Clough School of Theology and Ministry to honor JoAnn Melina Lopez
The Clough School of Theology and Ministry will present its Young Alumni Leadership in Ministry Award to JoAnn Melina Lopez, who serves as the lay pastoral associate at St. Basil's Catholic Parish in Toronto, Ontario.
Lopez will be presented with the award on March 28 at CSTM’s annual Evelyn Underhill Lecture in Christian Spirituality.
Established in 2024, the Young Alumni Leadership in Ministry Award honors a graduate of CSTM who is demonstrating outstanding leadership in their field, and celebrates the ways they live out the school's Jesuit mission to be persons for and with others. The annual award recognizes a graduate who exemplifies what CSTM stands for: creativity, commitment, pastoral outreach, and theological acumen. A model for their peers and current CSTM students, the honoree shows a commitment to the field of ministry and an ability to meet the changing needs of their community.
Lopez earned a master of divinity degree from CSTM in 2015. She credits her time spent as a CSTM student for her love for the Word, and Lopez says she enjoys preaching, writing scripture reflections, and breaking open the Word with those she serves. She has been featured on Catholic Women Preach, an online resource for homilies, and her preaching was selected for publication in Catholic Women Preach: Raising Voices, Renewing the Church - Cycle B. She is a member of the inaugural cohort of PROCLAIM, a groundbreaking two-year formation program designed to equip lay women as ministers of the Word, funded by a Compelling Preaching Grant from Lilly Endowment, through a partnership between Discerning Deacons, The Center for the Study of Spirituality at Saint Mary’s College, and the McGrath Institute for Church Life.
Since 2023, Lopez has been engaged in the work and mission of Discerning Deacons to strengthen and expand the diaconate. She traveled to Rome with Discerning Deacons twice on pilgrimage for the opening of the general assemblies of the Synod on Synodality and was part of a delegation of women in ministry from around the world who met with Pope Francis on the eve of the Synod in October 2024.
Lopez grew up in India and Singapore, where she first learned the importance of hospitality, inclusion, sharing meals, and how to live in a multifaith and multicultural world.
Marquette University Associate Professor of Theology Ryan G. Duns, S.J., who earned a M.T.S. from the Clough School and a Ph.D. from the Morrissey College, will deliver the Underhill Lecture, titled “Consecrated Ruptures: Finding the Mystical in Ordinary Life.” The event will be held in Gasson 100 beginning at 10 a.m.
Advance registration is required. For more information, visit the Clough School's Continuing Education webpage.