The 2023 Conference for the Society for Catholic Liturgy (SCL) has announced its theme: “Remain in me”: Liturgical Formation and the Eucharistic Revival. The annual conference will be held this year in St. Paul, MN, on September 21-22 and is accepting papers for the event.
The theme this year takes its inspiration from Pope Francis’s recent motu proprio on the liturgy, Desiderio Desideravi: “We see that the liturgical year is for us the possibility of growing in our knowledge of the mystery of Christ, immersing our life in the mystery of His Death and Resurrection, awaiting his return in glory. This is a true ongoing formation. Our life is not a random chaotic series of events, one following the other. It is rather a precise itinerary which, from one annual celebration of His Death and Resurrection to the next, conforms us to Him, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ” (64).
In his Apostolic Letter Desiderio Desideravi, Pope Francis calls for a “serious and vital liturgical formation” of the people of God through a “rediscovery of a theological understanding of the liturgy.” At the same time, the Catholic bishops of the United States have called for a three-year Eucharistic Revival (2022-2024), culminating in a Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, IN, in 2024.
According to the official announcement of this year’s theme, the SCL believes it has “a specific scholarly contribution to make in responding to both calls to action. We would like to pose a question: Is it possible that the recommitment to liturgical formation and the Eucharistic Revival can be integrated? How can a plan for the liturgical formation of the faithful contribute to the Eucharistic Revival in the United States?”
Referring to the Eucharistic congresses of the past century, the announcement noted, “the Eucharistic rites of the Church were presented as ways in which the whole Church might develop a new spiritual fervor that would serve as a medicine against individualism, secularization, violence, and injustice. At the heart of these efforts was the desire for a deeper participation in the mystery of Jesus Christ, the ‘true vine’ in which the life of the world remains, continuously sanctified by the prayer of the Church.”
“A re-engagement of the faithful in this deeper understanding of the liturgy,” the statement continued, “in the mode of a scholarly conference, can facilitate an authentic liturgical formation of the people of God, and enable a richer Eucharistic Revival for the 21st century. For this reason, we welcome the submission of abstracts for this theme.
See https://liturgysociety.org for specific topic suggestions.
Presentations are expected to be in the form of a scholarly paper, 30 minutes in length for full panels, 20 minutes in length for student panels. Please submit proposals by March 24, 2023 to Sister Esther Mary Nickel, RSM at [email protected]. Papers can be submitted for publication in the Society for Catholic Liturgy’s journal Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal.
