Eamonn Conway

Network President

June 30 2012

Dear Fellow InSeCT member,

Introduction

Greetings and best wishes, following a successful meeting of the Executive of INSeCT (Catherine Clifford, Valmor da Silva and Eamonn Conway) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, hosted by our colleague Gaston Ogui, June 25 to July 1st. This is the first time ever that there has been an official meeting of INSeCT outside of Europe and North America, and it represents an important development in realizing the potential of the Network to be a truly global resource for Catholic theologians (more about this later).

I am hereby writing to all presidents and representatives and/or treasurers of Societies and associations of Catholic theology around the world who are members of INSeCT with regard to a number of issues. You have received this communication because you have been or hopefully still are associated with INSeCT. At the very outset, I would ask that you ensure that the President, Secretary and Treasurer of your Society, as well as the INSeCT delegate if you have one, have received this correspondence (please check the email addresses in the “to” list). ) If they are NOT listed, then I would ask that you forward this mail to them BUT ALSO that you inform me of their contact details by return. I cannot stress how essential this is, given how frequently office-holders change in our Societies.

There is much to share following the very successful meeting of the Network Council at de Paul University, Chicago, last Summer, which was hosted so efficiently and warmly by our colleague Dr Peter Casarrella, so I will begin with reference to the Council Meeting this time last year (See Appendix 1 to this letter for the Council Minutes).

1. New Members: The Council elected three new ordinary members DaKaTeo, in the Philippines, the Indian Theological Association, and the Unión de Instituciones Teológicas Católicas en México. The Circle of African Concerned Women Theologians was also elected as an extraordinary member. This brings the total of member societies to twenty-two, with representation in every continent.

2. Revised Fees’ Structure: The Council also decided to amend the fees structure for membership of the Council. It was agreed that the annual fee for member societies of INSeCT be revised to 1 Euro for each subscribed theologian in your Society per year, to a maximum of 500 Euros per society (more about fee payment below (7)).

3. The Network’s Status as a registered non-profit organisation in Germany

It was agreed to end the status of the Network as a registered Verein (organization) in Germany on the basis that this structure could no longer best serve the needs of the Network. It is taking time to implement this decision and especially to put in place alternative arrangements for the financial account of the Network.

4. The next Council Meeting: Brazil 2014

The next Council meeting will take place in Brazil in July 2014, coinciding with a meeting of SOTER (Sociedade de Teologia e Ciencias da Religiao). Details will be finalized over the next month and I will be writing to ask you to put dates in your diaries for yourself or whoever will hold office in your Society and be participating at that time. Details of the theme are below (5).

The Executive has already embarked on an ambitious fundraising plan in order to be able to contribute, as usual, to the travel and accommodation expenses of delegates travelling from financially disadvantaged Societies outside of Europe and North America. If you can provide any assistance with such fundraising we would be delighted with your help. Meanwhile, we would hope we can be in a position to support the travel of up to two delegates from societies in regions generally under-represented in the Network, and we would very much want to support in particular the participation of at least one younger scholar/researcher from each member Society where possible.

5. Network Project 2014: The Power of Theology to Overcome Power Abuse in Church and Society

Following a very enlightening focus at the July 2012 Council meeting on the Nature and Function of Catholic Theology globally, enabled by excellent interventions from Prof Bryan Froehle (Miami), the Network decided to adopt a more specific focus for its gathering in 2014.

You will recall that just after the Council meeting last June I wrote to you as follows:

“The Steering Committee has agreed to write to the member societies and request them to initiate a three year project with the following theme: the nature, function and location of theology, with particular attention to the power of theology to overcome power abuse in Church and Society. We will be asking each society to form a small interest group to take up this theme and to pursue it through means appropriate to their particular culture and context and how their society works. The project could take the form of a research or special interest group at annual conferences, or perhaps be adopted by a particular university faculty or department. We would strongly encourage societies to work in collaboration with at least one other society preferably from a different continent or region and to try to facilitate exchange of personnel as well as joint research and presentation of papers.”

I am pleased to hear that several Societies have already begun work on the theme and, as requested, partnered with another member Society from a different geographical region. Just to take one example: the European Society for Catholic Theology, which has partnered with DaKaTeo (Philippines), has called its project “The Redemption of Power”, and is holding a colloquium at St Mary’s University College, London this Autumn. You can find details here: http://www.smuc.ac.uk/inspire/redeeming-power.htm.

The CTSA has also decided to organize a selected session at its 2013 Annual Convention to address this theme.

We would urge all member Societies to engage with this project as a matter of priority, and indeed of solidarity with fellow INSeCT members. If you already have concrete plans or even an interim report you might share this with the Network by hitting the reply button to this mail. I would also be happy to post progress reports on the INSeCT web page, if you contact me requesting me to do so.

Unfortunately, the proposed data-gathering project with a view to providing a global assessment of Catholic theology has proven impracticable. Nonetheless, we are most grateful to Bryan Froehle for his considerable efforts in this regard.

6. Updating the INSeCT Web Page and linking it to your Society’s URL

We would be delighted to post any updates on your Society, especially membership and contact details, information on research projects and conferences, academic papers, and links to relevant theology web sites in your region. Of particular importance are accurate details relating to your Society’s Executive/Leadership. Please let us know as soon as possible as we will be doing an update shortly. You can visit the INSeCT web page here: http://theo.kuleuven.be/insect.

7. Payment of Fees

Fees for 2012 are now due. In accordance with the revised payment structure, Societies are asked to pay just €1 (one Euro) per subscribed theologian-member per annum up to a maximum of €500 per Society p.a. (or the equivalent in your currency). You are asked to make the payment in Euro in order to avoid the Network incurring currency conversion fees.

If any fees are outstanding for 2011 then we would ask that you take that into account in making your payment as well. Please note that the Society is entirely dependent upon these contributions, which, in any case, are minimal. However, if a particular Society finds that even this payment requirement is burdensome then we would ask that they inform the Executive.

Please note that these funds, which never amount to more than a few thousand Euro, are used mainly for the administration of the website. Please send your payment immediately to Volksbank Ammerbuch eG, D-72119 Ammerbuch, Germany.

Bankletzahl (bank number) 641 613 97

Kontonr (account number) 65 683 005

Swift Code: GENO DES1 AMM

Questions can be sent to our Treasurer, Dr. Thomas Fliethmann [ or to me.

8. Meeting of the Network Executive, Cote d’Ivoire, June 2012

Catherine Clifford, Valmor da Silva and Eamonn Conway met in Abidjan over the past few days. Until now, despite being an International Network, all meetings of the Council, since its inception in the 1990s, have taken place in the USA, and all meetings of the Executive had taken place in either the USA or Europe. This Executive decided that it would make a definitive option for promoting and developing the Network in countries and regions thus far under-represented by holding its meetings elsewhere. The mission and vision of INSeCT is clearly to be a place of encounter between theology societies globally and this now demands active engagement with the southern hemisphere.

An active supporter of the Network, Prof Gaston Ogui, a native of Benin, and who teaches at the Universite Catholique de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (UCAO) in Abidjan agreed to be our host. Apart from conducting our own business we had an opportunity to visit a number of other theological institutes in the area and to meet with several theologians. See Appendix 2 to this letter for further information. Please note that this, and all meetings of the Executive, was undertaken at no expense to INSeCT member Societies.

We learned first hand the struggle that theologians in Africa have to try to meet regularly and to share their research. We felt strongly that INSeCT has an important role to play in facilitating and challenging member Societies to support and engage with their colleagues in other continents. We will be bringing a number of concrete proposals in this regard to the next Council meeting.

The Executive will meet next year (2013) in Brazil to prepare the Council meeting, which will also take place for the first time in Brazil in 2014.

Best wishes from Eamonn Conway, with Catherine Clifford and Valmor da Silva (Cote d’Ivoire, June 30 2012)