INSTRUCTORS
Reverend Gregory Chisholm, S.J., PhD serves as pastor of St. Patrick Church in Oakland, CA, and teaches pastoral theology at the Jesuit School. His interests include theologies of liberation and the history of black Catholics. After his ordination in 1993, Fr. Chisholm was an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Detroit Mercy. He specialized in Engineering Vibration and Dynamics and did consulting work with General Motors Corporation. From April of 1998 until June of 2005, Fr. Chisholm was in full time parish ministry in Los Angeles, CA, at Holy Name of Jesus Church, a strong and diverse Roman Catholic community. Since 2002, he has also ministered to married couples in California as a priest of the Worldwide Marriage Encounter program.Currently, Fr. Chisholm serves on the governing board of Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA, and the University of San Francisco in San Francisco, CA. He is also the Chaplain of the Western States District of the Knights of Peter Claver and their Ladies Auxiliary.
Sister Eva Lumas, S.S.S., DMin is Assistant Professor of Faith and Culture at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, CA. She is also an adjunct professor at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies and a well-known speaker at the national level in areas of inculturation, multiculturalism, liturgy, catechesis and pastoral ministry. A Sister of Social Service, she is a consultant and instructor of religious education across the country. She has initiated the development of several religious education guidebooks and training programs for the African-American Catholic Community.
Darnise C. Martin, PhD is an author, lecturer, and educator, and visiting Assistant Professor of African American Studies at Loyola Marymount University where she teaches courses in African American Studies and Theological Studies. She is the author of
Beyond Christianity: African Americans in a New Thought Church (New York University Press, 2004). She is currently co-editing
New and Creole Religions, for the Women in Religions Series for Greenwood Praeger press (forthcoming 2009). Her research interests include Varieties of African American Religions, New Thought Religions, and American Religions. She also speaks regularly to church and school communities.
Mutombo Nkulu-N'Sengha, PhD was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Luba-Bantu cultural tradition. He has studied African Traditional Religions, Philosophy, Theology, and Religious Studies in Central Africa (Lubumbashi and Kinshasa), Rome and Philadelphia. He holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Temple University (Philadelphia).
Deacon Marvin Threatt, PhD was ordained a minister in 1983 in the Roman Catholic Church. He presently serves in Pastoral and Diaconal Ministry at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, in San Diego, CA. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the Consortium of California State University, Long Beach, a Masters degree in Theology from the University of San Diego, and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Honolulu; he has had a long career in Catholic schools, serving as Dean of Students, University of San Diego High School, San Diego, and Principal, Verbum Dei High School, Los Angeles, among other postings. He has written extensively on the mission of Catholic schools, and its implementation of social justice concerns in the African-American Catholic community. He has conducted numerous retreats, workshops and leadership training throughout the country. Deacon Threatt has served on the Commission for Catholic Education sponsored by the National Black Catholic Congress.
C. Vanessa White, DMin is assistant professor of Spirituality and director of the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. A professed Secular Franciscan with the Sacred Heart Province, she is currently the chair of the USCCB commission on Accreditation and Certification, which accredits ministry formation programs and approves the standards for certification. Her publications include the co-edited book Songs of the Heart and Meditations of the Soul with Cecilia Moore and Paul Marshall and Liturgy and Justice as a contributing author, as well as numerous scholarly articles. She was invited to contribute to the CNN series, "Black in America." Her essay on Black Catholics, “Authentically Black and Truly Catholic,” can be viewed on CNN.com.