AUSCP 2023 Assembly

Dr. Brian Flanagan completed his Ph.D. in 2007, writing a dissertation on the ecumenist and theologian Jean-Marie Tillard, O.P. In addition to revising that work for publication, Dr. Flanagan continues his research in ecclesiology, ecumenism, and Jewish-Christian dialogue, particularly through the Ecclesiological Investigations Network and the Ecclesiological Investigations Group of the American Academy of Religion.

At Marymount University, Dr. Flanagan is able to indulge both his research and his passion for teaching. In the foundational “Theological Inquiry” course and upper-level courses in ecclesiology, Christology, and sacramental theology, Dr. Flanagan draws upon the diversity of his students’ experiences and his own study of Christian theology to create a classroom focused on shared critical inquiry.

Flanagan is completing a three-year term as president of the College Theology Society. Founded in 1954 as a Roman Catholic organization of lay and religious teachers of undergraduate theology, CTS is a professional association of college and university professors now totaling over 500 across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Dr. Flanagan has been a member of the Society since 2002 when he was still a doctoral student at Boston College, has since served as Treasurer from 2010 to 2016

Dr. Flanagan credits CTS with positively impacting his teaching style and curriculum as a professor at Marymount, reflecting on his participation in a Society teaching workshop focused on race, racism and pedagogy that he says helped him learn how to talk about these topics in the diverse classrooms of the University.

“Most of my best teaching ideas are derived from collaboration with my colleagues at CTS and at Marymount,” Dr. Flanagan said. “The Society’s focus on combining solid research with attention to pedagogy means that talking about how to translate the study of theology and religion into forms and methods that work for our students is always part of the formal and informal conversation.”

Cardinal Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, known affectionately as “Chito” is described as “a consistent advocate for the poor and vulnerable throughout his influential career in the Catholic Church,” and “both unpretentious and dynamic, whether commuting by bicycle or inspiring massive crowds with his exhortations.” (Kellogg Institute)

Cardinal Tagle was born in 1957 and ordained a priest in 1982. He earned his doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of America in 1991. He was named Bishop of Imus, the Philippines, in 2001; archbishop of Manila in 2011, Cardinal in 2012.

Cardinal Tagle spoke at the 2015 Annual Cardinal Dearden Lecture at Catholic University of America, on evangelization in Asia in light of Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.

In 2016, Catholic News Service interviewed Cardinal Tagle at World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland. (Catholic News Service Blog)

Massimo Faggioli is Professor of Theology and Religious studies, Villanova University, and also a columnist for La Croix International. He gave a keynote address to the AUSCP Assembly, 2016, in Chicago, on the topic, “Pope Francis and the Unfolding of Vatican II in Today’s Church.”

The title of his 2023 presentation is The “Synodal Process” in the USA and in the Global Church: A Geography of Hope

Faggioli says, “The talk will address the similarities and differences between the USA and other synodal processes in the global Catholic Church (Australia, Germany, Ireland, etc.) and will analyze what has been specific of the US synodal process and what it says about the present and future of the Catholic Church in the USA.”

Biography

Dr. Massimo Faggioli is full professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University (Philadelphia). His books and articles have been published in more than ten languages. He is columnist for the magazines Commonweal and La Croix International. His most recent publications include the books: A Council for the Global Church. Receiving Vatican II in History (Fortress, 2015); The Rising Laity. Ecclesial Movements since Vatican II (Paulist, 2016); Catholicism and Citizenship: Political Cultures of the Church in the Twenty-First Century (Liturgical, 2017); The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis. Moving Toward Global Catholicity (Orbis, 2020); Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States (Bayard, 2021). He has co-edited with Catherine Clifford The Oxford Handbook of Vatican II (Oxford UP, 2022), and is under contract with Oxford University Press for the book God’s Bureaucrats. A History of the Roman Curia.

Keynote Address: Bridge people or neglected and peripheral? Latinas/Latinos Catholics in the U.S.

Caught between cycles of attentiveness from official Church structures that then slip back into invisibility and marginality, how do we accompany Latinas/Latinos by facing la realidad of contemporary struggles with them? Cecilia González-Andrieu invits us into a process of discerning how to best accompany and bring to the center communities that are divers, complex and seeking a faith to call home.

Cecilia González-Andrieu is professor of Theology at Loyola Marymount University, where she also works on multiple initiatives to serve the Latinx community, especially undocumented students and worker’s rights. A graduate of LMU and the Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, where she was named Alumna of the Year, she is a contributing writer for America Magazine and publishes and speaks widely as a public theologian. Committed to a faith that does justice, she is also a member of the board of directors of the Ignatian Solidarity Network and an advisor to the Discerning Deacons Project.

A respected international lecturer on issues of political theology, theological aesthetics, and Latino theology she is the author of the book Bridge to Wonder: Art as a Gospel of Beauty, co-editor of Teaching Global Theologies: Power and Praxis, and a contributor to many other publications, including Go Into the Streets: The Welcoming Church of Pope Francis.

Español

Cecilia González-Andrieu es profesora de teología en Loyola Marymount University, donde también trabaja en proyectos con jóvenes indocumentados y trabajadores. Recibió el doctorado de Graduate Theological Union en Berkeley, donde ha sido nombrada Exalumna Distinguida del Año, es ensayista para la revista América, y escribe y presenta su trabajo de teología en muchos otros foros públicos. Comprometida con una fe que hace justicia, también es miembro de la junta directiva de la Red de Solidaridad Ignaciana y asesora del Proyecto Discerning Deacons – Discerniendo la restauración de las mujeres al ministerio diaconal.

Una respetada conferencista internacional en temas de teología política, estética teológica y teología latina, es autora del libro Bridge to Wonder: Art as a Gospel of Beauty, coeditora de Teaching Global Theologies: Power and Praxis, y colaboradora de muchas otras publicaciones, incluyendo Go Into the Streets: The Welcoming Church of Pope Francis.

Sr. Nancy Sylvester is the Founder and President of the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue.

Biography

Nancy Sylvester is founder and President of the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue (ICCD) which began in 2002. Nancy is committed to the transforming power of communal contemplation in one’s life and the life of the community. She believes it invites the shifts in consciousness so necessary to embrace our evolutionary journey and engage the critical issues facing us in ways that foster dialogue, relationships, compassion and justice.

Nancy is a past President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and past vice-president of her religious congregation the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe, MI. Nancy served on the staff of NETWORK, a national Catholic social justice lobby, for fifteen years, first as researcher, then lobbyist and ten years as National Coordinator. Prior to coming to NETWORK, Nancy taught secondary education in and around Detroit, Michigan.

Nancy guides many of ICCD’s programs including Enter the Chaos: Engage the Differences to Make a Difference. She also designs and facilitates processes related to these programs for various organizations and congregations nationally and internationally. Nancy is a known speaker and writer. She is currently writing a series of reflections on contemplation for the Global Sisters Report. Many of her writings can be found on the Institute’s website: iccdinstitute.org.