Muhlenberg College
Attending: Vicki Barnett, Jim Bernauer, Mary Boys, Robert Cathey, Phil Cunningham, Alice Eckhardt, Katharina von Kellenbach, Esther Menn, John Pawlikowski, Peter Pettit, Elena Procario-Foley, Karla Suomala, Frank ShermanAbsent: Gene Fisher, Bjorn Krondorfer, Michael McGarry, Jean-Pierre Ruiz, Demetrios Tobias, Reggie Williams
Karla Suomala opened the meeting at 9:40 AM. Before the approval of the Spring, 2014 minutes there were two clarifying additions: The Spring, 2015 meeting at Boston College will take place on March 13-15; the Fall, 2015 meeting will be at the Raphaela Center outside Philadelphia from October 9-11.
The membership committee report was presented by its chair Robert Cathey.
There was discussion of whether Demetrios Tobias should continue to hold one of the CSG regular slots if he is only able to attend one meeting a year. There was consideration of the future membership. Phil Cunningham pointed out that the desirability of including younger scholars in the group does change the original description of its membership as constituted by scholars who have already published in the field. Phil also suggested there should be an invited Jewish participant at future sessions. It was pointed out that this might lead to the need for change in the dates of the seminars as a result of Sabbath observance. There was an inconclusive discussion of whether the by-laws would need to be changed for inclusion of a Jewish member/participant. It was recommended that a concrete proposal for such Jewish participation be formally drawn up, which Phil agreed to draft. It was suggested that Adam Gregerman of Saint Joseph’s University might be invited to sit in on the Fall, 2015 meeting.
The announcement was made that those who are up for membership renewal and who wish to continue in the CSG should notify the membership committee. Three members are currently up for renewal: Gene Fisher, Elena Procario-Foley and John Pawlikowski.
There was discussion of potential members for the CSG. Heather Miller-Rubins will be invited to give a paper at the Spring meeting in Boston. If she is not able to accept, the invitation will be extended to Joel Lohr. Brooks Schramm and Kirsi Stjerna will be invited to make a presentation at the Fall, 2015 meeting. Other potential members mentioned were Michael Chan and Emma O’Donnell.
The program committee report. At the Spring, 2015 meeting there will be discussion led by Elena and Phil on what a contemporary version of chapter 4 of “Nostra Aetate” might look like. Should the members write up essays on this theme for a journal publication? Perhaps two sessions should be devoted to this topic. In addition, there will be presentations by Katharina and Reggie on the issue of race, and by Mary Boys and Heather Miller-Rubins. As far as events and projects connected to the “Nostra Aetate” anniversary were concerned, several possibilities were delegated: publication in SCJR (Karla and Ruth Langer); a panel discussion at Boston College (Jim B.); a Tweet-a-Day (Michael); Contact with the Andover-Newton “Circle” and its journal (Vicki); an AAR panel (Katharina and John) about which Jean-Pierre should be consulted; World Parliament of Religions (John P.). There was also general discussion of the potential resources of the Paulist web site as well as other internet capabilities.
The business concluded at 11 AM, 30 minutes later than the originally scheduled time.
Respectfully submitted,
Jim Bernauer
