Miguel Díaz and the Rev. Gary Riebe-Estrella, SVD, featured presenters for Changing Faces Series

March 16, 2009

Miguel H. Díaz and the Rev. Gary Riebe-Estrella, SVD, will be the featured presenters for the 2009 Changing Faces Series April 2-3 at Saint John’s University, Collegeville. The April 2 lecture is free and open to the public, but registration is requested for the April 3 workshop.

Díaz will deliver the main address, “Jesus on the Border,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 2 in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater, SJU. In his address, Díaz will highlight the identity of Jesus, the Galilean, as someone who engages in border-crossings for the sake of transforming and creating inclusive communities within the Catholic Church and society.

Riebe-Estrella leads a workshop, “Crossing Borders: Cultural Diversity in Ministry,” from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Friday, April 3. Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m. This workshop will examine some of the pastoral challenges of cross-cultural communications and will include discussions with local pastoral ministers.

Díaz is an associate professor of systematic theology at Saint John’s School of Theology•Seminary and Saint John’s University and at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he is past president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS). He recently served as a member of Barack Obama's Catholic advisory group during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Riebe-Estrella, a native of Los Angeles, has spent the majority of his ministry dealing with the challenges of cultural diversity in formation for religious life and in theological education and ministerial preparation. He is president-elect of ACHTUS, and holds a doctorate in practical theology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain. He currently serves as vice president and academic dean of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

The Changing Faces Series is sponsored by Saint John’s School of Theology∙Seminary and Companions on a Journey at CSB, which is funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc. The Changing Faces Series seeks to engage more people in transformative approaches to intercultural ministry. The series invites members of local and regional communities, including students, faculty and staff at CSB and SJU, to experience all ministry and service as intercultural.

For more information, contact Bernadette Dunn at bdunn@csbsju.edu or 320-363-2839 or visit www.csbsju.edu/sot.

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