APRIL 16-18, 2021

Conference website: http://worldcathweek.depaul.edu

The Catholic Church is perhaps the largest provider of health care in the world. From sophisticated Catholic hospital systems to small rural clinics, the Church continues the legacy of healing begun by Jesus. Today, however, the gap between technologically advanced medicine and the needs of the desperately poor continues to widen.

In this conference, speakers from Uganda, India, Ecuador, South Korea, Kenya, the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Zambia come together virtually to address some of the most pressing issues facing Catholic health care providers around the globe. Topics include

• Catholic health care services and strategies
• biblical and theological narratives of health and healing
• the relationship between Western and non-Western traditions of medicine
• healing trauma and invisible wounds
• Catholic partnerships between the global South and global North

"Rise Up and Walk: Catholicism and Health Care across the Globe" is the 12th annual World Catholicism Week conference hosted by DePaul University's Center for World Catholicism & Intercultural Theology (CWCIT) but the first time it has ever been hosted digitally—we hope you will join us!

KEYNOTE ADDRESSES BY

Barbra Mann Wall, PhD, RN, FAAN

• Thomas A. Saunders III Professor of Nursing, University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA)
• Author, Into Africa: A Transnational History of Catholic Missions & Social Change

David Cayley

• Award-winning journalist & former host of CBC Radio One's "Ideas" (Toronto)
• Author, Ideas on the Nature of Science

View complete list of all conference speakers, their bios, and descriptions of their conference topics.

Conference Schedule

FRIDAY, April 16

9:00-10:00am Pre-Conference Session—Undergrad Research Poster Feedback (details)

SATURDAY, April 17

8:30-10:30am Roundtable on Healing Trauma & Invisible Wounds

• Kochurani Abraham—Gendered Wounds that Clamor for Healing
• Fr. Elisee Rutagambwa—Trauma Healing & Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda: A Complementary Approach
• Claudio de Oliveira Ribeiro—The Pandemic in the Context of Necropolitics and Liberation Spiritualities

10:30-11:00am Break / Breakout Chat

11:00-1:00pm Roundtable on Catholic Health Care Services & Strategies

• Susan Nedza, MD—Accompaniment as the Catholic Medical Mission Model: Responding to the Call to “Go Forth”
• Soojung Kim*—The History & Mission of the Catholic Medical Center in Korea
• Sam Orach, MD—Catholic Health Care in Africa: Does the Giant Matter?

*Via recorded video, due to time conflict

1:00-2:00pm Break / Breakout Chat

2:00-4:00pm Roundtable on Biblical & Theological Narratives of Health and Healing

• Alexandre Martins—The Centrality of the Sick, Poor, and Oppressed in Jesus' Mission
• David Toole—The Morgue in the Garden of Eden: What Are Hospitals For?
• Fr. Stan Chu Ilo—Rise Up & Walk: From Narratives of Contamination to Redemptive Narratives of Healing and Hope

4:00-4:30pm Break / Breakout Chat

4:30-6:00pm Keynote by David Cayley—Medical Nemesis Remembered

6:00-6:30pm Breakout Chat

SUNDAY, April 18

9:00-11:00am Roundtable on Western & Non-Western Traditions of Medicine

• Sr. Maria Vasantha, MD—From a Rural and Christian Perspective in India
• Fr. Bernhard Udelhoven—Perspectives from Zambia
• Abraham Castañeda, MD and Carolina Martínez, MD—Challenges of a Rural Mission Hospital in Chiapas, Mexico: Quality Care for a Vulnerable, Indigenous Community

11:00-12:00pm Break / Breakout Chat

12:00-2:00pm Roundtable on Catholic Partnerships between the Global South and Global North

• Bruce Compton—Social Justice & International Outreach: Dynamics of North-South Partnerships
• Sr. Joan Mumaw—Solidarity with South Sudan: Paradigm of Promise in a Challenging Context
• David Gaus, MD—Horizontality, Hegemony, and Health Care: Reflections on South-North Partnerships

2:00-2:30pm Break / Breakout Chat

2:30-4:00pm Keynote by Barbra Mann Wall—Catholic Sisters in Health Care: Conflict, Entanglements, and Crossovers in Medicine, Nursing, and Religion

4:00-4:30pm Breakout Chat

FAQs

How can I contact the organizer with questions? You can reach the staff of CWCIT at cwcit@depaul.edu.

Can I update my registration information? Yes—to review or change any of your registration info, please simply follow the instructions given here.

What if something comes up and I'm not able to attend? You can cancel your free registration by following the instructions given here.

Whom should I contact if I have questions about disability accommodations? If you have a disability that may require reasonable accommodations in order to facilitate your participation in this or other CWCIT events, please contact us at cwcit@depaul.edu to further discuss accommodation options.