LMU Latino Theology and Ministry Initiative Events

Event Archive

"The Synodal Path: Transforming Catholicism and Reconciling The World"  January 30, 2024

The LMU Latinx Theology and Ministry Initiative emerged from a need to assess and then respond to the large population of Hispanic Catholics in the United States, and is a joint project of Loyola Marymount University's Department of Theological Studies and Center for Religion and Spirituality.

As a Catholic university in the largest Catholic archdiocese in the country, LMU is uniquely situated to gather data and marshal resources that will aid in preparing Latinx Catholics for leadership and service in the Church. As the Hispanic Catholic population continues to grow, LMU seeks to grow in the capacity to truly serve this important community in the Body of Christ.

LMU was the host institution for the 2014 Symposium on Catholic Hispanic Ministry in the United States, the follow-up to the Symposium held at Boston College in 2009. You can contact the Initiative at lltm@lmu.edu or by calling 310-258-8604.

 

"Migration in the Thought and Pontificate of Pope Francis" January 31, 2023

Dr. Austen Ivereigh

The LMU Latinx Theology and Ministry Initiative invites you to the 2023 Hispanic Ministry and Theology Lecture with journalist and scholar Austen Ivereigh, D.Phil.

Dr. Austen Ivereigh is a writer, commentator and speaker on contemporary church affairs, with a specialist interest in the Church of Latin America and the papacy of Francis. He drew on his D.Phil. from St Antony’s College, Oxford, in 1993 — which was published as Catholicism and Politics in Argentina, 1810-1960— for his biography of Pope Francis, The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope, which has been translated into many languages. He has recently published a follow-up, reviewing the pontificate, published in the US as Wounded Shepherd: Pope Francis and the Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church and now available in the UK. As a journalist and commentator, he has written widely on church affairs and on the Francis papacy more specifically for The Tablet, Commonweal, The New York Times, Crux, America magazine, Thinking Faith and many others. He appears often on BBC and other media.

VIII Annual Hispanic Ministry and Theology Lecture | February 18, 2019

The annual Hispanic Ministry and Theology Lecture: “A la Ciudad y Al Mundo: Embodying the Ignatian Vision” brought together the LMU community and other Ignatian ministries and groups in our region to reflect on two key points of the Ignatian project as embodied in local initiatives with global reach. This lecture proposed ways to overcome the boundaries (both geographic and social) of our world so we may reach and serve those on the peripheries and offered a framework on how to be invested in creating and promoting a culture that cares for and protects the most vulnerable.

The lecture was presented by the LMU Latino/a Theology and Ministry Initiative, and cosponsored by the Office of the University President, Dr. Timothy Law Snyder; Center for Religion and Spirituality, Department of Theological Studies, Campus Ministry, Office of Student Affairs, Jesuit Community of LMU, CSJ Center for Reconciliation and Justice, and the Center for Ignatian Spirituality. 

Annual Hispanic Ministry and Theology Lecture | April 14, 2016

The annual Hispanic Ministry and Theology Lecture featured Rev. Carlos María Galli, S.T.D., Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Catholic University of Argentina. The lecture was presented by the LMU Latino/a Theology and Ministry Initiative, and cosponsored by the Office of the University President, Dr. Timothy Law Snyder; Center for Religion and Spirituality, Department of Theological Studies, Campus Ministry, Office of Student Affairs, Jesuit Community of LMU, CSJ Center for Reconciliation and Justice, and the Center for Ignatian Spirituality.

The Fourth Annual Hispanic Ministry & Theology Lecture with Rabbi Abraham Skorka | Thursday, January 22, 2015

Rabbi Skorka is rector of the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires, the rabbi of the Jewish community Benei Tikva, a professor of biblical and rabbinic literature at the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano, and honorary professor of Hebrew law at the University of Salamanca. 

VIDEO: Lecture with Rabbi Skorka 

The Annual Charles S. Casassa Chair of Catholic Social Values Lecture  | Thursday, September 25, 2014

"The Francis Factor: Anthropological Reflections on the Contemporary Church" with Gerald A. Arbuckle, S.M.
Ahmanson Auditorium, University Hall 1000

The Third Annual Hispanic Ministry & Theology Lecture | Sunday, September 29, 2013

"Angels, Saints and Sinners: Béisbol, Baseball and Ethics" with Dr. Carmen Nanko-Fernández 

Dr. Carmen Nanko-Fernández is associate professor of Hispanic Theology and Ministry at the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Illinois.

Ethical issues have plagued baseball since its origins as a professional sport, though the criteria for discerning the morally good from the permanently unforgivable invite deeper scrutiny. For example, performance-enhancing drugs overshadowed both the 2013 Major League Baseball season and the Hall of Fame nomination process. Players anxiously awaited word of impending suspensions and retired All Stars, tainted by the steroid era, failed to make the ranks of the most recent Cooperstown inductees. With attention to the complexity and ambiguity of daily lived experience Latin@ theologies offer insights that challenge simplistic analyses that interpret these matters strictly in terms of cheating and fairness. In light of the 40th anniversary of the induction of Roberto Clemente, the first Latino in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, these issues call for further consideration latinamente.

The Annual Charles S. Casassa Chair of Catholic Social Values Lecture | Wednesday, September 18, 2013

"Images of Self & Society: A Cultural Battleground" with Fr. Michael P. Gallagher, S.J. 

Fr. Michael Paul Gallagher, S.J. is an Irish Jesuit and Roman Catholic priest as well as an author, professor, and theologian at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, Italy. 

Where do cultural wars take place?  Perhaps less in our ideas and argued stances than in our self-images and our images of society. We can live with hidden assumptions that are seldom explicit.  Here the tensions between the secular and religious horizons are more subtle and complex. We talk about the need for Christian humanism.  How can it be imagined and nourished rather than theorized?  Partly in the light of the style of Pope Francis, this presentation seeks to open the debate about Christian anthropology towards the realms of spiritual disposition, cultural sensibility, and shared social imagination.

El Catolicismo Latino en EE.UU. y la Nueva Evangelización: Actualidades y Oportunidades con Dr. Tim Matovina | Viernes, 16 de Noviembre, 2012

Dr. Timothy Matovina es el autor Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America’s Largest Church (Princeton University Press, 2012). Para ver la página web del libro, haga clicaquí.

La presencia creciente de la población latina está transformando la sociedad y las iglesias de EE.UU., incluyendo parroquias, movimientos apostólicos, el liderazgo, el culto y la oración, el activismo basado en la fe, y las maneras a través de las cuales se transmite la fe a los hijos.  Esta conferencia examinará esta transformación, en particular la manera en la cual la participación de la comunidad Latina en el medio ambiente cultural de los EE.UU., viene a ser el factor más importante detrás del impacto eclesial y social de esta población. 

Casassa Lecture: Latino Contributions to Vatican II Renewal with Dr. Tim Matovina | Thursday, November 15, 2012 

Dr. Timothy Matovina is the author of the recent ground-breaking study Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America’s Largest Church (Princeton University Press, 2012). To view the book's website, click here.

Numbers alone do not define the significance of the Latino presence in the U.S. Catholic Church, nor the presence of peoples of African, Asian, and Native descent. The mutual influence of Catholicism and Latino (as well as Black, Asian, and Native) peoples in the United States is shaping not just the future of American Catholic life, but also the life of the nation. While there are many facets to the Latino presence in U.S. Catholicism, as we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the opening session of the Second Vatican Council, Dr. Timothy Matovina will focus his remarks on four major contributions to the areas of liturgy, spiritual renewal, faith and justice, and the revitalization of ecclesial life, that Latinos have made to enrich U.S. Catholicism since the Council.

Beyond the Polarized Present: New Perspectives on U.S. Latino Migration and Christianity | October 4, 2012

The current, prolonged debate about immigration, especially Latino immigration, continues to ground the discussion in a superficial understanding of the nature, scope and implications of the Latino presence. In this conference Father Allan Figueroa Deck will share a new vision of what Latino immigration is all about based on new scholarship. These findings provide a fuller interpretive framework for the past, present and future of U.S. society and Christianity, and move the conversation beyond the current polarizations. 

LMU’S Inaugural Hispanic Ministry And Theology Lecture | October 11, 2011

Archbishop José Gómez of Los Angeles will be joining us for our inaugural lecture. More information about this event will be added as the date approaches. Attendance is free. Please reserve your spot by October 4, 2011.

Latino Catholicism in L.A.: Myths, Realities and Possibilities | October 7, 2010

An increasing majority of Catholics in Southern California are Latino/a. Who are Hispanic Catholics? What are the challenges and opportunities they face? How is the Church being shaped by this community? What does the future hold for the Latino/a Catholic community in relation to the entire Catholic Church in Southern California and beyond? The Latino Catholicism in L.A. discussion sought to conduct an engaging exploration of these vital questions.