The Archbishop of Chicago has invited some U.S. bishops to a series of conferences on the 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. The seminars will be held at three Catholic colleges later this month.

According to a letter obtained by Catholic News Agency, the meetings, dubbed “New Momentum Conferences on Amoris Laetitia,” are designed to offer a “tailor-made program that goes from why Amoris Laetitia provides New Momentum for Moral Formation and Pastoral Practice to how to provide formative pastoral programs.”

“The aim is to gather fifteen to twenty Bishops to have a conversation with the aid of theologians on the related topics,” the letter said.

The letter, written by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, explains that the conferences are modeled after a seminar of bishops and theologians discussing Amoris Laetitia held at Boston College in October 2017.

“The seminar treated the full document giving particular focus to its reception in the multi-cultural and diverse environment that characterizes the Church in the United States,” Cardinal Cupich wrote.

“Both the bishops and the theologians universally agreed that our two-day seminar was an exercise in synodality, a walking together in which the Church both taught and listened. In fact, in keeping with the counsel of Pope Francis at the start of the 2014 synod, the Boston College participants spoke with candor and boldness, parrhesia, but they also listened with humility,” the letter explained. Read more via Catholic News Agency

The Problematic Theologians of the ‘New Paradigm’

In an effort to promote the so-called new paradigm surrounding the interpretation of Pope Francis’ 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), three seminars were held last month for invited bishops and select theologians at three Catholic universities around the country.

The group of theologians invited is noteworthy not because of their expertise on the topics of marriage and family, but because of their public opposition to some of the Church’s long-taught traditions. Called “New Momentum Conferences on Amoris Laetitia,” the seminars were spearheaded by Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago.

Natalia Imperatori-Lee

Imperatori-Lee, who earned her doctorate at the University of Notre Dame, was a self-declared protégé of the late Notre Dame theologian Father Richard McBrien, who was outspoken in his support for the ordination of women, an end to priestly celibacy and the acceptance of contraception by the Church. She currently serves as associate professor of religious studies at Manhattan College. Among her published articles is “Father Knows Best:Theological Mansplaining and the Ecclesial War on Women” in The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 31:2 (Fall 2015), 89-107.

Imperatori-Lee wrote a 2016 article in America magazine titled, “Women Priests or Not, Gendered Theology Is Hurting the Church,” in which she asserted that “human biology is infinitely more complex than the ‘It’s a boy!’ or ‘It’s a girl!’ statements from new parents (or their doctors or midwives) might lead us to believe. Scientifically, even biologically, there are many factors that contribute to ‘maleness’ and ‘femaleness.’ Any claim that there are only two kinds of humans, male and female, is simplistic.”

Imperatori-Lee has been a close collaborator with Jesuit Father James Martin in his pursuit to promote a pro-homosexual agenda within the Church and was the moderator of the discussion in September 2017, “Building a Bridge: The Catholic Church and the LGBT Community,” between Father Martin and Fordham University professor J. Patrick Hornbeck II.

Kate Ward

Ward is an associate professor of theology at Marquette University. Her primary focus is on economic ethics and economic inequality. She studied at Harvard College, the Catholic Theological Union and Boston College and was an editor of the Call to Action blog for young-adult Catholics founded in 2008, which describes itself as “a safe space for stories of gender equality, LGBTQ inclusion and other topics that serve to activate and inspire Catholics to build inclusive and creative communities.” Read more via National Catholic Register*

*Warning: The author of this NCR article finds the inclusion of these theologians as problematic and contrary to Catholic doctrine.