ACCU 10th Annual Peace and Justice Meeting: January 15-17, 2010 ~ Register Today!
Transcending Borders: Catholic Social Thought in Teaching, Research and Action

Return to the conference welcome for the invitation, announcement and brochure.

Conference Schedule

Saturday, January 16, 2010

7:15-8:15 am:	Shuttles from Hotel
7:30-8:30 am:	Continental Breakfast and Morning Prayer
8:30-10:00 am:	I: Catholic Social Thought on Wealth and Poverty Speaker: Charles M. A. Clark, PhD, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Tobin College of Business; Senior Fellow, Vincentian Center for Church and Society; and Professor of Economics at St. John’s University. / Respondent: Stephen Conroy, PhD, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of San Diego
10:15-11:45 am:	II: Catholic Higher Education in the 3rd Millennium: Race and Ethnicity in the U.S. Speaker: David T. Abalos, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies and Sociology at Seton Hall University / Respondent: Alberto Pulido, PhD, Chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of San Diego
11:45am–12:30 pm:	Lunch Buffet
12:45-3:15 pm:	III: Border Excursion *Pants and tennis shoes required. **Passport not required.
3:30-5:30 pm:	IV: Immigration on the U.S.-Mexico Border Keynote: Orlando Espin, ThD, Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Center for the Study of Latino/a Catholicism at the University of San Diego

III. Experience: The Border Fence - * Pants and tennis shoes required.

Excursion: Physical presence at the border brings home concrete dimensions of a painful tale of two nations. The University of San Diego will provide an unforgettable excursion to the physical border between the United States and Mexico, tracing a brief history of the fence and its implications for security, the environment and its human impact. Participants will reflect on their experience through dialogue, reflection, and the principles of Catholic Social Thought.

IV: Signs of the Times: Immigration on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Dialogue: The issue of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, fraught with complexity, requires voices from all sides to explore just and peaceful solutions to the problem. Panelists representing diverse viewpoints on the issue will join their voices to a keynote speaker who will examine immigration through the lens of Catholic Social thought. All participants will be invited to share their wisdom on the issue through roundtable discussion and response to complete a circle of dialogue, leading to a deeper understanding and more solid response to this critical issue.

Keynote: Orlando Espín, Th.D.,has been a member of the University of San Diego faculty since 1991. He is professor of systematic theology in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He is also director of USD's Center for the Study of Latino/a Catholicism, which he founded in 1994. Espín has twice served as president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (of which he was one of the founders), and has also served on the boards of directors of the Catholic Theological Society of America and of the Hispanic Summer Program in Religion and Theology. Espín has received an honorary doctorate and an honorary professorship. He founded and was first chief editor of the Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology. He is active in the San Diego Latino/a community, as well as nationally in Latino/a theological research and educational projects.

Espín is the author of more than three hundred articles published in U.S., Latin American and European journals. He has also authored The Faith of the People: Theological Reflections on Popular Catholicism and Grace and Humanness: Theological Reflections Because of Culture, and two other books. He has edited or co-edited several other volumes: the award-winning (co-ed. with J. Nickoloff) Introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious Studies, as well as (co-ed. with M. Díaz) From the Heart of Our People: Latino/a Explorations in Catholic Systematic Theology, and (co-ed with G. Macy) Futuring Our Past: Explorations in the Theology of Tradition. He recently edited Building Bridges, Doing Justice: Constructing a Latino/a Ecumenical Theology. Espín is currently writing a book on the theology of traditioning, and another on popular Catholicism.

Espín has focused his teaching on Latino/a theology and Latino/a Catholicism, as well as on Latino/a and Latin American religions of African origins. He teaches the course on Christian understandings of salvation, and he also regularly teaches introductory survey courses on Christianity.