Welcome to the FIRST

The newsletter of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church
 
March 2018


Dear Friends,
 
I begin with very sad news. Last week we learned that on February 22 Sr. Anne Nasimiyu-Wasike, LSOSF, died of malaria, a stunning loss for all who know her. With CTEWC she was always active and, in particular, she was a plenary speaker at Trento on the "Missing Voices of Women in Africa," a topic that animated her life and all around her.  

She was with us at the Jesuit Institute at Boston College from September 2017 until early January 2018. When she left last month, she felt restored and renewed to advocate further for religious women, the elderly, and orphans. She had written several articles here and was working on a volume with Shaji George Kochuthara for Asian Horizons on the "Right for Women Religious to be Educated." Shaji is now working on the volume. 

She was a remarkable woman for the church in the world and in Africa specifically, a person of great courage, wisdom, and solidarity particularly with those without a voice. According to her dissertation director, George Worgul at Duquesne University, in 1985 she became the first African woman theologian to earn a PhD. She was a full professor of Systematic Theology at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Kenyatta University. For the last six years she was called upon to serve her Religious Institute as their Mother General, that being the second time she served as Mother General of her order, the Little Sisters of the Order of Saint Francis.

She published various articles and book chapters for example, Vatican II and Liturgical Adaptations."  African Theological Journal 13.1 (1984); "The Other Africa: Sexism in African Society."  Raggio  54.6 (1987)."Polygamy: A Feminist Critique."  Apostolate to Nomads of AMECEA (ANA) 130-131 (1988)."Christology and an African Woman's Experience."  Jesus in African Christianity: Experimentation and Diversity in African Christology. Eds. J.N.K. Mugambi and Laurenti Magesa. Nairobi: Initiatives, 1989. 123-135. Rpt. in  Faces of Jesus in Africa. Ed. Robert J. Schreiter. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1991. 70-81, and in  Liberation Theology: An Introductory Reader. Eds. Curt Cadorette et al. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1992. 92-103. She was the coordinator of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians in East Africa. She was also the women's coordinator in Africa of the Ecumenical Association of Third World Theologians. She served on the editorial committee of  Propositum, a periodical of Third Order Regular Franciscan history and spirituality published by the International Franciscan Conference. (1992- 2000).

She has been a tremendous sister to all of us.

I would like to collect articles, obituaries or tributes about Sr. Anne that I could post at our website. If you have any please send me them.

Finally here is a link to Emily Reimer-Barry's very fine and informative essay on Sr. Anne.
           
Elsewhere, plans for Sarajevo go forward.
 
I am happy here to report that we have regional reports from Latin America and North America.

We have forum articles from Mary Jo Iozzio on the Bloodbath in the high school in Parkland, Florida; Ingeborg Gabriel from Vienna on the challenge of peace today; Anthonia Ojo on caring for our enviornment; Osamu Takeuchi from Japan on Oikonomia (divine economy); and, Miguel Ángel Sánchez from Mexico City on knowing how to take the social pulse.

I wish you all a happy Lent.
 
Jim

Featured Forum Articles:


Ingeborg Gabriel, The Challenge of Peace Today - Secular and Ecclesial Engagement in Dialogue

Miguel Ángel Sánchez Carlos,   Saber "Tomar el Pulso Social"

Call for Papers
Call for papers for a guest-edited issue of the Journal of Moral Theology. The issue's focus is on Catholic bioethics and health care ethics, and it will be co-edited by Tobias Winright, Rachelle Barina, and Nathaniel Hibner. Submissions due on May 15, 2018



North America Regional Report
By:  Anna Floerke Scheid

In our region, ethicists are finding new ways to use our voices and academic skills to address a variety of crises that are part of this political moment especially in the U.S.  We are bring Catholic Social Teaching to bear on the many issues we face.
 
Last August, North American Regional Committee co-chair Tobias Winright started a Facebook group called "Ethicists Without Borders" While some Facebook groups function only as a place for online discussion, this group has moved to action on two critical issues facing the U.S. population:  racial injustice and increasingly heated rhetoric regarding nuclear warfare and North Korea. 
 
Four members of the group wrote "A Statement from Christian Ethicists Without Borders on Racism and White Supremacy." This document responds to and unequivocally rejects white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and the America First doctrine that emboldens them.  It has received international attention and has been signed by nearly 800 scholars.  
 
As rhetoric threatening war with North Korea swelled, several members wrote "A Statement from Christian Ethicists on Preventative War and the North Korea Crisis." This document has been signed by over 100 ethicists and has also garnered national attention. 
 
Finally, many of us participated in the U.S. Bishop's request that all American Catholics call their legislators to demand protection for a vulnerable group of people in the U.S. called "Dreamers."  Dreamers are young adults who were brought to the U.S. as small children by their parents.  They do not have status as U.S. citizens and are in danger of deportation  back to countries they have never known as home.  On February 26, with the U.S. Bishops and countless clergy and lay people, many of us ethicists participated in a "National Call in Day for the Protection of Dreamers."  We are demanding that Dreamers be protected by U.S. law, and receive a path to citizenship in the U.S.
 
Please visit the linked websites to join Ethicists Without Borders, and to read the statements we have made.



Latin America Regional Report
By Emilce Cuda
La buena noticia desde América Latina es la visita apostólica del Papa Francisco, una vez más, a nuestra tierra. En el mes de enero ha visitado Chile y Perú. Su mensaje, como siempre, una Iglesia en salida, pobre para los pobres. Bajo ese impulso, denunció la corrupción y dijo que la "política está enferma". Gran desafío para los teólogos eticistas enfocados en moral social. Francisco pidió una formación espiritual para los militantes políticos, y dijo que, si no lo logramos con eso sanear la política entonces, "estamos fritos", ya que el sistema neoliberal deshumaniza. Por supuesto las posiciones progresistas críticas del pontificado de Francisco han hecho foco en otro aspecto de la ética teológica, el de la moral sexual, y han presionado mediáticamente contra su discurso acusándolo de no haber ido a fondo con el tema del supuesto encubrimiento de abusos sexuales por parte de sacerdotes. Queda claro que, mas allá de los hechos seleccionados a favor y en contra de su discurso, la disputa de fondo es el ataque al sistema. Aun así, el Papa Francisco ha sumado multitudes en cada una de sus intervenciones públicas, lo cual sigue posicionando por sobre los líderes políticos de la región -y del mundo-, al momento de contabilizar su capacidad de convocatoria, y su legitimidad moral, entre los más pobres. Comparto mi articulo de reflexión publicado en el periódico Pagina/12 de Argentina: "Papafilia-Papafobia"

Claudia Leal nos cuenta desde Chile que el martes 9 de enero se realizó la presentación del libro "Teorías de la Justicia y Doctrina Social de la Iglesia", primera publicación del "Programa de Teología, Ética y Economía" de la Facultad de Teología de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. El volumen reúne textos de diversos autores y fue editado por Claudia Leal y Cristian Hodge. La presentación estuvo a cargo del Decano de la Facultad de Filosofía UC, Olof Page, como parte del seminario "Políticas Públicas y Ética Cristiana: Desafíos para el desarrollo integral y sostenible". El programa de Teología, Ética y Economía es fruto del coloquio interdisciplinar de profesores que se realiza en la Facultad de Teología. Este tiene como fin la reflexión sobre el cómo enseñar en la Universidad, la dimensión ética en su diálogo con la teología desde el ámbito económico-social. El Coloquio tiene como característica principal el aporte interdisciplinar que logra enriquecerse con invitados de talla internacional, especialistas en los temas, así como profesores de distintas facultades como Teología, Filosofía, Ciencias Sociales y Ciencias Económicas y Administrativas, entre otras. Quien se interese en adquirir el volumen, por favor escribir a: 
 
Agustin Ortega desde Ecuador nos comparte un artículo que ha publicado en "Carthaginensia: Revista de estudios e investigación" (ITF de Murcia), donde trata de mostrar la formación y sabiduría profunda del Papa Francisco. De forma similar a otros autores, presenta la fidelidad y continuidad creativa del Papa Francisco con la tradición y magisterio de la Iglesia - con el Concilio Vaticano II o San Juan Pablo II, el más citado por Francisco en su magisterio.


Conference: Laudato Si' - Discovering the Intrinsic Values of All Creatures
Sponsored by the Embassies of Georgia, Germany and the Netherlands to the Holy See in collaboration with the Pontifical Gregorian University, and the Joint Diploma in Integral Ecology Group of the Pontifical Universities, a conference on Radical Ecological Conversion After Laudato Si', Discovering the intrinsic Value of all Creatures, Human and Non-human will take place at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Piazza della Pilotta 4, 00187, on March 7 - 8 2018.
The conference will bring together priests, religious, scientists and teachers to explore the implications for the Academy, the Church, and Society of the teaching of Laudato si' on the intrinsic worth of all creatures, and the need to re-order human society so as to respect them, and the natural order of the Creation.
 
Through scholarly presentations and dialogue, the conference will identify ways the Church may, together with other partners, bring about the radical ecological conversion of individuals and of economic, social and political agencies and communities.  




Call for Papers: Feminist Ethics and the Question of Gender
Feministiche Ethik und die Frage nach dem Geschlecht Societas Ethica's 55th Annual Conference

Why should feminist ethics and gender be a central focus in the work of philosophical and theological ethics? While this question has been discussed within the fields of feminist and gender theory, philosophers and theologians have often overlooked the category of gender in their work.

Is feminist ethics a distinct ethical theory, or rather a category of inquiry in any approach to ethics? How does the feminist perspective enrich our ability to address such subjects as power, social, cultural, and political participation, poverty, racism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, economic inequality, and healthcare? And how does this lens sharpen the reinterpretation of normative understandings of moral, ethical, and religious traditions? To what degree is the rise of nationalism connected with normative imageries of masculinity and femininity, which now require ethical interrogation, especially against the backdrop of social disintegration?
At our conference, we want to strike a balance between theoretical inquiries and historical or contemporary case studies.

We welcome contributions from philosophical, theological, and applied ethics, as well as from political and social theory, history, psychology, and the sciences. The conference languages will be English, French and German. The deadline for submitting proposals is 03 April 2018 .
Joint Diploma in Integral Ecology 
The Pontifical Universities of Rome now offers a one year joint diploma in Integral Ecology.


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Jim Keenan S.J.

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Trevor R. Jones

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(jonesvu@bc.edu)