From May 26 - 28, Fr. Richard Schenk, OP, professor of philosophy and theology at DSPT, attended the annual meeting of the Academy of Catholic Theology in Washington, D.C. The ACT was founded in 2007 as a theological society seeking to foster discourse among representatives of the various theological subdisciplines and neighboring philosophical inquiry. The ACT currently has about 70 members, of whom Fr. Richard is the only member teaching at a school west of the Continental Divide. Fr. Richard was also the founding president, followed first by Bruce Marshall (Southern Methodist U.) and now by Robert Sokolowski (Catholic University of America). The theme of this year’s discussion was "The Trinity and the One God," with presentations by Bruce Marshall, Gary Anderson (Notre Dame), Denis Farkasfalvy (U. of Dallas), Robert Wilken (U. of Virginia), Brian Daley (Notre Dame), Sandra Keating (Providence College), Gregory LaNave (Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C.), Robert Barron (Mundelein), and Robert Sokolowski. Fr. Richard presented the laudatio for Professor Robert Spaemann (Munich), who received the ACT’s annual John Henry Newman Medal for Distinguished Achievement.
Fr. Bryan Kromholtz, OP, assistant professor of theology at DSPT, is assisting with preaching and sacramental ministry at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage from June 12 to July 10. He was previously Parochial Vicar at Holy Family Cathedral from 2000 to 2002. He recently offered the “Dominican Forum” there for two evenings of lecture and discussion on the Resurrection of the Dead, including a talk on June 16 titled, "Already or Not Yet? The Moment of the Resurrection of the Dead," and another on June 23 called, "Finally Raised: Resurrection on the Last Day according to St. Thomas Aquinas."
From June 22 to 25, Fr. Albert Paretsky, OP, adjunct professor of theology at DSPT, offered a series of seven talks titled “The Voice from the Whirlwind” at the Vallombrosa Retreat Center in Menlo Park, California. The talks were sponsored by the Office of Ongoing Formation for the Clergy of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The individual talks were titled: “Creation and Salvation: God’s Word and man’s response. From first disobedience to restoration of Israel,” “Creation and Law: Community and Covenant. The People are the locus for the holiness of God and the Decalogue is the sign of his presence,” “Psalms: What is man that you are mindful of him? Israel returns the Word to God in prayer,” “Proverbs and Sirach: The feminine mystique. Holy Wisdom is the manifestation of God’s better half,” “Amos: ‘A Famine of hearing the words of the Lord.’ Humanity having abandoned Grace confronts the raw power of God,” “Elijah and Job: The Voice from the beyond the World. Problem of theodicy and God’s absence,” and “Jeremiah: ‘You seduced me, God.’ The vicarious suffering of the impassible God.”
Fr. Hilary Martin, OP, emeritus professor at DSPT, has returned to Melbourne in Australia for the following semester. He will be teaching at the Yarra Theological Union and will continue his ongoing study of Aboriginal religion. The "Message Stick" placed in our chapel in May is a reminder of DSPT's connection with the Aboriginal people of Australia. Fr. Hilary will be visiting an Aboriginal community with a long and interesting history in the Northern Territory. He can be contacted at hilary@australia.op.org or at 816 Riversdale Rd, Camberwell, Vic. 3124, Australia.
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