A FAITH THAT DOES JUSTICE: VOTING AS OUR RIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITY

Part 4 of our online conversation series "Finding God in the Pandemic"

A PANEL PRESENTATION WITH LOCAL CATHOLIC THEOLOGIANS AND WRITERS

Discussing our obligations as Catholics to inform our consciences
on the issues of social justice that affect us,
and choose thoughtfully on election day. 
An opportunity to learn again the tools our tradition
offers us to make our choices rooted in spirituality and morality.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES TO READ BEFOREHAND:


OUR PANEL

Moderator: Eileen Markey—Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Lehman College, Independent Journalist and author

Panel members:
Father Matt Malone, SJ—Editor-in-Chief, America Magazine
Dr. Natalia Imperatori-Lee—Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College
Griffin Oleynick, PhD—Assistant Editor, Commonweal Magazine
John Barnes—PhD Candidate, Professor of Theology, Fordham University

 
 
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ABOUT EILEEN MARKEY:
Eileen Markey is the author of author of A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sr. Maura (Bold Type Books/Hachette), an investigative biography of Maura Clarke, one of four US churchwomen killed by U.S. trained forces in El Salvador during the Cold War. Markey is a journalist who has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, Jacobin, The Village Voice, WNYC New York Public Radio, Citylimits, and The New Republic as well as America Magazine, Commonweal, and the National Catholic Reporter. A graduate of Fordham University and the Columbia School of Journalism, she is an assistant professor of Journalism at Lehman College of the City University of New York. She has long written about social movements, public policy and the intersection of faith and political life. Her work increasingly focuses on the role of public memory in shaping perceptions of the present. 

 
 
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ABOUT FR. MATT MALONE, SJ:

Matt Malone, S.J., is the President and Editor in Chief of America Media. Father Malone began his tenure on October 1, 2012. Previously, he served for two years as an associate editor, from 2007-2009, when he covered foreign policy and domestic politics. Father Malone entered the Society of Jesus in 2002 and was ordained a priest on June 9, 2012 by Edward Cardinal Egan, late Archbishop of New York. Prior to religious life, Father Malone served asspecial assistant and speechwriter to U.S. Representative Martin T. Meehan (D-MA). From 1997-2002, he served as the founding deputy director of MassINC, an independent political think tank, and co-publisher of CommonWealth, its award-winning review of politics, ideas and civic life. He is the author of Catholiques Sans Etiquette, a book concerning the church and the political, which was published in 2014 by Salvator Press in Paris. Father Malone was a founding member of REMUS (Religion, Mimesis and Society), an interdisciplinary research group at Heythrop College dedicated to the thought of Rene Girard, is a member of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion, and serves as the chaplain to the New York Press Club. Father Malone serves on the Board of Trustees of Boston College, of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, and on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Medical Mission Board and the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center for Thought & Culture.

 
 
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ABOUT DR. NATALIA IMPERATORI-LEE:
Natalia Imperatori-Lee is a professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Catholic Studies program at Manhattan College in the Bronx. She is the author of Cuéntame: Narrative in the Ecclesial Present (Orbis Books, 2018).

Dr. Imperatori-Lee teaches courses on contemporary Catholicism, touching upon Vatican II, feminism, faith, and the Latinx communities in the US. Her work focuses on the intersection of Latinx theologies, feminist theologies, and Catholic ecclesiology. She has published in Theological Studies and The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Theological Society of America and is a member of the American Academy of Religion and the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the US.

Dr. Imperatori-Lee earned her bachelor's from Fordham University and a master's from the University of Chicago. She received her doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. Her writing has appeared in Commonweal and America magazines, and she has appeared as a guest expert on Pope Francis on CNN and MSNBC.  A native of Miami, Florida, Dr. Imperatori-Lee lives in the Bronx with her spouse and two sons.

 
 
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ABOUT GRIFFIN OLEYNICK, PhD:
Griffin Oleynick is an assistant editor at Commonweal Magazine, where he also writes about religion and the arts. Originally from Philadelphia, he holds a Ph.D. in Italian Literature from Yale University and lives in Inwood, Manhattan. 

 
 
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ABOUT JOHN BARNES:
John is a proud native of Los Angeles, CA, where he received a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Loyola Marymount University. He relocated to Atlanta in 2008 and worked for several years in both the commercial and non-profit sectors in operations management before deciding to attend seminary. In 2014, John began the Master of Divinity program at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. In 2017, John was conferred the degree of Master of Divinity and subsequently returned to Candler to complete the Master of Theology degree in 2018. In the Fall of 2018, John relocated to New York City to begin doctoral studies at Fordham University. His specific area of study is systematic theology, grounded in the black liberation theological tradition. John’s research interests include the interrogation of traditional atonement theories as well as diverse Christologies and their implication on modern Christian discourse. In addition to his intellectual interests, John also exercises a commitment to the local Church through his involvement in liturgy and worship as well as religious education.

 

A MESSAGE FROM ST. FRANCIS DE SALES

St. Francis de Sales invites all our parishioners and neighbors to make informed voting decisions based on their Catholic conscience. The Social Justice Principles of our faith encourage active participation and we fully encourage you to exercise all your rights and duties as a citizen, including casting your ballot. SFDS does not endorse any candidate or political party. We are here to act as your spiritual home where we hope you are nurtured and fed a healthy theology that allows you to make informed decisions in your daily life.

Here at St Francis de Sales we stand with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in their statement:  "We strongly urge all parishioners to register, to become informed on key issues, and to vote. The Church does not support or oppose any candidate, but seeks to focus attention on the moral and human dimensions of issues.”