A fresh conversation is needed around the formation of priests in order for ordained ministry to flourish going forward, according to the new book Priestly Ministry and the People of God (Orbis Books), co-edited by Boston College theologians Richard Gaillardetz, Thomas Groome, and Rev. Richard Lennan. Priestly Ministry and the People of God presents a collection of essays from a variety of voices—a cardinal, bishops, seminary rectors, ordained and lay ministers, and academic theologians—who have put forth their best hopes for the future of the priesthood. The essays are faithful to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and the best of Catholic tradition, while also responding to the needs of the Church today, say the co-editors. Read more in BC News.
The future of priesthood and ministry
Shadows and Stars
Boston College graduate Chuck Abdella has published Shadows and Stars, a suspenseful, action-packed sequel to his fantasy novel The Sun and the Moon. In Shadows and Stars, high school sophomores Katelyn and Jena have a world to save—two worlds, to be exact—in time for softball playoffs and the spring semi-formal. Abdella is a history teacher and indie writer. He is the author of a four-book fantasy series, The Outcasts: The Lies of Autumn, The Darkest Forests, Whispers of Spring, and A Flicker of Hope.
Why Structural Racism Persists
Legal scholar Natsu Taylor Saito will talk about her book Settler Colonialism, Race, and the Law: Why Structural Racism Persists on October 6 at 7 p.m. in Gasson, room 100. Saito is Regents’ Professor Emerita at Georgia State University’s College of Law. Her scholarship focuses on the legal history of race in the United States, the plenary power doctrine as applied to immigrants, American Indians, and U.S. territorial possessions, and the human rights implications of U.S. governmental policies, particularly with regard to the suppression of political dissent. This lecture is also the keynote address for the symposium, “Structural Racism in the United States: Engaging the Interstices of Migration, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, and the Legacies of Settler Colonialism,” which continues the following day. Saito’s lecture is presented by the Lowell Humanities Series and cosponsored by the Center for Human Rights and International Justice and the Forum on Racial Justice in America.
Synodality
Pope Francis has described synodality as the new model of Church. He said that “a synodal Church is a Church that listens…in which everyone has something to learn.” In this model, bishops should listen to the people of God, and what is heard should then find ecclesial channels and structures that link it to ecclesial reforms. Boston College School of Theology and Ministry Associate Professor of the Practice Rafael Luciani has written a new book about this approach titled, Synodality: A New Way of Proceeding in the Church (Paulist Press, 2022). It explores a new way of proceeding in the Catholic Church at all levels. This path calls for a reconfiguration in the relations, communicative dynamics, and structures of the current institutional model of the Church. Luciani’s book presents the new phase of deepening the ecclesiology of the people of God that began with the Second Vatican Council. Luciani has been appointed as an expert on the theological commission of the General Secretariat for the Synod of Bishops. He also serves as a theological expert on CELAM (Latin American Bishops Council) and CLAR (Latin American Confederation of Religious men and women).
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged Catholic Church, Pope Francis, School of Theology and Ministry, synod
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Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman
A conversation with Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman will take place September 28 at 7 p.m. in Robsham Theater*. Mouly and Spiegelman co-founded the groundbreaking comics anthology Raw. Together they also edited the New York Times-bestselling Little Lit series and the TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics. Mouly also is the publisher, designer, and editorial director of TOON Books, an award-winning imprint of comics for early readers. Spiegelman is an artist/illustrator and author who won the Pulitzer Prize for his Holocaust narrative Maus. This event coincides with the McMullen Museum of Art exhibition “Alternative American Comics, 1980–2000: Raw, Weirdo, and Beyond,” featuring works by Mouly and Spiegelman. Their appearance is cosponsored by the Lowell Humanities Series, McMullen Museum of Art, Center for Christian-Jewish Learning, Center for Human Rights and International Justice, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy, American Studies Program, Literature Core Program, and the English, History, and Art, Art History and Film departments. This event requires a (free) ticket; visit the Lowell Humanities Series website for details.
Posted in Guest Authors, Lowell Humanities Series
Tagged comics, McMullen Museum of Art
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The Chicago underworld
Boston College graduate Chuck Hogan is the author of Gangland (Grand Central Publishing, 2022), a new thriller based on Tony Accardo, who led the mob in Chicago in the 1970s, and his right-hand man Nicky Passero. What Accardo doesn’t know is that Passero has a secret which has made his life impossible and has put him in the pocket of the FBI. Gritty and action‑packed, Gangland is a Shakespearean-esque drama of integrity, lost honor, and revenge. Hogan is a novelist, screenwriter, and television producer. His award-winning novel Prince of Thieves was adapted into the Academy Award-nominated film “The Town.” He talks about his work in this Q&A.
Catholic theological ethics
In his latest book, BC Vice Provost for Global Engagement James Keenan, S.J. offers an introduction to Catholic theological ethics through the lens of its historical development from the beginning of the Church until today. A History of Catholic Theological Ethics (Paulist Press, 2022) is a comprehensive study of every period in the history of the tradition, from the early Patristic period to the history of the Penitentials and Confessionals, to the founding of religious orders and universities, the emergence of scholasticism, the birth of modern casuistry, the Council of Trent and the subsequent moral manuals, to contemporary Reformers within the global Church. A History of Catholic Theological Ethics has been lauded as a “landmark achievement” and “tour de force” by scholars. Fr. Keenan is the Canisius Professor in BC’s Theology Department and directs the University’s Jesuit Institute. He has edited or written 25 books. He has published more than 300 essays, articles, and reviews in some 25 international journals. Fr. Keenan is founder of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church.
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged Catholic Church, ethics, Jesuit author, Theology Department
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Murder in D.C.
Congressional staffer Kit Marshall has another murder case (or two) to solve in Lethal Legacies (Camel Press, 2022), the latest installment in the Washington Whodunnit book series by Boston College graduate Colleen Shogan. In this novel, Kit attempts to clear a longtime friend who has become the prime suspect in the murder of the director of the Capitol Visitor’s Center. Lethal Legacies is Shogan’s eighth book in the murder mystery series. She graduated from BC with a degree in political science in 1997. When not writing books, Shogan serves as the senior vice president for the White House Historical Association.
Crisis of freedom
The concept of freedom in the United States has become identified with an abstract, radical individualism disdainful of responsibility to others and to the past, according to theologian David DeCosse. In his new book, Created Freedom under the Sign of the Cross, DeCosse offers a Catholic theological response that provides a redemptive path forward in an age of crisis. DeCosse draws on thinkers such as Amartya Sen, BC Professor Emerita M. Shawn Copeland, and Karl Rahner in order to reimagine American freedom in light of classic Catholic emphases on embodiment, relationship, history, the good, and God. DeCosse earned a Ph.D. in theological ethics from Boston College. He is the director of Religious and Catholic Ethics and Campus Ethics Programs at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and an adjunct associate professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University. The creator and co-editor of a series of books on conscience and Catholicism, he also has written for publications including the National Catholic Reporter.
Judo master
Boston College graduate Eve Nadel Catarevas has written a picture book biography of Rena Glickman, a pioneer of women’s judo. Glickman, known professionally as Rusty Kanokogi, was born in Brooklyn and practiced judo throughout her life. She was not allowed to participate in competitions because she was female. She later became the first woman accepted at the Kodokan Judo Institute in Japan. She opened a co-ed judo school and funded women’s judo competitions. She lobbied tirelessly for women’s judo to become an Olympic event and served as the U.S. Olympic team’s first coach. Rena Glickman, Queen of Judo (Kare-Ben Publishing, 2022) is illustrated by Martina Peluso. Catarevas, who earned a bachelor’s degree from BC in 1979, says she enjoys sharing the achievements of little-known historical figures with young readers. Kirkus called Rena Glickman a “worthy homage to a fascinating woman who was a force for change in a man’s world.”
