Fr Bryan Massingale will deliver a public lecture on Thursday, Oct. 3, on the theme of his upcoming book, which is due for release next year from Orbis Books.
The event, entitled "Dreaming While Black: The Resilience of Black Hope and Love in Precarious Times," will take place during the annual meeting of the Black Catholic Theological Symposium (BCTS), which will convene Oct. 3-5 in Montgomery, Alabama.
The lecture is being cosponsored by two local organizations, Resurrection Catholic Missions and the Equal Justice Initiative, the latter of which will host the event in its Legacy Hall event space at 608 N Court St.
Massingale’s theme of “Dreaming While Black”—which dovetails with the 2024 BCTS meeting theme of “Hope or Horror?… November 6, 2024”—has been a point of focus for the long-term ethics scholar, who currently serves as the James & Nancy Buckman Professor of Theological & Social Ethics at Fordham University in New York.
The theme was the title of his presidential address at last year’s annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics, an organization he was elected to lead for a one-year term in 2022. He published on the topic in U.S. Catholic last fall as an intersection with the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and also spoke on it during a keynote address at this year’s annual gathering of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in Orlando, Florida.
“In the face of war, environmental catastrophe, xenophobic nationalisms, anti-queer hysteria, and anti-Black violence, we don’t need less imaginative hope. We need more,” he told more than 800 attendees on Aug. 14.
Fr Bryan Massingale raised the roof with his plenary talk at #LCWR2024. His long awaited book “Dreaming while Black” will be out next year from @OrbisBooks pic.twitter.com/y9O1OBH4CG
— @RobertEllsberg (@RobertEllsberg) August 15, 2024
His lecture on Alabama will be with his fellow academic practitioners in Black Catholic theology and history. They will meet one month before a pivotal general election that could occasion a sea change in government action on various hot-button issues, including racism, LGBTQ+ rights, and Christian nationalism—all of which have been research focuses of Massingale.
His 2010 text, “Racial Justice and the Catholic Church,” remains one of the few American books written on the topic and has remained a popular read among those looking into the history of anti-Black prejudice and pro-Black resistance within the Church.
He has also made waves with his advocacy as an out gay, Black Catholic priest willing to push against traditional boundaries in theological ethics. He was awarded Pax Christi USA’s Teacher of Peace Award in 2021, Barry University’s Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence in 2022, and Marquette University’s Ketteler Award for Social Justice in 2023, among other honors.
His BCTS lecture next month is scheduled for 7pm CT in Montgomery and will be followed by a reception, according to the event organizers.
Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.
