Catholic Theological
Society of America

The CTSA remembers and prays for longstanding member Roger D. Haight, S.J., who died today, Thursday, June 19.

Roger Haight was awarded the prestigious John Courtney Murray Award in 2023 (Citation).  He served as the CTSA's President in 1994 – 191995 and as a member of the CTSA Board of Directors (1986 – 1988).

Eternal rest grant unto Roger, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Roger Haight's theological contributions include the following available within the CTSA Proceedings:

Homily: A Liturgy of Gratitude and Resilience, (special issue, 2020).

Presidential Address: Fifty Years of Theology (1995)

CTSA Fiftieth Anniversary Toast (CTSA 50th Anniversary Commemorative Section)

Co-convener and presenter, Comparative Spirituality Selected Session (2013)

 Convener, Theological Education as a Theological Program (Panel, 1985).

Co-convener, Liberation and Feminist Themes in Edward Schillebeeckx's Church: The Human Story of God (1991).

America's piece on Roger Haight in honor of him receiving  the CTSA's John Courtney Murray Award follows:

James T. Keane, Roger Haight’s Lifetime of Theological Achievement, America (June 13, 2023)

DEATH NOTICE

Let us pray in thanksgiving for the life of our brother

Fr. Roger D. Haight, S.J.

who was called to eternal life on Thursday, June 19, 2025, at Saint Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, N.Y..  Roger was born on April 30, 1936, in Glen Ridge, NJ, entered the Society of Jesus on July 30, 1954, at Saint Andrew on Hudson, and was ordained on June 15, 1967, at the Fordham University Chapel. He pronounced his final vows at DeNobili College in Pune, India, on August 15, 1977.

Wake:

Tuesday, June 24, 3:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Chapel of Murray-Weigel Hall

Prayer Service at 7:00 p.m.

Funeral Mass:

Wednesday, June 25, 11:30 a.m.

Chapel of Murray-Weigel Hall

Burial: Jesuit Cemetery, Auriesville, NY

The Centre for Catholic Studies (CCS) in the Dept. of Theology and Religion at Durham University, UK, is seeking to appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Catholic Social Thought and Practice to work with Prof. Anna Rowlands, the St Hilda Professor in Catholic Social Thought and Practice.

This is a 3-year research post and full details can be found at

Job Description - Postdoctoral Research Associate in Catholic Social Thought and Practice (25000616)

The deadline for applications is Friday 4 July 2025.

Please share details of this post widely via your relevant networks.

The CTSA remembers and prays for longstanding member Jill Raitt, who died on Tuesday, May 27.

Eternal rest grant unto Jill, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

Jill Raitt's theological contributions to the Society include serving as the convener of the following, which are accessible via the CTSA Proceedings.

“The Vocation of the Theologian: Crossing Boundaries”, Proceedings vol. 58, (2003).

Her obituary is available here:

https://www.millardfamilychapels.com/obituaries/Jill-Raitt?obId=42663250 

and a feature from her local newspaper follows:
 
https://www.columbiamissourian.com/obituaries/missourian_life_story/jill-raitt-fought-for-her-seat-at-the-table-then-made-room-for-others/article_3c8ec215-dcf1-4e6b-87c7-4ef09b864c7c.html

The CTSA remembers and prays for Gary Riebe-Estrella, SVD, who died on Monday, June 2, 2025.

  

Eternal rest grant unto Gary, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

The following remembrance was provided to the CTSA by member Carmen Nanko-Fernandez, Catholic Theological Union:

On Monday, June 2, 2025, at the Divine Word Residence in Techny, IL, Latino theological educator, theologian, professor, and mentor Gary Riebe Estrella, SVD passed away at the age of 79. A longtime member of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS), Gary served as president twice, first in 1996-97 and again in 2009-10.

A member of the Divine Word Missionaries, Gary was one of the first graduates from the Catholic Theological Union. In 1992, he earned his STD in Teología Practica from Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca. In 1993 he returned to his alma mater in Chicago assuming teaching and administrative roles. He became the first Latino Dean at CTU and among the first Latin@s in the USA at a theological school to rise to this position. He served as the Vice President and Academic Dean of CTU for twelve years from 1996-2009. During that time, he was instrumental in creating a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse faculty.

Gary’s activism, his early experiences in pastoral work with Latin@ communities, and his decades of scholarship and leadership in theological education resulted in various opportunities throughout his ministry to work with religious orders, organizations, and higher education as a consultant in areas of diversity, formation, and theological education. His publications in the area of Latin@ theologies and ministries are numerous, and establish Gary’s place as one of the first CTU religious alums to make a mark in Latin@ theologies and ministries.

Live funeral coverage on on June 7 via YouTube

On Tuesday, May 27, 2025, CTSA had its Annual Business Meeting, this time online (“Zoom”).  We had a full agenda, and the reports related to this Business Meeting remain available to all members.  As is our tradition, we voted for a new Vice President and two new Board Members. 

Please join me in congratulating . . .

Vice President Kevin Burke SJ

Professor of Theology; Vice President of University Mission; Department of Religious Studies; Mission Office                                         Regis University 

Board Member C. Vanessa White

Associate Professor; Tenured Faculty; Spirituality and Pastoral Ministry
Catholic Theological Union 

Board Member Daniel Scheid

Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Theology
Duquesne University 

For its last CTSA consultation session on the sex abuse crisis, the Consultation has planned a reflective discussion of two important questions: 1) methodologically, how can or should the sex abuse crisis change our ways of doing theology? and 2) practically and structurally, how do we ensure that this question remains robust and lively in the CTSA, and in Catholic theology generally?

In preparation for the session, we invite you to download and read the two short essays and the Examen in the session Dropbox folder. They are in the “Session materials” subfolder; the Examen is below as well. In addition, we invite you to visit the “Additional resources” subfolder and download the list of suggested further readings.

Even if you do not have the opportunity to look over any of the materials before the session, please come! Your insight is essential to ensuring ongoing theological engagement with this issue.

Sincerely,

Julia Feder, Daniel Horan, Stan Chu Ilo, Megan McCabe, Cristina Traina

Consultation Committee

Examen

Because some of us are not directly involved in the sex abuse crisis as perpetrators or victims, and we may not address sexuality directly in our scholarship, we may feel that we have had no role in the crisis and that theological and moral responses to it need not affect our corner of the profession in the future. Thus, we may not have reflected adequately on the ways in which our own theological habits and our practices as a guild have helped to facilitate this crisis, to perpetuate it, or to diminish its importance. We invite you to reflect on the questions below.

Does my own work encourage a focus on the rehabilitation and forgiveness of the sinner to the detriment of attention to the care and rehabilitation of the sinned-against? Of potential future victims of sin?

Have I used the ideas of trauma and moral injury too generally, diminishing their precision and impact?

Who and what are the credible sources with which I do and teach theology? Do I treat the witness of children, gender queer persons, women, or people of color as less credible than others’ accounts?

What interpretive frameworks do I apply to scripture and theology? Do any of them impose psychological or gendered grids that might lead me to diminish the impact of, or explain away, abuse?

Have I thought adequately about how oppression, trauma, and wounds of all sorts might affect my vision of sin, grace, virtue, eschatology, sacramental theology, exegesis, and other theological questions?

Does my theology treat sins involving sex as either more significant or less significant than other classes of sins?

Do hiring, promotion, and colleague and student mentoring practices in my department create power imbalances that encourage abuse or that blame victims?

Do my writings or style of teaching promote greater deference to ordained scholars than to lay scholars?

The CTSA remembers and prays for Daniel Maquire, who died on Wednesday, May 21.

  

Eternal rest grant unto Dan, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Dan's contributions to the CTSA include the following, which are available via the CTSA Proceedings:

"Human Sexuality: The Book and The Epiphenomenon", Proceedings, Vol. 33 (1978).

"A Response (II) to Doctor Noonan", Proceedings Vol. 27 (1972).

Link to Obituary. A funeral service will most likely be held in the summer of 2025.

Photo courtesy of Marquette University.

The CCS Public Lectures – as part of the Franciscan Studies Summer School 2025

The Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University is hosting two online public lectures, as part of our Franciscan Studies Summer School. Our guest speakers are Professor John McCafferty and Sr Margaret Carney.

Although registration for the Summer School is now closed, the public lectures remain open for booking. Those who have already registered for the Summer School will automatically be sent the joining link for these lectures.

 

CCS Public Lecture: Professor John McCafferty (UCD)

‘Sandals, Spaniards and Scotus: Defending Francis and his Friars 400 Years After his Death’

Wednesday 11 June, 6pm BST Online

Tickets: £5, free to those registered on Week 1 of the Franciscan Studies Online Summer School

Booking via Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/3EB3dDG

John McCafferty is a Professor of History at UCD and a Honorary Professor at CCS Durham. His research is concerned with religious change in early modern Ireland and Britain with special reference to the role of the Franciscan family. He is General Editor with James Kelly of the Oxford History of British & Irish Catholicism (2023). He is Chair of the Irish Manuscripts Commission and Director of the Mícheál Ó Cléirigh Institute. He is also President of the Board of the Collegium Sancti Bonaventurae (Quaracchi), Rome.

 

CCS Public Lecture: Sr Margaret Carney

‘Francis of Assisi, Francis of Rome and a Church Re-Imagined’

Wednesday 18 June, 6pm BST Online

Tickets £5, free for those registered on the Franciscan Foundations for Moral Theology course as part of the Franciscan Studies Online Summer School.

Booking via Eventbrite: https://bit.ly/3EIpYp2

 

The synod on synodality ushered in a vision and an exercise leading to a dramatic re-centering of the Catholic Church. What is the “through line” connecting the magisterium of Pope Francis to the renaissance in Christian life created by the charism of St. Francis of Assisi? Eight centuries separate the two. Are we guilty of magical thinking when we try to connect their remarkable impact?

 

For any queries about the two online public lectures, please email ccsfranciscan.admin@durham.ac.uk.

 

The CTSA remembers and prays for longstanding member Wendy M. Wright, who died on Monday, May 19.

Eternal rest grant unto Wendy, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon her.
May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

Wendy Wright's theological contributions to the Society include serving as the convener of the following, which are accessible via the CTSA Proceedings.

Convener, Spiritual Habits for the Cultivation of Ecological Virtue, Spirituality Topic Session, CTSA Proceedings 72 (2017).

Convener, Mary in Global and Contemporary Perspective: Mary in Ecumenical and Interfaith Perspective, CTSA Proceedings 67 (2012).

The following information was provided to the CTSA via the Department of Theology and Christian Spirituality Program at Creighton University.

Wendy Mae Wright, 78, of Santa Barbara, California, passed away from cancer on May 19, 2025 at her home while surrounded by her husband and three adult children.  

Wendy was born on March 5, 1947, in Burbank, California, the only child of Walter Wright, a jeweler and peace activist, and Elizabeth “Betty” Wright, a writer and civic volunteer. 

After an early adulthood spent training and performing as an actress and singer, Wendy moved to Santa Barbara in 1974 in a period of personal and theological inquiry to attend the Religious Studies program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It was there that she met Roger Bergman, of Kansas. They married on June 21, 1977, at the Old Mission in Santa Barbara. 

Wendy and Roger had three children: Emily Frances, born 1977; Elizabeth June, born 1983; and Charles Walter, born 1985.

After obtaining her PhD from UCSB in 1983, Wendy embarked on a notable career as a professor and writer of Christian spirituality. Her areas of expertise included the history of Christian spirituality, particularly the Salesian tradition, Catholic devotional traditions, and the spirituality of family life. She served for almost thirty years as Professor of Theology at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and later as Affiliate Faculty at the Oblate School of Theology’s Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality. She was the author of seventeen books and over sixty academic articles. She also enriched many people’s spiritual lives as a long-time spiritual director and cantor.

Wendy was a devoted mother and grandmother and an avid hiker and lover of nature and the arts. Upon her retirement from full-time teaching, she and Roger moved back to Santa Barbara, where they lived in the beautiful surroundings of the home she had inherited from her parents.

Wendy is survived by her husband Roger; her three children Emily, Elizabeth, and Charles; her six grandchildren Evelyn Elizabeth, Oliver Hastings, Elliot Franklin, Cecilia Lola, Anabel Mae, and Miriam Carmen; her son-in-laws Ryan Shelstad and Clark Baechle, and daughter-in-law Alexi Motta.

Wendy Wright was also an Affiliated Faculty Member at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality, Oblate School of Theology.   

A funeral mass will be held on Thursday, May 29 at 10:30am at the Old Mission-Santa Barbara, followed by a reception.

Memorial gifts may be made to:

• Cancer Foundation of Santa Barbara, which supports the Ridley-Tree Cancer Center: https://cfsb.org/support-local-cancer-care/giving/
• Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis: https://www.visitationmonasteryminneapolis.org/support-us/” 

 

The Pentecost Vigil Project invites you to join us on May 30-June 7 at 7pm eastern daylight time on zoom to pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  We are inviting Catholic organizations, groups and networks across the US and Canada to join together in friendship and solidarity in response to the call of Pope Leo to courageously face the challenges confronting us at this time in history.  All are welcome! Please visit our website to register: 

www.pentecostvigilproject.org

Sincerely, Margaret Mary Moore