This week, participants selected for the CoARC (“Conceptions of Authority in Roman Catholicism”) Seminar gathered in Knoxville, Tennessee, to talk through paper drafts, exchange ideas across disciplines, and recover and reimagine authority and co-responsibility in a synodal Catholic Church.

The seminar organized conversations around five “Dialogue Clusters” themed as follows: Constructing and Deconstructing Authority; Habits of Authority; Obstacles to Authority; On the Edges of Authority; and Authority from Here. I appreciated the wide array of perspectives that moved each dialogue away from a predictable pathway. We learned and unlearned how to think about authority embedded in culture, institutions, roles, individuals, communities, and mystery. We also ate well in some of my favorite downtown Knoxville spots!

Looking ahead, my co-facilitator Natalia Imperatori-Lee and I will shepherd contributions toward an edited volume and other public-facing work. I’m grateful to the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies of the University of Southern California, where I am a Senior Research Fellow, for hosting this event.