2024: Navigating Difference, Celebrating Unity: The Promise of Synodality for a Polarized Church
Each 1-hour virtual lecture in this series will explore how the practice of synodality (encountering with love, listening with empathy, and discerning a faithful response) can help people respond to experiences of polarization in the Church.
Speakers and LIM Alumni Responders
February 22, 2024 | 7:00 pm CT | |
An Antidote to Polarization |
Dr. Rafael Luciani is Venezuelan layman, with a Doctor in Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University; he conducted postdoctoral research at the Julius Maximilians Universität, Germany. He is a professor at the Universidad Católica Andrés Bello in Caracas and Extraordinary Professor at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. He currently teaches Ecclesiology, Latin American Theology, Vatican Council II and Synodality in the Church. He serves as Expert of CELAM (Latin American Episcopal Council) and Member of the Theological Advisory Team of the Presidency of CLAR (Latin American Confederation of Religious). He coordinates the Ibero-American Theology Project. He is co-coordinator of the Intercontinental Seminar Group Peter & Paul for the reform of the Catholic Church and is an Expert of the Theological Commission of the General Secretariat of the Synod. He has been appointed as Expert of the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality. Amongst his many academic publications in several languages, his most recent book is Synodality: A New Way of Proceeding in the Church (Paulist Press). | |
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Milissa currently works for the Chancellor in the Archdiocese of Newark and serves as coordinator for parish strategies and small group ministry. She is a also a board member of the National Community of Catechetical Leaders (NCCL Catholic). | |
March 13, 2024 | 7:00 pm CDT | |
Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns was appointed Delegate to the 2023 Synod of Bishops. She is the Adult Learning Director at Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minneapolis and adjunct professor at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Dr. Bailey Manns was a delegate from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis to the Continental Assemblies. | ||
Becky is an Ignatian-trained spiritual director passionate about inviting people closer to Christ. She does this by accompanying people as they navigate deep waters of their faith lives through spiritual direction, writing, retreats, and as founder of Ignatian Ministries. She is author of two award-winning books: The Inner Chapel and Busy Lives and Restless Souls. Becky is part of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Spirituality Center teaching staff where she trains spiritual directors in the Ignatian tradition. Learn more about Becky’s ministry at www.beckyeldredge.com. | ||
April 11, 2024 | 7:00 pm CDT | |
A U.S. Hispanic/Latino(a) Response to Polarization in Our Church |
Dr. Castillo is the Joe and Kelly George Visiting Professor of Pastoral Studies in the Loyola Institute for Ministry at Loyola University New Orleans. His research interests include Catholic social teaching, liturgical theology, theopoesis, liturgical and theological aesthetics, liberation theology, U.S. Hispanic/Latino(a) theology, catechetics, religious studies, comparative religion, religion and film and cultural identity. | |
Carolina Fierro-Amador is a cradle-Catholic, Mexican immigrant living in northeast Mississippi since 2002. She is the general manager in a small family-owned company and has served in the Saint James The Greater parish in Tupelo in a variety of ministries including English and Spanish as a Second Language, Hispanic Evangelization Committee member, Lector, Eucharistic Minister, pre-marriage talks, RCIA, Church History for eighth graders, and Confirmation preparation. She is married with four beautiful children in heaven and four wonderful children walking with her and her husband. |
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.
Speakers and LIM Alumni Responders
February 9, 2023 | 7:00 pm CST | |
A Synodal Church |
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. | |
Thomas F. Ryan, Ph.D.
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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. | |
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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 | |
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. | ||
Justin Daffron, S.J., Ph.D. |
Fr. Daffron is Loyola's Interim President. | |
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 | |
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. | ||
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. | |
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 | ||
Some Notes for Catholics" |
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 | ||
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 | ||
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. |