Vatican II Series: The Mission of the Church

Holy Family Parish in Concord, Massachusetts, will be hosting Boston College Professor, Sr. Meg Guider, O.S.F. on Wednesday, April 10 at 7:30 PM in the lower level of the Parish Center in West Concord. This is being offered as part of our yearlong series, Vatican II Revisited and, in this session, Professor Guider will explore the Council’s Decree on Missionary Activity, Ad Gentes.

Professor Guider is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate (Joliet, IL), and currently serves as her congregation’s Vice-President and Councilor for Mission.  With a doctoral degree in theology from Harvard University, a licentiate in Sacred Theology from Weston Jesuit School of Theology, and a master’s degree in theology from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, Sr. Margaret is also a theology professor at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry. Both a published author and lecturer she is noted for her work on faith and culture.

Regarding this topic, Sister Meg writes: “This presentation will take as its primary point of reference the Vatican II decree Ad Gentes:On the Mission Activity of the Church issued December 7, 1965.  Topics to be covered will include a thematic overview of the document, a review of key questions raised by the decree, along with the evolution of the Church's thinking regarding its mission in the world, particularly with regard to proclamation and dialogue.  Seen in the light of the 2012 "Synod on the New Evangelization," the decree Ad Gentes will be considered in terms of its adequacy and appropriateness given the realities affecting Global Catholicism at the present time.”

Sr. Guider joined the Weston Jesuit Faculty in 1990. She is the author of Daughters of Rahab: Prostitution and the Church of Liberation in Brazil (Fortress, 1996) and editor of Doing What Is Ours to Do: A Clarian Theology of Life (Franciscan Institute, 2000). Sr. Guider is past-president of the American Society of Missiology and has served as an advisor to missionary societies, religious congregations, and Catholic institutions. She is a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate.

The presentation will be held in the lower level of the Parish Center at 55 Church Street in West Concord at 7:30 PM.  A donation of $5 – 10 is deeply appreciated.