Notre Dame Hosting Conference in Rome
The University of Notre Dame is hosting a three-day African theology conference in Rome. Notre Dame says the conference, known as African Christian Theology: Memories and Missions for the 21st Century, will examine the past, present and future of African theology in the Catholic tradition.
The conference is being held at Notre Dame’s Rome Global Gateway. It will feature a variety of speakers, including four cardinals, six bishops or archbishops and four superiors general of religious orders. Notre Dame says the goal of the conference is to continue dialogue initiated from a 2001 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, titled "A Call to Solidarity with Africa."
"This is the long-in-coming continuation of an important conversation," Paulinus Odozor, associate professor of Christian ethics and the theology of world Church at Notre Dame. "Christianity is booming in the global south and we want to get into the heart of that from the Catholic perspective. We need to bring Africa’s reality out, to dialogue with the movement of the Church there, and not just focus on the disasters."
The university says the topics discussed at the conference will include moral theology, dialogue with African traditional religion and Islam and the engagement of Christianity with contemporary African society and culture. Five Notre Dame theology students will also present papers on the final day of the conference.
"We hope this conference will help to clarify and articulate the faith from an African perspective — for Africa, for the rest of the world and for our increasingly global Church." said Odozor.