Beal publishes book

Rose Beal’s book “Mystery of the Church, People of God: Yves Congar’s Total Ecclesiology as a Path to Vatican II” was published by Catholic University of America Press: http://cuapress.cua.edu/books/viewbook.cfm?book=BETT.

Theology Department hosts speaker on youth ministry

The 2014 Spirituality for the Vineyard Colloquium will occur Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 12:15 p.m. in the Presidents’ Room.  This year’s speaker is Chris Rogers, the director of youth ministry for the Diocese of La Crosse, and a new adjunct member of the Theology Department at Saint Mary's.

The talk is titled “Real World Ministry” and will focus on what you may or may not expect if you do pastoral ministry, especially youth ministry, full-time in a parish. There will time for questions and answers.

Pizza and drink is provided. Anyone who is interested is welcome to attend.

The Spirituality for the Vineyard project is a co-curricular program angled toward helping Pastoral and Youth Ministry, Theology, and Educational Studies (Religious Ed.) majors and minors address meeting standards for the National Lay Ecclesial Ministry accreditation.

Windley-Daoust publishes ‘Theology of the Body’

Dr. Susan Windley-Daoust, assistant professor of theology, just published “Theology of the Body. Extended: The spiritual signs of birth, impairment, and dying,” through Lectio Publishing, a new Catholic theology academic press.

If anyone is interested in buying a copy at a reduced rate, Dr. Windley-Daoust has a limited supply available at http://tobextended.tictail.com. Otherwise, the book is available for order through the campus bookstore, the publisher's site, and major online retailers.

Windley-Daoust publishes article on theology of death

Dr. Susan Windley-Daoust, Theology Department, recently published an article in Homiletic and Pastoral Review titled “The Sign of the Dying Body: How the Theology of the Body Helps Us to Die in Love.” The article is available online at http://bit.ly/18mqcXA.

Windley-Daoust published in America Magazine

Susan Windley-Daoust, assistant professor of Theology, wrote an article published in the Nov 26, 2012 copy of America Magazine: The National Catholic Weekly, titled “Never Too Late: Seeking Reconciliation 150 Years After the Dakota Uprising,” a reflection on the Great Dakota Gathering that occurred this past September in Winona. Read the article at www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=13712.

Presentation about U.S. religious landscape is Oct. 23

Saint Mary’s will host a public presentation titled, “The U.S. Religious Landscape: Continuities and Some Change” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23.

Guest speaker Clifford Grammich, Ph.D., the chairman of the 2010 Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, will discuss the fact that recent religious data shows many remarkable patterns of stability over the past century, including the Catholic Church as still the largest religious body in the U.S.

The event will be held in the Common Room and is sponsored by the SMU Departments of History, Political Science and Theology.

For more information, contact Dr. Richard Tristano at rtristan@smumn.edu.

Presentation about U.S. religious landscape is Oct. 23

Saint Mary’s will host a public presentation titled, “The U.S. Religious Landscape: Continuities and Some Change” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23.

Guest speaker Clifford Grammich, Ph.D., the chairman of the 2010 Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, will discuss the fact that recent religious data shows many remarkable patterns of stability over the past century, including the Catholic Church as still the largest religious body in the U.S.

The event will be held in the Common Room, located on the third floor of Saint Mary’s Hall, and is sponsored by the SMU Departments of History, Political Science and Theology.

For more information, contact Dr. Richard Tristano at rtristan@smumn.edu.

Windley-Daoust invited to Vatican meeting about social media

Dr. Susan Windley-Daoust, Theology Department, was an invited participant at a Vatican meeting on the role of bloggers and social media in the contemporary Church. One hundred and fifty bloggers and users of social media were invited, representing a balance of language, region, and blog format and topic. The meeting was convened by the Pontifical Council on Social Communication, and held May 2. Associated Press coverage of the meeting can be found at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110503/ap_on_hi_te/eu_vatican_blogging_summit. Dr. Windley-Daoust’s reflections on the meeting can be found on her blog, http://www.ironiccatholic.com/2011/05/reflections-on-vatican-blogmeet.html.

Theology Department hosts national speaker March 18

On March 18, the Theology Department hosted SMU alum and national speaker and consultant on youth ministry Rich Curran (www.richcurran.com) to give a workshop to Pastoral and Youth Ministry majors, and others interested about, “All The Questions You Have About Youth Ministry, Answered.” Students engaged in a lively question-and-answer session combining the theory of ministry to young people to the practice of outreach, inclusion, pre-evangelization, and getting the rest of the parish on board. The workshop was part of the Spirituality for the Vineyard colloquia introduced this academic year, providing interested students the opportunity to engage with national and local leaders in the practice of lay ministry.

Windley-Daoust receives sabbatical grant

Dr. Susan Windley-Daoust, assistant professor of Theology, has received a 2011 Sabbatical Grant for Researchers from the Louisville Institute, a Lilly Endowment funded program supporting those who lead and study American religious institutions.

According the Institute, “The Louisville Institute seeks to identify and support ecclesially-engaged academics and intellectually-astute pastoral and religious leaders whose scholarly research work can contribute to the vitality of Christianity in North America. The Sabbatical Grants for Researchers program supports year-long sabbatical research projects that can contribute to our enhanced understanding of important issues concerning Christian faith and life, pastoral leadership, and/or religious institutions.”

The grant enables Dr. Windley-Daoust to take a full year sabbatical during 2011-2012 to research and write on “Theology of the Body, Extended: The Spiritual Signs of Childbirth, Disability, and Death,” a constructive theology on what it means to be created to be an incarnate sign that points to union with God.

Theology hosts second Vineyard Colloquium

The Department of Theology will presents its second Vineyard Colloquium on Tuesday, Jan. 25. The lecture, “The Lay Vocation to Ecclesial Ministry,” will begin at 4 p.m. in the President’s Room of the Toner Center.

Guest speaker Todd Graff currently serves as the director of the Office of Ministry Formation for the Diocese of Winona.

A colloquium is a somewhat more informal, yet academic, conversation between scholars on a given topic. The Vineyard Colloquia give students a chance to hear from local and national scholars and practitioners in lay ecclesial ministry. The series is part of the Spirituality for the Vineyard program for students discerning lay ecclesial ministry.

The public is invited to attend. For more information, contact Dr. Susan Windley-Daoust at Ext. 4430.

Theology Department hosts speaker Sept. 19

The Vineyard Colloquia inaugural lecture will feature guest speaker Sister Kate Dooley, OP, on Sunday, Sept. 19. Dr. Dooley will present, “Opportunities and Challenges in Lay Ministry” beginning at 7 p.m. in the President’s Room.

Dr. Dooley is a Sinsinawa (Wis.) Dominican Sister who teaches at Dominican University in River Forest, Ill. For the past 25 years, she taught in the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

She holds an M.A. from the Catholic University of America, a M. Th. from Harvard Divinity School, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Dr. Dooley has published widely in catechetical and liturgical journals and written a number of texts and resource materials for religious education. She is one of the general editors for the Benziger series, “Christ Jesus the Way” and has won numerous national awards.

The Vineyard Colloquia is a series of national and local scholars and practitioners of Catholic ministry, speaking and sparking conversation on the practice and spirituality of lay ecclesial ministry.

The event, hosted by the Department of Theology, is free and open to the public.

Theology department hosts speaker Sept. 19

The Vineyard Colloquia inaugural lecture will feature guest speaker Sister Kate Dooley, OP, on Sunday, Sept. 19. Dr. Dooley will present, “Opportunities and Challenges in Lay Ministry” beginning at 7 p.m. in the President’s Room.

Dr. Dooley is a Sinsinawa (Wis.) Dominican Sister who teaches at Dominican University in River Forest, Ill. For the past 25 years, she taught in the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

She holds an M.A. from the Catholic University of America, a M.Th. from Harvard Divinity School, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. Dr. Dooley has published widely in catechetical and liturgical journals and written a number of texts and resource materials for religious education. She is one of the general editors for the Benziger series, “Christ Jesus the Way” and has won numerous national awards.

The Vineyard Colloquia is a series of national and local scholars and practitioners of Catholic ministry, speaking and sparking conversation on the practice and spirituality of lay ecclesial ministry.

The event, hosted by the Department of Theology, is free and open to the public.

Windley-Daoust published in Catholic weekly

Susan Windley-Daoust of the Theology Department has an article published in the Oct. 5 2009, issue of America Magazine: The National Catholic Weekly, “A Fiery Gift: A Meditation on Birth and the Spiritual Life.”

The article is published online at www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=11891.

Additionally, she was interviewed on the topic for the weekly America podcast, available at www.americamagazine.org/content/podcast/podcast-index.cfm?series_id=1120.

Theology Department receives grant

The Winona campus Theology Department won a grant from the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning Theology and Religion on the project “Teaching and enabling spiritual formation for Catholic undergraduate students interested in serving others through the Church.”

This grant funded a workshop held Aug. 17 on assessing how the three primary theology majors (Theology, Pastoral and Youth Ministry, and Religious Education) have met the spiritual formation guidelines required in the National Certification Standards for Lay Ecclesial Ministry. Student self-assessment skills and practices throughout life, and how to provide greater student-awareness of the spirituality, vocation and appropriate role(s) of lay ministry in the Catholic Church were also discussed. Participants included Theology Department faculty, the director of Campus Ministry, and the rector of Immaculate Heart of Mary seminary. The grant was written and is being administered by Dr. Susan Windley-Daoust, Theology.

Windley-Daoust presents paper at academic religion conference

Dr. Susan Windley-Daoust, assistant professor of theology, presented a paper titled “Natural Childbirth as Phenomenological Icon in an Iconoclastic Medical Culture” at the Upper Midwest American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature conference in St. Paul, Minn., on March 27.