Women and Church, East and West: A Catholic-Orthodox Conversation
Friday, March 5 and Saturday, March 6, 2010
Loyola Marymount University
The Huffington Ecumenical Institute presents Women and Church, East and West: A Catholic-Orthodox Conversation, a symposium which examines the role and experience of women in the contemporary Orthodox and Catholic Churches. Orthodox and Catholic women and men will discuss the gifts women have to bring to the table of ecumenism. View the itinerary.
The Huffington Ecumenical Institute follows the pioneering work of Patriarchs and Popes during the last forty years in rapprochement between the Churches of Constantinople and Rome. The goals of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute are to promote the unity of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches, to provide opportunities for fraternal encounters between these two faith communities, to provide resources and forums for reflective and frank ecumenical discussion and dialogue at local, regional, national and international levels, to foster ecclesial and academic interest and leadership in constructive ecumenism, and to build a leading collection of library resources for the study and support of ecumenism. Learn more about the Institute online.
SPEAKERS
LaReine-Marie Mosely, S.N.D., PhD earned her doctorate in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 2008. She is now Assistant Professor of Theology at Loyola University Chicago, where she teaches on the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her areas of specialization embrace Christology, womanist theology and black Catholic theology. Her present research interests include the contributions of women religious, theologies of Mary, the role of race in the work of new theologians, liberation theologies, African American theologies. Recently Dr. Mosely was a panel member during the Black Catholic Consultation at the Catholic Theological Society of America's June 2008 meeting. She presented on "Black Catholic Theologians Across the Generations." Dr. Mosely was also one of six theological reflectors who provided feedback at "Solidarity in Christ's Mission," a June 2008 gathering of U.S. and Canadian Jesuits and their lay collaborators involved in social ministries. She is a Catholic religious, a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame.
Eve (Paraskevè) Tibbs, PhD is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. She holds a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology with a minor in Church History and an M.A. in Theology with an emphasis in Biblical Studies, both with Fuller Theological Seminary. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Dr. Tibbs is currently serving as Chair of the Eastern Orthodox Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion. She serves the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco as the Religious Education Coordinator and is a delegate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America to the National Council of Churches of Christ, USA. Professor Tibbs' areas of specialization are: the Trinity and Personhood, Ecclesiology, Early Church History, Patristic Thought and Doctrinal Development, Contemporary Eastern Orthodox Theology, Contemporary Western Systematic Theology, and Comparative Christian Eastern Orthodox Theology, Contemporary Western Systematic Theology, and Comparative Christian Theology. She is a parishioner of St Paul’s Greek Catholic Church, Irvine.
Wendy M. Wright, PhD holds a doctorate from the University of California at Santa Barbara and is Professor of Theology at Creighton University, where she holds the John C. Kenefick Faculty Chair in the Humanities. She teaches regularly in several graduate ministerial programs including Creighton's Christian Spirituality Master's program and the National Methodist Academy for Spiritual Formation. Her expertise falls in the areas of history of spirituality, family spirituality, spiritual direction and the Catholic devotional tradition. Her academic work has focused on the Salesian spiritual tradition founded by Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal. A prolific author, among her many books are Bond of Perfection: Jeanne de Chantal and François de Sales; Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal: Letters of Spiritual Direction ; Francis de Sales: Introduction to the Devout Life and Treatise on the Love of God ; Sacred Dwelling: A Spirituality of Family Life ; The Vigil: Keeping Watch in the Season of Christ's Coming; The Rising: Living the Mysteries of Lent, Easter and Pentecost; The Time Between: Cycles and Rhythms in Ordinary Time; Sacred Heart: Gateway to God; Seasons of a Family's Life: Cultivating the Contemplative Spirit at Home; Heart Speaks to Heart: the Salesian Spiritual Tradition and Caryll Houselander: Essential Writings (Orbis Books). She is currently working on a book on Marian devotion in Los Angeles. She and her husband, Roger Bergman, are the parents of three young adults.
Valerie Karras has taught at Saint Louis University, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology and Hellenic College, Washington University in St. Louis and is currently assistant Professor of Church History at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. She has earned doctorates in patristic theology from the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki and in church history from The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. She also holds a Master of Theological Studies degree from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Professor Karras's research interests include women in early and Byzantine Christianity, gender in early church theology, and Orthodox Christianity in ecumenical, interreligious, and feminist conversation. She is the author of Women in the Byzantine Liturgy (Oxford University Press) and has published articles, translations, and book reviews in scholarly journals
Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald, MDiv, PhD is an Orthodox theologian, author and licensed psychologist. Her publications include Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church: Called to Holiness and Mininstry, Orthodox Women Speak: Discerning the 'Signs of the Times' (ed.), Encountering Women of Faith:St. Catherine's Vision Collection vol.1 (ed.), Living the Beatitudes: Perspectives From Orthodox Spirituality (co-authored with her husband, Rev. Dr. Thomas FitzGerald). Dr. FitzGerald is the Founder and Coordinator of St. Catherine's Vision (www.orthodoxwomen. org), a working group of persons committed to studying and supporting the many ways women and men are called to serve within the life of the Church today.
Mary Beth Ingham C.S.J. is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University. Sr. Ingham specializes in the history of medieval philosophy, John Duns Scotus and the Franciscan spiritual tradition. She is the author of many scholarly articles and had published books in both French and English, including Scotus for Dunces: An Introduction to the Subtle Doctor, and (with Mechtilde Dreyer) The Philosophical Vision of John Duns Scotus: An Introduction.
Stefanie Yova Yazge is a graduate of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, and a Doctoral Candidate completing her dissertation. A mother of three and wife of an Orthodox priest, her professional career includes work at the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches, and 12 years teaching on the collegiate level, including an Assistant Professor position at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (IN). She has written a chapter for Encountering Women of Faith: St. Catherine's Vision Collection Vol 2: (to be released later this year) on the Order of Widows and life of St Paula. Areas of interest include liturgy and music, as she is also a choir director, and has been a regional Sacred Music Coordinator in the Antiochian Archdiocese. Currently she is an adjunct professor at Seton Hill University following the appointment of her husband Fr. Anthony Yazge as Director of Camping for the Antiochian Archdiocese, and a move to Pennsylvania.
Tracy Sayuki Tiemeier, PhD is Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA.Holding a PhD in Systematic Theology (with a minor in Comparative Theology) from Boston College, Dr. Tiemeier teaches and researches in the areas of Comparative Theology, Theological Anthropology, Faith and Cultures, Asian and Asian American Theology, Feminist Theology, Women in Religion, and Hinduism. Her current research project involves questions concerning Asian American women’s self-understandings and how the Tamil devotional poetry of the female Alvar, Antal, can shed light on contemporary questions of self.