Greg Boyle, Founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world

The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness

Fr. Greg Boyle will share what he has learned in three decades working with marginalized populations at Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, California—that love is the answer, community is the context, and tenderness is the connective tissue. Tenderness reflects the foundational notion that there are no us and them, only us. Homeboy seeks to be what the world is invited to become. Kinship cannot happen without tenderness.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot

The First Friday Club Welcomes
Mayor Lori Lightfoot

"Integrity – Accept No Substitution"

Whether it was witnessing her parents’ hard work to support a family of six or understanding her mother’s desire for quality education, these and other factors have all played a critical role in Ms. Lightfoot’s ability to embrace tough challenges and forge solutions.

Ms. Lightfoot graduated with honors from the University of Michigan after paying her own way through college. Several years later, she would attend law school at the University of Chicago on a full scholar-ship. Upon graduation, she pursued both private and public sector positions which would ultimately provide the right mix of experience needed to enter the Mayor’s race.

On May 20th, 2019, Ms. Lori Lightfoot succeeded in becoming the first black female and openly gay Mayor of Chicago.

Philip J. Andrew

"From Victim to Director of a Response - A Catholic Community Response to Violence & Conflict"

In May 1988, Phil Andrew, then a 20-year-old college student, was shot in the chest in the aftermath of the Hubbard Woods elementary school shooting in Winnetka—one of the nation’s first modern mass school shootings.

Andrew survived his injuries, but the experience would ultimately shape his priorities and his career. In the 30 years since the shooting, he has dedicated his life to fighting violence—first as the executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and later as an FBI agent and crisis negotiator.

In February 2018, Andrew was appointed by Cardinal Blase Cupich to serve as the first director of violence prevention for the Archdiocese of Chicago. In his new role, he is leading the strategic planning and directing of the Archdiocese’s antiviolence initiatives through coalition building efforts, an increased charitable presence in distressed neighborhoods and the development and revitalization of programs designed to help reduce the violence-causing cycle of despair, racism and poverty in Chicago.

Fr. Charlie Rubey

The First Friday Club Welcomes
Fr. Charlie Rubey
Founder & Director of LOSS (Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide), A Ministry of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago


"Suicide: The Aftermath"

The painful reality of suicide has become too prevalent in our culture today. It has been said that one soldier in our military takes his life every day. The rate of suicide among veterans is not far behind. There is also an alarming rise in the number of police officers and first responders who choose to end their lives. And finally, the number of school age kids who commit suicide and have so much to live for, continues to rise annually.

It is likely we all know, directly or indirectly, a family who is dealing with this frightening reality of suicide...and trying to find help in processing this complicated kind of loss.

Since 1979, Fr. Charlie Rubey, founder and director of LOSS (Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide) has strived to provide information on the impact, misconceptions, and unique struggles surrounding suicide.

Through LOSS, Fr. Rubey and his staff provide counseling at over 12 meeting sites throughout the greater Chicago area. Additionally, these meeting sites provide a place where people can gather to support one another at a time when they feel irreparably broken over a loved one's suicide.

Fr. Edward Foley

On Friday, December 6, 2019, at Noon,
in the President's Hall : 2nd Floor
of the Union League Club
The First Friday Club Welcomes
Fr. Edward Foley
Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality, Professor of Liturgy and Music at Catholic Theological Union

"Advent: The Art of Paying Attention"

Most Christians think that Advent is preparation for the "birth of Jesus," but we cannot prepare for a past event. It is also not simply the preparation for his annual "birthday." Rather, this season is an intense rehearsal of what Christian living is supposed to be each day: paying attention to the sacred revelations and surprising Incarnations that the Holy One springs on us each day. Every day of our lives ... every moment of our lives is a potential "divine ambush." Advent is a four week intensive that each year re-certifies us ... recalibrates Christians for detecting God's unpredictable yet constant reincarnating in the world.

Fr. Edward Foley is Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality and the founding director of the Ecumenical Doctor of Ministry Program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He is a Capuchin-Franciscan and ordained Roman Catholic priest. An award winning author, he has produced more than twenty books, translated into multiple languages including From Age to Age and Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals with Herbert Anderson. A well-known speaker, he has taught in venues such as the University of Chicago and Notre Dame, presented in settings as diverse as the Mayo Clinic and the Houston Astro Dome, and lectured in over 60 Roman Catholic dioceses from India to the Philippines.

Edward J. Wehmer

On Friday, November 1, 2019, at Noon,
in the President's Hall : 2nd Floor
of the Union League Club
The First Friday Club Welcomes
Edward J. Wehmer
Founder, President & CEO of Wintrust

"Faith at Work...Let's Talk About It"

A great champion of local business and advocate for entrepreneurs, Wehmer will discuss the challenges of maintaining faith and values while growing professionally.

Please join us as we welcome Edward J. Wehmer, Founder, President & CEO of Wintrust, to the podium

Alan Krashesky

"From Fatherless Child to Anchor, a Story of Love, Faith & Family"

Alan Krashesky walked through the door of Channel 7 in Chicago as a 21 year old. Now, 37 years later, he has become the dean of broadcast journalists in the Chicago television market. He is considered one of the top reporters in the Chicago market, and has been praised for his coverage of the Catholic Church.

Like any one of us, we are more than any job we might have ever had. Alan Krashesky has a remarkable personal story. Much of which he will share with us on Friday at Noon at the Union League Club.