One Body and Many Voices: The Future of The Church, Democracy, and The Legacy of Edward Schillebeeckx’s Theology in An Age of Crisis
10–11 June 2026
La Salle Retreat Center
2101 Rue De La Salle Dr
Wildwood, MO 63038
The last decade has seen an immense change in the theological and political landscape of the entire world. The climate crisis continues unabated; economic inequality has grown as new technologies have in many cases enabled instability rather than prosperity and development; the abuse crisis continues to plague the church and the early optimism of Pope’s Francis’s first years has faded. Although Francis enacted reforms of the curia and opened processes of synodal dialogue, that work was left unfinished with his death on Easter Monday, 2025. The church now has its second Pope from the Americas and first ‘American’ pontiff in Leo XIV. At the same time, war in Europe and the Middle East remains a constant source of anxiety combined with the increasing shift in global politics away from the liberal status quo and towards more radical forms of right-wing authoritarianism.
In this challenging situation, the experiences of negativity and suffering are evident, in part due to the reality that we face, and in part due to the perception of the world that is shaped by media, politics, and technology. However, within every experience of negativity, the potential for contrast and ultimately the experience of God is also present—an experience of grace which orients us towards action and change. The work of Edward Schillebeeckx continues to be instructive here, particularly in his many theological reflections on epistemology, ecclesiology, and the openness of the church to the challenge of the God, the Living One.
Schillebeeckx more specifically speaks of God’s presence in history, precisely as a history that includes sin, suffering, and abuses of power: “It can be both in the everyday events of our history and in its dramatic events, including the crucifixion, though it is never fused with this history nor does it coincide with it.” (Church, 220) In our context, the presence of God has to be sought, named, called out, and identified in order to reveal the liberating potential of the gospel at work in the church and in the world.
This symposium will reflect on the challenges and opportunities of the present moment as well as the continuing importance of Schillebeeckx’s theology for the contemporary context and for the future. The symposium invites participants to work from Schillebeeckx’s foundational insights as a starting point for their own reflection and as threads to be weaved into a future-oriented theology that can meet the challenges of the day. We therefore invite papers focusing on, but not limited to, the following topics:
- One and Many – Ecclesial Democracy and a Synodal Church
- Theopolitics, Authoritarianism, Threats to Democracy, and Eschatological Ideology Critique
- Global Church and Local Faith – The Challenges of Ministry in Differing Ecclesial Contexts
- Foundational Methodology and the Question of Theological Truth in a Post-Truth World
- Grace, Conflict, Contrast – The Faithful and the Prophetic Voice of the Church
Please submit abstracts of no more than 250 words by email to Dr. Elizabeth Pyne (epyne@mercyhurst.edu) by 1 November 2025.
The day-and-a-half-long Symposium will take place at the La Salle Retreat Center, located about thirty minutes from downtown St. Louis. Further information regarding food, lodging, and costs will be forthcoming.
