In the mission statement for Communio: International Catholic Review, Hans Urs von Balthasar set forth a vision that he and the other founders hoped would inform a print journal and give shape to a theological movement born from the heart of the Church. For Balthasar, Communio set out to “fight at all costs against the deadly polarization brought on by the fervor displayed by traditionalists and modernists alike” and “to perceive of the Church as a central communion, a community that originated from communion with Christ, who presented himself as a gift to the Church; as a communion that will enable us to share our hearts, thoughts, and blessings.”
Given the persistent relevance of this mission, the upcoming anniversary seems an appropriate moment to consider the theological and cultural engagement of a journal that is now realized in 14 language-editions around the world.
The purpose of the conference is three-fold:
Jean Duchesne, Ph.D.
Jean Duchesne is co-founder of the Editorial Board of the International Catholic journal Communio, the editorial advisor of Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris, and the literary executor of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger and Father Louis Bouyer. He is part of the Oasis Scientific Committee and of the Observatory for Faith and Culture of the Episcopal Conference of France. He directs the Catholic Academy of France. Among his publications, the most recent are: Retrouver le mystère. Plaidoyer pour les rites et la liturgie (2004); Petite histoire d’Anglo-Saxonnie (2007); Histoire sainte racontée à mes petits-enfants (2008); Histoire de Jésus et de ses apôtres racontée à mes petits-enfants (2010); La pensée de Louis Bouyer (2011); Incurable romantisme? (2013).
Jean-Luc Marion, Ph.D.
Jean-Luc Marion works at the intersection of contemporary phenomenology, the history of philosophy, and Christian theology. In Reduction and Givenness, Being Given, In Excess, Givenness and Hermeneutics, and most recently Reprise du donné among other works, he has presented and developed a phenomenology of givenness. In more directly historical work Marion has published several studies reading philosophy through a phenomenological lens, particularly Descartes. Full-length works include Sur l'ontologie grise de Descartes, Sur la théologie blanche de Descartes, Descartes' Metaphysical Prism, and most recently Sur la pensée passive de Descartes. In theology and the history of Christian thought Marion wrote The Idol and Distance and God Without Being on the question of God and metaphysics, and more recently he has written books on Augustine (In the Self’s Place) and on the concept of revelation (Givenness and Revelation). He has also worked in Greek and Latin patristics and in medieval thought. His most recent title is Brève apologie pour un moment catholique. In 2017 a collection of short pieces and a collection of interviews with Dan Arbib will be published in translation (Believing in Order to See and The Rigor of Things).
Tracey Rowland, Ph.D.
Tracey Rowland holds the St. John Paul II Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, Australia. She has published eight books: Culture and the Thomist Tradition (London: Routledge, 2003), Ratzinger's Faith: The Theology of Benedict XI (Oxford University Press, 2008), Benedict XVI: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Bloomsbury, 2010), Catholic Theology (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), The Culture of the Incarnation: Essays in Catholic Theology (Steubenville: Emmaus Academic, 2017), Portraits of Spiritual Nobility (New York: Angelico, 2019), Beyond Kant and Nietzsche: The Munich Defence of Christian Humanism (London: Bloomsbury, 2021), and Despre Permanenta Adevărului şi alte eseuri (Bihor: Ratio et Revelatio, 2021). The latter is a collection of her essays first published in the English language edition of Communio: International Catholic Review and translated into Romanian. She has also edited the collection Anglican Patrimony in Catholic Communion (London: Bloomsbury, 2021) and co-edited Chiesa Sotto Accusa (Cantagalli, 2020) with Don Livio Melina, also published in Spanish as La Iglesia en el Banquillo (Madrid: Didaskalos, 2021). She is a member of the editorial board of Communio: International Catholic Review and was appointed to the 9th International Theological Commission in 2014. In 2009 she was awarded the Archbishop Michael J. Miller Award for the Promotion of Faith and Culture by the University of St. Thomas in Houston and in 2010 she was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In 2020 she won the Ratzinger Prize for theology.
David L. Schindler, Ph.D.
Formerly a Weaver Fellow (1972-73) and a Fulbright Scholar (1974-75, Austria), Professor Schindler taught in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame (1979-92), where he received tenure in 1985, and at Mount St. Mary’s University (1976-79), where he received tenure in 1978. Since 1982 he has been editor-in-chief of the North American edition of Communio: International Catholic Review. He serves as editor of the series Ressourcement: Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Thought with Eerdmans Publishing Company. Professor Schindler has published over seventy-five articles (translated into nine languages) in the areas of metaphysics, philosophical issues in biology and biotechnology, and the relation of theology/philosophy and culture. He is the author of Heart of the World, Center of the Church: Communio Ecclesiology, Liberalism, and Liberation (T&T Clark and Eerdmans, 1996); and also of Ordering Love: Liberal Societies and the Memory of God (Eerdmans, 2011). His most recent edited collections are Love Alone is Credible: Hans Urs Von Balthasar as Interpreter of the Catholic Tradition" (Eerdmans, 2008); and (with Doug Bandow) Wealth, Poverty, and Human Destiny (ISI, 2003). Other edited collections include Beyond Mechanism: The Universe in Recent Physics and Catholic Thought (1986); Act and Agent: Philosophical Foundations of Moral Education, with Jesse Mann and Frederick Ellrod (1986); Catholicism and Secularism in America (1990); and Hans Urs Von Balthasar: His Life and Work (1991). Professor Schindler was appointed by Pope John Paul II as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Laity from 2002 to 2007.
Rev. Jacques Servais, S.J., Ph.D.
Fr. Jacques serves as the Director of the Casa Balthasar and is the current President of the Balthasar-Speyr-Lubac Association. He has been intimately involved with the house since its original inception in 1991. Since 1985 he has lived in Rome, teaching systematic spiritual theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University and working under then-Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Now retired from his work at the Gregorian and the CDF, Fr. Jacques is dedicated entirely to his role at the Casa Balthasar where he offers spiritual direction to the residents and guests making the Spiritual Exercises. Additionally, he makes himself available to researchers interested in our authors of reference. Fr. Jacques has published various works and articles on H. U. von Balthasar and the spiritual sources of his thought, in particular St. Ignatius of Loyola and A. von Speyr, but also J. H. Newman, M. Blondel, and F. Ulrich.
When: 7:00pm EST Friday, September 30th - 1pm EST Sunday, October 2nd, 2022
Where: St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry, Rochester, NY
David L. Schindler and Fr. Jacques Servais, SJ, “Communio at 50: A Mission in Retrospect”
Jean-Luc Marion and Jean Duchesne, “Challenges and Expectations in France in the 1970’s”
Tracey Rowland, “From Extrinsicism to a World that Denies both Nature and Grace: a Polyphonic Analysis of Contemporary Western Culture”
For those interested, an Open Reading Group will be facilitated once a month on Friday leading up to the start of conference. Its aim is to come into greater contact with the riches of the Communio journal during its fiftieth year of publication. It will also provide intellectual preparation, exercised through reading and discussion as a community, for this conference. Anyone interested may join; it would be particularly helpful for those already engaged in Communio Study Circles and those that plan on attending the conference. Learn more here.
Please note the prices below reflect early bird discounts - available now through June 30th. Regular pricing ($250 for option 1, and $50 for option 2) will go into effect July 1st - September 12th.
Further conference details, including shuttle, lodging, meals, and more can be found in your registration confirmation email.
Includes 2 evening receptions, 2 continental breakfasts, 2 lunches, and 1 dinner. Highly recommended for those presenting
For non-presenters who wish to attend online, Zoom meeting links will be emailed to you to participate in the conference
