Description

RECOMMENDATION: Discretionary grant of $10,000 to Boston College to support Amoris Laetitia: A New Momentum for Moral Formation and Pastoral Practice, a conference hosted by the Jesuit Institute.
On October 5-6, 2017, the Jesuit Institute at Boston College will host a conference aimed at engaging the central themes of Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), an apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis that was released in April 2016. This document, which followed two synods on the family held in 2014 and 2015, focuses on the theme of love in the family. In the words of James Martin, SJ, writing for America magazine, the document “asks the church to meet people where they are, to consider the complexities of people’s lives and to respect people’s consciences when it comes to moral decisions. The apostolic exhortation is mainly a document that reflects on family life and encourages families. But it is also the pope’s reminder that the church should avoid simply judging people and imposing rules on them without considering their struggles.”
Two of the Theology Program’s most abiding priorities have been the broadening of knowledge through boundary crossing scholarship and the cultivation of religious leaders through theological education, and this twin focus on scholarship and leadership has informed the program’s grantmaking in a variety of different ways. At its best, the program’s support for scholars and leaders has kept a creative and consistent eye on the next edge, and not just the current one, and the meeting proposed by Boston College will gather scholars and leaders at a moment when the “next edge” of the Church’s approach to love and family are of significant interest and importance.
The conference will be modeled on an earlier event co-sponsored in Paris by Cardinal André Vingt-Trois and Msgr. Philippe Bordeyne Rector of the Institut Catholique on October 17, 2016. As with the earlier conference, the central aim is to gather a range of theologians and church leaders to discuss “the challenges and promises” of the apostolic exhortation. Observers and media representatives will also be invited, and the conference will be co-convened by Cardinal Blase J. Cupich. Cardinal Cupich currently serves as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, and in 2015 he was personally invited by Pope Francis to participate in the second session of the synod on the family. In conjunction with his participation in the synod, Cardinal Cupich requested and received a small discretionary grant from the Theology Program, to support communications efforts during the synod. In addition to his formal report to the Foundation on those efforts, Cardinal Cupich has been in ongoing communication with Michael Gilligan regarding his increasing interest in public engagement activities, and this dimension of the conference and its aftermath is yet another point of contact with the Theology Program’s core commitments and key emphases. Dr. Gilligan has agreed to attend the conference on behalf of the Luce Foundation.