VIDEO – LIVESTREAMED PRESENTATION
October 7, 2024 at 7 pm
Spirit and Light Catholic Collaborative for Living Faith presents
Community Of Missionary Disciples
with Father Steve Bevans, SVD
- Monday, October 7 at 7 pm
- McDonough Hall – Saint Giles Campus – NW Corner of Columbian Avenue and Greenfield Street
- $10 Suggested Donation
- For more information – mmadary@spiritandlightcenter.org
- Purchase book in advance or at event for Fr. Steve to sign!
- Co-sponsored by St. Catherine of Siena Center, Dominican University
Pope Francis has spoken of the church as a “Community of Missionary Disciples.” His dream, he writes, is that this missionary understanding of the church will “change everything” as we live out our Christian faith, “so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation.” A missionary church would then be a church that is always led by the Spirit into new situations, new ideas, new cultures – and so constantly be able to change and grow.
It is this vision that Steve Bevans develops in his book, Community of Missionary Disciples: The Continuing Creation of the Church. Steve will speak about the church’s missionary nature founded in Jesus and led by the Spirit, receiving its existence from the future “radical kinship” of the reign of God. He will speak about the mystery of the church as God’s people who work for the wholeness of the world, who continue Jesus’ mission by being his body in the world, and who are continuously challenged to grow by God’s Spirit. He will speak about the structure of the church as rooted in baptismal equality, a baptismal missionary discipleship that is formed by women and men who are leaders of the church as ministers. The structure of the church serves its mission. It’s rootedness in baptism offers a path to transcend the lay/ clerical distinction that has so harmed the church in the past and continues to harm it today.
Father Steve Bevans, SVD, is a Catholic priest, theologian, and professor emeritus at Catholic Theological Union. Following his ordination Father Steve spent nine years as a missionary in the Philippines. Later he earned his Ph.D. in Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is renowned for his study and writing on Contextual Theology. A regular presider at Saint Giles Family Mass, Father Steve is known to be a thoughtful and kind person.
