The Royal Priesthood and the Renewal of the Church
International Conference at St. Mary's University
London, June 20th- 22nd, 2024
"Christian Know Your Dignity" (Pope St Leo the Great). The Royal Priesthood is a rich scriptural theme which draws together God's work of creating and saving humanity in Christ. It implies our divine filiation, the life of grace, the metaphysics of participation, the indwelling Trinity, the Church and the Sacraments, the theology of nature and grace, and many other central Catholic doctrines. It has great potential to aid the renewal already well underway in contemporary Catholic theology, and, more concretely, to direct this renewal towards an awakening and revival of the Church in our times.
This theme of the Royal Priesthood was an important aspect of Catholic theology from the mid-nineteenth century onwards and featured prominently in the Second Vatican Council. As part of the ongoing reception of the Council, and in service to the contemporary Church, the School of Theology at St Mary’s University, London, and The Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University, Florida, are delighted to work together to sponsor and organise a conference dedicated to this topic.
Alongside invited speakers, there will be a number of parallel panels of papers from post-graduate students. These will be grouped thematically and proposals for papers in the following areas are particularly welcome: Scripture, Patristics, St Thomas Aquinas, nature and grace, sacramental theology and liturgy, Mariology, divinization, individual nineteenth and twentieth century theologians, the Sacred Heart, ecclesiology, the Second Vatican Council.
Questions about the conference may be directed to [email protected].
