Catholic Theological
Society of America

As Kristin Heyer noted in her Presidential Letter earlier this week, Volume 77 of the Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America is now published 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 be providing 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 Catholic Re-Visions Blog, affiliated with the Political Theology Network, welcomes proposals for content that critically engages the Catholic tradition and Catholic-adjacent questions and movements using a variety of approaches, re-(en)visioning what Catholicism is, implies, and does. 

Please share widely with your networks, as we hope to reach a wide range of scholars and activists both within and beyond the academy.

More information and details can be found here: https://politicaltheology.com/catholic-re-visions-call-for-content/

Proposals will be accepted through October 13, 2023.

I invite you to visit www.SpiritUnbounded.org and register for this lay-led synodal assembly via zoom or in-person in October in solidarity with the official synod in Rome.  Early-bird registration ends Sept. 15th.   There will be speakers from all 5 continents.  The 5 key themes are: Ministry, Authority, Ethics, Clerical Abuse and Justice for the Other.  Sr. Joan Chittister and former president of Ireland, Mary McAleese are keynote speakers.  In response to Frank's request for feedback re. the future of CTSA, this could be an opportunity for us to become involved in shaping the emerging Catholic Church.   

Dear Colleagues,

Greetings. I hope you all had a good summer, and that the new academic year, if you are teaching, is off to a good start.

I am writing to you now in my capacity as Chair of the Centennial Committee, and in follow-up to the Friday evening discussion we had in Milwaukee, “What Is the Future of the CTSA?”

All eleven groups at evening session had note-takers, and based on their input, Craig Ford, Jr. very ably prepared the attached report, an overview followed by the individual group reports. The Centennial Committee discussed the Report at our August 25 meeting, and strongly agreed that it was time to share the Report with all CTSA members. (We also expressed our great gratitude to Craig for his superb work.) The Report is attached.

As the next stage in this ongoing conversation, we earnestly request your feedback on the Report — elements and ideas that stand out, or that you strongly agree or disagree with, plus any ideas or questions you think are important but do not find in the Report. We hope you can help us to identify and highlight key points that should occupy our attention this year.

Please send your comments by email to me, as Centennial Chair, and I will collect them and share then with the Centennial Committee. If you can share your input by September 20, that would be ideal, since the Committee meets again on September 22.

Thanks very much, and on behalf of the Committee,

Frank

Major Themes Arising from the June 9, 2023
Evening Discussion on the Future of the CTSA

• You are invited to participate in a Zoom panel series, “Synodality at the Parish Level: A Time for Reform,” leading up to this October’s meeting of the Synod on Synodality. The series will run on Monday evenings, 6:00-7:30 p.m. PDT, from September 11 until October 9. It is co-sponsored by the Theology and Religious Studies Department of the University of Portland, the Master of Art's in Theology and Leadership Program at Gonzaga University, the Theology and Religious Studies Department at Saint Martin’s University, the office of the Vice President for Mission Integration at Seattle University, the Oregon Synod Committee, and Sacred Liturgy Ministries. CTSA members Catherine Punslan-Manlimos, Ramon Luzarraga, SimonMary Asese Aihiokai, Kevin Brown, and David Turnbloom have partnered with lay leaders from the Archdioceses of Portland and Seattle to plan this series.

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• Register for the series at this link: https://uportland.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jikZ0CKHTomwlKWeJKUgRQ#/

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• More information about each of the panels (listed below) and recordings of the panels after they take place can be found here: https://college.up.edu/theology/events-and-lectures/synodality.html

September 11: What is the Synod on Synodality?

September 18: Synodality: Opportunities for Lay Leadership at the Parish Level

September 25: Synodality and Radical Belonging

October 2: Learning from Synodal Communities

October 9: The Future of Synodality: A Renewal of Communion

Many of us have become accustomed to the culture of gun violence in the United States and the apparent inability of elected officials to offer a lasting solution to this national epidemic. With this in mind, we wish to invite the Catholic Theological Society of America to undertake a three-year study of the inherent causes of gun violence in the country, in order to educate ourselves and the broader society to envision and enact a world free from this violence. You can access a copy of the interest group proposal here. We ask you to consider adding your name to a petition in support of the interest group. We intend to submit the document and the signatories to the CTSA Board to get an approval for a three-year interest group on "Gun Cultures and Gun Violence." 

To sign the petition, please follow this link: CTSA Interest Group Petition -- Gun Cultures and Gun Violence

Hello Members and Friends,
My name is Rufus Burnett, Jr. and I currently serve as a member of the WFTL/CTSA liaison. I am here to update you on some of the developments with the World Forum on Theology and Liberation.

During our time together in Minowaking (Milwaukee) the WFTL International Committee met and decided to join the WSF (World Social Forum) in Kathmandu, Nepal. Soon after that meeting, the Secretariat was notified that the WSF organizers decided to move the forum up by one month. The new dates are the 15th through the 19th of February 2024. This latest date is the second of two changes from summer 2025 to March 2024 and now to February 2024. As detailed in the liaison’s annual report (available here), the WFTL is no longer relying on the WSF to dictate its primary work and is building bridges with and beyond the WSF. The CTSA liaison is one of those bridges.

Over the course of the remainder of this year and next year, I will be posting regularly to inform the CTSA membership of this new chapter in the history of the WFTL as well as details about our participation with in the WSF 2024. One highlight is the WFTL’s new partnership with Palestinian liberation theologians.

On October 28, 2023 the WFTL will host a webinar entitled: “The Current Situation and Challenges for the Palestinian people and Palestinian Liberation Theology.”

The webinar seeks to take up the following question and will feature the panelists below:
What are the more urgent concerns for the Palestinian people in the current time? How do these concerns challenge and enrich theological reflection on liberation?

Panelists:
• Mitri Raheb is a prominent figure in Palestinian theology. He founded and is the first president of Dar-al-Kalima University, in Bethlehem. Rev. Raheb served as the pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem from 1987 until 2017. He was elected as the President of the Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land from 2011-2016. Among his publications: Bethlehem Besieged: Stories of Hope in Times of Trouble (2004). Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes. (2014). The Politics of Persecution: Middle Eastern Christianity in the Age of Empire. (2021).
• Varsen Aghabekian, an expert in right-based community practice (RBCP), has been engaged in several NGOs engaged in policy development, on matters of Al-Quds/Jerusalem, education, youth, women and management. She holds a Ph.D. in Administrative & Policy Studies-Education from the University of Pittsburgh/USA (1988) and a M.Sc. in Nursing Management from Indiana University/Purdue University (1983). Among numerous positions, she served as Manager of Capacity and Institution Building at the office of the President (2006-2009) and as the Executive Director of Jerusalem Capital of Arab Culture in 2009. She also was elected the Commissioner General for the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights in January 2016. Among her publications : Palestinian Christians: Emigration, Displacement and Diaspora (2017). Middle Eastern Women: The Intersection of Law, Culture and Religion (2020). The Saga of Survival: Armenian Palestinians, the British Mandate and the Nakba (2023).

Stay tuned for more information on the webinar and a coming opportunity for CTSA members to meet the WFTL Secretariat, the primary coordinating group of the WFTL.

Best,

Rufus Burnett
WFTL Liaison

ReplyForward

On August 17, a judicial ruling by a court controlled by Nicaragua’s executive branch paved the way for the government’s definitive closure of the Universidad Centroamericana, administered by the Jesuits. In the preceding days, the government had frozen the university's bank accounts and assets, and suspended operation of its legal aid clinic and mediation center. Please see:, sign and share:

https://forms.gle/StjKw3JYJuVWBW31A

The CTSA Book Club invites you to join them when they next meet  on Wednesday, September 20th, at 7:00 p.m. (EST) / 4:00 p.m. (PST) to discuss John T. McGreevy's book Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis. For the meeting, please read Part 1 "Revolution and Revival, 1789-18870", which includes chapters 1 - 4; there are a total of 105 pages to read.  As you read, consider what you would like the group to discuss and prepare an engaging question to ask the group when we meet. 

If you are able to join us, email Mary Jane Ponyik so she may be sure to provide you with the Zoom link when it is sent out to the group.

Happy reading and mark your calendars!

The Georgetown University Women's Center is happy to share a recording of "Faith, Feminism, and Being Unfinished: The Question of Women's Ordination." This video features a panel of feminist theologians, ministers, thought leaders, and students discussing women's ministry in the Roman Catholic Church. CTSA members Teresa Delgado, Mary E. Hunt, and Annie Selak participated. The video and accompanying news articles can be found on the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs's website. We encourage CTSA members to use this as a teaching tool in the classroom and parish.

In a sequel to the first "Faith, Feminism, and Being Unfinished" event in 2018, the Georgetown University community gathered on DC Emancipation Day to explore the writings of moral theologian and CTSA member Anne E. Patrick, SNJM (1941-2016). A panel of theologians and thought-leaders discussed her 1975 essay “A Conservative Case for the Ordination of Women.” The conversation was in part a response to the October 2022 release of the Vatican synod document “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” which reflects a global call for inclusivity, including expanded roles for women in the church.