Together en La Lucha:
Seeking Justice Through Religion and Human Rights?

June 2 – 5, 2019

Dayton, Ohio
University of Dayton

The Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States invites you to join us for our 2019 colloquium in Dayton, Ohio from June 2-5. This year, ACHTUS celebrates 30 years of colloquia and 5 women Presidents in a row. Over the last few years, ACHTUS colloquia have dealt with various social issues including LGBTQ+ rights, the prison industrial complex, and the environment. This year’s colloquium follows the Academy’s commitment to justice from the purview of LatinoXa scholars of religion, with particular attention to human rights and the various intricacies of what human rights may mean for our various communities.

More information about registration and hotel reservations can be found on the 2019 colloquium page of our website.

If you have any questions about the colloquium, please contact Dr. Neomi De Anda directly at ndeanda1 at udayton dot edu.

A Communion of Creation: Latinxs, Environmental Racism, and the Struggle for Ecological Justice

2018 ACHTUS Colloquium
June 3-6, 2018
Sheraton Indianapolis City Centre
Indianapolis, IN

ACHTUS invites you to join us for our 2018 colloquium in Indianapolis, Indiana from June 3-6. Particularly after 2017, a year in which we witnessed additional calamities related to climate change, a Latinx discussion of environmental crises, especially as they emerge in tandem with racial and socio-economic injustices, could not be more pressing. Critically engaging Catholic traditions (including Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’) as well as the wisdom of grassroots communities struggling for justice, we will work together to understand, articulate, and practice theological visions for just ecologies.

More information about registration and hotel reservations can be found on the 2018 colloquium page of our website.

If you have any questions about the colloquium, please contact Dr. Jacqueline Hidalgo directly at jacqueline dot hidalgo at williams dot edu.

 

To set the captives free… (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18)

2017 ACHTUS/BCTS JOINT-COLLOQUIUM
June 4-7, 2017
Hotel Andaluz
Albuquerque, NM

Captives, prisoners, and those who are arrested or detained in any way, hold a special place in the Christian tradition. Their suffering echoes Jesus’ own arrest, detention, and execution, as well as being a significant and challenging presence throughout scripture. The theme for this year’s ACHTUS/BCTS Joint-Colloquium (June 4-7, 2017), To set the captives free…, plays on the central message in Isaiah 61:1 and Luke 4:18 where salvation and liberation are described as good news to the poor, the decree of the year of God’s favor, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and the proclamation of release to the captives.

June 2017 Final Schedule and Information: Click Here.

 

8 May 2016

 

Dear ACHTUS Family,

 

We are less than one month from our 28th annual colloquia in San Juan, Puerto Rico and registration is now closed.

A debt of gratitude goes out to all those who have been supportive of the colloquia through your timeliness, your generosity or collegial support.

For those going to San Juan access to a Drop Box will be sent via list serve with access to the papers.  As you may know, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has declared a Level 2 Alert for Puerto Rico with regard to the ZIKA VIRUS alert which means that one should “PRACTICE ENHANCED PRECAUTIONS.” The CDC has an entire page on what this means at http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/zika-virus-puerto-rico . Obviously, we must heed the warnings and be prepared, but I assure you that the Caribe Hilton sits on a little peninsula surrounded by the Ocean and therefore is not a favored place for mosquitos since they cannot tolerate salt, nor navigate in strong winds. The Property managers at the Hilton are also very mindful of the mosquito problem and treat the areas surrounding the hotel as a precautionary measure. So the Hotel will be a safe place to be in San Juan at this time. That said, if you will be exploring San Juan on your free time please bring mosquito repellent, or Avon Skin So Soft (a cream which as a secondary effect is a DEET Free repellent); reduce your skin exposure by wear long sleeve shirts and pants and by all means use common sense during your free time and avoid venturing into the Rain Forest or other wooded areas where the mosquito populations are the greatest.

I look forward to seeing you in San Juan,

 

Dr. Elsie M. Miranda

President Elect, ACHTUS

 

ACHTUS_Session Schedule Final_June 2016, Click here.

 

ACTHUS is a 501(c)3 organization (Tax ID# 7 4-2609252). If you know of anyone or any corporation who would be interested in sponsoring the work of the Academy, please contact me at: emiranda@barry.edu
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“ . . . AND ALL FLESH SHALL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.” (LUKE 3:6)

ACHTUS COLLOQUIUM

AMBASSADOR HOTEL

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

JUNE 7-10, 2015

               Salvation has been an emergent theme in several past ACHTUS colloquia, yet it has not been the singular orienting focus of a colloquium. The 2015 colloquium theme, “. . . and all flesh shall see the salvation of God,” taken from the gospel of Luke, suggests: that salvation is longed for, indeed, needed by all beings; that the promise of salvation extends beyond the human community to include creation and the cosmos; that to “see the salvation of God” underscores early liberation theology’s claim that history is one; and, this year’s theme may also suggest to us, that our experience of salvation in this world is always fragile. After all, evil and sin mark the experience of every generation. So it is that we find ourselves wondering, how are we to give an account of our hope, an account of our faith in the possibility of salvation, surrounded as we are with unrelenting evidence of brokenness, betrayals and failures. Our experience of salvation is not only always fragile, but also always contextually conditioned, and particular. As such, our need for salvation as well as our experience of salvation can be addressed from a wide range of perspectives.

In keeping with the theme of this year’s colloquium, this call for papers invites proposals on a wide range of topics including but not limited to papers that call attention to the disfigurement and distortion of the divine imprint on the human condition and/or on creation, as well as papers that interrogate all that inspires social and personal human flourishing toward God. The reflections below illustrate some of the possibilities this theme offers for an enriching colloquium.

               Naming Our Need – Latinas/os in the U.S. and beyond often suffer disproportionately many of the ills that plague society (e.g., violence, sex trafficking, feminicide, abuse of undocumented immigrants, addictions, racial profiling, high incarceration rates, gang violence, hate crimes targeting LGBTQQ persons, poverty, sexism, disregard for the earth, creation and the cosmos, among many other examples). Our communities confront the reality of social sin as well as personal sin; the experience of alienation and fragmentation; the damaging impact of dehumanizing circumstances; and other circumstances that cry out for the more of life that our Christian faith promises. What enables us to recognize our need and to name it? What hinders our ability to experience and recognize our need? How might we name our longing for salvation latinamente? How does Latina/o pastoral experience shed light on this longing? How do Bible narratives and the narratives of our people illuminate our need?

               Seeing the Salvation of God — Over the past few decades Latina/o theologies have examined the grace and hope alive within our communities. These gifts of grace and hope have found expression in practices of social justice, aesthetics, ethics, popular religion, the sacraments/worship, imagination, and more. They have likewise found expression in our still emerging work in theological anthropology, Christology, God, creation, ecclesiology, Mariology, eschatology, tradition, scripture, epistemology, etc. How might some aspect of this work further a Latina/o account of salvation? How does the salvific work of Jesus find expression within Latina/o communities of faith? What scriptural themes best illuminate a Latino/a understanding of salvation? How does Latina/o pastoral experience shed light on the ways that salvation breaks into our present?

This colloquium seeks to build on the theme of last year’s colloquium. Last year we turned our attention to Latina/o sexualities. Is there a relationship between our experience of sexual desire and our desire for salvation? How do the dynamic and intersecting facets of our identities shape our desire for salvation? What does our desire for salvation entail? How does desire help us to see the salvation of God?

               Submitting Your Proposal: Submissions should be 250-500 words in length and include: your current institutional affiliation and position; a proposed title; and (in addition to the word limit) a 100-word précis of your paper’s content to be shared with the ACHTUS membership. Both individual and conjunto panel proposals will be considered. Proposals need to be submitted by December 20, 2014 to President-Elect, Nancy Pineda-Madrid <<pinedama@bc.edu>>, with notification to be sent by December 31, 2014. Please include “ACHTUS 2015 Proposal” in the subject line. ACHTUS members who are invited to present need to be current, dues-paying members in order to accept the invitation. Please do not submit more than one proposal for consideration. Along with your proposal, please indicate if you need any audiovisual equipment.

ACHTUS Colloquium 2014 | Theme and Registration Information

June 1-4, 2014 | Wyndham San Diego Bayside Hotel | San Diego, California

Redressing ‘A Queer Omission’

A Colloquium to Advance Latino/a Catholic Reflection on Sexuality

A decade ago in a memorable article in the Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology, James Nickoloff took notice of a “queer omission in U.S. Latino/a theology”— the field’s near-complete silence on questions of sexuality, particularly homosexuality (See James B. Nickoloff, “Sexuality: A Queer Omission in U.S. Latino/a Theology,” Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology, 10#3:31-51 [2003]). Nickoloff proposed that Latino/a Catholic theology finally take up a long-avoided review of theories of sexuality, particularly queer theory, as possible sources and loci for theological reflection. The experience of marginalized sexual minorities holds untapped insights for Christian spirituality, theology, and pastoral life, Nickoloff wrote. More than a decade later, however, very little has emerged from our community as a response to his call to liberate the field for Latina/o theologies of sexuality — even as sexual cultures in the wider world are going through a turbulent process of transformation. Characteristically, institutional Roman Catholicism has been slow to read the signs of these times. In the spirit of redressing this queer omission, this colloquium seeks to begin mapping the largely unexplored tropics of sexuality in Latino/a Catholic theology and culture, seeking new sourcings for reflection. The sessions of this colloquium will plumb relatively untapped theoretical regions such as queer theory and Chican@ theory, the dogmatic and cultural engenderings of Latina Catholic social and sexual identities, reflect theologically on ministerial vocations for women, and hear testimonios on the predicament of border-crossers who face grave and constant personal risk because of their sexual identities.

If you want more information on attending this colloquium, please download the registration information and form here:

ACHTUS 2014 Colloquium – Registration Form

Then, you can mail your registration check and form to ACHTUS President Elect, Jorge Aquino. You may contact him via email at jaaquino at usfca dot edu.