Catholic Theological
Society of America

Fordham's ongoing TR project – "Taking Responsibility: Jesuit Educational Institutions Confront the Causes and Legacy of Clergy Sexual Abuse" – is sponsoring two webinars this spring. 

We hope you will consider joining us for one or both. Details below.

Part I: Memorializing Clergy Sexual Abuse-- March 18, 12pm-1:30pm ET

An interdisciplinary conversation about ethics, means, and the meanings of public memorials related to clergy sexual abuse.

In this webinar, three scholars will explore questions about whether, when, and how communities can contend–together, as communities–with the history and memory of the Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse crisis. With expertise in trauma studies, liturgy, theology, and history, our panelists ask about the ethics, means, and meanings of various efforts to remember clergy sex abuse, as well as those who suffered and defied it. 

Part II: Whose Stories Are They? Catholic Sex Abuse Records and the Issue of Transparency-- April 10, 4:30pm-6pm ET

Springing from a recent legal settlement that promised an Abuse Documents Archive in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, this webinar asks questions about the meanings, limits, and promise of “transparency” in the effort to understand and ameliorate the Catholic clergy abuse crisis. 

What is to be learned, gained, and achieved in opening up the archives of Catholic sex abuse? What kind of healing follows from transparency, if any? Beyond respecting the wishes of survivors who prefer privacy, are there any other limitations to consider? What does transparency have to do with Catholic theology or with the practices and disciplines of Catholic experience? 

Join us as four experts–an archivist, a canon lawyer, a survivors' attorney, and an historian–tackle these and related questions.

Free and open to the public. Registration is required.

For additional information, please contact takingresponsibility@fordham.edu 

Co-sponsored by the Department of Theology, Fordham and the Curran Center for American Catholic Studies.

The CTSA remembers and prays for longstanding member M. Theresa Moser, RSCJ, who died early this morning, Friday, February 9.  Theresa served as the CTSA Secretary from 2004 - 2013, and as interim secretary in 2018.

Eternal rest grant unto Theresa, 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

Villanova U. is again accepting applications for our Graduate Resident Ministry program.  If you know of current seniors or recent alums who may be discerning a path in ministry, please consider suggesting it to them.  It offers mentoring in a variety of ministry experiences partially tailored to the interests of each student while also providing full-tuition for a 48-credit M.A. in Ministry and Theology, room & board for 2 years, and a $12K/year living stipend.  The deadline for priority consideration is February 1^st, but applications received in March and April will still be considered.

Last year the CTSA Board recommended that, following the publication of this year's volume of the CTSA Proceedings, I begin to share with the CTSA membership some of the Proceedings readership data that I share with the Board in my semi-annual editor's reports. Please find readership data for November and December 2023 below. As a reminder, every volume of the CTSA Proceedings is available online at https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ctsa/issue/archive.

Readership Data For November 2023

• Total Article/Report Downloads: 14,085
• Top Three Most Downloaded Articles/Reports:
• • Regina Wolfe, "Bioethics and Healthcare" (Volume 57 [2002]) - 101 downloads
  • William C. Spohn, "Jesus and Ethics" (Volume 49 [1994]) - 81downloads
  • Emily Reimer-Barry, "Another Pro-Life Movement is Possible" (Volume 74 [2019]) - 78 downloads

Readership Data for December 2023

• Total Article/Report Downloads: 8,131
• Top Three Most Downloaded Articles/Reports:
• • Michael J. Cantley, "The Biblical Doctrine of Original Sin" (Volume 22 [1967]) - 178 downloads
  • Ellen Leonard, "Experience as a Source for Theology" (Volume 43 [1989]) - 160 downloads
  • William C. Spohn, "Jesus and Ethics" (Volume 49 [1994]) - 121 downloads
  • Myles M. Bourke, "Rudolph Bultmann's Demythologizing of the New Testament" (Volume 12 [1957]) - 121 downloads

John Sheveland, editor,  Theology in a Post-Traumatic Church

https://orbisbooks.com/products/theology-in-a-post-traumatic-church?_pos=1&_sid=72f402fd5&_ss=r

Richard Gaillardetz, Ecclesiology for a Global Church: A People Called and Sent, revised edition 

https://orbisbooks.com/products/9781608339952?_pos=1&_sid=0d3867a69&_ss=r

Ilia Delio, The Not-Yet God: Carl Jung, Teilhard de Chardin and the Relational Whole

https://orbisbooks.com/products/9781608339921?_pos=1&_sid=b59d139de&_ss=r

Daniel Horan, Engaging Thomas Merton: Spirituality, Justice, and Racism

https://orbisbooks.com/products/9781626985445?_pos=1&_sid=2f387ba6f&_ss=r

Rosemary Carbine, Nevertheless, We Persist: A Feminist Public Theology

https://orbisbooks.com/products/nevertheless-we-persist-a-feminist-public-theology?_pos=1&_sid=43b825489&_ss=r

Leo Guardado, Church as Sanctuary: Reconstructing Refuge in an Age of Forced Displacement

https://orbisbooks.com/products/9781626985407?_pos=1&_sid=a34e6a87e&_ss=r

On behalf of the American Meteorological Society Committee on Spirituality, Multifaith Outreach, and Science (COSMOS), you are invited to: Bridging Spirituality, Faith, and Science for Weather and Climate Resilience: A Community Gathering, February 1st from 11am-2pm ET at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor, with lunch: https://annual.ametsoc.org/index.cfm/2024/program-events/networking-and-events/events/cosmos-community-gathering/. This is a free and in-person only event (you do not have to register for the Annual Meeting to attend).

Contact: Erin Lothes or 

Carlos J. Martinez, PhD, organizer

AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow | National Science Foundation

carlosjaviermartinez.com

@carlonimbus

The Formación Continua team at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry extends an invitation to participate in the upcoming Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Toward a Constitutively Synodal Church, which will take place during March 2024. You can register now! (follow the link above). The course is an effort to invite Catholics throughout the world to learn more about synodality and prepare more intentionally for the Second Session of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops this year.

The project is firmly supported by major Catholic networks and organizations, several conferences of Catholic bishops, and theologians working in various academic institutions worldwide. The course will be offered simultaneously in seven languages, without cost and asynchronously. The previous two MOOCs on synodality developed by this team engaged more than 100,000 people in all continents. 

Instructors/Speakers include Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, Timothy Radcliffe, OP, Piero Coda, Arturo Sosa, SJ, James Keenan, SJ, Gilles Routhier, Rafael Luciani, Alphonse Borras, Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ, Catherine Clifford, Hosffman Ospino, Serena Noceti, Phyllis Zagano, Dario Vitali, César Kuzma, Maria Cimperman, RSCJ, Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, SJ, Carlos Schickendantz, Myriam Wijlens, Agenor Brighenti, among several others.

For any questions about the course, please reach directly to Dr. Rafael Luciani (rafluciani@gmail.com), theological consultant for the Synod on Synodality. Share the information with others who may be interested.

In an article published today, CTSA divestment leaders Dan DiLeo and Erin Lothes share the story of the CTSA’s journey to work with the investment company Aperio Group, which specifically aligns with the bishops’ value screens and includes a robust fossil fuel screen. The article is a valuable resource for advocating to our institutions the need for urgent divestment action on this critical whole-life issue, and it shows that it is possible to align investment portfolios with Catholic moral priorities, with the critical issue of Climate Justice at the fore.  Please consider scheduling a meeting with decision-makers at your institutions to share this great news and to consider similar divestment action.

The impetus for fossil fuel divestment originated as a grassroots effort by CTSA members. The ad hoc Fossil Fuel Divestment Review Committee led the charge to this success. Now reconstituted as the Climate Justice Committee, on which I serve, together with Dan DiLeo, Chair, and Matthew Shadle, we will continue support the integration of our shared theological work in service to our common home.  

Catholic teaching and US bishops' investment guidelines demand divestment. CTSA shows how. | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)

The International Network of Societies for Catholic Theology (INSeCT) will be meeting in Rome in 2024. As preparation for their gathering, they are collecting insight and research activities of members from the respective societies. The current INSeCT research project theme is "Decolonizing Theologies, Decolonizing the World." Linh Hoang, OFM, is CTSA’s new representative to INSeCT. He welcomes feedback and information from our membership. 

Please access the survey via the following link: https://forms.gle/raQJeb5BYBw4Qmg37 .

Your input is invaluable in shaping the comprehensive global presentation envision for INSeCT’s general assembly. The deadline for completing this survey has been extended to January 10, 2024.

The Center for the Study of Spirituality at Saint Mary's College (Notre Dame, IN) is hosting an online, interdisciplinary reading group for scholars to discuss Judith Herman's Truth and Repair: How Trauma Survivors Envision Justice this spring semester.  We will be meeting for three Fridays beginning on January 12th at 1pm EST.  

If you are interested in participating, please complete this registration form.  I will follow-up with more details in the new year.  Please feel free to extend this invitation to interested colleagues as well as your doctoral students.  

We are also delighted to announce that the Center will be hosting a live webinar with Prof. Herman on Friday, March 8th at 7pm EST.  The webinar will offer attendees the opportunity to ask Prof. Herman questions about her research.  You do not need to attend the reading group in order to attend the webinar, though we hope that you will join us for both.