The Discourse of Catholicity
Tuesday & Wednesday, April 12-13, 2011
“Catholicity” is the unity in diversity of the Church expressed in a global communion of faith. The term goes to the core of how the Church understands itself and how it can witness to greater unity in the world. The shift from a predominantly Euroamerican focus to a Church that attends equally to the global South creates great challenges in—and tremendous promise for—articulating a new theology of communion.
The call to dialogue, greater inclusion, and the promotion of local and contextual theologies have rightly advanced a new understanding of the Catholic Church's nature and mission. Facing the new challenges is equally stimulated by looking at the sources for the discourse of catholicity in Scripture and through diverse engagements with the theological tradition. This conference looks at catholicity both in terms of reading the new signs of the times and in terms of seeking renewal by a return to the sources.
The rethinking of the discourse of catholicity does not, however, end with futurology, historical retrieval, or a simple juxtaposition of two vantage points. Practices of catholicity need to be reconsidered in terms of a fresh, new theological appraisal of our situation today. This new approach includes looking at spiritual, liturgical, social, and political practices that acknowledge division and fragmentation and promote reconciliation and the living out of a real unity in diversity.
This conference is the fruit of a process extending back to the founding, in 2008, of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology. CWCIT organized conferences in 2008 and 2010 that looked at the global future of Catholicism in new ways.
In particular, CWCIT sponsored an international colloquium, “Forms of Catholicity,” in January 2009. We were able to bring together key international Catholic scholars who have helped to forge “the discourse of catholicity” as a theological idiom. The point of departure was an address originally delivered in Manila by Prof. Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., of The Catholic Theological Union. In his talk, Schreiter argued cogently for a discussion that would address the gap between Concilium and Communio, i.e., between—to cite his words more precisely—the strand in Catholic thought that he links to Gaudium et Spes and the strand that he labels “neo-Augustinian.” This gathering included a presentation by Schreiter, a paper by Jorge Scampini, O.P. on catholicity and ecumenism, and a paper by Miriam Wyjlens on catholicity and canon law.
In this year's conference, CWCIT has gathered scholars who are forging a discourse of catholicity that will serve the Church of the 21st century.
Schedule
April 12, 2011
Opening Plenary Session
Moderator: Peter Casarella, Director, Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, DePaul University
Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., Vatican Council II Professor of Theology, Catholic Theological Union
Emmanuel Katongole, Co-director, Center for Reconciliation, Duke University
Catholicity & the Mission of the Holy Spirit in the Light of the Global Expansion of Pentecostalism & the Charismatic Renewal
Moderator: Bill Cavanaugh, Senior Research Fellow, Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, and Professor, Catholic Studies, DePaul University
Speakers: Jeffrey Gros, FSC, Distinguished Professor of Ecumenical & Historical Theology, Memphis Theological Seminary
Ralph Del Colle, Associate Professor, Theology, Marquette University
The publication in 2006 of the fruits of an International Roman Catholic-Pentecostal Dialoguecreated great promise for ecumenical understanding and Catholic renewal. At the same time, the challenge remains to look at catholicity and the mission of the Holy Spirit in the light of the global expansion of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic renewal. Ralph Del Colle is an expert on the theology of the Holy Spirit and a member of the Catholic-Pentecostal International Dialogue. Br. Jeffrey Gros, F.S.C., is a leading scholar on the ecumenical question in Latin America. Both will address the current challenges in a global perspective.
Charles Taylor and the Hermeneutics of Intercultural Dialogue
Moderator: Elizabeth Millán, Philosophy, DePaul University
Speakers: William Barbieri, Associate Professor, School of Theology & Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America
Carolyn Chau,Toronto School of Theology, Regis College (Toronto, Canada)
Pablo Lazo Briones, Professor & Researcher, Philosophy, Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City, Mexico)
Even before the appearance of The Secular Age (2007), Charles Taylor had already developed an ethics of intercultural dialogue. In fact, he had highlighted the potential of a philosophical theory of interpretation for intercultural dialogue. Taylor also dealt with the view that to understand the world through a philosophical theory of interpretation did not entail turning a blind eye to justice or social fragmentation. His work also deals with the need in our age to embrace multiple theories of modernity and modernization. In this panel, experts on Taylor’s intercultural thought from Mexico, the United States, and Canada will discuss his contribution to a theory and theology of intercultural dialogue. The presentation by Prof. Lazo Briones will be delivered in Spanish, but an English translation will be provided to all the participants.
Unity & Diversity in the Heritage of Catholic Social Teaching: A Celebration of the 120th Anniversary of Rerum Novarum
Moderator: Patrick Callahan, Professor, Political Science, DePaul University
Speakers: Zachary Calo,Assistant Professor of Law, Valparaiso University
Thomas O'Brien, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, DePaul University
This year marks a milestone in the history of Catholic social thought. To celebrate that event and to think about the relationship between social concerns and theological issues that are simultaneously global and local, this session will explore two timely approaches to the history of Catholic social thought. Thomas O’Brien will examine Quadragesimo anno (1931) in the light of our own present-day context that features divisive partisanship and market collapse. He argues that the papal document from World War II offers contemporary readers a different lens through which to view our own delicate and turbulent times. Zachary Calo, a historian who works on the interface between law and theology, will present his own contextual, historical, and theological research on the thought of John K. Ryan, a critical figure in the development of Catholic social thought in the 20th century United States.
Civil Religions, National Myths, and the Catholicity of the Church: Toward a Comparative Exploration
Moderator: Michael Budde, Senior Research Fellow, Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, DePaul University
Speakers: Martin Menke, Professor, History & Government, Rivier College
Slavica Jakelic, Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia
This session explores the complex and sometimes controversial interaction of Catholicism and political nationalism. It seeks to provide a comparative context for thinking about national myth-making, political/cultural identity formation, and ecclesial thought and practice. Contributors will offer reflections on contemporary case studies, including German Catholicism in the Nazi era and 20th century East European religious nationalism.
New Paradigms for Global Ecclesiology
Moderator: Charles Strain, Professor, Religious Studies, DePaul University
Speakers: Linh Hoang, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies, Siena College
Teresia Hinga, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Santa Clara University
At the beginning of the 20th century, only 25 percent of the world’s Catholic population lived outside Europe and North America. By the end of the 20th century, 65.5% of the Catholic population was found in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. A leading expert onthe Asian American Catholic experience and a groundbreaking scholar of women’s movements in Africa will lead this discussion of some of the new developments in ecclesiology that arise from the deeper consideration of what Karl Rahner called “a world Church."
Second Plenary Session
Moderator: Michael Budde, Senior Research Fellow, Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology, DePaul University
Walter Euler, Professor, Fundamental Theology & Ecumenical Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Trier (Trier, Germany)
Peter Casarella, Director, Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology, DePaul University
April 13, 2011
Third Plenary Session
Moderator: Bill Cavanaugh, Senior Research Professor, Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology, & Professor, Catholic Studies, DePaul University
Speakers: Michael Budde, Senior Research Fellow, Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology, DePaul University
Margarita Mooney, Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Unity & Diversity of the Church in the New Testament
Moderator:Karen Scott, Chair, Catholic Studies, DePaul University
Speakers: Margaret Mitchell, Professor, New Testament & Early Christian Literature, & Dean, Divinity School, University of Chicago
Barbara Reid, O.P., Professor, New Testament, & Vice President/Academic Dean, Catholic Theological Union
Two internationally recognized experts on the New Testament consider the question of how the earliest Christian community dealt with particularity, fragmentation, conflict, and diversity while indwelling the one body of Christ. Dean Margaret Mitchell, an expert on Paul and the origins of early Christian hermeneutics, will concentrate on the theme of unity and diversity of the Church in 1 Corinthians. Dean Barbara Reid, O.P., will draw upon her expertise in interpreting the New Testament through Latina and feminist eyes to shed light on the question.
Catholicity in the Fathers of the Church
Moderator:Stuart Squires, Instructor, Religious Studies, DePaul University
Speakers: Rev. Dr. J. Kiran Sebastian, H. George Anderson Professor of Mission & Cultures, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
Chad Pecknold, Assistant Professor, Historical & Systematic Theology, The Catholic University of America
Michael Hollerich, Professor, Theology, University of St. Thomas
"Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old" (Mark 13:52). Our dialogue about the “Discourse of Catholicity” treats new catholicity in the light of an ample tradition of Christian thought and the traditional “mark” of the Church in the light of recent global developments. This panel brings into dialogue a scholar of Eusebius of Caesarea and the political theology of the early Church; the author of a recent general history of the relationship between politics and Christianity who has scrutinized with particular care the diverse recent attempts at retrieving the political doctrine of Augustine’s City of God; and an ecumenical expert on the idea of the unity of the Church in Cyprian of Carthage who has also reflected extensively on postcolonial theology and the mission of the Church today.
The Mutual Exchange of Gifts: Clergy Formation & the Challenge of Intercultural Dialogue
Keynote Speaker & Moderator: Msgr. Wayne Prist, Director of Priest Development, Archdiocese of Chicago
Panelists: Daniel Borlik, C.M., DePaul University Board of Trustees
Louis Cameli, S.T.D., Archdiocese of Chicago, Archbishop’s Delegate for Formation & Mission
Joseph R. Ferrari, Professor, Psychology, DePaul University
Daniel Gast, Director, Project INSPIRE
Kevin Gillespie, S.J., Associate Provost, Loyola University of Chicago
Manuel Ginete, C.M., preparing to serve in Sudan
Lennoxie Lusabe, C.M., served in Kenya, currently graduate student in Canada
Patrick McDevitt, C.M., Assistant Professor, School of Education, DePaul University
Gary A. Mueller, C.M., served in Kenya, currently graduate student in Rome
The session will address the ongoing formational needs of Roman Catholic priests in today’s multicultural and global society. The church in the United States is rapidly seeing a demographic change in the ethnic, racial, and national composition of the presbyterate. Given these changes, there are opportunities for greater collaboration, intercultural sharing, and mutual learning and support among national groups. The interfacing of cultures is a new venue for ongoing priestly formation, education, and transformation. (Lunch provided.)
Book Presentation: A World for All? Global Civil Society in Political Theory & Trinitarian Theology
Presenters: Rev. Dr. J. Kiran Sebastian, H. George Anderson Professor of Mission & Cultures, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
Peter Casarella, Director, Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology, DePaul University
Paul Louis Metzger, Director, Institute for the Theology of Culture, Multnomah Biblical Seminary
Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., Vatican Council II Professor of Theology, Catholic Theological Union
William Storrar, Director, Center for Theological Inquiry
This volume's three editors and one of the contributors will offer their remarks on the forthcoming publication. Regarding this publication, Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., who will also participate in this session, writes:
"This volume advances significantly an important discussion of the meaning of global civil society and how Christian theology might engage it. Its interdisciplinary character assures that it will reach sectors in political science, philosophy, and theology. The range of voices represented here reflect the complexity and the urgency of the question of how we are to continue on a worldwide exchange of action and policy that will allow the world to live together in a genuinely humane fashion. No discussion of political theology, social theory, and cosmopolitanism can be continued without reference to this book."
Fourth Plenary Session
Moderator: Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., Vatican Council II Professor of Theology, Catholic Theological Union
Anselm Min, Dean & Maguire Distinguished Professor of Religion, School of Religion, Claremont Graduate University
Closing Plenary
Moderator: Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., Vatican Council II Professor of Theology, Catholic Theological Union
John Allen Senior Correspondent, National Catholic Reporter, & Senior Vatican Analyst, CNN
Closing Remarks
Peter Casarella, Director, Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology, DePaul University