本月早些时候在电子游戏软件举行的一次重要会议上, co-hosted by the 博伊西宗教和美国公共生活中心, is believed to be the largest gathering of Catholic leadership at a college campus in the nation's 历史.
“前进的道路:教皇弗朗西斯, 第二次梵帝冈, 和Synodality,，会议于3月3日至4日举行, 召集了80名参与者，包括红衣主教, 主教, 以及其他天主教领袖, 还有神学家, 历史学家, 还有记者们，来讨论共通性, the call by Pope Francis for the universal Church to “walk together,继续接待梵蒂冈第二次会议, and to embrace the ecclesiological challenges facing the Church.
“对于我们所爱的教会来说，这是伟大的两天.——马克·马萨(Mark Massa.J., director of the 博伊西宗教和美国公共生活中心 at 电子游戏软件.
The event—co-sponsored by the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago (LUC) and the Fordham University Center on 宗教 and Culture—was a follow-up to the inaugural “Way Forward” conference last spring at LUC.
Future assemblies are anticipated at Fordham and on the West Coast, 博伊西中心主任马克·马萨说, S.J.
“对于我们所爱的教会来说，这是伟大的两天,” he said. “It was moving watching 神学家 listening attentively to 主教, and vice versa. It was the kind of ‘respectful encounter’ that Pope Francis is calling for in asking the entire church to engage in the synodal process. 能赞助这次聚会是我的荣幸.”
The conference at 电子游戏软件 was the largest gathering of Catholic leadership at a college campus in U.S. 历史.
开幕主讲人拉斐尔·卢西亚尼, an associate professor of the practice in the BC School of Theology and Ministry, 他也是 主教会议:一种新的教会程序, described synodality—a process of fraternal collaboration and discernment—as expressing “a new way of being and proceeding in the Church that has as its point of departure but also its point of arrival in the people of God.”
Luciani declared that a “synodal ecclesiality” is emerging, and that Catholics worldwide are facing a common challenge to build a “synodal Church for the third millennium,” 国家天主教记者.
“It is not enough simply to maintain and adapt what has existed until now. 有必要创造一些新的东西.”
拉斐尔Luciani of BC's School of Theology and Ministry delivered the event's opening keynote address.
Luciani cited synodality as “a new phase in the Church’s response to 第二次梵帝冈”—also known as the 1962 Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, opened by Pope John XXIII in response to the need for Church renewal to better connect with 20th-century Catholics in an increasingly secularized world. 今天, 正如卢西亚尼在他的书中所指出的那样, Pope Francis describes synodality as the new model of Church, representing a deepening of the ecclesiology of the People of God, 这开启了接待安理会的一个新阶段.
克里斯托弗·J主教. 佛蒙特州伯灵顿教区的科因.和杰西A. 约瑟夫, assistant professor of systematic/constructive theology at Villanova University, 对卢西亚尼的言论做出了回应.
在她的主题演讲中, "早期教会的主教会议,” Catholic University of America Associate Professor of Church History Robin Darling Young 指出 that the Church had already experienced more than 200 regional synods by the fourth century, and that the first Christians adopted secular customs such as convening councils to govern their communities.
“This is deeply rooted in early Christianity,” she said, according to 国家天主教记者.
电子游戏软件 Libby Professor 凯思琳Kaveny makes a point during the panel on challenges to synodality. (李Pellegrini)
Panelists responding to Darling Young’s remarks included Maria Clara Bingemer of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro; historian John T. McGreevy of the University of Notre Dame; and Fordham University Professor of Theology Aristotle Papanikolaou.
关于“教会的挑战”的小组讨论,，由安妮·汤普森主持, an N电子游戏软件 correspondent who covers the Catholic Church, included BC’s Darald and Juliet Libby Professor of Law and Theology M. 凯思琳Kaveny; Villanova University Professor of Theology and Religious Studies Massimo Faggioli; and Kathleen Sprows Cummings, professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
在会议第二天的主题演讲中, Hosffman Ospino of BC's School of Theology and Ministry spoke on practical and pastoral theology. (李Pellegrini)
School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education Hosffman Ospino, chair of the Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry Department, 发表第二天的开幕主题演讲, 《电子游戏正规平台》.”
Concluding the event was Bishop Daniel 弗洛雷斯, Diocese of Brownsville, Tex.他是联合国安理会主席.S. 天主教主教会议教义委员会, 谁关注的是“同僚关系”, Synodality, 以及教宗方济各的牧灵愿景.”
Fr. 弗洛雷斯, 国家天主教记者 指出, said that while synodality is rooted in the Church’s tradition, it was interrupted over the centuries by political dynamics, 种族和语言的划分, and other challenges that “made it difficult to sit down and just be happy with the fact that we all in some way” are connected to the Church.
“If we’re going to take synodality seriously,” he said, “then we have some serious work to do.”
The convening was made possible by generous gifts from the Oswell Brown II Foundation, 和GHR基金会, 以及赞助的学术中心.
Phil Gloudemans | University Communications | March 2023