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Summer Forum Series

- Spiritual Growth

   Our Summer and Winter Forum Series offer Catholic adults and young adults an opportunity to learn and grow in a comfortable, familiar environment..
   We choose presenters from among pastors, pastoral leaders and academic leaders on both the local and diocesan level. We ask them to address a variety of interesting and important social, political, moral and theological issues which shape the lives of Catholics in the Church today.

2023 Summer Forum Location
Majestic Moon Event Center, 1955 Locke St., Waterloo
Free and open to the public. No registration required.
Snacks provided. Bar service available.

Audience
This program is appropriate for adults and young adults in all levels of faith formation.
> Click here to learn more about the thresholds of faith formation.

Take-Away
Adults and young adults who participate in this opportunity will:
   • learn more about important issues which affect our lives as Catholic Christians.
   • have an opportunity to dialog with distinguished pastoral leaders, theologians and academics.
   • appreciate the challenges and opportunities of a changing Church in a changing world.

Our Summer and Winter Forum programs are made possible in part by a grant from
the Archbishop Kucera Center for Catholic Intellectual and Spiritual Life at Loras College.
2023 Summer Forum Schedule

Tuesday, June 27. 6:30-8:00pm.

"How the Vatican Chooses Bishops"
Presented by Bishop Richard Pates

In the early Christian community local leaders were chosen by the Apostles or one of their delegates. In later years, members of the local faith community were active in the selection, but over the years, the role of lay people was gradually limited and the selection was left in the hands of local bishops and priests, usually with the approval of Rome. The right to appoint and dismiss bishops was reserved to the Pope by revisions of Canon Law produced in the Twentieth Century. In this presentation Bishop Pates will discuss the current procedure and criteria used by the Vatican to select bishops in the western church.
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Thursday, July 6. 6:30-8:00pm.

"Trends in Iowa Politics--the 2023 Legislative Session"
Presented by Tom Chapman

During the recent session of the Iowa legislature, an observer told a journalist that they feared Iowa was turning into "the Florida of the Midwest". The remark was a response to generally conservative policies enacted by the legislature and signed into law by the Governor. In this discussion, Tom Chapman, executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, presents a more objective evaluation of this year's legislative session and the direction the state is moving under the current Republican majority. The Iowa Catholic Conference is the official public policy voice of the Catholic bishops of the state.
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Thursday, July 20. 6:30-8:00pm.

"The Collapse of Catholic Culture and the Future of the Church"
Presented by Dave Cushing

In the not-too-distant past, many Catholics lived in fairly well defined communities or neighborhoods where pretty much everyone they knew was Catholic. This segregated environment, common to European and North American Catholics, largely shaped the whole of Catholic social and spiritual life; it provided security from the broader, non-Catholic community and reinforced a strong sense of Catholic identity. In this presentation Dave will discuss the collapse of this distinct Catholic culture and explore some of the challenges and opportunities facing the church in the absence of traditional Catholic culture.

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Tuesday, August 15. 6:30-8:00pm.

"A Church Led By the Spirit--The Synod on Synodality"
Presented by Charlotte Wells

The Synod on Synodality is a three-year process of listening and dialogue which began in the fall of 2021. The process included parish, diocesan and continental discussions preparing for the international Synod of Bishops next October in Rome. At each stage, Catholics were invited to discuss the needs and concerns facing the church in the third millennium. In this presentation, Dr. Wells will review the consultation process leading up to the fall Synod and the Working Document prepared by the Vatican which summarizes the results of the consultations held throughout the church over the past two years.

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Watch this space for additional Summer Forum programs.

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2023 Summer Forum Presenters

Tom Chapman is the executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, the public policy voice for the Catholic bishops of Iowa. Tom is a native of Spirit Lake and a graduate of Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. He worked as a reporter for KMEG-TV and on the staff of Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City before coming to the Catholic Diocese of Des Moines in 1991. He served as director of communications, editor of The Catholic Mirror and chancellor for the Des Moines diocese before being appointed executive director of the Catholic Conference in 2007. Tom is a member of the boards of the Iowa Mediation Service and the Iowa Alliance for Choice in Education. He and his wife Paulette live in Urbandale, Iowa

Dave Cushing is a member of the Waterloo Catholic Faith Formation Team and director of adult faith formation. Dave grew up in Dubuque and attended Sacred Heart Grade School and Wahlert High School. He has BA degrees in History and Sociology from Loras College and a Masters of Divinity degree from St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana. Since 1981 Dave has served in full-time parish ministry as director of faith formation and education at St. John Parish, Waterloo; St. Nicholas Parish, Evansdale; Queen of Peace Parish, Waterloo and St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center, Cedar Falls and as pastoral associate for adult formation at Blessed Sacrament Parish, Waterloo. He was appointed director of adult faith formation for the Waterloo parishes in 2006. On the Faith Formation Team Dave specializes in adult formation, enrichment and spiritual growth.

Most Rev. Richard E. Pates is the retired bishop of Des Moines who was appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Dubuque following Archbishop Jackels' resignation earlier this spring. A native of St. Paul, Minnesota, Bishop Pates attended St. Paul Seminary and the North American College in Rome. He graduated with a License in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome and was ordained for the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis in 1968. He served the Minnesota Archdiocese in various capacities, including auxiliary bishop. He was installed as the ninth bishop of Des Moines in 2008 and served as bishop in Des Moines until 2019. Bishop Pates served on the US. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committees on Education, Evangelization, International Justice and Peace, Pastoral Practices, Women in Society and the Church, and World Mission, and on the Conference's Hispanic Affairs Subcommittee.

Charlotte Wells is emerita Professor of History at the University of Northern Iowa. She received her doctorate in Early Modern European history from Indiana University in 1990 and has published a variety of scholarly works on the political ideology of the Renaissance and Reformation. She joined the University of Northern Iowa History Department in 1993 and retired in 2020. At UNI she taught a variety of courses on the history of the Renaissance and Reformation Europe, The Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, the Witch Craze in Europe and America, and Women in Early Modern Europe. Since her retirement from full-time teaching, Dr. Wells has been taking courses from the St. John's University School of Theology in Collegeville, Minnesota, whose faculty is involved in preparations for the synod. She worships at St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center in Cedar Falls, where she coordinates the RCIA program.

[Last Update: 05.25.23]

Summer Forum Series

2023 Summer Forum Schedule

2023 Summer Forum Presenters