2023: Becoming a Listening Church: The Invitation to Synodality 

The 1-hour lectures in this series explore how Pope Francis is calling us to practice synodality as a way of being church and the theological and practical implications involved in becoming a more synodal church. Recordings of the lectures are linked below.

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Speakers and LIM Alumni Responders

February 9, 2023	7:00 pm CST
	Speaking onChanging Church Culture: A Synodal Church Kristin Colberg, Ph.D. View recorded lecture»	Dr. Kristin Colberg is an Associate Professor of Theology at Saint John's School of Theology and Seminary where she teaches classes in ecclesiology, theological anthropology, and theological method.
	Welcome Thomas F. Ryan, Ph.D.	Dr. Ryan is the Interim Vice-President of Mission and Identity, Professor of Theology and Ministry, and Associate Dean of the College of Nursing and Health.
	Alumni Response Grant Tregre, M.P.S.	Grant Tregre leads the Social Justice Ministry at St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church a ministry that addresses the systemic social sins of racism, poverty, mass incarceration, and a host of other social concerns in the New Orleans metro area.
March 16, 2023	7:00 pm CDT
	Speaking onWomen’s Roles in the Church  Susan Bigelow Reynolds, Ph.D. View recorded lecture»	Dr. Bigelow Reynolds is an Assistant Professor of Catholic Studies in the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. Her research interests include the intersection of ecclesiology and lived Catholicism in contexts of diversity, marginality, and suffering.
	Welcome Justin Daffron, S.J., Ph.D.	Fr. Daffron is Loyola's Interim President.
	Alumni Response Kayla August, M.P.S.	Kayla is a student at the School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College, where she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Theology and Education with a focus on preaching.
April 20, 2023	7:00 pm CDT
	Speaking onYoung Adult Involvement in a Synodal Church Emily Jendzejec, Ph.D. View recorded lecture »	Dr. Jendzejec is an Assistant Professor of Pastoral Studies in the Loyola Institute for Ministry at Loyola University New Orleans. She specializes in the intersection of Catholic theology, religious education, and young adult ministry.
	Welcome Michelle Collins, Ph.D., CNM, RNC-EFM, FACNM, FAAN, FNAP	Dr. Collins is Dean of the College of Nursing and Health and is also a professor in the School of Nursing.
	Alumni Response Marysa Alvarez, M.R.E.	Marysa has been a Young Adult Minister, Coordinator of Children’s Ministry, and Campus Minister. She is currently a high school religion teacher and Campus Minister and also serves on the Young Adult Council for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

2021: The Demand of Encounter Today

The three virtual lectures explored the demands on us of Pope Francis’s call to create a culture of encounter and intended to draw out theology’s public implications and so inspire people to work for the transformation of our Church and world with special attention to racial justice. View flyer »

Speakers

February 8, 2021
	"Encountering a Multiracial Democracy: Some Notes for Catholics" Craig A. Ford, Jr., Ph.D.   View recorded lecture» Recording includes an address by Loyola's Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Kedrick B. Perry, Ed.D.	Dr. Ford is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. Norbert College. He is a scholar-activist and, in his teaching, addresses questions of gender, race, sexuality and social justice. His current book project seeks to articulate a new theology of sex and gender for the Roman Catholic tradition.
March 15, 2021
	"Encountering Our History, Shaping Our Future: Latinas and the Church in the United States" Natalia Imperatori-Lee, Ph.D.   View recorded lecture» Recording includes an address by Loyola's Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Michelle Collins, Ph.D.	Dr. Imperatori-Lee is Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College. Her research interests include Catholic ecclesiology, particularly the intersection of ecclesial identity with feminist and Latino/a Catholic thought. She is the author of Cuéntame: Narrative in the Ecclesial Present (Orbis Books, 2018), which elaborates a Catholic ecclesiology from a Latino/a perspective by exploring how narratives shape ecclesiology.
April 12, 2021
	"Encountering Justicein the Eucharist" Thomas F. Ryan, Ph.D. View recorded lecture» With an Introduction by Justin Daffron, SJ, Vice President, Mission & Identity	Dr. Ryan is the Marjorie R. Morvant Professor in Theology and Ministry and Director of the Loyola Institute for Ministry. His research interests include the history of biblical interpretation, the history of spirituality, and the thought of Pope Francis. In addition to work on Aquinas's commentary on the Psalms, he is co-editor of Eerdmans' series The Bible in Medieval Tradition.