VCII: Jeanette Rodriguez

This fall, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the convening of Vatican II, St. Ignatius Parish will host a six-part series looking at the teaching of the Council and the continuing effect (and controversy) it has sparked in the Catholic community. 

In this session, which takes place from 6:30-8:00pm in-person at St. Ignatius church and via livestream followed by a reception, Dr. Jeanette Rodriguez, professor of theology and religious studies at Seattle University, will explore the effects of Gaudium et Spes, i.e., The Pastoral Constitution on the Church.

This presentation will be followed by time for dialogue and questions. Registration is not required, though we ask that your RSVP below so that we can prepare the event accordingly.

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Jeanette Rodriguez is a professor at Seattle University and teaches in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Women Studies, and the Couples and Family Therapy Graduate Program. She serves as the Director of the Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture and holds the Malcolm and Mari Stamper Endowed Chair in Catholic Intellectual and Cultural Traditions. Dr. Rodriguez is the author of several books and articles concentrated in the areas of U.S. Hispanic theology, theologies of liberation, peacebuilding, and women’s spirituality. Her works include Our Lady of Guadalupe: Faith and Empowerment among Mexican American Women (1994); Stories We Live (1996); co-editor with Dr. Maria Pilar Aquino and Dr. Daisy Machado of A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology (2002); co-authored with Dr. Ted Fortier on Cultural Memory: Resistance, Faith and Identity (2007); and A Clan Mother’s Call (2017). She has served as board member for the Academy of Hispanic Theologians in the United States, and as Vice Chair for Pax Christi USA. Rodriguez holds a Ph. D. in Religion and the Personality Sciences from the Graduate Theological Union (1990), Berkeley, California.

How we encounter God in the World

The Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World (Gaudium et Spes) is the first Pastoral Constitution ever written, presenting not a theoretical overview of Church structures, but rather calling the Church to engage daily life, i.e., the “joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties” of all women and men.

1. Where is God in my life and the ordinary life of the world? Is it really possible to see God in all things?

2. Why does Francis talk about the Church as a “field hospital”? Didn’t we used to think of it as the “house of God, and gate of heaven”?

3. Why does the Church seem so engaged in secular issues—e.g., care of the earth, justice for the poor, the rights of workers, the treatment of women, etc.?