Catholic Theological
Society of America

The CTSA remembers and prays for longstanding member Donald P. Senior, C.P. who died on Tuesday, November 8.

Hosted by Jennifer Abe, Loyola Marymount University

Sponsored by Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education 

Colleges and universities today aspire to help students to become “whole persons.” But what would it look like if these institutions also committed to helping faculty, staff, and administrators to be whole? 

Drawing on Jesuit traditions of contemplation, self-examination, discernment, and spiritual care, The Intersection dares to imagine wholeness as a shared good in higher education. It invites listeners to reflect on how the alignment between intellect and affect, between thinking and emotion can be a catalyst for more meaningful work and more meaningful lives.

Episode 1: On the Challenge and Promise of Being a Whole Person in Higher Education | Listen 

Director of digital humanities and English professor at Michigan State University, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, and Ryan Duns, a Jesuit priest and theologian at Marquette University, reflect together about obstacles and possibilities related to being whole persons in higher education. How do academic culture and institutional structures hinder people from becoming whole? What practices can promote greater alignment between intellectual work and the affective experiences that bring meaning to our lives? And what conditions can help everyone who works in higher education–faculty, staff, and administrators–to be more fulfilled in their work together?

Episode 2: The Work of Wondering | Listen 
Chemist Nicole Bouvier-Brown of Loyola Marymount University and poet Philip Metres of John Carroll University explore the power of wonder to help people in higher education become more integrated and fulfilled. What would happen if we consciously placed wonder at the center of all of our work in higher education? How might wonder be shared across the institutional structures that divide staff from faculty, students from administrators? And how can greater attention to the power of wonder help to make everyone in higher education more whole, together? 

Episode 3: Creativity & Communion | Listen 

Rachel Mindrup, a visual artist at Creighton University Medical School, and Aldo Billingslea, an actor and theater professor at Santa Clara University, explore the relationship between creativity and community. How can creativity help people in higher education to connect to their deepest desires and aspirations? And how can it become the source for nourishing growth into meaningful communities in the context of higher education?

Episode 4: Accepting the Gifts of Solitude & Mortality | Listen 

Memoirist Howard Axelrod of Loyola University Chicago and religious studies scholar Gary Laderman of Emory University explore how the practice of solitude and the contemplation of mortality can help people to identify horizons of meaning in their lives and in their work. How might the experience of solitude and the contemplation of mortality help people in their search for wholeness? Can a deeper sense of their physical embodiment enable people to become better thinkers? How can examining the boundaries and limits of consciousness help people to live with greater freedom and authenticity?

The CTSA remembers longstanding member, colleague, mentor and dear friend of many Shawnee Daniels-Sykes, who died this morning.  

Eternal rest grant unto Shawnee, 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

Convention contributions include:

Convener, Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery Interest Group, Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America, 73 (2018). Served as Moderator in 2017, see Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America 72

Convener, Black Catholic Theology Consultation: "The Sacramental Imagination--African Appropriation of Catholicism", Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America, 67 (2012). Moderator, Black Catholic Theology Consultation, Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America, 72 (2017); Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America, 70 (2015) and "Black Catholic Theologians Across the Generations",  Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America, 63 (2013) .  Co-convener and Presenter, Consultation on Black Catholic Theology,   Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America, 69 (2014).

Shawnee's Bio* 

*Shawnee M. Daniels-Sykes, PhD", Women and The Catholic Social Tradition, University of San Francisco Blog Website Page.

The CTSA prays for Rev. Patrick Boyle, S.J. who died recently.  

Patrick was affiliated with the University of St. Mary of the Lake and earned his degree in 1983 in Moral Theology at Marquette University.  Below is a beautiful tribute to Patrick, who served in Vietnam, from the "We Were the Soldiers" website page posted in November of 2021.

May Patrick rest in peace. 

Tribute to Patrick Boyle

CTSA Member Meghan Clark invites you to attend:

Register Here

For the past year, five CTSA members (Stan Chu Ilo, Brad Hinze, Jennifer Owens-Jofre, Darren Dias, and myself) have been part of a wider team of six regional working groups of theologians working on a project called "Doing Theology from the Existential Peripheries" The https://migrants-refugees.va/theology-from-the-peripheries/project, "Doing Theology from the Existential Peripheries is a research project of the Migrants and Refugees Section (M&R) of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, Holy See. It aims at deepening the teaching of Pope Francis and promoting a renewal of theology. "   On Oct 12, 2022, this project and a website of resources was formally presented publicly at a Seminar in Rome (now available on youtube).

On the Dicastery's website you can find the full North American Report:

https://migrants-refugees.va/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/North-America-Final-Report-FORMATTED-1.pdf 

Under "Publications" are all the Regional Working Group Reports: https://migrants-refugees.va/resource-center/publications/

And Under "Food For Thought" are more public facing videos and guidebooks being uploaded: https://migrants-refugees.va/resource-center/food-for-thought/ 

While pastoral theologians and many others, including some of us on the working group, have engaged in interviews/fieldwork inspired theology before, this project is unique in both its global scope as well as its ecclesial nature - It is a project of and for the Migrants and Refugee Section of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development - not one designed or driven by any individual academic theologian's research or such.

We look forward to presenting more on this project at the 2023 CTSA, however, wanted to share the links and information on the Dicastery website with our fellow CTSA members :-)

Warm Regards,
Meghan

Full North American Working Group also includes Bill Cavanaugh, Jaime Waters, Tom Landy, and Fr. Tom Lynch

With the support of the John Templeton Foundation, the University of St. Thomas (MN) announces The Psychology and Theology of Faith sub-granting competition, to fund academic cross-training in the psychological sciences for scholars of Christian theology or philosophy of religion with research interests relating to religious belief or religious commitment. Six successful applicants will each receive a $70,000 award providing the opportunity to take courses in and work with mentors from the psychological sciences, in order to apply and leverage insights from the psychological sciences in their work as theologians and philosophers. Applications are due Jan 23, 2023. For more information, see 

https://cas.stthomas.edu/departments/areas-of-study/philosophy/academic-cross-training-grant/index.html.

The Centre for Catholic Studies (CCS) at Durham University has launched a £400,000 postgraduate scholarship fund in partnership with The Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ) to mark the 200th anniversary of the founding of the FCJ Society. 

Funded over the next four years, the Sisters want to enhance their apostolic outreach and to support ministries which are aligned with the FCJ charism, ethos and the calls of their 2019 General Chapter.

The partnership with the CCS continues the Sisters’ dedication to education and chimes with one of the CCS’s stated aims, to form outstanding theologians and scholars of Catholicism who will shape the future from the richness of Catholic tradition in the church, academy, and public life.

Sr Bríd Liston fcJ, Area Leader, commented: “it is good to be able to support the development of students in the CCS, Durham University, given the commitment of the FCJ Society to education in the North East of England, particularly in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool, for over one hundred and fifty years.”

Scholarship applications are open to all (subject to usual Durham University eligibility criteria), and encouraged among those hoping to pursue postgraduate research across broad themes aligned to the FCJ Chapter calls: ‘Compassionate Action’, and ‘Care for Our Common Home’.  

Founded in 2007, the CCS at Durham University represents a creative partnership between academy and church: a centre within the pluralist, public academy for critically constructive Catholic studies of the highest academic standing. The CCS offers a wide-range of scholarships and bursaries funded by a number of partner congregations, organisations and individuals.

For more information on CCS Scholarships and Bursaries please visit:  https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/catholic-studies/facilities/funding-/ 

More information

For more information, please contact:

Prof Paul Murray, CCS Director: +44 (0) 7834567792

Tim Guinan, CCS Development Executive: +44 (0) 7771500808

Theresa Phillips, CCS Administrator: +44 (0) 7840854865

Sr Bríd Liston fcJ, Area Leader: +353 (0) 1 492 4093. Office: +353 (0) 1 492 4044

Related links:

https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/catholic-studies/ 

https://www.fcjsisters.org/

The CTSA prays for member Thomas L. Schubeck, S.J. who died yesterday, October 13, 2022.

Tom, Professor Emeritus, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, at John Carroll University's  focused his work in the area of social ethics, specializing in the ethics of Latin American Liberation Theology and the relationship of love to justice in social ethics, as well as the theological/psychological dimensions of hope.  He worked and wrote on pastoral work in prison ministry and racial justice (JCU website; see https://works.bepress.com/thomas_schubeck/).

May Tom, and the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Chisme Symposium 2022 provides two pre-recorded videos to an ongoing conversation thinking about gossip, what is not talked about, scriptures and scripturalizing and chisme as a theological language del pueblo. These may be some of the spaces and places not attended by the synodal processes. Visit http://chisme.space and http://chisme.org (directed to same site) for more on this topic.

Many native and Indigenous communities across what today is known as the Americas share a deep appreciation for their cultures, identities, and Christian faith. Despite the brutality of colonial Christianity, many find strength in Christ and continue to fight for a dignified place in the Catholic Church called to recognize her indigenous roots in this continent. The Virgin of Guadalupe, the Taino Cacique Enriquillo, and the Mohawk Saint Catherine Tekakwitha speak of this historical reality. On October 10, Indigenous Peoples Day, let’s honor the depths of their cosmologies that speak of an interconnected world full of relatives, all God’s children called into ethical relationships.

Cecilia Titizano, Ph.D.

mtitizanolafuente@scu.edu