Past Theologians in Residence
Dr. Mercadante has a passion to explore the intersection of belief and culture. Ever since earning her Ph.D. from Princeton and becoming ordained [Presbyterian Church USA], she has been helping persons discern the meaning and vocation for their lives. Key areas of specialization include addiction recovery, victimization, gender issues, immigration, and popular culture. The author of Victims & Sinners: Spiritual Roots of Addiction and Recovery, she explores how addiction has become an umbrella term to cover many aspects of human dysfunction.
Linda has won numerous grants for her research, and has published four books and over 60 articles. She lectures nationally and internationally and, as a former journalist, has won awards for her writing. Her spiritual narrative: Bloomfield Avenue: A Jewish-Catholic Jersey Girl’s Spiritual Journey was recently published by Rowman & Littlefield. Her other books include: Gender, Doctrine, and God: The Shakers and Contemporary Theology (Abingdon, 1990) and From Hierarchy to Equality (GMH Books, 1978).
Linda has served as Visiting Scholar in Media and Theology at The University of Edinburgh (Scotland); a consultant for the federal government on addiction and spirituality; and is active in The American Academy of Religion. She is a member of The Center for Theological Inquiry at Princeton and of The Ecumenical Institute, St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN.
Linda uses spiritual memoir writing to help persons discern the meaning in their lives. The guiding principle of her work is that human wholeness is only found one step at a time but grace, humor, meaning, and hope can be discerned amidst life’s inevitable tragedies. In addition to writing workshops, she uses film, television and other narrative forms to tap into the latent spiritual themes embedded in our culture.
Another of Linda’s passions is her sabbatical project to study the group of people who call themselves “spiritual but not religious.” She is probing why we so often hear people describe themselves this way in our culture today, and is exploring the theological issues, questions and concerns that characterize this group.
Linda lives in Worthington, Ohio with her husband, Joseph Mas, and son David, and is the founder of Healthy Beliefs – Healthy Spirit Seminars. Visit her website at www.healthybeliefs.org
June 2008: Al Staggs, Performing Artist, Santa Fe, NM
Al Staggs discovered his performing abilities when he began to impersonate famous comedians for his high school classmates and teachers. Following a stint in the U.S. Army as a draftee he turned his attention to obtaining the necessary education for service as a minister.
During the period of his post graduate studies he was increasingly drawn to those individuals in recent history who had devoted their lives to justice and peace concerns. After two decades of working as a parish minister he came to terms with the fact that his real passions related to performing and to working for peace and justice.
Twenty years ago Al combined those two passions by writing and performing a one-person play that takes his audience into the prison cell of the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. A few years later he took the step of leaving the pastoral ministry and began a career as a full-time performing artist, adding characterizations of Clarence Jordan, Archbishop Oscar Romero, Thomas Merton and Walter Rauschenbusch to his repertoire of programs. He finds great satisfaction in bringing these notable figures to life and sharing their relevant messages with audiences throughout the world.
Al Staggs holds a B.A. from Hardin-Simmons University, an M.R.E. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Th.M. from Harvard Divinity School and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He also completed a year internship in Clinical Pastoral Education at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. In the spring of 1983 he was honored as a Charles E. Merrill Fellow at Harvard with major emphasis in Applied Theology under the direction of Harvey Cox. Al served as a minister and hospital chaplain prior to becoming a full-time performing artist.
For more more information, please see his website.
July-August 2008: The Rev. Joe Agne and Deaconess Dana Jones
Bio: Joe Agne, pastor of Memorial United Methodist Church (UMC) in White Plains, NY, for more than a decade, has spent his life championing human rights. He received a community service award from the Westchester County Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union in 2002 in recognition of his long history working for racial and social justice. The American Muslim Women’s Association honored him in 2004 for building bridges in their diverse community and he has been arrested many times during non-violent protests on behalf of the disenfranchised. In May 2007, Agne received his doctorate in ministry from New York Theological Seminary, in recognition of his thesis “A World House Project,” which detailed Memorial UMC’s decade-long journey to become an inclusive congregation honoring the global vision of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.
Agne served as vice-president of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for Non-Violence of Westchester and has been a study leader in many conference and regional schools of mission. The former director of Racial Justice Program for the National Council of Churches also served on the Programme to Combat Racism of the World Council of Churches, and leads anti-racism workshops through the Racial Justice Connection, which he organized.
A former co-president of the national board of Methodist Federation for Social Action, Agne has served on the boards of the Center for Democratic Renewal in Atlanta, Political Research Associates of Boston, the Indian Treaty Rights Committee and the Coalition for a Just Chicago. As a director of the General Board of Global Ministries (1976-84), he chaired the Committee to Eliminate Institutional Racism.
Prior to 1997, he served churches in Aurora, University Park and Harvey, Illinois and was the Global Ministries staff person for the Northern Illinois Conference Council on Ministries.
He studied at North Central College, Evangelical Theological Seminary, Wesley Theological Seminary and New York Theological Seminary.
His life partner is Dana E. Jones, a United Methodist Church deaconess, and they have four children, two grandchildren, and a dog, Tayo.
Bio: Dana E. Jones, a United Methodist deaconess, is founder and coordinator of JustArts, a ministry with children, youth and adults that works on social justice through the arts. She is mission coordinator for social action for New York Conference United Methodist Women; co-chair of the National Association of Deaconesses, Home Missioners and Home Missionaries; and a member of the advisory board for the Sisters of Divine Compassion's spirituality center in White Plains, N.Y.
A member of Memorial United Methodist Church in White Plains, N.Y., Ms. Jones coordinates programming for children and youth for the church's Wednesday evening program. She teaches quilting at several local quilt shops and is coordinating Quilt for Alma's, a program through which members and friends of United Methodist Women are making quilts for Alma Mathews House, a Women's Division-owned conference and retreat center in New York City.
Ms. Jones was editor of Response magazine from December 1992-August 2006 and director of communications for the Women's Division of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries from August 2006-August 2007. Before that, she served as communication director for Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. She also has experience as a secular newspaper reporter and editor and in community-college public information.
Ms. Jones holds a journalism degree from the University of Illinois and has studied theology at McCormick Theological Seminary and business administration at Webster University.
In addition to quilting, Ms. Jones enjoys gardening, travel, cooking, camping and St. Louis Cardinal baseball games.