������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ�

Author and theologian Dr. Paul Lakeland was recently elected vice president of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), at the Annual Meeting of the CTSA held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is expected to serve as the vice president for the next year and will become the president-elect in June 2017, president in June 2018, and past president in June 2019, for a final year in the four-year presidential line.

Paul F. Lakeland, PhD is the Aloysius P. Kelley S.J. Chair of Catholic Studies and director of Fairfield’s Center for Catholic Studies here at ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ�. Lakeland is the recipient of several Catholic Press Association awards, including one for best book in theology for his work, The Liberation of the Laity and received the University’s Robert E. Wall Faculty Research Award for the 2015-16 academic year.

Dr. Lakeland joins two esteemed ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ� colleagues who have served as president of the CTSA. John Thiel, professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Honors Program, served as president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, from 2011 to 2012. Rev. Michael Fahey, S.J., Scholar in Residence at ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ�, was president from 1983 to 1984.

“It is wonderful that with the recent election of Dr. Paul Lakeland, as vice president and president elect of the Catholic Theological Society of America, ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ� is again home to a leader of the most important theological society in North and South America,” said Mary Frances Malone, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ�. “Paul Lakeland has been a leading voice at ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ� — in both introducing to the University and wider community and exploring in depth with faculty, staff and students — the Catholic intellectual tradition. He is a renowned scholar, a ������ý��Ƶ�����ƹۿ� teacher of the year and a major voice on Catholic issues within the local, national and international community. We are very proud that his colleagues within the CTSA honored Paul by electing him as the leader of the Society.”

Two new board members were also elected at the CTSA business meeting: Susan Abraham of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and Mark Fischer of St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, Calif. The new treasurer is John Dadosky of Regis College in Toronto, while Natalie Kertes Weaver of Ursuline College in Ohio was elected to a second term as secretary.

The Catholic Theological Society of America, founded in 1946, is the principal association of Catholic theologians in North America and promotes theological research in the Roman Catholic tradition that is attentive to contemporary problems faced by the Church and the world. The society has a membership of more than 1300, making it the largest professional society of theologians in the world. Active members of the Society hold the doctorate in theology or a related discipline.