Catholic Theological
Society of America

In 2025, the Catholic University of Leuven celebrates its 600th jubilee. For this occasion, the XVth LEST-conference (Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology) will address the challenges and opportunities for the future of the Catholic university. The conference is organised in collaboration with the Australian Catholic University. It will focus on the qualitative concept of catholicity in its plurality of forms and functions within the university.

The university: reconsidering its tasks and purpose

The university is an institution characterised by a specialisation of disciplines and a variety of methods. It is a ‘laboratory’ where arguments are advanced, experiments executed, histories explored, and conversations conducted. Sometimes this leads to surprising synergies and even syntheses, although a marriage of disciplines seems to be further out of sight than ever before. The university has become an organisation of research and instruction, shaped by interests, insights and values characteristic of ever more particular methods, theories, and political identities. It is therefore also an arena of intellectual and social power, where criteria of quality are applied and standards of accountability and purpose are set, and these are not always shared by the different branches of knowledge and fields of inquiry.

In a time of growing specialisation and pluralisation, one could conclude that the contemporary university is a multiversity: a convenient, mostly administrative collaboration between schools and research institutes, each having its own educational task and professional aim. Questions then remaining concern the nature and goal of learning and formation, and discovery and exploration. If the university is regarded a universitas magistrorum et scholarium, a community that searches for possibilities in the real, serves the public interest, and pre-pares for life in the future, then the question arises what the universitas of the university is: uniformity, universality, commonality, or something else?

Catholicity: thinking towards a qualitative wholeness

Catholic universities have formulated answers to this question in the past, and according to the task of the university, they should continually renegotiate these answers and reformulate new ones. The term ‘catholic’ could shape and inform these tasks. The etymological sense of the term ‘catholic’ is ‘according to the whole’ and refers to a quality of something being open to a wholeness that is greater than itself. It seems a good starting point for exploring the idea, function and task of the university, as a space of thinking together the particular and the common, the individual and the collective, and the self and the cosmos in a coordinated and dynamic, and mutually implicating way.

The history of catholicity in this sense, however, has frequently been one of instructive failures, most often privileging the universal over and at the expense of the particular, with the whole trumping the part. A solely and simplistically quantitative approach has not been the only or most fruitful way of thinking the term, despite being dominant in the popular imagination. In the patristic, medieval periods and again since the 19th century a more interesting theological family of qualitative or intensive senses can be perceived: these are understandings which emphasise the qualities of fullness, integrity, and wholeness, which fed into the serious broadening of ecumenical, interreligious, intercultural and secular encounter and dialogue following the Second Vatican Council.

Theology: reconfiguring its place in the university

Recent theological notions of catholicity, most notably in the ressourcement tradition, are marked by a heightened attention to alterity and different kinds of difference. As a consequence, catholicity has become an instrument for understanding the apophatic, conjectural, and future-oriented dynamic of fundamental relations, for example between reality and knowledge, God and the world, revelation and truth, faith and reason, and the Church and the churches. Can this nuanced, dynamic, and differentiated theological interpretation of catholicity serve as a model for understanding the complex synergy of the diverse branches of knowledge in the university, and their variety of relating to reality?

Theology has different positions and roles in universities worldwide. In some parts of the world, its confessional and traditional foundations are contested, while in other parts its search for understanding, wisdom and beliefs is valued and flourishing. In a multiversity of particularist identities and theories, theology could at best find its place in the margin of the academy and content itself with a supporting role of understanding meaning and life within specific religious traditions. In a university that seeks to reformulate the nature and purpose of formation and exploration, however, theology might well have to play a significant, lead-ing role in critically constructing and intermediating concepts employed in other academic disciplines, for example, the world, origin, nature, life, time, power, humanity, and so on. In a Catholic university, a theological expansion of catholicity could be instrumental to explain, not only what it means for a university to be distinctly, yet penultimately Catholic, but also what it means to be a university tout court, and thus be an example of a laboratory of culture, in pursuit of, and dedicated to the truth.

We welcome papers on the following subthemes:

• Theological and philosophical notions of catholicity
• Catholicity in ressourcement theology
• Realizing catholicity through diverse charisms: the contribution of the religious orders and congregations
• Qualitative catholicity and other concepts of the universal, fullness, or wholeness in academic disciplines
• Theological and philosophical reflections on the university
• The place of theology in the university
• The organisation of knowledge: from hegemonic wholes to fragmented silos, artificial intelligence, and beyond
• The role of unknowing and nescience in the academic disciplines
• Current debates on the Catholic university: contextual, political, and religious issues
• The role of power and identity in the university: dispute, debate, and dissent
• The purpose of education: faith, formation, and flourishing
   
• Papers of 20 minutes are invited on the conference theme
• Please submit abstracts via the registration form on the website of LEST XV: https://theo.kuleuven.be/en/lest/lest-xiv/proposal-form
• Deadline for submission is May 15, 2025
• A selection of the papers will be published after peer review.

"Women’s Leadership in the Climate Movement"
A symposium honoring the life of Sr. Dorothy Stang, SNDdeN (1931-2005)
Friday, 10 January 2025
15:00-17:00
Aula F007, Pontifical Gregorian University and on zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7652053630 

Moderator: Fr. Prem Xalxo, SJ, Coordinator of the Joint Diploma in Integral Ecology and Associate Lecturer, Faculty of Theology, Pontifical Gregorian University
Welcome: Fr. Mark Lewis, SJ, Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University
Opening remarks: Sr. Mary Johnson, SNDdeN, Ph.D., Congregational Leader
Panelists:

• Sr. Maamalifar Poreku, MSOLA, Co-Executive Secretary of the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Commission, UISG/USG
• Dr. Emilce Cuda, Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America
• Dr. Gianni LaBella, Professore Ordinario, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia; Community of Sant’Egidio
• Dr. Laurie Johnston, Professor of Theology, Emmanuel College, Boston; Community of Sant’Egidio

Organizers:
Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue
Emmanuel College Department of Theology, Boston
Joint Diploma Program in Integral Ecology, Pontifical Gregorian University

Following the symposium, all are cordially invited to a Vespers service held by the Community of Sant'Egidio to honor Sr. Dorothy Stang at 20:00 at the Basilica of San Bartolomeo sull’Isola. A relic of Sr. Dorothy will be presented by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur for permanent installation and display in the Sanctuary of the New Martyrs. She will be the first woman from the United States to be honored in this way.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/165hAmEpueX_8-RO3teUIVTEd43kbcwlh/view?usp=sharing

As Mary Jane Ponyik noted in her recent email, Volume 78 of the Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America was published late last month and can be found here. If you would like to order a print edition of the this year's Proceedings--or any previous volume of the Proceedings--you may do so here.

Thank you to all of this year's contributors for their work to make this year's volume of the Proceedings a reality.

At the suggestion of the Board, I will continue to provide some data about the readership of the electronic version of the Proceedings periodically throughout the year. Those updates will be posted here, on the CTSA Newsfeed. If you have questions or comments about or suggestions for the Proceedings, please feel free to reach me at proceedings.ctsa@gmail.com.

The academic blog WIT: Women in Theology recently announced a call for new regular contributors. We welcome applications from any women with graduate-level academic experience, including current graduate students. We are looking for women who engage "the Christian tradition in a theological way" and have a commitment "to the liberation of persons, particularly women, from all forms of oppression."

Regular contributors write at least 4 blog posts in a given calendar year. We are especially interested in women who might do comparative theology, as that is an area that the blog does not currently have a strength in, but all women are welcome to apply.

The initial application is due January 15, 2025 and consists of responses to four questions, submitted via email. If selected to move to the next round, we will ask for a sample blog post that we can use to evaluate your writing.

For more information about the initial application and our search, see: https://womenintheology.org/2024/12/01/are-you-a-woman-in-theology-wit-is-again-seeking-to-add-new-regular-contributors/

Lumen et Vita's 2025 Spring Graduate Conference
"Untold Stories"
Saturday, March 15th, 2025

The theme is narrative theology and can include (but is not limited to) topics such as interfaith dialogue, underrepresented communities, and pastoral studies. Abstracts of 250 words are due on January 24th, 2025 and should be submitted to the link below:

https://forms.gle/XF3kt61GZiJ78qN5A

The Women’s Consultation on Constructive Theology (WCCT) steering committee invites the membership of The Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) to attend their pre-conference session at the 79th annual CTSA conference in June 2025, exploring the theme of “One Baptism” from indigenous perspectives. Given the theme and location of the conference which will be on the lands of the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Bands of Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla peoples, and many other tribes, the WCCT committee believe it is important to platform indigenous voices. Our panelists will thus include two emerging indigenous scholars and an established feminist theologian as a respondent. We have also included a pedagogical aspect to the session to help grapple with emerging issues in the area. Because of this added component, the WCCT session will begin a half hour earlier than usual. That is, at 2:30pm rather than the usual 3pm. Therefore the WCCT pre-conference session for next year will be as follows:   

Thursday

Panel                                     2:30pm - 4:30pm

Ann O'Hara Graff  award   4:30pm - 5:00pm

Business meeting               5:15pm - 5:30pm

We hope to see you there!

Melicia Antonio, Elissa Cutter, Stephanie Edwards, Cristina Lledo Gomez, Margaret Mary Moore, Taylor Ott, Annie Selak 

The WCCT leadership and steering committee

You select the book, I mail it to you, you send me the electronic review, and I post it(about 1,500 to 2,000 reviews posted since 1997). Write to Hegy@adelphi.edu/   Here is the list of books available in December:

I PETER. Revised edition. Tyndale NT Commentaries. By Wayne A. Grudem (260 pp – IVP Academic) [First published in 1988. A long introduction about date and authorship, followed by a commentary of the various sections]

REDISCOVERING THE WISDOM OF THE CORINTHIANS. Paul, Stoicism, and Spiritual Hierarchy. By Timothy Brookins (340 pp – Eerdmans) [The “wisdom” of 1 Cor 1-4 refers to the Stoic philosophy that prevailed in Corinth; some members considered themselves as “wiser” philosophically and “superior” intellectually; this led to conflictive divisions. Paul refutes this philosophical interpretation of his teachings]

EUCHARISTIC RESERVATION.  Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery Outside Mass. By Paul Turner (180 pp – Liturgical Press). [Commentary section by section on the new edition of Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharistic Mystery Outside Mass of 2024]

Together with

SOUNDINGS ON EUCHARIST AND PRIESTHOOD. BY Michael Dellaire (100 pp – Friesen Press). [Reflections from the context the Canadian ministry] These works can be reviewed briefly together or separately.

CATHOLIC DOGMATIC THEOLOGY: A SYNTHESIS. Book 3. On the Church and the Sacraments. by Jean-Hervé Nicolas, OP (750 pp – CUA Press). [Translated from German. First published in 1985]

GLOBAL CATHOLICISM. Between Disruption and Encounter.  by Massimo Faggioli and Bryan Froehle (290 pp – Brill). [Global Catholicism as a new field. Up-to-date statistics. Chapters on governance, theology, and methodology]

REMARRIAGE IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY. By Andrew Das (320 pp – Eerdmans)

[Review of the Jewish and Greco-Roman sources and the witness of the early church]

Everyday Annunciations. On Learning to Say Yes

By Susan Swetnam (120 pp – Liturgical Press). [Swetnam recounts how she came to accept her husband’s death when contemplating Fra Angelico’s Annunciation. Using numerous stories of disrupted lives, she describes how to say “Yes” through six paintings of the Annunciation.]

ALL MY SPRINGS ARE IN YOU More Explorations of Great Biblical Texts. By Gerhard Lohfink (1934-2024) (320 pp – Liturgical Press). [The springs in Psalm 87 refer to Jerusalem to which all nations converge for justice and peace. Lohfink illustrates this theme through 50 short biblical reflections.]

WISDOM FROM THE GLOBAL SISTERHOOD. Edited by Srs. Joyce Meyer et al. (290 pp – Liturgical Press). [Ten years of articles from the Global Sisters Report about the work of women religious all over the world]

                                                                                                                                         

THE WAY OF THE HEART. The Spiritual Experience of André Louf. By Charles Wright (290 pp – Cistercian Publications). [A. Louf was the abbot of a Dutch Trappist monastery who chose to be a hermit the last 10 years of his life, after a having played a prominent role in his order and the post-Vatican II church]

BE TRANSFORMED.  A Biblical Journey toward a More Just World. By Micah Kiel (130 pp – Liturgical Press). [Being transformed by the CSD of justice. Five chapters on transformation]

VIRTUE IN VIRTUAL SPACES. Catholic Social Teaching and Technology. By Louisa Conwill et al. (120 pp – Center for Social Concern). [Four chapters on CST on technology and one chapter on Twitter and Instagram]

THE ROMAN CURIA.  History, Theology, and Organization. By Anthony Expo (250 pp – Georgetown University Press). [Overview of the history and development of the Curia up to its recent reorganization – the author is undersecretary in a Dicastery]

The Centre for Catholic Studies (CCS) at Durham University. UK offers a Distance Learning Programme in Catholic Theology. 

The programmes are designed so that participants can work through material at their own pace, studying equally well in any time zone and in many different life situations, alongside work, ministry, family or caring obligations. 

In addition to the Postgraduate Certificate, the Postgraduate Diploma, and the MA, students can enrol for a single module. Students with a BA or BSc who have not studied Theology or a related discipline before, are able to apply for the core module, ‘Catholic Theology: A Preliminary Tour’ and proceed to the MA following its successful completion. The single module is also a standalone option for Continual Professional Development and general interest.

Further details are available at Distance Learning – Durham University

The CCS offers a Bursary Fund specifically to support students on these distance learning programmes – see CCS Bursary for Distance Learning 2025-26 - Durham University for information.

If you have any questions about these Distance Learning programmes, please do not hesitate to contact the CCS Manager - theresa.phillips@durham.ac.uk

All are invited to join a webinar on Monday, Nov. 18th at 2pm EST featuring Fr. Michael Carson, Assistant Director of the subcommittee on Native American Affairs.  The new document is called "Keeping Christ's Sacred Promise: a pastoral framework for Indigenous ministry."  The Catholic Boarding School Healing and Accountability Project is the sponsor of this event.  To register, visit: www.ahprojectusa.org.   

Papers are currently being accepted for an academic conference commemorating the 1700^th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea (325) together with the 60th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). A collaboration between Milwaukee Catholic institutions and the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, the conference on "The Legacies of Nicaea I and Vatican II: An Inheritance Unfolding" will take place September 4–7, 2025 at Marquette University.

Paper proposals of no more than 300 words may be submitted using the online portal on the Legacies Conference website. Please note that papers related to Nicaea will be scheduled on Friday, September 5, and papers related to Vatican II will be scheduled on Saturday, September 6.

Paper topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Council of Nicaea and its reception history
• The Nicene Creed and other Christian confessions
• Trinitarian theology and Christology in view of Nicaea
• Athanasius, Arius, and "Arianism"
• Orthodoxy and heresy in Christian tradition
• Unity and schism in Church history
• Constantine and Christianity in the Roman Empire
• Ecumenical councils and the conciliar tradition
• The Second Vatican Council and its reception history
• The proceedings and documents of Vatican II
• Liturgy and liturgical developments before or after Vatican II
• Synods and synodality
• The Church in the modern world
• Ecumenism and ecumenical relations between the Catholic Church and other ecclesial bodies

Selected papers will be included in an edited volume of the conference proceedings.

 The deadline to submit a paper proposal is March 1, 2025.