Catholic Theological
Society of America

The video recording of the CTSA Fall 2024 Virtual Event, Teaching Catholic Theology in the Present Political Moment (Tuesday, October 22), is now available for viewing for CTSA members. 

To access the video, navigate to the CTSA's website home page.  Log into the website using your email address and member #.  Then scroll to the bottom of the page where resources are posted.  Select: CTSA Recorded Videos

Dear Colleagues and Friends,  

With great sorrow, tonight I write to let you know that our brother and friend Gustavo Gutierrez OP passed away this evening.  We are grateful to God for his life, his friendship, and the enormous gift of his theological vision. I met Gustavo for the first time when I was 22 years old. He was personally influential in my decision to become a theologian.  He helped me come to grips with the extreme contrast between wealth and poverty that I witnessed daily as a child growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border.   Mil gracias Gustavo for your work on behalf of the poor and for your love of the people of God and of God’s coming reign.    I do not have any further information at this time. 

Mil gracias hermano Gustavo.  Que descanse en paz,

Nancy Pineda-Madrid, CTSA President

General Secretariat of the Synod ~ Synod 2021 - 2024

Click here to access the website with links to the Vatican Newsfeed, Highlights, Documents, Synod News, Posts and more.

The CTSA prays for and remembers Gregory K. Hillis who died on October 8, 2024.

Eternal rest grant unto, Greg, 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.

Tribute published by Americamagazine.com:

James T. Keane, "Gratitude, sorrow, suffering and mercy: R.I.P. Greg Hillis", America Magazine October 10, 2024 <americamagazine.org, October 18, 2024>.

Laurie Cassidy's new edited volume, Praying for Freedom: Racism and Ignatian Spirituality in America is published by Liturgical Press and addresses the question, why do the Spiritual Exercises not change us as deeply as we hope? This is the haunting question that was raised at the recent general congregation of the Jesuits about Ignatius’s Spiritual Exercises and the question the contributors to this book explore and attempt to answer in the context of ongoing racial injustice in the United States. All of us who love and are engaged in Ignatian spirituality must also ask ourselves this same question. Contributors explore this question by examining how “color-blindness racism” determines our interpretation of the Spiritual Exercises in the United States. Animated by the grace of Ignatius's conversion experience these spiritual directors, theologians, and leaders in Jesuit ministries offer insightful scholarly and creative pastoral engagement of The Spiritual Exercises for the ongoing journey of conversion from racism and white supremacy in the United States. https://litpress.org/Products/E6792/Praying-for-Freedom  

The Centre for Catholic Studies (CCS) at Durham University in the UK has opened applications for Scholarships and Bursaries in Catholic Theology and Catholic Studies for 2025/26.  

• In partnership with the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ), the CCS is offering ONE FCJ Bicentenary Scholarship to a full-time or part-time MA or PhD candidate in Catholic Theology or Catholic Studies in the Dept of Theology and Religion at Durham University.  The award includes full tuition fees (at the UK/Home rate) and a maintenance allowance of up to the UKRI level (pro rata) per annum.

• Other tuition fee only awards, made possible by donations from the Congregation of Jesus, the Carmelite Nuns, the Hartley Trust, and individual donors, are also being offered for 2025-26.

Applications for the MA in Christian Theology (Catholic Studies) V8K607, and PhD’s in the following areas of Catholic Theology and Catholic Studies will be considered:

• Constructive Catholic Theology;
• Catholic Historical Theology;
• Interpretation of Scripture in Catholic Tradition;
• Catholic Social Thought and Practice;
• The History of Catholicism;
• Lived Catholicism;
• Social-Scientific study of Catholicism;
• Franciscan Studies. 

If you are unsure whether your area of research would be considered, please do get in touch.

Full details of the awards available for 2025/26, including eligibility criteria and an application form, are available at Funding - Durham University

The closing date for applications for the FCJ Bicentenary Scholarship is Sunday 23 February 2025. New candidates for a postgraduate degree within the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University must also complete a standard DU application for postgraduate admission with all supporting documents by Sunday 2 February 2025. The closing date for all other awards is 1 June 2025.

If you have any questions about the CCS scholarships, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the CCS Manager – theresa.phillips@durham.ac.uk or 0191 334 3952.

 Women Deacons and the Synod: A Conversation with Phyllis Zagano, Dr. Zagano provides a compelling, well-researched challenge to the Church to re-examine the historical and doctrinal basis for excluding women from the diaconate. She addresses the Synod’s potential to bring about meaningful change and poses a crucial question to the Church hierarchy.

Click on the blue font title posted above to access the recorded interview.

Matthew Howard, Executive Producer
Common Home TV

Dear CTSA Colleagues

I am thrilled to share great news with you.   As you may know, last October and this October, CTSA Vice President Cathy Clifford did serve and is serving as an official delegate to the Synod in Rome.  Yesterday I learned that she was elected to serve on the Commission for the Drafting of the Final Document of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. This commission has 14 members, only two of whom are women and Cathy is one of them.  Congratulations Cathy on your historic election!!  Here is a link announcing the commission.   

https://www.synod.va/en/news/commission-for-the-drafting-of-the-final-document.html

Also, if you would like to submit a comment to any of the 10 Study Groups, there is still time to do so.  In this communique, Cardinal Grech invites all members of the church to make submissions to any of the 10 Study Groups, whose work will extend to at least June 2025:

https://www.synod.va/en/news/communication-from-the-secretary-general-of-the-synod-his-eminence-card-mario-grech.html

Nancy Pineda-Madrid, CTSA President

Dr. Jung Eun Sophia Park, SNJM, will be presenting on “Spirituality in the Age of Dislocation” next week on Tuesday, October 15. The 90-minute webinar begins at 7 p.m. EDT (UTC -4). A recording will be available after the live presentation for all registered participants.

Click here to register on our website.

Jung Eun Sophia Park, SNJM, is professor emerita at Holy Names University in California. Her academic interests are global justice and spirituality, postcolonial feminism, psychoanalytic theory, and mysticism. Park has authored many books, including A Hermeneutic on Dislocation as Experience, Conversations at the Well, Border-Crossing Spirituality and An Asian Woman’s Religious Journey with Thomas Merton.

People who live in the global world experience more dislocation and in-between spaces. The feeling of dislocation is linked to spiritual distress such as loneliness and anxiety, yet the in-between space functions as a leverage of spiritual force for transformation. This presentation explores various experiences of dislocation and examines multivalent meanings of in-betweenness. In reflecting on the nature of life as a pilgrim, seekers discover dislocation as a human experience, not just a phenomenon but an invitation to fully embrace life. The spirituality of dislocation includes creating hybrid identities, staying at every moment of life, and remaining in borderland with a simple heart of kindness and hospitality.

Margaret Brennan Institute on the Intersection of Faith and Culture

Join me in attending this consequential and timely conversation.    Many thanks to Mary Kate Holman, SimonMary Aihiokhai, and Eli McCarthy for making this conversation possible. You can register below.  I will see you there.  Nancy Pineda-Madrid, CTSA President. 

Virtual Event: Teaching Catholic Theology in the Present Political Moment

Tuesday, October 22nd, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. [ET]

This conversation brings together three scholars with politically-engaged research and teaching experience to explore resources and strategies for engaging challenging political conversations in Catholic theology courses, particularly during this election cycle.