Our popular Summer and Winter Forum programs 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 experts on both the local and diocesan level. We ask them to address a variety of interesting and important issues which shape the lives of adults and young adults in the Church and society today.
2023 Winter Forum Events will be held in person at
Majestic Moon Event Center. 1955 Locke St. Waterloo
(Venue is handicap-accessible)
The February 8 program has been switched to online.
Use this link to join the discussion:
https://bit.ly/winter-forum-li
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.
Related Links
Archive of 2021 Winter Forum Programs
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Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Church
Presented by Archbishop Thomas Zinkula
In opening the first session of the Synod on Synodality last October in Rome, Pope Francis said the church today is experiencing a season of grace, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that will help it become “an open square where all can feel at home,” a church “that listens to our brothers and sisters speak of their hopes and the crises of faith present in difference parts of the world.” “If we do not become this Church of closeness with attitudes of compassion and tender love,” the Pope said, “we will not be the Lord’s Church.” In this presentation the newly installed Archbishop of Dubuque will share his own perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing the church today in Iowa and the world.
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In late December the Vatican issued a Declaration which allows priests, under certain conditions, to bless individuals living in what the church considers “irregular relationship” such as divorced Catholics who have remarried without an annulment and gay Catholics living in same-sex unions. The Declaration, approved by Pope Francis, has been heralded as an historic development and condemned as a theological disaster. In this presentation we will examine exactly what the Declaration said, its theological and pastoral foundations, and its significance for the church going forward.
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Last May Pope Francis told a group of scientists, “I am convinced that the development of artificial intelligence...has the potential to contribute in a positive way to the future of humanity.” However, he cautioned, “I am certain that this potential will be realized only if there is a constant and consistent commitment on the part of those developing these technologies to act ethically and responsibly.” The development of Large Language Models like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard has brought home that artificial intelligence, or “AI”, will be a growing part of everyday life for the foreseeable future. The dawn of AI poses important questions about intelligence and what it means to be a person, but also raises everyday ethical problems concerning plagiarism, misinformation, and bias. In this presentation, Dr. Shadle will explain what AI is and some of the spiritual and ethical questions it raises, all from a Catholic perspective.
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Most Rev. Thomas Zinkula is the newly installed archbishop of Dubuque. Archbishop Zincula was born in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and graduated from Cornell College with BA degrees in mathematics and economics. He earned a juris doctor degree from the University of Iowa in 1983 and a MA in theology from the Catholic University of America in 1990. He was ordained to the priesthood on May 26, 1990, at St. Raphael Cathedral in Dubuque. He earned a licentiate of canon law in 1998 from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. He served as associate pastor or pastor of various parishes in the Archdiocese of Dubuque while also serving on the Metropolitan Tribunal. He was appointed Judicial Vicar for the Archdiocese in 2000 and served as Episcopal Vicar for the Cedar Rapids Region from 2012 to 2014. He served as rector of St. Pius X Seminary in Dubuque from 2014 to 2017. He was ordained a bishop and installed as the ninth bishop of Davenport in 2017; he was installed as the eleventh archbishop of Dubuque in October, 2023.
Matthew A. Shadle is the Academic Assessment Coordinator at the University of Iowa. He earned his MA and PhD in theology from the University of Dayton in Ohio. He has previously served as a professor of Catholic ethics at Loras College in Dubuque and Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. He was also formerly an instructor in the Archdiocese of Dubuque’s diaconate formation program and was involved in young adult ministry. His academic work has focused on the development of Catholic social teaching and its intersection with both fundamental moral theology and the social sciences, with a special focus on war and peace, the economy, and immigration. He is the author of The Origins of War--A Catholic Perspective (Georgetown, 2011) and “No Peace on Earth--War and the Environment” in Green Discipleship--Catholic Theological Ethics and the Environment (Anselm Academic, 2011). He and his wife Gisella live in Peosta.
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.
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.
The Catholic Parishes in Waterloo are committed to providing formation, education and spiritual growth opportunities for adults of all ages.
We value the individual's life experience, respect the diversity of personal convictions, and welcome the wisdom of every participant.
We will never intentionally embarrass or offend participants.
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For more information contact:
Associate for Adult Faith Formation • 600 Stephan Ave. Waterloo IA 50701
Phone: 319-234-0498 • Email: DBQwcaf@dbqarch.org
[Last Update 01.18.24]