“Synodality as Field Hospital” is the theme for the Second Annual Schreiter Institute Spring Symposium on a Praxis of Reconciliation. The global Church is entering into a culmination of a unique synodal process meant to renew global Catholicism and create a “listening Church”. The presenters and attendees at this symposium will explore together how this synodal process can help bring about Pope Francis’ image of the Church as an authentic “field hospital” that tends to the wounds of creation in global and local contexts.
This unique gathering will convene scholars, theologians, artists, and practitioners in a public conversation about the challenges and possibilities for renewing the Catholic Church into a Field Hospital, through the Synodal process, that authentically attends to the healing of trauma and moral injury in God’s creation.
MARIA CIMPERMAN, RSCJ, will provide the keynote presentation on May 9th. The final session on May 10th will be an opportunity for all presenters and attendees to participate in a synodal “Conversation in the Spirit”
Maria Cimperman, RSCJ, is Professor of Theological Ethics and Consecrated Life and Founding Director, Center for the Study of Consecrated Life at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, IL. She attended the Synod on Synodality in October 2023 in Rome as a non-voting expert, only one of two such representatives from the U.S., and she will be attending in the same capacity in October 2024. Her research is at the intersection of moral theology, social ethics and spirituality
Hoon Choi is an Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Bellarmine University. He received his PhD from Loyola University Chicago on Catholic Masculinities and his Master of Divinity and B.A. from Yale Divinity School and Boston College, respectively. His teaching and research interests intersect among race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and Catholic moral and contextual theology with a particular attention to the spectrum of masculinities and post-colonial methods vis-à-vis (masculine) white supremacy and Western imperialism. Those interests came together in a recent article, “A Case for Intersectional Theology” and in the forthcoming article, ‘Fatherhood, Reproductive Justice, and the Strategic Invisibility of Men” both in the Journal of Moral Theology.’
The V. Rev. Jeffrey Kirch, C.PP.S., is the provincial director of the United States Province of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. Previously, he served as the Secretary General of the worldwide Congregation and was also in ministry at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., of which he is an alumnus. He holds a PhD in Theology from Loyola University Chicago with a focus on ecclesiology.
Anne McGowan is Associate Professor of Liturgy at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Anne’s vocation as a liturgical scholar was kindled by her involvement in pastoral liturgical ministry, and the ongoing engagement of academic insights and practical application is an important component of her work. Her research interests focus on the theological, historical, and ritual development of Christian worship practices and the ways in which these practices (as articulated in texts and celebrated in living contexts) invite and engage the full and active participation of all members of the Body of Christ and call them to live differently in the Church and in the world.
Dr. Alejandro Nava is a Professor of Religious Studies and Classics at the University of Arizona. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He is the author of numerous books, including Wonder and Exile in the New World, In Search of Soul, and, most recently, Street Scriptures: Between God and Hip-Hop, (UChicago, 2022).
Tisha M. Rajendra is Associate Professor of Christian Ethics at Loyola University Chicago. She is author of Migrants and Citizens: Justice as Responsibility in the Ethics of Immigration (2017). She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics and has published in journals such as Political Theology and Ethical Theory and Moral Practice. Her popular writing has appeared in Sojourners and the Los Angeles Times. Rajendra is working on a book about solidarity and theories of selves.
C. Vanessa White is Associate Professor of Spirituality and Ministry at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and Director of the Certificate in Black Theology and Ministry. She holds a dual appointment as Associate Director of the Th.M. Program (Master of Theology) at Xavier University’s Summer Institute for Black Catholic Studies. A womanist practical theologian, her research is focused on the intersections of spirituality and praxis and is attentive to issues of discernment, health, racial justice, diversity/intercultural dialogue, women’s spirituality, leadership development, synodality, and issues pertinent to the life of Black Catholics.
