Bishops’ Doctrine Committee To Meet With U.S. Theology Societies

WASHINGTON—TheU.S. bishops' Committee on Doctrine will meet with the nation's theologicalsocieties, March 16, in Washington at The Catholic University of America.

The goals of the meeting includesdeveloping relationships among the academic societies and with U.S. bishops andexploring current theological issues, said Capuchin Father Thomas Weinandy,executive director of the Secretariat for Doctrine of the U.S. Conference ofCatholic Bishops.

Societies to be represented at themeeting include the Catholic Theological Society of America, Fellowship ofCatholic Scholars, Academy of Catholic Theology, College Theology Society,Black Catholic Theological Symposium, and the Academy of Catholic HispanicTheologians of the U.S.

The day-long meeting will includethree sessions. Each will start with short presentations by a member of the DoctrineCommittee and a scholar from one of the societies.Their task will be to enumerate the principalmatters at stake and identify topics for conversation to provide a startingpoint for the discussion.Scholars fromthe academic societies will facilitate the discussion following eachsession.

Bishop presenters will include ArchbishopWilliam E. Lori of Baltimore, S.T.D., speaking on the relationship betweencatechesis and theology in a university setting in light of the NewEvangelization. The respondent will be Aurelie Hangstrom, Ph.D., of ProvidenceCollege, representing the Catholic Theological Society of America.

The second speaker is Bishop John O.Barres, Diocese of Allentown, S.T.D., speaking on the role of a Catholicuniversity or college in the promotion of the New Evangelization. Respondentwill be Brian Benestad, Ph.D, University of Scranton, representing the Fellowshipof Catholic Scholars

The third speaker is ArchbishopAllen H. Vigneron, Ph.D, S.T.L. of Detroit, speaking on the intellectual,theological, and moral needs of contemporary undergraduates in the age of theNew Evangelization. Respondents will be James Keating, Ph.D., ProvidenceCollege, representing the Academy of Catholic Theology, and Sandra Yocum, PhD,University of Dayton, representing the College Theology Society.

The meeting is not open to thepublic. A report on the proceedings will be published afterwards.

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Keywords: U.S.bishops, Father Thomas Weinandy, The Catholic University of America, College TheologySociety, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Archbishop William E, Lori, BishopJohn Barres, Archbishop Allen Vigneron, Aurelie Hangstrom, Brian Benestad,James Keating, Sandra Yocum

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