How Do Catholics Engage with U.S. Politics? Discover how U.S. politics can influence our ethical lives in Canada.
This webinar will discuss navigating Catholic engagement with U.S. politics, especially with the upcoming American election. It will provide a guide for those wondering how to faithfully navigate the complex ethical dilemmas voters face. We will also feature Canadian respondent, Dr. Jane Barter from University of Winnipeg. Dr. Barter’s research interests, including political theology and theopolitics, will make the discussion even more engaging! This webinar is sponsored by Philip L. Brocking Lectureship.
Dr. Steven P. Millies‘s scholarship explores the Catholic Church’s relationship to politics from a perspective that encompasses history, theology, law, ethics, sociology, philosophy, and political theory. In line with Pope Francis’s call for a “politics which is farsighted and capable of a new, integral, and interdisciplinary approach,” Dr. Millies’s work challenges the view of politics as merely a conflict over individual interests. Instead, following Pope Francis’s vision, politics is seen as an expression of our “conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for each other and the world.” Dr. Millies studied political theory at The Catholic University of America, where he completed his degree with a focus on the role of religion in British statesman Edmund Burke’s political ideas. Before joining the Catholic Theological Union, he was an associate professor of political science at the University of South Carolina Aiken, where he held the Strom Thurmond Endowed Chair in Political Science. He is now a Professor of Public Theology and the Director of the Bernardin Center at CTU.
Dr. Jane Barter (she/her) holds a PhD from the University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto (2004). Her research interests include political theology, theopolitics, memory, and violence. She has published two monographs of Christian theology: Lord, Giver of Life (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006) and Thinking Christ: Christology and Contemporary Critics (Fortress Press, 2011). She recently co-edited (with Doris Kieser, St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta) a special volume of the Journal of Moral Theology on the papal visit and apology to survivors of Residential Schools in Canada. She is editor of the Christology volume of The T & T Clark Encyclopedia of Christian Theology. Her current project is a book on witnessing to contemporary atrocities and its theological antecedents.