Sr. Nancy Usselmann is a Daughter of St. Paul and an expert on integrating faith with our media use, which she calls Media Mindfulness. As a pastoral theologian, she finds grace in the popular media culture and helps people to become "cultural mystics." Her dynamic and exciting presentations lead people to reflect deeply about their media use, live an examined life, and develop a sacramental worldview to find Christ present in everything, even the popular media culture.
Sr. Nancy is the Director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Los Angeles, which is a center that encourages and develops media mindfulness in culture, education and faith formation. She is a theologian, Media Literacy Educator, international speaker, writer, film/TV reviewer for bemediamindful.org and award-winning author of “A Sacred Look: Becoming Cultural Mystics” a theology of popular culture. She has degrees in Communications Arts and a Masters in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary with certificates in Catechetics and Media Literacy Education. Sr Nancy is a doctoral candidate in Ministry at The Catholic University of America specializing in Media Mindfulness Catechesis, a way of integrating faith with media use.
Sr. Nancy is often see on film panels and red carpet events around Hollywood interviewing and sharing her expertise as a "cultural mystic." She participates in international film festivals and judges for the Catholic Media Association's prestigious Gabriel Awards.
In her 30 years as a Daughter of St. Paul, Sr. Nancy has given numerous keynote addresses, workshops, retreats, cinema Divina events, and parish missions around the country on how to live well with our media, media mindfulness, digital discipleship, cultural mysticism, virtues and gaming, connectiveness vs communion on social media, and faith formation and the media to youth, young adults, catechists, teachers, seminarians, and media professionals. She is an Executive Board Member of CiMA (Catholics in Media Associates) and The Christophers, as well as Board member of Paulist Productions. She is a member of SIGNIS (World Catholic Association for Communicators), NAMLE (National Association for Media Literacy Education), and a contributing theologian at THEOCOM (Theology and Communications in Dialogue).
Presentations:
-Become Cultural Mystics: Communicate Christ in the Media: Through baptism, every Christian is called to evangelize, to be a missionary disciple, as Pope Francis encourages. But how can we live our faith within a popular media culture when it seems so much goes against our Catholic values? How can we develop a sacramental worldview? By becoming cultural mystics! When we open ourselves to Christ, we discover his presence in the yearnings of humanity expressed in the art of popular culture, and propose Christ as the answer to all human longing. When we see through the lens of our faith, we see God's grace at work in everything, even in the popular media culture.
-Social Media Relationships—A Media Mindfulness Perspective
-Eucharist: The Antidote to Digital Restlessness: The distractions precipitated by our media experiences may sometimes make us feel fragmented and isolated leading to restlessness. It's time to take a spiritual assessment of our lives, our relationships, and our use of technology. We can discover how to live purposefully with our screens, humanize the digital experience, and have authentic relationships through communion with one another in our Eucharistic Lord.
-Living the Good Life: Virtues and Social Media: Social media's use for information and self-expression can sometimes become an outlet for angry rants, misinformation and indiscretion. Media mindfulness is built on the foundation of critical inquiry, bringing one's values into conversation with the media messages. But what do we really value? Are those values congruent with the virtues? Virtues are habits of being that promote respect as the core of a happy life. How can we live the good life within a digital culture? This is an interactive workshop with AVs and discussion. Participants will go away with valuable tools for teaching virtues within a media context.
-Media Saints: Living Mindfully in a Digital World: Saints are celebrities for Catholics. Getting to know their stories can help us live mindfully and engage critically in an increasingly pervasive digital culture. Participants will learn 17 applications to Media Mindfulness by praying the “Litany of Media Saints.” This presentation will assist faith formation personnel to integrate spirituality and an appreciation of the saints with our popular media culture. Sr. Nancy will present the “Litany of Media Saints” and explain a media spirituality and how praying the media helps us integrate our faith lives with our entertainment experience.
-Media Mindfulness for a Digital Age: What does it mean to live our faith in this digital age? What are the promises and challenges of today’s media content and technologies? What is the Church’s official position regarding the media? Learn the skills of media literacy through a media mindfulness methodology and how they can help you navigate, discern, and enhance all your media experiences and teach others to do the same.
-Live Lent! Fasting in a Digital Age: This Lenten presentation presents a new twist on the practice of fasting. What does it mean to live our faith in this digital age? What are the promises and challenges of today’s media content and technologies? How can we make better choices regarding our media use? Learn the skills of media mindfulness and how they can help you navigate, discern, and enhance all your media experiences as we together create a media fasting plan!
Cinematic Retreats/Parish Missions
-"Of Gods and Men"-A Eucharistic Cinematic Retreat: Reflecting deeply on the reality of the Paschal Mystery in our lives, this retreat uses the film Of Gods and Men as a catalyst for understanding the Eucharist. We delve into the effects of living a Eucharist-centered life and how Christ becomes incarnate in us which leads to accept our suffering with a view to heavenly glory. This retreat is for anyone seeking to find meaning in suffering. It works great as a parish mission/retreat centered on the Eucharist.
-Everyday Mysticism: Growing in Union with God: Living our relationship with God in a media culture can be challenging, since we find it hard to be silent with all the digital messages that surround us. But we are all called to be mystics! What does it mean to be a mystic today? How can our media experience provide the opportunity for us to recognize God's grace at work in the world and in our lives? Together we will delve deeply into our call to be mystics within the popular media culture and so be a leaven for good in our society thirsting for beauty, goodness, and truth. Topics addressed: A Mystic: Who Me?, Superheroes: A Mysticism of Heroism, Cultural Mysticism: Evangelizing Today
-"The Way": A Virtual Cinematic Pilgrimage: Take a virtual pilgrimage on the Camino to Santiago de Compostela using the film, The Way. This retreat/parish mission guides participants on a spiritual journey through prayer, Scripture, film and reflection. A truly unique spiritual experience!
-"The Shack": A Cinematic Retreat: Using the film The Shack as a catalyst for prayer and reflection, we delve together into the deeper meaning of the film and its message for our lives. Connected with Scripture and Catholic prayer experiences, this retreat is like none you made before!
-Cinema Divina Retreats: Based on the ancient form of praying the Scriptures, Lectio Divina, this retreat uses film as the text to reflect upon along with the Scriptures. Popular film speaks to humanity's deepest longings and these are brought to prayer as we evaluate our own profoundest desire for God. Using popular films we enter into the culture’s art as a way to communicate our yearning for God.
