Date: September 23, 2021
I’m happy about so many things this semester and one of them surely is the fall programming from the Center for Anglican Communion Studies (CACS). CACS is back to hosting their lunchtime conversations, safely, and with a great slate of discussions.
You may remember that the Center’s focus for the year is the Anglican Communion and Latin America. Please do take the opportunity to attend these upcoming events and to learn more about this area of the Communion. To make it easier, CACS has even been kind enough to provide lunch if you are able to sign up one week before.
The first event, “How Colonialism Worked”, is this coming Tuesday, September 28 (12:45-1:45 pm in the Lettie Pate Evans Room across from the Flamingo), and it sets us up perfectly for a deeper understanding of the region. I am thrilled that it highlights the work of three of our faculty members. Dr. Hannah Matis will speak on the Doctrine of Discovery and how the logic of the crusades was transferred into the “new world”; the Rev. Canon Dr. Peréz-Bullard will show us how skin color became associated with “natural slave” and sub-human status; and Dr. Sharon Heaney will describe strategies of resistance to these dominant thought patterns, both within the colonizers and from indigenous peoples.
One week later, on Tuesday, October 5 (12:45-1:45 pm in the LPER) we will be in for another treat: “Liturgy as Incarnation” with two virtual guests from The Episcopal Church of Brazil. Paulo Ueti, Ph.D., of the Anglican Communion Office, will speak about biblical conversations on inculturation and theological reflections on the Incarnation. The Rev. Luiz Coelho, Dean of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in the Anglican Diocese of Rio de Janeiro, will describe the major theological assumptions behind the process of liturgical revision leading to the 2015 Brazilian Prayer Book. As the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer is undergoing its own revised translation into Spanish, this conversation may be of particular interest to our community.
The last CACS fall event will be Tuesday, November 2 (12:45-1:45 pm in the LPER). The topic is “Deconstructing Stereotypes of LatinX People” and we are pleased to welcome back the Rev. Javier Garcia Ocampo, Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Gaithersburg, MD. The Rev. Ocampo will speak on the cultural misappropriation of Latin American customs and traditions and what is most important in the Christian tradition. I am pleased that Wendy Bermudez of Institutional Advancement will join Dr. Grieb to co-host this discussion.
Sign up for all CACS events on the VTS Eventbrite page, and please invite friends to participate through the CACS Facebook page.
The Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D.
Dean and President