At the recent award ceremony hosted by the Association of Catholic Publishers, first place in the ‘Theology Category’ went to Reforming the Church: Global Perspectives, by Liturgical Press, edited by Rev Professor Declan Marmion SM and Professor Salvador Ryan, of the Faculty of Theology at Saint Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth.
As the current synod on synodality endeavours to involve the world’s 1.36 billion Catholics – and with a nod to this ongoing process – the Reforming the Church: Global Perspectives seeks to explore the broader issues relating to Church reform in their historical context.
Topics in the publication include ecclesial transfiguration and the episcopacy, sexual abuse by clergy, globalisation of the Church, and the theology of synodality. The book has been described as a reflection on the theme of reform within the Church: what it has meant in the past, what it means now, and what it might mean in the future.
Contributors include Christopher M Bellitto, Shaun Blanchard, Agnès Desmazières, Massimo Faggioli, Francis Gonsalves SJ, Julia Knop, Bishop Vincent Long, OFMConv, Rafael Luciani, Declan Marmion, Ethna Regan and Pedro Trigo SJ.
Father Gerry O’Hanlon SJ, speaking at the launch of the book last November, said, “Declan Marmion and Salvador Ryan have brought together a collection of eleven scholarly articles on Church reform in the key of synodality, which are an important contribution from Maynooth and Ireland to the global project of renewal and reform within the Catholic Church. The articles are scholarly but accessible: they will be of interest not just to theologians, but to pastors, students and indeed to all those interested in the historic nature of what is going on in the Catholic Church over these years. This launch is particularly timely coming as it does in the wake of the recent Synod on Synodality in Rome.”
Professor Ryan commented, “Declan and I are delighted with the news of this award, and we are very grateful to Liturgical Press for putting our volume forward for consideration. Most of all, we would like to acknowledge the excellent work of our contributors, whose candid, and often profound, essays on the themes of synodality and Church reform, are sure to provide much food for reflection at this pivotal time of discernment for the Church as a whole’.
The mission of the Association of Catholic Publishers is to support a viable, vibrant, and diverse Catholic publishing environment throughout North America and beyond. It seeks to provide visibility to, advocacy for, and sustainability of published Catholic content. Reforming the Church: Global Perspectives is available at https://litpress.org/Products/6864/Reforming-the-Church.
ENDS
