December 2012
Women and interreligious dialogue
Catholic theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether surveyed the influence of feminist theologies on current discourse in “Women and Interfaith Dialogue: Toward a Transnational Feminism,” her September 20 plenary lecture at the Women and Interreligious Dialogue symposium. Cosponsored by STM, the Department of Theology, and the Church in the 21st Century Center, Ruether’s address opened the fifth and final conference in the Boston College Symposia on Interreligious Dialogue series, which launched in 2008. Previous gatherings have considered interreligious dialogue between Christians and Muslims, interreligious hermeneutics, the cultural shaping of religions, and economic development.
Video » Boston College Magazine coverage »
Landings relaunches
STM Associate Professor Thomas A. Kane, C.S.P., developed new program materials for Landings, a 25-year-old Paulist ministry of reconciliation dedicated to helping parishes worldwide welcome people back to the Catholic Church. “With two-thirds of all Catholics in the United States not practicing their faith, reaching out to inactive Catholics should be at the top of the Church’s priority list,” said Fr. Kane, who directs the Paulist Reconciliation Ministries. “Landings encourages trained, compassionate lay people to reach out to those cut off from the Church for any number of reasons.” The Landings program includes participant materials, training guides and a DVD, and an informational video for parish websites. Read more »
Jesuit lives
The 2012 Boston College Annual Report featured “Jesuit Lives,” an article by William Bole profiling five Jesuit scholastics studying last year at STM: Mario M. Powell, S.J., ’03, M.Div. ’14; Alejandro Olayo-Méndez, S.J., S.T.L. ’12 (pictured); Sam Sawyer, S.J., ’00, M.Div. ’14; Michael Rozier, S.J., M.Div. ’14; and Jeremy Zipple, S.J., ’00, M.Div. ’13. Read the report »
On campus
- M. Shawn Copeland (pictured), associate professor in the Boston College theology department, delivered remarks on “Education and Life, the Good Life, and Eternal Life,” for the fifth annual STM Anniversary Lecture on October 30. View the video »
- Lumen et Vita, STM’s graduate academic journal, held a fall colloquium titled “A Political or Apolitical Faith: The Role of Faith in Politics, Civil Discourse, and Governance” on November 30. Presentations by STM graduate students included “Approaches to Caesar: Modes of American Catholic Participation,” by Matthew Janeczko, O.F.M Cap., M.Div. ’14, and “Christian Family and the Cultivation of Justice in Politically Conscious Citizens,” by Matt Von Rueden, M.T.S. ’13.
Save the date
Second Annual Dean’s Colloquium on Religion and Public Culture
Income Inequality and Our Responsibility to the Poor
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
7:00 p.m., Gasson 100
The widening income gap between America’s rich and poor raises profound moral and ethical questions. Respected thinkers from four religious traditions will reflect on how our collective theologies consider and confront income inequality. RSVP »
Faculty news
Khaled Anatolios delivered a paper, “The Soteriological Grammar of Conciliar Christology,” at the Thomistic Institute’s symposium “Jesus Christ, True God and True Man: The Promise of Chalcedonian Christology” in Washington, D.C.
Colleen M. Griffith and Thomas H. Groome edited Catholic Spiritual Practices: Treasures Old and New (Paraclete Press, 2012).
Oxford University Press published The Bible and the Believer: How to Read the Bible Critically and Religiously, by Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. (with Marc Zvi Brettler and Peter Enns).
Melissa Kelley presented “The Mosaic of Grief” at the American Association of Pastoral Counselors annual conference of the eastern and northeast regions in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Mark Massa, S.J., gave the 2012 Mullen Lecture at St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Wickliffe, Ohio. His lecture was titled “A Pox on Both Your Houses: Moving Beyond Conservative and Liberal Labels Within the American Catholic Community.”
Baylor University Press published The Acts of Philip: A New Translation, by Christopher R. Matthews (with François Bovon).
Theresa A. O’Keefe presented a paper, “Growing up Alone: The New Normal of Isolation in Adolescence,” at the Association of Youth Ministry Educators conference in Dallas.
Hosffman Ospino gave the keynote presentation, “Faith and the New Evangelization,” in English and Spanish at an event inaugurating the Year of Faith for the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri.
“Feminicide and the Reinvention of Religious Practices,” an essay by Nancy Pineda-Madrid, was included in Women, Wisdom, and Witness: Engaging Contexts in Conversation (Liturgical Press, 2012).
Thomas D. Stegman, S.J., participated in “A Morning with the Apostle Paul (and Friends),” a panel discussion at St. Mary’s Seminary and University upon the inauguration of Michael J. Gorman as the Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology.
Andrea Vicini, S.J., presented “Catholic Bioethics and New Biotechnologies: Shaping a Social Justice Approach” at the Boston Theological Institute’s Ethics Colloquium.