Presented by the Center for Catholic Studies, Rev. William Clark, S.J., will deliver the 2020 Bellarmine Lecture, “Going to Church: Can Catholic Parishes Rise Again?”
The local parish church – an institution that has long been the heart of Catholic practice in the United States – is severely challenged today by scandal, shifting demographics, shortages of resources and leadership, and changing cultural norms.
As more and more Americans claim a personal spirituality, and more and more Catholics “shop” for a suitable liturgical experience, do parish communities matter anymore? Can a renewed theology help them to reclaim their ancient mission of living and handing on the Gospel, and to regain their central place in the Church’s life? Rev. William Clark, S.J., will delve into these exigent issues and more in the 2020 Bellarmine Lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m.: “Going to Church: Can Catholic Parishes Rise Again?”
Fr. Clark is an associate professor of religious studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He teaches courses in Catholic doctrine, church community, and Christian prayer. With a doctoral degree in systematic theology from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., Fr. Clark also conducts research on the mission of parishes.
Sponsored by the Lily Endowment, Fr. Clark studied local church communities as a Congregational Studies fellow, and he was visiting research professor with Project INSPIRE at Loyola University and the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Fr. Clark has extensive pastoral experience at parishes in Kingston, Jamaica, various U.S. locations, and Australia. He also regularly directs individual and group retreats in the U.S. and in Europe. Fr. Clark is author of A Voice of Their Own: The Authority of the Local Parish (Liturgical Press, 2005) and co-editor of Collaborative Parish Leadership: Models, Contexts, Theology (Lexington, 2016). His current project is a volume tentatively titled The Face of the Church: A Theology of Parish.
Presented by the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University, the 2020 Bellarmine Lecture on Feb. 19 is free and open to the public. It will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Dolan School of Business Event Hall, Room L01, at Fairfield University, located at 1073 North Benson Road, Fairfield, CT 06824. For more information, visit fairfield.edu/cs.
