Catholic Theological
Society of America

The CTSA mourns and prays for Rev. John W. Crossin, OSFS who died on Friday, May 12, 2023.

Above photo and the following memorial link
were accessed on May 15, 2023, from the
Oblates of St. Francis DeSales, North American Provinces

May John's soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in Peace.

Rev. John W. Crossin, OSFS  - Memorial

The book club will next meet on Thursday, June 22, at 5:30 p.m. (ET) to discuss Susan Bigelow Reynold's book People Get Ready: Ritual, Solidarity and Lived Ecclesiology in Catholic Roxbury, chapters 4 - 6.  Based upon our last meeting, we anticipate that these will be engaging and thought provoking. 

If you missed our last meeting, please consider reading Susan's book and joining us.

Greetings, colleagues. I am passing on an invitation to our membership from Bishop Daniel Flores, the Chair of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine and part of the US Coordinating Team for the Synod. The US Synod Team is inviting theologians from the United States to join bishops and members of six different US theological societies to engage in two online synodal spiritual conversations on 

Thursday, May 25, 2023 from 3:00-5:30 pm EDT/2:00-4:30 pm CDT/1:00-3:30 pm MDT/12:00 noon-2:30 pm PDT

and

Tuesday, June 6, 2023 from 7:00-9:30 pm EDT/6:00-8:30 pm CDT/5:00-7:30 pm MDT/4:00-6:30 pm PDT

The conversations will focus on the North American Final Document for the Continental Stage of the Synod and will use a self-directed spiritual conversation model. Space will be limited to 120 participants for each of these conversations. Each Society has been asked to send direct delegates for each meeting, but the remaining spots will be offered for all interested theologians – you can sign up at https://airtable.com/shrHT2BDqy9S4j0yq until May 17, and we would encourage you to join in this opportunity to talk with our colleagues and our bishops. While there are other opportunities planned for graduate students and for Canadian theologians and their bishops later this year, for space reasons this invitation is being extended to US Catholic theologians who have completed their PhD in theology or a related field.

Relevant links:

https://airtable.com/shrHT2BDqy9S4j0yq (sign up here)

https://www.usccb.org/resources/north-american-final-document-continental-stage-2021-2024-synod (North American Final Document)

https://www.synod.va/content/dam/synod/common/phases/en/EN_Step_6_Spiritual-Conversation.pdf (conversation model)

Here is Bishop Flores' message:

Committee on Doctrine

3211 FOURTH STREET NE WASHINGTON DC 20017-1194 202-541-3015

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

May 4, 2023

I am delighted to inform you that the US Synod Team will be convening a special listening session for theologians throughout the United States to reflect on the North American Final Document for the Continental Stage for the 2021-2024 Synod. The US Synod Team wants to create a space for listening and dialogue specifically those trained in Catholic theology. The sessions will be modeled on the Virtual Assemblies of the Continental Stage (see Appendix D of the Final Document). There will be two sessions: Thursday, May 25, 2023, from 3-5:30 PM ET and Tuesday, June 6, 2023 from 7-9:30 PM ET.

The Team is asking that you, the leaders of the scholarly theological societies in the United States, share this invitation with your members who hold a doctoral degree in theology or a related field. The Team hopes to plan a listening session with graduate students in the future. This invitation is extended to the following scholarly organizations:

• Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States

• Academy of Catholic Theology

• Black Catholic Theology Symposium

• Catholic Theological Society of America

• College Theological Society

• Fellowship of Catholic Scholars

  The sessions have a capacity of 120 participants apiece. Ten (10) spots will be reserved for each society in each session. Organizations may choose to select the ten participants for their reserved spots. There will be a question on the form to indicate if the delegate was selected by the organization to participate. An invitation will be extended to bishops to attend these special listening sessions and to select a theologian from their diocese to attend as well. The registration deadline is Wednesday, May 17, 2023. Zoom details and a preparation guide will be shared after

registration closes. Y ou can find the registration form here: https://airtable.com/shrHT2BDqy9S4j0yq

The listening session will use the spiritual conversation model, which is at the heart of all the synodal listening sessions thus far. Theologians will be placed into groups of 6-8 and introduced to one another via email prior to the listening session. In a spirit of co-responsibility, each listening circle will be self-facilitated. We are asking for volunteers to act as facilitators for the listening circles and representatives to share the fruits of the conversation in plenary.

Please contact the US Synod Team at synod@usccb.org if you have any further questions. Yours in Christ,

Bishop Daniel E. Flores, Diocese of Brownsville Chair, Committee on Doctrine

 

Are you musically inclined, or perhaps just like to sing? Do you play an instrument that can travel with you to Milwaukee? Then join the CTSA pop-up liturgical choir!  We are looking for choir members to sing at the CTSA annual convention liturgy on Saturday evening, May 10th. Email liturgical coordinator, Layla Karst, at layla.karst@lmu.edu for more information or to volunteer. 

Greetings. Some of you will have already seen the very good essay by Dennis Holtschneider, CM, President of ACCU, expressing his concern about states seeking to gag free speech at colleges and universities, restricting what can be taught. His piece, from the perspective of ACCU and in light of his prior experience as president of DePaul University, is a solid defense of religious freedom, including freedom to teach freely. The link is here.

Have a good weekend, and good luck at semester's end!

Frank

Villanova University Department of Theology and Religious Studies is pleased to announce its new Chaplaincy Education Track within the Master of Arts in Ministry and Theology. The new Track serves those who wish to prepare for chaplaincy ministry, including the following areas: health care, prison, the military, corporate sector, university life and other institutional settings.

Program Highlights:

• Only chaplaincy education program offered through a university setting in Pennsylvania
• Part-time and full-time students benefit from on-campus and hybrid modalities
• Complete two units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE)
• Prepare for a transformative leadership role
• Full-time students can complete the program in two years
• Funding opportunities available

More details about the program and course requirements can be found at 

https://www1.villanova.edu/university/liberal-arts-sciences/programs/theology/graduate-programs/masters.html

 

Hello friends,

I'm writing to share a Call for Papers for the Political Theology Network Conference in September. I'd especially like to draw attention to the stream called "Naming the Anthropos in Anthropocene: A Catholic Political Theology of (Hu)Man," that our team of editors for the Catholic Re-Visions blog will be facilitating, which may be of particular interest to the members of the CTSA. 

Proposals are due by May 2. 

https://politicaltheology.com/political-theology-network-conference-call-for-papers/

Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo, Ecomartyrdom in the Americas: Living and Dying for our Common Home (Orbis Books, March 2023).

Catherine Punsalan-Manlimos, Tracy Sayuki Tiemeler, Elisabeth T. Vasko, editors, “Why We Can’t Wait”: Racism and the Church (Orbis Books, May 2023).

Good afternoon, everyone. Ruben (Sonny) Mendoza, President of INSeCT, invites us to their next online lecture, “Decolonizing Theologies, Decolonizing the World.” It will occur on April 25 at 930pm (Eastern Daylight Time). The speakers are the CTSA's own Dr. Melissa Pagán, and Dr. Pushpa Joseph (see below). Please register in advance here.  Frank

About the speakers: 

Dr. Melissa Pagán is a decolonial feminist ethicist. She holds a Ph.D. in Religion, Ethics, and Society from Emory University. Her current research project provides a feminist decolonial and critical spatial appraisal of the tradition of Catholic Social Teaching to ascertain whether, and to what extent the coloniality of knowledge, coloniality of being, and coloniality of gender undergird and therefore undermine its teachings on social justice. Dr. Pagán’s areas of expertise and research include feminist social ethics, critical geographies, postcolonial and decolonial theories and theologies, and Latinx theologies. For the academic year 2021-2022, Dr. Pagán was the recipient of a First Book Grant for Scholars of Color from the Louisville Institute. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS), the Board of Directors for the Web Branch of Feminist Studies in Religion, Inc., and is the current Chair for the Committee on Underrepresented Groups for the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA). She is currently Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Religious Studies at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles.

Dr. Pushpa Joseph is a feminist theologian from India with over 20 years of experience in the field of higher education. She has taught at the Department of Christian Studies in the University of Madras for over 11 years and has guided several students in their dissertations at the masters, pre-doctoral, and doctoral levels. Her research work is focused on themes that have a prophetic and transformatory impulse, and she has published around 40 articles on various topics related to theology, ethics, and feminist issues. Among her publications are Re-imagining Marriage and Family in Asia: Asian Christian Women's Perspectives and Feminist Hermeneutics: A Contextual Reconstruction. The former is acollaborative edited work with Dr Sharon Bong and explores Asian Christian women'sperspectives on marriage and family, while the latter is a reference book on feminist hermeneutics, contextual reconstruction and is published by Salesian College Publications, Darjeeling, West Bengal.

Good afternoon. This post is simply to inform you that the Board has established a Media Committee, to help us to keep up to date on media possibilities and challenges, with an eye toward how we can responsibly integrate a skilled use of media into our planning for the next decades. The membership is now posted under Committees, and I am grateful to everyone who has agreed to serve on the committee. If you would like a copy of the 2-page description of the committee and its role, please email me and I will send it to you.

Speaking of Media, don't forget our very important town hall next Tuesday, as previously announced. See below., Frank Clooney, SJ, President

Fossil Fuel Divestment Town Hall Meeting April 25th, 7 p.m. (ET)

Erin Lothes Biviano, Chair, Fossil Fuel Divestment Committee invites the membership to save the date for a virtual town hall at which all members may be updated on the recommendations by the committee for best paths forward to implement the Board's decision to divest from fossil fuels.  A report and presentation by the committee will be followed by conversation, questions, and answers.  A registration email will be forthcoming in April.