SHU Awarded $30K Grant for Social Justice Seminar

International Catholic figures will gather in Warsaw, Poland to discuss theology

Sacred Heart University’s Center for Catholic Studies (CCS) has received a $29,715 grant from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to arrange a seminar of Catholic social teaching in Warsaw, Poland in September.

The USCCB is an assembly of the hierarchy of bishops who work together to represent the Christian faithful living in the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The bishops formed the Subcommittee on Aid to the Church in Central and Eastern Europe after communism collapsed in the early 1990s, and one of their first initiatives was to establish a two-week, intensive English course for bishops, seminary rectors and other Catholic figures who would find it helpful.

The Warsaw Seminar on Social Justice is a two-day forum taking place during the two-week English course. Michael Sean Winters, CCS fellow, will lead the seminar, which will bring together scholars from the U.S. and Europe to present papers on various points of Catholic social doctrine and to discuss the pastoral representatives from Eastern Europe. Daniel Rober, associate professor in SHU’s Catholic studies department, will be one of the presenters.

“Theology needs to be done in conversation with the pastors of the Church. Otherwise, it becomes disconnected from the life of the Church and turns into a kind of philosophy,” said Winters. “Because these seminars involve discussion and dialogue, I think the theologians who make the presentations learn as much as the participants.”

The grant primarily will pay for speakers and travel expenses. Winters also plans to bring the presenters to several Warsaw museums and on a tour of Old Town.

“The CCS is honored to have received the USCCB grant to arrange the Warsaw Seminar on Social Justice. We are grateful to our fellow, Michael Sean Winters, for organizing this international seminar,” said Michelle Loris, CCS director. “Sponsoring this prestigious seminar brings SHU national and international recognition as a cutting-edge center for the study of Catholic social justice. The seminar papers collected from this conference will be made available on the Center for Catholic Studies website where our faculty—as well as faculty from other Catholic colleges and universities—can use these papers in the classroom as well as for further scholarly research. This is certainly a notable event for Sacred Heart University.”