Priests of the Springfield diocese will gather at the Northfield Center in Springfield Sept. 19-22 for their annual convocation. Each year priests of the diocese meet with the bishop to continue their ongoing formation.
"Catholics in the Public Square" is the theme for the 2011 convocation, which will focus on three topics of particular interest to Americans — abortion, racism and immigrant concerns.
"The teachings of the Catholic Church on these and other public policy issues of our time constitute a necessary and vital contribution to the public dialogue," Bishop Thomas John Paprocki said, in his letter to the priests announcing the event. "If Catholic citizens are to make this contribution, we as their ordained leaders must do our part."
Keynote speakers at the convocation are: George Weigel, distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and Father Rick Peddicord, OP, president of Aquinas Institute, and professor of moral theology.
Weigel will address the contribution Catholic teaching can make to the three issues, and Father Peddicord will summarize the insights of James Allison's Knowing Jesus.
Dr. Hugh Harris and Father Joe Zimmerman, OFM, will lead a discussion on the historical roots of racism in the United States. Bishop Joseph Perry, a Chicago auxiliary bishop, and Father Bryan Massingale, an associate professor of theology at Marquette University, will present Catholic teaching on racism and review current efforts to respond to racism.
Elena Segura, from the Office of Immigrant Affairs in the Chicago Archdiocese, will discuss immigration reform work that is being done. Several priests lay leaders, persons of color and recent immigrants will speak about their personal experiences on these issues.
"It is going to be a very credible convocation for priests' ongoing formation and education," said Father Joe Ring, vicar for clergy. "It will be worth the priests' time and sacrifice to be gone from their parishes to be able to take back to the parishes the knowledge they gain."