In NCR Article, Stan Chu Ilo Reflects on Year of Doing Theology at the Peripheries
In November 2022, CWCIT's Stan Chu Ilo wrote "What If the Peripheries Were Really the Center that Defines the Church Today?" for the National Catholic Reporter, reflecting on his experiences as the North America regional coordinator of the Vatican project, "Doing Theology from the Existential Peripheries." (Learn more about the project here). His group of "10 theologians and pastoral ministers visited more than 72 sites and focus groups over the course of this one-year journey," meeting with the poor and marginalized "in places like Hope Border Institute in El Paso; Cook County Jail and Kolbe House in Chicago; Don Bosco Community Center in Port Chester, New York; Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles; All Inclusive Ministries in Toronto; and Casa de Misericordia in San Diego."
In the end, Ilo says that "[b]eing with the poor and harvesting wisdom from the peripheries can give us theologians some dose of realism about what really matters, why we do what we do, and for whom. My hope is that this project will be a model of how to do consultation in the church by listening to the stories that define our church today, not in synodal halls among the church's hierarchy and elites, but among the little and forgotten ones outside the cities, the church's institutional structures, outside the walls and outside the centers of power."
North America Region's Final Report for Vatican's "Doing Theology from the Existential Peripheries"
Ilo (2nd from left) with Pope Francis & fellow "Peripheries" team members
"Doing Theology from the Existential Peripheries" was a research project of the Migrants and Refugees Section (M&R) of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development under Pope Francis. Through more than 500 personal interviews organized in 2022 in 6 regions across the globe, the project sought to uncover the sensus fidei fidelium of those often excluded from discourse within society and especially within the Church, thus promoting a renewal of theology and transforming lives and hearts once again.
Our very own Stan Chu Ilo served as the North America Region’s coordinator, leading a small working group which held listening sessions in Chicago, Ciudad Juárez, El Paso, Los Angeles, Quebec, New Work, Peterborough, San Diego, and Toronto with “peoples whose voices are often muted in our churches in North America, especially the Indigenous populations, migrants and refugees, prisoners, and LGBTQ+, among others.”
The North America Region’s final report, coauthored by Ilo, documents in 100+ pages the stories of our brothers and sisters who are the poor and marginalized that inhabit the “sacred grounds” of prisons, senior residences, rehab center, refugee/immigration camps, etc. The report is an attempt to “center the narratives of those at the existential peripheries which transformed our gaze as theologians and initiated an inner movement of conversion in us.”
Pope Francis' Zoom Meeting with African University Students
Held on November 1, 2022, "Building Bridges Across Africa" brought African university students from 10 countries together with Pope Francis for an online discussion. An expansion of Loyola University Chicago's February 2022 "Building Bridges" Zoom meeting between Francis and college students from the Americas, this event was co-organized by Stan Chu Ilo, CWCIT research professor, and was cosponsored by PACTPAN and CWCIT. (Read more in this article by Chicago Catholic.)
2nd Biannual Pan-African Catholic Congress Held in Nairobi
July 18-22, 2022
Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA), Nairobi
Organized by the Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN—an outgrowth of CWCIT's African Catholicism network begun in 2017)—and cosponsored by CWCIT, this event gathered over 100 pastoral leaders and interdisciplinary scholars from more than 20 African countries and five continents. It was PACTPAN's second congress; the first was held in December of 2019.
As the National Catholic Reporter reported in an August 11, 2022 article, the event included "sessions on domestic violence, war, economic and ecological crises, child sexual abuse, human trafficking and more—all against the backdrop of the Vatican's revamped global synodal process."
Handbook of African Catholicism Receives Award
In June, the Handbook of African Catholicism (Orbis Books, 2022) won 2nd place in the "Reference/Academic Studies" category at the national Catholic Media Associations 2023 Awards:
"Diligently researched and covering a broad scope of interests. Lucid and accessible by not oversimplified or polemical. A much-needed resource."