Dr. Clifford is the President of the Catholic Theological Society of America
Dr. Clifford was installed as President of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA) on June 14, 2026, at the close of the Society’s Eightieth Annual Convention in St. Louis. She succeeds outgoing President Susan Abraham of the Pacific School of Religion, who served the previous year as President-Elect. On the Saturday before her installation, Clifford presided over the convention’s Third Plenary Session, which brought together Bishop Daniel E. Flores, Vice President of the USCCB and Bishop of Brownsville, Texas, and Bishop Alain Faubert, Bishop of Valleyfield, Quebec. Sessions throughout the convention examined synodality from multiple angles, including historical theology, ecumenism, bioethics, public theology, and the experience of women and LGBTQ Catholics within the Church. During the convention, the CTSA Board of Directors issued a statement on the report of Study Group 9, the body convened by the Synod of Bishops to examine “Theological Criteria and Synodal Methodologies for Shared Discernment of Emerging Doctrinal, Pastoral, and Ethical Issues.” The statement affirmed the report’s position that doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical considerations are interrelated rather than separate, and endorsed its call to move past polarized approaches toward Spirit-guided discernment grounded in the lived experience of communities. The Board cited Acts 6 and Acts 15 as biblical precedents for this kind of discernment, and identified LGBTQ Catholics seeking pastoral accompaniment, along with communities practicing nonviolence amid war, migration, and discrimination, as examples raised by the report. The statement drew further support from Dei Verbum 8, Pope Francis’s Ad Theologiam Promovendam, and Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, and closed by encouraging theologians to engage the report as a means of strengthening ties between the theological community and the bishops. The CTSA’s 81st Annual Convention is scheduled for June 10-13, 2027, in Louisville, Kentucky, under the theme “Listening for God amidst the Landscape of Cries.”
Drs. Clifford and Glendinning Take Part in Vatican Symposium
Dr. Catherine Clifford and Dr. Chad Glendinning recently attended the second Inclusive Governance in a Synodal Church Symposium in Rome on June 2–5, 2026. The first Symposium was held in Rome on April 28-30 2025. Both Drs. Clifford and Glendinning spoke at the first Symposium, with Clifford presenting “Inclusive Governance in a Synodal Church: Approaches to the Exercise of Authority by Lay Persons,” and Glendinning presenting “Canonical Issues associated with Ministerial Public Juridic Persons.” At the second Symposium, the keynote address was given by the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, Mario Grech. He endorsed the Symposium’s approach to integrating lay people into the governance of the Church and spoke of it as a shared search to discern the will of God as a community. Click here to read more about the Symposium.
2026 Annual Lonergan Lecture
Dr. Paul LaChance to Speak at the Annual Lonergan Lecture Series On Thursday April 9th, 2026, from 7:00-9:00pm, the Lonergan Centre at Saint Paul University invites you to our 2026 Annual Lonergan Lecture, online and in-person. The Lonergan Centre is thrilled to host Dr. Paul LaChance, distinguished Lonergan scholar, who integrates Lonergan into his practice of Internal Family Systems (IFS) in psychotherapy. The lecture will be in English, and all are welcome to a wine-and-cheese reception immediately following. To register for this free lecture, please click on the poster or scan the QR code in the image. For further details or information please see the attached description of the Lecture and a brief bio for Dr. Paul LaChance. If you have any questions please contact lonergan@ustpaul.ca.
Webinar Recording! Prof. C. Clifford In Conversation with Bishop Alain Faubert: Implementation of the Synod
June 17, 2025 A Conversation with Bishop Alain Faubert, moderated by Peter Meehan. Keynote Presentation from Journey of Encounter – Pilgrims of Hope Embracing Synodality St. Jerome’s University, Waterloo, ON. https://usptheoresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Bringing-Home-the-Synod.mp4
Prof. C. Clifford Moderates Webinar for the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches.
18 March 2025, Prof. C. Clifford moderated a webinar of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (DPCU) jointly hosted an ecumenical webinar titled “The Bishop of Rome and Christian Unity.” This was the first in a series of webinars envisioned by WCC’s Commission on Faith and Order (FO), in collaboration with various Christian Communions, to explore Christian unity in the lead-up to the Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order. The next conference, themed “Where Now for Visible Unity?” is scheduled for October 2025 near Alexandria, Egypt.
Professor Clifford Shares Experiences of the Synod on Synodality
January 21 2025 During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Methodist Ecumenical Offices in Rome hosted a Webinar to share the experiences of the delegates to the Synod on Synodality. Prof. C. Clifford was among the five fraternal delegates to the 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of the Catholic Church The webinar was sponsored by the Methodist Ecumenical Office Rome, Legation of the Armenian Church to the Holy See, Anglican Centre in Rome, and Reformed Churches Ecumenical Office in Rome.
Echoes from the Synod
On November 5 Saint Paul University hosted Sr. Nathalie Becquart and SPU’s Prof. C. Clifford in a panel discussion of their recent experiences at the Synod in Rome. https://usptheoresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Vid-Echos-from-Synod-Becquart-Clifford.mp4
Dr. C. Clifford Featured in NCR Article About Synod
SPU Professor C. Clifford is featured in this National Capital Reporter Article article from March, 2024 https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/popes-study-groups-reflect-evolving-nature-synod-process-theologians-say
Dr. Cathy Clifford Interview with CELAM Feb 29 2024
The Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council better known as CELAM, is a council of the Catholic bishops in Latin America, created in 1955. Catherine Clifford is a professor of historical and systematic theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. As a researcher, she has focused on three areas: ecclesiology, ecumenism, and the history of the Vatican Council. Dr. Clifford is also a member of the International Catholic-Methodist Joint Commission, participating in the work as a representative of the synodal process for North America. Catherine Clifford: “Será un desafío implementar una sinodalidad genuina donde el clericalismo está profundamente arraigado”