Ethics

2027 Call for Papers

John Allen, Central Catholic High School (PA)

jallen@centralcatholichs.com

mlaforge@luc.edu

Sebastian Budinich, Fordham University (NY) 

This year’s convention theme is “Mary, Seat of Wisdom: Refuge and Rabble-Rouser.” The Ethics Section invites authors to consider ways in which the Mary story has been interpreted and reinterpreted over centuries and the ethical attitudes and practices that emerge from those interpretations. We have identified an overarching set of questions to guide paper proposals:

“To what extent is Mary an agent of social or structural change?” And “In what ways does Mary’s identity promote or inhibit ethical practice and communal transformation?”

We welcome diverse methodological approaches. These may include practical ethics, ethnography/field work, popular piety, decolonial approaches, and/or intersectional analysis. We especially encourage papers that explore the following themes:

• Migration ethics
• Ethics of accompaniment 
• Sexual or domestic violence 
• Concrete practices of hospitality, solidarity, or advocacy
• Moral identity and agency (Mary’s fiat) 
• Popular piety, culture, and experience as a source of theological ethics
• Ecological ethics related to creation, creatureliness, or embodiment
• Mary as a refuge for marginalized communities including Black, indigenous, queer, or colonized groups

Submission Requirements:

• Papers that thoughtfully and creatively engage the 2027 conference theme in some of the ways suggested above will be prioritized. 
• Conference presenters must be members of the College Theology Society at the time of the Convention.

Submission Information Details:  

• Please submit a proposal of 300 words and a brief list of the 3-5 most centrally significant sources for this paper in the body of an e-mail message directed to all conveners by December 15, 2026.
• Please also include your institutional affiliation (if any), current professional role, and contact information along with your proposal.