Past Flannery Lectures

2022-2023 Flannery Lectures

Flannery Lecture Series: Theology from a Place of Wounds: Lessons from the Mirror Church in Rwanda

Marcel Uwineza, S.J. (Ph.D. Systematic Theology, Boston College) is Principle at Hekima University College, Nairobi, Kenya. He is author of Risen from the Ashes (2022), Healing a Wounded People (2023) and co-editor of Reinventing Theology in Post Genocide Rwanda (2023). In 2019 he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. This event was held Tuesday, April 4, 2023 via Zoom.

Flannery Lecture Series: Synodality and the New Media

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Dr. Agnes Brazal (Philippines) explores how Pope Francis enhances the concept of synodality to involve “especially those on the periphery who are often excluded and forgotten” and even those who have left the church. This thrust toward maximum participation and inclusion illuminates theological differences and conflicts within the church. This lecture explores how the use of new media, following the vTaiwan model, can be a means to go beyond an impasse and discern the consensus fidelium. This event was held Monday, March 20, 2023 at 4:30 pm in the Hemmingson Ballroom.

Fall 2021 —Challenges in Catholic Identity

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Panelists:

Anthea Butler, University of Pennsylvania

Cristina Traina, Fordham University

Stacie LeBlanc, President of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children

Spring 2021 — COVID-19: Perspectives from Theology, Bioethics, and Population Health

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Panelists:

Aline Kalbian, Professor of Religion, Florida State University

Rhonda M. Medows, M.D., President, Population Health Management, Providence — Rhonda M. Medows, M.D.

Rhonda M. Medows, President, Population Health Management, Providence

Andrea Vicini, S.J., Michael P. Walsh Professor of Bioethics, Boston College

Fall 2020 — Perspectives from Public Health & Theology: COVID-19

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Panelists:

Shawnee M. Daniels-Sykes, R.N., Ph.D., Professor of Theology, Mount Mary University

Teresia Hinga, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Santa Clara University

Bob Lutz, M.D., MPH, Health Officer, Spokane Regional Health District

Spring 2020 — Dr. Jennifer Beste

Envisioning a Just Response to the Catholic Clergy Abuse Crisis

In this lecture, Dr. Beste argues that Catholic communities seeking justice and healing must prioritize action on three issues that remain overlooked. First, as a body of Christ, we have not yet fully understood and acknowledged the severe traumatic effects of clergy sexual abuse on youths’ sense of self, their capacity for freedom, and their capacity to relate constructively to God, others, and themselves. Second, recognizing the ways in which survivors continue to suffer from traumatization, we need to forge an authentic way of being in solidarity with clergy sexual abuse survivors and supporting them in their pursuit of justice and healing. Third, we need to examine how Catholic assumptions about children and norms requiring children’s passivity and obedience contributed to the phenomenon of clergy sexual abuse. We need to develop a revised account of what constitutes justice for children.

Fall 2019 — Fr. Tom Doyle

What the Sexual Abuse Phenomenon has Done to the Catholic Church

Spring 2019 — Dr. Maureen H. O'Connell, Associate Professor of Theological Ethics La Salle University

From the Upper Room to Pentecost: Toward an Ethic of Racial Mercy (No print flyer available)

The experiences of White Christians in the United States right now when it comes to crises and conflicts around racialized inequality are akin to that of Jesus’ disciples who locked themselves away in the upper room in the dark days between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. Many of us desire to be followers of Christ, but are trapped by emotions of fear, shame, guilt, frustration, and anger. Like them, if we desire to cross the threshold of that confining space and move toward the empowering – and multicultural - event of Pentecost, we need to be transformed by God’s mercy. In this presentation, I suggest that before White Christians engage in racial justice movements we must first seek racial mercy. I’ll turn to wisdom I’ve discovered from exploring my own family history with the color line to explain my concerns about racial justice without racial mercy and offer some personal and collective practices for racial mercy itself that might help us show up as more whole people in that critical work.