Chicago Meeting: Catholic Theological Union, September 25, 1999

Robert Schreiter, CTU, Host

Participants

Robert Schreiter, Catholic Theological Union

From the International Study Commission on Media, Religion & Culture

Adan Medrano, Executive Director
David Morgan, Acting Chairman of the Commission
Frances Forde Plude, Commission Member

Bob Bonnot, Senior Vice President, Religious Affairs, Odyssey TV Network

Hermann Pottmeyer, Visiting Professor, Notre Dame University

Some Assumptions 

  1. In some ecclesiology approaches (and in most church communication efforts) there is:

    • an (over) emphasis on “top down” messages

    • some lack of respect for the population-at-large and its popular culture and religiosity

    • a tendency to focus on delivery systems and their impact instead of audience-reception analysis

  2. There may be (in theology and in church communication) some minimal respect for, and investment in, worship and artistic expression (including media storytelling) as mediating forms of spiritual experience—popular visual piety, the religious imagination, art in worship, etc.

  3. Global communication networking provides avenues for sharing and interconnecting developing local theologies (multicultural and often non-Western).

Some Questions

  1. If we want to assist religious groups (institutions, leaders, popular religiosity, youth, for example) to re-conceptualize religion and popular culture, are theologians the prime group to work with?

  2. If so, what strategies are appropriate a) to overcome the lack of engagement among theologians; and b) to structure a practical plan?

  3. What role(s) can the following components play?

  • a name change (to include cultural studies)?

  • symposia (CTSA next year; Boston College; 2001 Symposium)

  • soliciting book proposals

  • providing financial support for book developments

  • developing a model workshop (on-line?) for leadership

  • incorporating current doctoral students at work on media/religion

Meeting Preparations

Attached are a few pages to guide our discussion from 10:00am to noon on Saturday. Bob Bonnot has agreed to serve as meeting moderator – to allow us creative wandering while keeping us on track. Our goal is to assess Communication Theology directions to date and strategize about its future development. 

Directions have been faxed to you so you can easily reach the Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union (housed in the Margaret Paluch Hall, 5420 South Cornell Avenue.)

The Bernardin Center phone number is (773) 684-1056.

Perhaps all of us may develop our own list of areas of theology and areas of communication / cultural studies where integration is just waiting to be nurtured.

Follow-up of Chicago Meeting

Memo to Bob Schreiter:

  1. We have contacted the practical theology folks in CTSA and we plan some interaction among these groups at the CTSA convention in San Jose.

  2. Adan and I met with Roberto Goizueta in Boston and have a tentative commitment from him for a book.

  3. This year’s Communication Theology Seminar (on Friday) will feature Kathryn Tanner to insert cultural studies into our equation.

  4. I will – through the enclosed materials and follow-up contacts – organize for some sort of gathering at CTSA to enlist theologians’ further involvement.

On Wednesday, March 29th, the CTSA panel will gather at the Marriott to organize briefly for the Communication Theology session.

Bob Bonnot and Mary Hess (respondent) will be there for the RCC 2000 gathering and Kathryn Tanner will join them. It would be helpful if you could join them too. I will have Bob Bonnot contact you by E-mail with details in case you can manage it. 

Thanks so much, Bob, for your continued significant support.

To:                  Rev. Robert Schreiter/Catholic Theological Union

From:              Frances Forde Plude/Communication Theology project, Notre Dame College

Bob, the material below is an overview of the Communication Theology project in recent years. Much has been accomplished.

Listed below are a few pieces of strategy under consideration: 

  • an international gathering to facilitate theological analysis

  • major funding to purchase sabbaticals so theologians could write books

  • a specific plan to ensure that theologians truly integrate the new field

  • leadership in-service so this becomes part of church policy

  • an attempt to integrate cultural studies insights + religious educators

  • systematic networking of international doctoral students who are reconceptualizing theology through communication studies

Communication Theology – An Overview

By Frances Forde Plude

Project Accomplishments

  1. A decade of symposia, held at Gregorian University and CTSA

  2. A growing literature

  3. Growing awareness and/or involvement by major theologians: Avery Dulles; Edmund Arens; Rick Gaillardetz; Roberto Goizueta; Catherine Hilkert; Elizabeth Johnson; Tom O’Meara; Hermann Pottmeyer; Randy Sachs; Robert Schreiter; etc. 

  4. Engagement with the international conferences on Media, Religion and Culture (most recently in Scotland at the University of Edinburgh)

  5. A meeting of 20 international doctoral students at the Edinburgh conference writing dissertations on theology and communication studies

Planning for Future Challenges

  1. There is a need to move from this base to a deeper and more systematic integration of Communication Theology into the body of theological scholarship. This needs to overcome the sense among many theologians that “communication” means primarily “mass media” which many intellectuals see as inimical to scholarship.

    In fact, the move is to a digital culture. There is a lot of support for doing this, but most theologians are not sure how to do it. The goal is to start getting some substantive theology books done within the next few years. We hope to move this forward substantively in San Jose.

  2. There is a growing awareness of the impact of popular culture on both communication and religious systems. There is a need to incorporate cultural studies into the Communication Theology enterprise.

  3. There is a need to write/publish some Communication Theology “classics” (as in liberation theology) that articulate theology with insights from communication studies well integrated into theological thought.

  4. Several gatherings could be organized (primarily consisting of theologians, with a few communication scholars/practitioners) to help flesh out conceptual issues to be addressed in the above books.