This is the first of three posts reporting on the Jungmann Society meeting.
The twelfth biennial congress of the International Jungmann Society for Jesuits and the Liturgy convened from June 22nd through 27th at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts. As president of the society (2024-2026), I constructed the program, which included a number of younger scholars who responded to my invitation to make plenary presentations.
One of the customs of the Jungmann Society meetings is to include a few colleagues, women and/or men, who are not members of the Society of Jesus. Two of the women at the 2026 congress gave plenary talks that proved highly engaging both in content and format.
Dr. Audrey Seah, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, addressed a topic our society had yet to entertain. In “From Accommodation to Inculturation: Liturgy with the Disability Community,” Audrey, whose teaching includes courses in Holy Cross’s Deaf Studies program, educated us on the science and culture of that disability in relation to pastoral liturgy. The latter part of her talk turned to emerging developments and execution of parish Masses tailored to people with autism.
The following morning, Margaret Felice (STL, PhD Candidate, Clough School, Boston College) presented “Liturgy and the Articulation of the Self,” in which she drew upon such theorists as Louis-Marie Chauvet, Paul Ricoeur, and others to develop a narrative concept of self-realization in liturgical participation. Margaret has worked for years in Jesuit high school and undergraduate settings. Her proposals and examples stimulated lively conversation especially among the younger Jesuits.
Two Jesuits gave research talks based on their doctoral dissertations. Pictured left, Erik Sorensen, SJ (PhD Candidate, St. Paul’s University, Ottawa) is currently writing “Ritualizing Reconciliation: Catholic Liturgy in the Canadian Settler-Colonial Context.” José Rafael Garrido, SJ (STD, Pontificia Universidad Javierana, Bogota, Columbia) spoke from his recently defended “Sacramental Topology: Analysis of the Sacramentality of Sacred Space.” A third doctoral candidate slated for presentation was at the last minute unable to attend the congress.
In separate posts I shall report on the theme and further content of the congress and on the extensive recordings made toward an educational video project the Jungmann Society is completing with the Global Jesuit Formation site.
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