Alongside Kathleen Dorsey Bellow and Rosemary Carbine, I’ll participate in a panel initiated by the Public Theology Interest Group at the Catholic Theological Society of America’s Annual Convention. My paper explores the interconnectedness of pastoral theology and public theology in the practice of ministry at Dolores Mission Church.

During this year’s ACHTUS Colloquium, I will participate in a panel discussion of Priority 5 in the US’ final document, For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, and Mission, “A church that goes out to the peripheries.”

Five members of the CTSA took part in a project initiated by the Migrants and Refugees section of the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development in 2022. Through one-on-one and small group conversations in major cities throughout North America, they listened to those who occupy the margins of society and the church. This roundtable discussion introduces their methods, discusses what they learned from their dialogue partners, and identifies implications for theological construction. Dr. Bradford Hinze (Fordham University) will convene this selected session, and Dr. Meghan J. Clark (St. John’s University) will moderate. Panelists include Fr. Stan Chu Ilo (DePaul University), Fr. Darren Dias (University of St. Michael’s), and me. See the CTSA Convention Program for details.

The College of Philosophy and Letters will host a one-day conference about the North American Working Group’s report on this project. Our conversations will be shaped by dialogue with three panels: one made up of Working Group members, another of Saint Louis University faculty, and a third of local lay ecclesial ministers. All are welcome. Click here for more information.

In 2022, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development asked six working groups of Catholic theologians all over the world to go to the margins of the church and society to listen. This listening is at the heart of a global project, Doing Theology from the Existential Peripheries.  Dr. Owens Jofré will provide snapshots of the lived experiences of those to whom she listened in Southern California and share resources from the project well suited for teaching and ministry.  She will amplify the voices of first-generation immigrant community organizers, women in ministry with and to divorced and widowed Catholics, young gay Catholic men, a vowed religious woman who started an intentional community near the border to accompany migrants, and a deconvert from Catholicism. Click here to download the flyer.

In this inaugural lecture for the Ada María Isasi-Díaz Institute for Justice, Dr. Owens Jofré will provide an overview of the method for theological construction Isasi-Díaz and Yolanda Tarango began to develop together, mujerista theology. She will identify ways it can be developed from a sociological perspective and discuss how she applied it with lay Latina leaders at Dolores Mission Parish in Boyle Heights, CA. As this is a virtual event, there will be time allotted not only for the presentation, but also for small group conversations in breakout rooms and dialogue as a large group, as well. For more information and to register, click here.
NB: Times listed here are in Central Standard Time.

Join members of the North American Working Group to learn more about Doing Theology from the Peripheries, a project of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. Meghan Clark of St. John’s University will moderate a panel discussion between Stan Chu Ilo (DePaul University), Darren Dias (University of Toronto), and me about what we are learning from listening well to those who occupy the margins of the church and society. This WebEx gathering hosted by Catholic Relief Services and St. John’s will include time for large group conversation, as well. For more information on the project and to register for the event, click here.
NB: Times listed here are on Central Standard Time, whereas times listed on the flyer are on Eastern Standard Time.

Time listed is subject to change.

Across its great diversity, the Christian Church relies on vast numbers of “church workers” – in pastoral, service and support positions – in its mission of proclaiming and living the Gospel. The volatile cultural, economic, and political contexts surrounding this work today lay bare serious social and ethical challenges to familiar ways of organizing this “Church Work.” Our panel opens with a short presentation on the struggle against institutional exploitation of such workers – especially women – in the Roman Catholic Church. Responding panelists will consider how such exploitation and numerous other factors drive alternative forms of service out of the traditional confines of ministry. Religious and secular laity, even some clerics, carry the Gospel to their work in prisons, community organizations, advocacy groups, etc., without averting to "church," engaging new ethical challenges along the way. Presentation by Phyllis Zagano (Hofstra University), responses from Cesar (CJ) Baldelomar (Boston College), Milton Javier Bravo (Fordham University), and Jennifer Owens-Jofré (Seminary of the Southwest).

Time listed is subject to change.

Part of the panel named above, my presentation will take place during this year’s ACHTUS Colloquium, focusing on the notion of the Latinx Catholic theologian as listener.

I’ll offer a few brief remarks, “Gifts of Our Lady of Guadalupe,” as part of the Association of Marquette University Women’s Advent Reflection this year. Registration is $25/person, and you can do so here. Image credit: Ana Ferrer, Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles.

SERIES HAS BEEN CANCELLED

This series is scheduled to take place at St. Ignatius Martyr, a parish served by members of the Order of the Holy Cross, this summer. With sessions exploring the scriptural roots of the social doctrine of the church (June 22nd), Catholic social teaching since Rerum Novarum (June 29th), our Christian call to be present to those who are economically poor and homeless (July 6th), and the claims our shared faith makes on our relationships with our migrant kin (July 13th), Thy Kingdom Come is a collaboration between pastoral agents, practitioners, and scholars to learn more about how we can honor human dignity and serve the common good. The presentation I’ve been invited to give will explore some of the gifts Catholic tradition shares with us on the topic of immigration, provide opportunities for discussion and discernment, and continue to develop relationships with organizations here in Austin serving our migrant siblings. Given our commitment to engage responsibly with the recommendations of public health officials relating to the pandemic, please check back for updates as the summer nears.

NB: The Bridge Poster by John August Swanson featured in this post is available for purchase here.

EVENT CANCELLED.

During this gathering of the PC(USA)’s members of the Synod of the Sun who belong to the Hispanic Ministries Mission Network, I will join Caly Fernandez (Puentes de Cristo: Hidalgo, TX) and Rev. Isabel Rivera-Velez (Iglesia Cristiana Latina: Houston, TX) on a panel discussion of faithful responses to the immigration crisis.

The third gathering of the Gender Justice Series at University Presbyterian Church, this adult education class will explore theological perspectives on gender justice. Drawing on resources the arts afford us (e.g. visual art, music, and film), I will introduce feminist, womanist, mujerista, and Latina feminist theologies. Together, we will turn our attention to ways these tools can help us shape communities that enflesh the egalitarian values we espouse.

We live in a time of socio-historical transition on political, cultural, and ecological fronts. What is our role as teachers of theology and religious studies in this time? What pedagogical strategies can we employ in our classrooms in order to create liberative spaces where, together with our students, we can engage the critical questions of our time and envision a new future of justice and flourishing? Join us in a panel discussion, hosted by eight teacher-scholars (Jaisy Joseph, Salih Saligyan, Michael Walker, Jennifer Quigley, Mary Emily Duba, Kyle Brooks, Kyle Lambelet, and me) who will share their own practices of liberative pedagogy and open a discussion of what it means to teach in this time of crisis and open a time of collaborative discussion.

rev. abby mohaupt and I will co-present at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion this fall. We will share this paper, the abstract for which follows.

Climate change and immigration are difficult topics, made more volatile when put in conversation with religion. However, two feminist scholars have created a mobile classroom for students to learn from people who have migrated to the US and people experiencing the effects of climate change. The classroom centers lived experience and solidarity, inviting students to learn in the public sphere as we move from a Texas seminary to the US/Mexico border.

We go to the border because we have been invited. We listen to stories of people and meet the land itself. We walk with students as they discern how they will respond. We invite students to become aware not only of the teachings of the religious and secular  traditions to which they belong, but also to introduce them to contexts that can acquaint them with right orientation of the heart and right action on immigration and climate change.

Join the Austin chapter of Justice for Our Neighbors (JFON) in their annual gala celebration, “Walking Together,” during which we will raise funds to support the work of providing legal defense for asylum seekers. I will speak as a part of a panel focusing on ways people of faith can stand alongside those most intimately affected by US immigration policy. Purchase tickets here.

June 6-9, 2019
Catholic Theological Society of America
Pittsburgh, PA

Drawing on the work of dialogue partners from Chicana feminist literature and Latina theology, this paper explores the possibility that anger can be an experience that clarifies a just course of action.   It will provide support for the claim that righteous anger not only is an appropriate response to injustice, but can also clear a path toward right action toward ecclesial change. In doing so, this paper will focus on the systemic sexual abuse of children at the hands of Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania.

June 6-9, 2019
Catholic Theological Society of America
Pittsburgh, PA

This paper details two popular Catholic practices—las caminatas por la paz (the peace walks) y las Misas en el barrio (neighborhood Masses)—that witness to the reality of the Kin-dom of God.  Drawing on two winters of field research in an East Los Angeles Catholic parish, I highlight the tensions between the work of a parish that has partnered with their local police department for over thirty years, in the hopes of bringing gang violence in their neighborhood to an end, and the fatal violence that police department perpetrated against a 14-year-old boy in August 2016.

American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting
Latina/o Religion, Culture, and Society Unit; Liberation Theologies Unit; and Practical Theology Unit
See AAR Program Book for location of panel.

image: Fr. Mark Chavez, SJ, Our Lady of the Whole World

San Francisco Theological Seminary
San Anselmo, CA

Pontifical University Antonianum
Rome, Italy

This panel is part of a book launch and symposium for the Catholic Women Speak collection of essays entitled Visions and Vocations (Paulist Press, 2018). Sheila Pires (South Africa) will moderate a conversation between Leslye Colvin (USA), Mishal Francis (Pakistan/UK), Gertrude Jesufu (Sierra Leone), Anna Kasafi Perkins (Jamaica), Zuzanne Radzik (Poland), and me. Our dialogue will lift up themes from our contributions to the book in light of our cultural contexts.