Catholic Theological
Society of America

2023 Annual Convention

Supporting Members Harmed by Program or Institutional Closures or Cutbacks It is resolved that the CTSA members in attendance at the Business Meeting on June 9, 2023, approve the following statement as the position of the CTSA: In recent years, members of the Catholic Theological Society of America have been harmed by the closures of the academic institutions or programs that employ them, resulting in unexpected loss of employment even, in some cases, for tenured faculty. These circumstances seriously injure the worker dignity of the affected faculty and their right to stable and sufficient employment, as well as harming the students of the programs and institutions which are abruptly closed, usually without meaningful consultation with faculty, students and other institutional stakeholders. Furthermore, such sudden closures of programs and institutions harm all academic workers by creating a climate of fear and instability which disincentivizes academic laborers from defending our own dignity in employment. It is the position of the CTSA that as academic workers, we and our labor are not disposable or interchangeable, and that colleagues who lose their jobs due to program or institutional closures are still valued theologians with important contributions to make to our shared work.  While deploring these sudden closures of programs and institutions in the strongest possible terms, the Society wishes to support colleagues in such situations in discerning their new path forward, in continuing their professional development, and in seeking other academic employment if they so desire.  By adopting this resolution, the CTSA membership strongly urges the Board of Directors to actively pursue a plan that mitigates or waives membership fees and conference registration fees for a period of some years for members who have lost employment due to program or institutional closure.

Submitted by Kate Ward

Marquette University

Motion to approve passed, 115 in favor, 7 opposed, and 1 abstention.

2022 Annual Convention

It is resolved that the CTSA members in attendance at the Business Meeting on June 10, 2022, approve the following statement as the position of the CTSA:

The Catholic Theological Society of America stands in solidarity with members of the LGBTQIA+ community. We affirm their dignity and rights as persons made in the image of God and stand committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of our LGBTQIA+ colleagues, both in society at large as well as at our annual meetings. As the CTSA convenes in Atlanta for its 2022 annual meeting, its members deplore the unprecedented wave of attacks on the community across the nation. Legislative restrictions or attacks are frequently combined with dehumanizing and abusive rhetoric, which have predictably led to a surge in hate crimes and murders against the transgender community and others dehumanized by these policies and rhetoric. As Catholics it is our responsibility to denounce this systematic marginalization and disenfranchisement of transgender persons and any other vulnerable communities subjected to a comprehensive assault on their basic dignity and rights of citizenship. We call upon the USCCB along with local and state legislators to reconsider any policy positions that may have contributed to the current explosion of anti-LGBTQIA+ hate. We implore church leaders to consider how these policies alienate LGBTQIA+ persons, their families, and young Catholics from their parishes and from the Church, frequently discrediting Christianity itself. We commit in the words of Galatians 3:28 to that koinonia in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for (we) all are one in Christ Jesus.

Submitted by P.J. Johnston
St. Olaf College

Motion to approve passed, 126 in favor, 6 opposed, 1 abstention.

2015 Annual Convention
It is resolved that the CTSA members in attendance at the business meeting on June 12, 2015, approve the following statement as the position of the CTSA on a matter of current urgency in Wisconsin:

The Catholic Theological Society of America is happy to return to the state of Wisconsin and city of Milwaukee for its 2015 annual convention. Our members, from every part of the United States and abroad, respect and appreciate Wisconsin’s long commitment to higher education and excellence in scholarship, in state as well as private institutions. We therefore note with alarm the current motion before the State Assembly and Senate, authorizing the Board of Regents to terminate faculty appointments for reasons of “program discontinuance, curtailment, modification, or redirection.” We likewise regret the move to severely diminish the faculty role in shared governance. As a gathering of professors committed to the work of education, the members of the Catholic Theological Society of America express our support for Wisconsin’s superb higher education system, and our solidarity with its professors in their efforts to maintain excellence in higher education through a reaffirmation of tenure and recommitment to shared governance. We call upon state legislators and members of the Board of Regents to preserve and protect the standards and safeguards that have made the colleges and universities of Wisconsin among the best in the nation.

Submitted by Francis X. Clooney, SJ
Harvard University

2011 Annual Convention
The Catholic Theological Society of America adopted the following Resolution during its 2011 Annual Convention in San José, California:

The Catholic Theological Society of America regrets deeply that the provisions established by the American Bishops in the document Doctrinal Responsibilities: Procedures for Promoting Cooperation and Resolving Disputes Between Bishops and Theologians were ignored in passing judgment on Quest for the Living God by Professor Elizabeth A. Johnson, C.S.J. These provisions came from the CTSA and from the Canon Law Society of America. After six years of deliberation, debate, and consensus, they were submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and obtained its review and concurrence. Then they were presented to the entire body of American Bishops at the regular meeting of the Conference and approved overwhelmingly for use in the United States. They were not imposed upon any diocese as an obligation of law but presented as careful provisions and directions in order to avoid precisely the situation in which we find ourselves.

In light of this, the CTSA recommends to the American Bishops that they establish a committee that would evaluate the procedures of the Committee on Doctrine that led to their statement.

Motion to approve passed, 147 in favor, 1 opposed, 2 abstentions.

CTSA Resolution 2011 Convention, Correspondence

• Letter of CTSA President to Archbishop Dolan, June 12, 2011
• Letter of Archbishop Dolan to CTSA President, July 7, 2011

 

2006 Annual Convention
The Catholic Theological Society of America unanimously adopted the following Resolution during its 2006 Annual Convention in Texas:

We, the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are undocumented immigrants. In faithfulness to the Gospel of Christ and the social teachings of the Catholic Church, we affirm the dignity of all human beings, regardless of national origin, and we call for just, comprehensive, and humane immigration reform.