Emmanuel to Host Boston Catholic Ethnic Diversity Symposium
January 22, 2008
As part of the Archdiocese of Boston's Bicentennial celebration, Emmanuel will be sponsoring the Boston Catholic Ethnic Diversity Symposium: The New Pentecost, on Saturday, February 9th. The event will be a daylong convention featuring three panel discussions, a keynote address and a multicultural Liturgy focusing on the racial and ethnic diversity within the Archdiocese.
Associate Professor of History Bill Leonard, who co-chairs the subcommittee for organizing the symposium along with Agnes K. Lugira, one of the day's featured lecturers, anticipates the event to be a wonderful opportunity to celebrate historically underrepresented Catholics in Boston.
"We hope to showcase the ethnic diversity of the Archdiocese and we have a fairly wide range of groups represented," he said. "We are very pleased with the College's support."
Ethnic diversity has long played an important part in the history of the Archdiocese of Boston, which experienced exceptional growth in the late 19th century due to the influx of immigrants. According to the Archdiocese' bicentennial website, www.boston200.org, ethnic parishes were established not as a means of creating "separate places of worship based on culture, but rather, to accommodate different language needs." Today, the Archdiocese of Boston serves approximately two million Catholics in 295 parishes, with mass being celebrated in nearly 20 different languages each week.
During the symposium, the panels will explore the history, theology and Liturgical practices of Catholics viewed from the perspective of various groups, including: Africans, African-Americans, Asians, Haitians and Hispanics.
The program of events is as follows:
8:30-9:00 a.m. - Registration
9:00 - 9:30 a.m. - Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:30 - 11:00 a.m. - History Panel
- Peter Chan, Boston Chinese Catholic Community
- Jose Leonarte, History of the Procession and Brotherhood of the Lord of the Miracles in Lima-Peru and Boston
- Nekita Lamour, From Baltimore, to New Orleans, and New York: A Historical Trajection of Haitian Catholics in Boston and Beyond
11:15 - 12:45 p.m. - Liturgical and Pastoral Care Panel
- Aloysius M.M. Lugira, On Africism in Light of the Ugandan American Experience in the Archdiocese of Boston
- Rev. Bienvenue Mayemba, The Congolese Rite as a Model of the American Experience in the Archdiocese of Boston
- Sr. Joanna Okereke, H.H.C.J., Liturgical and Pastoral Care: Channels of Cultural Integration in the Church
12:45-1:45 p.m. - Lunch
2:00 - 3:30 p.m. - Keynote Address and Response
- Sr. Jamie Phelps, O.P., Ph.D, Keynote
- Jonathan Tan, Ph.D., Respondent
3:45-5:15 p.m. - Theology Panel
- Hosffman Ospino, Hispanic Catholic Perspectives on Theological Reflection: Sources and Contributions
- Agnes K. Lugira, Ugandan American Ideas of God and the Five Ways of St. Thomas Aquinas
- M. Shawn Copeland, African American Catholics: Incarnating Uncommon Faithfulness
5:30 p.m. - Liturgy
For more information on the symposium and to pre-register for the event, click here.