April 2015

Welcome to the FIRST

The newsletter of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church
 

Dear Friends,

 

Happy Easter!

 

I am happy to be sending you the First for April!

 

I hope this finds you well and celebrating the joy of the risen Lord.

 

In this issue we have the first of our Visiting Professors featured, Joe Selling in Hekima College, Nairobi.

 

There are other three forum essays as well: Shaji George Kochuthara on a provocative new law in India; Ellen van Stichel a provocative essay on strawberries, from Belgium; and, from Jutta Battenberg a reflection on violence, social connections, conscience and responsibility starting with the disappearance of the 43 students in Mexico; and Nichole Flores on when racial discourse breaks down in the U.S.

 

We have Asian and and European Reports, see especially Lucas Chan's report on the upcoming Asian Regional meeting in Bangalore.

 

Kudos to Paulinus Odozor for his new book, then calls for paper from India and US.

 

All the best

 

Jim

 

A Report from CTEWC Visiting Professor: Joseph Selling

 

In response to the initiation of CTEWC's visiting professor program, I applied to teach moral theology at Hekima College, a Jesuit theological college just outside the center of Nairobi. My hosts have asked me to write a short description of this experience for the benefit of future applicants.

 

I was very well received by the staff and personnel of the College and I found the students to be very receptive to the appearance of a new, albeit temporary, addition to the teaching staff. All in all, I must report that this has been an enjoyable and enriching experience - I hope for all involved.

 

Planning your program, and negotiating with your host institution, can be very important. If you expect to spend an entire semester in one place, this will probably be relatively easy. In my own case, I was only able to spend half of the semester at Hekima, 7 of the 14 weeks, approximately in the middle of the spring semester. This timeframe resulted in the need to program my activities to fit into an already existing schedule. Expecting that the host institution will be able to schedule short, intensive programs may not be realistic.

 

Fortunately, my experience at Hekima successfully dealt with this issue. Simultaneously, we agree that it is important to have the complete details of one's intentions and the host institution's expectations clearly worked out as part of the application process. I hope that everyone involved in visiting professor program will be as fortunate as I was to deal with such an understanding and helpful staff who made my stay truly worthwhile.


 

- Joseph Selling 

 

Visiting professor at Hekima College, Nairobi, Kenya

 

 


 


 

CTEWC Forums from Latin America, Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America


Joseph Selling, (Africa),Visiting professor at Hekima College, Nairobi, Kenya 
News from Asia:

News from Asia, by Lucas Chan
 

India: OJPD-CBCI reports on activities in the past two months

The Office of Justice, Peace and Development, Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (OJPD-CBCI), reported on the following activities held recently that promote social justice:

A protest against communal violence was held at Sacred Heart Cathedral on February 6, following the recent church attacks in the Capital. Christian groups met the Home minister who assured protection for minorities

A two day consultation for Southern States Justice and Peace Workers was organized and held at KROSS, Bangalore on February 25-26.There were around 40 participants, representing Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka.

For further information on these events and OJPD-CBCI, please contact its Executive Secretary, Rev. Dr. Charles Irudayam, [email protected], or visit their website http://thejusticeandpeace.org

 

 

Updates on CTEWC Asian regional conference:

            The preparation of the first ever Asian regional conference is in good progress. There will be around 80 Catholic theological ethicists from 14 Asian countries and cities, and another 20 plus that include local graduate students, CTEWC Planning committee members, and bishops from India and overseas, participating in this 4 day conference. It will be held in Bangalore in this July. The overall theme of the conference is "Doing Catholic theological ethics in a cross-cultural and interfaith Asian context."

            For further information on this conference, please click on the URL: http://ctewc.dvk.in/


News from Europe:


News from Europe, by Roman Globokar 

 

Our Slovak colleague Fr. Inocent-M�ria V. Szaniszl� OP is a founder of Professor Spesz�s Institute of Applied Ethics at Theological Faculty ofCatholic University of Ruzomberok in Kosice, Slovakia(http://www.ku.sk/en/). Since 2010, the Institute has organized meetings with important representatives of political, economic and medical ethics.Every year the award "Personality of the Year" is assigned to one ethicist.This year the awarded person is Prof. Jan Sokol from Prague, Czech Republic, for his lifetime engagement in the field of ethics. Part of this meeting will be the international conference on cancer patients from April 10th - 11th, 2015 organized by the Institute in cooperation with the Chamber of medical law MEDIUS, under the aegis of the President of Slovakia. Several guests from different European countries will take part as well as the representatives of the Slovak government. Program of the conference is available at: http: //konferencia2015.medius.sk/. For more information please contact: [email protected].


New Book from Paulinus Ikechukwu Odozor, C.S.Sp.

 

New publication from Paulinus Odozor, C.S.Sp.:

 

Title: Morality Truly Christian, Truly African: Foundational, Methodological and Theological Considerations.

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press

Date of Publication (November 2014).

371 pages.
 

 

Call for Papers: Asian Horizons, June 2015

Asian Horizons, Dharmaram Journal of Theology

Vol. 9, No. 2, June 2015

Call for Papers

 

After 50 Years: Apostolate of Lay People; Towards Future

On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of Vatican II Asian Horizons has been dedicating various issues to the theological reflection on Vatican II documents. The last in that series is on the Apostolate of Lay People and on the Church of the Future.

One of the major contributions of Vatican II is its recognition of the role of the laity in the Church -the equal dignity of the laity, their role in the mission of the Church, not merely as collaborators of the clergy, but as faithful having equal right and duty for the apostolate of the Church. A lot has been achieved in this regard; yet we may feel that the role and dignity of the laity need to be recognised further. The Church becomes a community only when everyone has the possibility of participating in it equally. Our mission is a shared mission. June 2015 issue invites papers on Apostolicam Actuositatem, the theology of the laity envisaged by the Council, an appraisal of the progress done so far, and the way forward.

Besides, we also invite papers on the vision of a future Church, in light of the challenges faced, reading the "signs of the times."


 

Suggested Topics (only recommendations, not exhaustive):

- Apostolicam Actuositatem: Its contribution; Appraisal of Implementation

- Apostolate and Role of the Ministry

- Ministerial Priesthood and Priesthood of the Baptized

- Lay Ministries

- Lay Ministries in a Globalized World

- Lay Ministry and Ordained Ministry: Collaboration to Co-Responsibility

- Lay Women in the Church

- Basic Ecclesial Communities and the Lay Apostolate

 

- Vision for the Church in the Future

- Models of the Church for the Future

- Changing Patterns of Life and the Church

 

As usual, we welcome other articles on any area of theological interest and research.

Please send your articles (4500-5000 words, including the footnotes) at the latest by 20 May 2015. 

Kindly include the abstract of the article in 150-200 words and a short resum� of the author in 100-150 words.

 

Other regular items: "New Scholars": Abstract of doctoral theses (recently defended and not yet published); book reviews.

For submitting the articles and for more details: Shaji George Kochuthara (editor-in-chief): [email protected]

N.B. Kindly forward this to your friends and colleagues.

[Asian Horizons, published from DVK, is a forum for theological reflection in the Asian context marked by economic poverty, cultural diversity and religious plurality. Although the focus is on theological reflection in the context of Asia, we also address theological developments and concerns of the universal Church and try to dialogue with the Church in various contexts. Hence we welcome authors from all over the world. Asian Horizons was launched in 2007 as a biannual. From 2011 it is published as a quarterly. We have an editorial board consisting of members from India, other Asian countries and other continents.]

Asian Horizons, Dharmaram Journal of Theology

Themes: 2013-2015

2014: Vol 8

March: After 50 Years: Eastern Churches

June: Pastoral Challenges to the Family in the Context of Evangelization: Reflections on the Preparatory Document for the Synod on the Family

September: After 50 Years: Dialogue with Religions; Dialogue with Other Churches

December: Migration & Poverty

2015: Vol 9

March: After 50 Years: Ongoing Renewal of Moral Theology

June: After 50 Years: Apostolate of Lay People; Towards Future

September: Ethics, Theology and Technology

December: Asia's Women Theologians

 

 

 

 


Call for Papers and Posters for Integrity of Creation: Climate Change (An Annual Conference Series) by Friday May 15, 2015.

CALL FOR PAPERS & POSTERS

Conference, Integrity of Creation: Climate Change

 

Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA

September 30 to October 2, 2015

 

Duquesne University invites academic Papers & Posters on Climate Change to be presented at this inaugural annual conference. The interdisciplinary conference series provides a scholarly forum to explore topics related to the Integrity of Creation. The deadline for applications is Friday May 15, 2015. There is no fee to register for the conference. For questions contact Glory Smith, at: [email protected] or 412-396-4504. Please apply on the conference website at: www.duq.edu/ioc








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