Church as Communion: Embodying the Vision of Jesus the Christ

Jamie T. Phelps, OP, ponders the Church as that community gathered to embody the vision of Jesus the Christ. Jesus proclaimed the coming reign of God as begun in his ministries as prophetic teacher, healer and exorcist.The community who gathered around him committed themselves to follow him as the Way, the Truth and the Light leading to the one true God. Today we claim to be descendents of that community empowered by the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit. So we are called to continue embodying the Vision of Christ as we make visible the church as communion. Phelps is Professor of Systematic Theology at Xavier University of Louisiana and director of its Institute for Black Catholic Studies. She edited Black and Catholic: The Challenge and Gift of Black Folk, and co-edited with Cyprian Davis the documentary history, Stamped with the Image of God: African Americans as God’s Image in Black. An Adrian (Mich.) Dominican, Sr. Jamie helped found the National Black Catholic Sisters’ Conference (1968), and founded the Augustus Tolton Lay Ministry Program at CTU (1990) to prepare Black Catholic women and men for ministry.

Plenary address: Fri, 8 PM

 Leadership and Social Justice: The Challenge of White Supremacy, White Privilege and Religion

Eddie Moore, Jr., asserts that all 21st century leadership and social justice work must challenge systems and institutions of power, privilege and oppression. In this session we re-examine our roles as advocates of peace, equity and justice in that light. With a Ph.D. in Education/Social Foundations, Moore is Director of Diversity at The Bush School in Seattle. Previously he held similar positions at Iowa colleges: Cornell College in Mt. Vernon and Central College in Pella. While working in Iowa, Moore created the White Privilege Conference (WPC) to educate people about a concept that is all but invisible to most whites. The 8th annual WPC was this spring in Colorado Springs. It featured national and international experts who speak on all aspects of privilege. Moore directs his own multicultural diversity consulting team to give motivational sessions to students, parents, organizations, and government employees. A former student athlete, Moore did his doctoral research on the experiences of African-American football players at small Midwestern colleges.

Plenary address: Sat, 10:15 AM

Thou Shalt Not Love:
The Impertinent Color Brown

Richard Rodriguez observes that there is something illicit about the color brown in our national history. We have made laws prohibiting marriage between the races, and grandmothers have refused to attend the marriages of one ethnic group with a rival ethnic group. More shocking, our religious institutions have been suspicious of love—between members of different religions. There have been churches in America that made laws against white marrying black, or white marrying red. And now religious leaders are nearly united in objecting to homosexual love. In a time of furious violence in the world—much of it in the name of religion—love, brown love, continues to bewilder and frighten us. And churches which propose to be teaching institutions are afraid to be learning institutions. Rodriguez for over 10 years has been an essayist on PBS television’s “News Hour with Jim Lehrer.” His autobiographical trilogy embraces Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez (1981), Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father (1992), and Brown: The Last Discovery of America (2002).

Plenary address: Sun, 9 AM