On
May 31, 2003, over five hundred people - bishops, an abbot, monks,
priests, lay women and men, religious men and women, and parish ministers
- gathered to hear an extraordinary panel of theologians explore the
history of the Church. This spirit-filled exchange focused on the
Church during specific time periods in order to discover what the
Church in the twenty-first century can learn from the Church of the
past. At the end of the day, Father Michael Himes said in his closing
remarks: "Permit me to suggest to you that what you are part
of today is not only a conference is history. I compliment us all
on being part of it."
The
symposium consisted of six talks on the various parts of church history
outlining ways the Church has changed through the centuries:
1.
What Can We Learn From the Church in the New Testament?
Rev. Daniel J. Harrington,
S.J., Weston Jesuit School of Theology
2.
What Can We Learn From the Church in the First Millennium?
Rev. Michael J. Buckley,
S.J., Boston College
3. What Can We Learn From the Medieval Church?
Dr. Catherine Mooney,
Weston Jesuit School of Theology
4. What Can We Learn From the Tridentine and Barouque Church?
Rev. Thomas F. O'Meara,
O.P., University of Notre Dame
5. What Can We Learn From the Church in the Nineteenth Century?
Rev. Michael J. Himes,
Boston College
6.
What Can We Learn From Vatican II?
Dr. Richard R. Gaillardetz,
University of Toledo
In
addition to the talks, the book contains an introductory talk by the
moderator, Richard W. Miller II, Ph.D. Candidate in Theology, Boston
College, an enlivened panel discussion that followed the talks as
well as a sampling of the written guest questions presented by the
audience at the symposium.
