AUSCP 2025 Assembly
Sex and Spirituality Pastoral Considerations
14TH ANNUAL AUSCP ASSEMBLY
June 23 – 26, 2025
San Antonio, Texas
Your Guide to San Antonio
Hotel Information
Drury Plaza Riverwalk Hotel
105 South St. Mary’s Street
San Antonio, TX. 78205
The Drury Plaza Hotel San Antonio Riverwalk is located on the San Antonio River, walking distance from shops, restaurants and entertainment. Relax in the sun on the deck of the rooftop pool, which also has two whirlpools! Formerly the Alamo National Bank, this 24-story renovated skyscraper features 50-foot ceilings, travertine flooring and stained glass windows.
Things to Do in San Antonio
The Alamo and the San Fernando Cathedral attract many visitors.
Visit the Alamo. Learn about the battle from History.com.
Plan an extra day or three: Create Your San Antonio Guide.
San Fernando Cathedral (Spanish: Catedral de San Fernando) also called the Cathedral of Our Lady of Candelaria and Guadalupe (Spanish: Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria y Guadalupe) is a cathedral of the Catholic Church located in downtownSan Antonio, Texas, United States, facing the city’s Main Plaza. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of San Antonio and the seat of its archbishop. Its dome serves as the city of San Antonio’s cultural and geographical center. The cathedral is also known as the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria y Guadalupe and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is notable as one of the oldest cathedrals in the United States. From Wikipedia.
The old cathedral and the nightly light show that is held there are often considered a highlight of peoples’ visit. Check out a guide to the San Fernando Cathedral.
2025 Assembly Featured Presenters
More information coming soon.
Todd A. Salzman
BA, PhD
Keynoter
Salzman completed his BA in Philosophy and Theology/Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, 1986. He completed his BA/MA/STB (Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureus) in Theology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1990 and his Ph.D. in theology, summa cum laude with congratulations of the examining board in 1994 at the KUL. He is married to Katy and they have three children: Ian, Aaron, and Emily.
Todd Salzman, Co-Author: The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology (Moral Traditions)
Two principles capture the essence of the official Catholic position on the morality of sexuality: first, that any human genital act must occur within the framework of heterosexual marriage; second, each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life. In this comprehensive overview of Catholicism and sexuality, theologians Todd A. Salzman and Michael G. Lawler examine and challenge these principles. Remaining firmly within the Catholic tradition, they contend that the church is being inconsistent in its teaching by adopting a dynamic, historically conscious anthropology and worldview on social ethics and the interpretation of scripture while adopting a static, classicist anthropology and worldview on sexual ethics.
While some documents from Vatican II, like Gaudium et spes (“the marital act promotes self-giving by which spouses enrich each other”), gave hope for a renewed understanding of sexuality, the church has not carried out the full implications of this approach. In short, say Salzman and Lawler: emphasize relationships, not acts, and recognize Christianity’s historically and culturally conditioned understanding of human sexuality. The Sexual Person draws historically, methodologically, and anthropologically from the best of Catholic tradition and provides a context for current theological debates between traditionalists and revisionists regarding marriage, cohabitation, homosexuality, reproductive technologies, and what it means to be human. This daring and potentially revolutionary book will be sure to provoke constructive dialogue among theologians, and between theologians and the Magisterium.
Jennifer Beste
Keynoter
Jennifer Beste is the Koch Chair for Catholic Thought and Culture at the College of Saint Benedict and St. John’s University. Beste holds a master’s degree in divinity from Vanderbilt Divinity School and a Ph.D. in religious ethics from Yale University.
Susan Weber
Strategic Planning
Susan Weber coordinates the evaluation processes for Lilly Endowment Inc.’s Religion Division. She spent several years as the Indianapolis Center for Congregation’s director of evaluation and congregational learning, as well as a resource consultant to congregations.
Weber is a Roman Catholic lay woman. Prior to her work at the Center, she served the Archdiocese of Indianapolis as coordinator of boards of education, office of Catholic education from 1976-1985. For almost 20 years thereafter, she was an independent consultant and group facilitator for dioceses, churches, religious communities, and schools nationwide. Sue has degrees from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College and Indiana University, Bloomington and is professionally certificated as a group facilitator through Indiana University.
Ron Rolheiser, OMI
Retreat Director
As a young child, Ron’s father George, along with his family, and other German- Russian families, immigrated from Saratov, Russia, and settled, as homesteaders, near the Alberta border where they established a community centred around St. Donatus Church in Cactus Lake, Saskatchewan. Ron’s mother Matilda was from a family of homesteaders in a nearby area. After meeting George at a parish picnic, they married, and acquired a farm, near Cactus Lake, within 4 miles of the original Rolheiser homestead.
Following his school years, Ron entered the novitiate of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and professed his First Vows in September 1966. Ordained to the priesthood in 1972, Ron continued his education, receiving a B.A. (University of Ottawa, 1969), B.Th. (Newman Theological College, 1973), M.A. (University of San Francisco, 1974), M.R.Sc. (University of Louvain, 1982) and Ph.D/STD (University of Louvain, 1983). During and after his studies, he taught theology and philosophy at Newman Theological College, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Fr. Ron is in demand and well-known as a speaker. Keeping an active speaking schedule, his retreats and workshops have inspired many. Along with his academic knowledge in systematic theology and philosophy, he has become a popular speaker in the areas of contemporary spirituality and religion and the secular world. Franciscan Communications has produced fifteen DVDs of his retreats that are well-loved for both individual and group use.
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