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35th Annual Conference
Speaker Bios / Session Descriptions
Plenary Sessions:
- Dies Domini - The Celebration of the Creator's Work -
This chapter contains themes on the goodness of creation, Shabbat as the
creator's joyful rest, the blessing of the day to holiness, and keeping
the day holy by remembrance. To keep the Lord's Day is to acknowledge that
we are not God. The One who creates determines how we fit into Creation
(as opposed to our deciding how we want to fit God into our interpretation
of reality). Does this stand against the assumption that human beings are
those who determine the meaning of all that exists, including their own
lives?
• Katherine Hayes, Ph.D., Seminary of the Immaculate Conception -
Katherine Hayes, Ph.D. is Professor of Scripture at the Seminary, located
in Huntington, New York. She obtained an A.B. from Bryn Mawr College, a
M.T.S. from St. John's University, and a Ph.D. from The Catholic University
of America.
- Dies Christi - The Day of the Risen Lord and
the Gift of the Holy Spirit - This chapter speaks of Sunday
as the day of our new life in Christ, referring to it as the weekly Easter,
the first day, the day of a new creation, the eighth day and a day of
Christ-Light. Such a deified life requires the work of the Holy Spirit,
and we are especially interested to consider how Son and Spirit cooperatively
fulfill the Father’s will. If that is so, then keeping the Lord's
Day is to acknowledge that our identity is fundamentally defined by the
resurrection and the indwelling Spirit of the Risen Lord. Does such a
stance challenge other postures in the world?
• Fr. Calinic Berger, Holy Cross Church & St.
Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary - Fr. Calinic Berger grew up in
California where he finished high school and graduated from Santa Clara
University with a degree in electrical engineering. Feeling called to
serve the Church, he attended Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
in Brookline, Massachusetts, graduating in 1994, and then earned his
PhD in Historical Theology from the Catholic University of America in
2003, having as his doctoral dissertation on an Orthodox thinker named
Fr. Dumitru Staniloae. Currently he serves in the Romanian Episcopate
(OCA) as the pastor of Holy Cross Orthodox Church in Hermitage, Pennsylvania
and is visiting professor of dogmatic theology at St. Vladimir’s
Orthodox Seminary.
- Dies Ecclesiae - The Eucharistic Assembly: Heart of
Sunday - This chapter considers the presence of the Lord
in the Christian community, and the concordance between eighth day and
eucharistic meal. Dies Domini is also the day of a pilgrim people who
live in hope. To keep the Lord's Day therefore requires us to acknowledge
that we are (together) Christ's Body on earth. This is directly opposed
to the deep individualism of our culture. We would, of course, resist
any approach that suggests there is "nothing good" in culture
at large, or condemn culture in too selective a fashion. But how can
one connect the primary way in which God’s presence is understood
to be active in the liturgy, and the way God’s presence is active
in a wider scope?
• Deacon Owen Cummings,
Mt. Angel Seminary - Owen F. Cummings is Regents' Professor of
Theology at Mount Angel Seminary, St. Benedict, Oregon and a permanent
deacon of the diocese of Salt Lake City. A Scotsman, he grew up in Glasgow.
He was educated in theology at Trinity College, the University of Dublin,
and the University of Glasgow. He has written books on such subjects as
eschatology, mystical women and the eucharist, John Macquarrie, Deacons,
and Eucharistic doctors of the Church. In addition, he has published over
a hundred articles.
- Dies Hominis - Sunday: Day of Joy, Rest and Solidarity -
This chapter speaks of the joy that the Lord’s day should cause,
and certain elements of the Sabbath being experienced by Christians on
Sunday. Including among them is liberation and rest, and so Sunday calls
to question the relationship we let pertain between rest and work, and
it demands our attention to justice so the poor do not work without time
for leisure and joy. This is a day of solidarity when works of charity
and mercy can be made. Thus, to keep the Lord's Day is to affirm our solidarity
with all of humanity. The various themes developed in this section show
that a faithful keeping of the Lord's Day puts Christians at odds with
the culture which sees people's worth (including their own) as based on "worldly" success.
It challenges workaholism, and opposes a lack of concern for justice in
human relationships, and for the poor.
• Frederick Bauerschmidt, Loyola
College in Maryland - Frederick Bauerschmidt (MAR Yale
Divinity School, PhD Duke University) is associate professor of theology
at Loyola College in Baltimore. He is the author of Julian
of Norwich and the Mystical Body Politic of Christ; Why
the Mystics Matter Now, and Holy
Teaching: Introducing the Summa Theologiae of
Thomas Aquinas, and is co-editor
of The Blackwell Companion to Catholicism. He has published numerous essays
in scholarly and popular journals on Medieval and contemporary theology,
politics and ethics, and from 2001-2006 was the co-editor of the journal
Modern Theology. In May of 2007 he will be ordained to the diaconate for
the Archdiocese of Baltimore.
- Dies Dierum - Sunday: The
Primordial Feast, Revealing the Meaning of Time - Using the
final chapter of Dies Domini as its starting point, this paper will reflect
upon the larger significance of the Christian sabbath in all of its eschatological
significance. The reflection will use the optic of Saint Augustine's consideration
of time in the final chapter of the Confessions to ground this meditation.
The final part of the paper will sketch out the major problems in realizing
the full significance of the deep meaning of the Dies
Domini while offering
at least one suggestion for heightening awareness of that significance
at a time where Sunday's rich possibilities are significantly eroded in
our culture.
• Lawrence Cunningham, University of Notre
Dame - Lawrence S. Cunningham is John A. O'Brien Professor of
Theology at the University of Notre Dame. The author or editor of over
twenty books, he teaches in the area of Christian Spirituality with a special
interest in the theological significance of sanctity and saints. A regular
reviewer for Commonweal magazine, he has contributed essays to
many journals and books. Cambridge University will soon publish his most
recent work on Roman Catholicism, and he is currently acting as the Christianity
editor for the forthcoming Norton Anthology of World
Religions.
