Register for Radical Christian Life: Equipping Ourselves for Social Change

March 6, 2012

Trinity Institute’s 42nd National Theological Conference, Radical Christian Life: Equipping Ourselves for Social Change, will be held November 9-11, 2012. 

Joan Chittister, OSB will return to Trinity Institute for a local and webcast conference that will offer tools for making the vital connection between contemplation and social action. She will be supported by workshop leaders including theologians, spiritual directors, and activists. Fr. Richard Rohr will preach the closing Eucharist.

Through plenary addresses, workshops, and worship, this three-day conference we will explore questions such as: 

• How can our Christian traditions of social justice and contemplation energize our communities as forces for positive change in the world around us? 
• What practices help us to discern where we are called to engage?
• Where may we find sources of creativity and resilience within our tradition?
• How can we work in partnership with those of other faiths and no faith as we follow God’s call? 

In the 21st century, people seek to cope and to create in a world that is shifting on its very foundations. Economic inequity threatens to tear us apart at the seams. The forces of globalization demand that we rethink what it means to be a community and where our mutual responsibilities lie. It is a time of classic crisis, forged of equal parts threat and opportunity.

Our task is now to be radical Christian communities in the here and now, not fossils of a bygone reality, not leftovers from an earlier golden age. Now we need new wisdom and a new kind of struggle to determine what we must be and do in the midst of these changing times. The question is then: What does it mean to be a radical Christian community in times such as these?
-- Joan Chittister
The conference will be presented at Trinity Church, Broadway and Wall Street, New York, NY, with workshops next door at 74 Trinity Place. It will simultaneously be offered via webcast exclusively at Partner Sites.
--Richard Rohr

Click here to register for Radical Christian Life: Equipping Ourselves for Social Change. 

Click here to apply to become a Partner Site. 

On Friday evening and all-day Saturday, plenary addresses and interactive sessions with Joan Chittister will interweave with small group workshops where tools will be shared for contemplative discernment, personal and communal spiritual practices, and faithful engagement. Fr. Richard Rohr will preach in a Sunday morning Eucharist where we will celebrate our commitment with a ritual of commissioning.

Participants in New York and at Partner Sites will receive resources for spiritual growth and preparation leading up to and following the conference, including:

• Videos featuring Joan Chittister and other faculty that may be used individually or in Sunday morning or weekday Faith Formation programs
• Daily email devotions from Joan Chittister (available from six months prior to the conference until six months after)
• A curriculum for an Advent series to follow up the conference in your community, supported by print and video resources and developed in partnership with Forward Movement Publications, a leading provider of resources for Christian living

Partner Sites present the full conference in their local communities. Trinity Institute provides the plenary sessions for viewing via webcast as well as curriculum designs for the workshops along with other print and video resources to support local leadership. Partner Sites receive:

• Exclusive access to the live webcast
• Opportunities to participate in live Q&A with Joan Chittister
• Daily email devotions from Joan Chittister will be sent to your participants (available from six months prior to the conference until six months after)
• Curriculum design and support (including videos) for the three workshops, which will provide a central role for local leadership
• Downloadable fliers, posters, ads, and press releases that may be tailored for your location.
• Fall ads in national publications (for all partners signed up by May 15) and listing on the conference website, with links
• Technical and logistical support and advice for webcast and conference management
• Continuing Education Units for participants
• The resources named above for preparation and follow-up to the event
• Access to download the plenary sessions after the event, so you have the option of presenting (or repeating) the conference at whatever time best fits your schedule


Trinity Wall Street | for a world of good