The Eighty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Historical Association
Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Program
The Committee on Program consisted of Constance Berman, University of Iowa; Frank Coppa, St. John's University, New York; Nicholas Creary, Ohio University; William Hudon, Bloomsburg State University; Asunción Lavrin, Arizona State University; Mark Massa, S.J., Fordham University; and James M. Powell, chairman, Syracuse University (Emeritus).
The Association met in Atlanta between Thursday and Sunday, January 4 and 7, 2007 at the Hilton Hotel together with the American Historical Association. The registration desk was conveniently located off the main lobby; fifty persons registered their attendance. All sessions save one were held in the headquarters hotel.
The opening session, on Thursday afternoon, sponsored jointly with the Conference on Latin American History and entitled "Justitia et Misericordia: Recent Research Advances in Inquisition Studies," consisted of three papers with Sonya Lipsett-Rivera of Carleton University in the chair. Javier Villa-Flores, University of Illinois at Chicago, spoke on "God's Name as Pharmakon: False Witnessing before the Mexican Inquisition," followed by "Confession and Popular Culture in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth Century Mexico," delivered by Linda A. Curcio-Nagy, University of Nevada at Reno. The final paper, "By all Arts and Magic: Sexual Magic and the Manipulation of Gender and Sexuality in Colonial Yucatan, 1550-1790," was by John F. Chuchiak IV, Missouri State University. Alejandro Caneque served as commentator.
In the second session at this time William Hudon, Bloomsburg State University, chaired "Galileo, the Medici, and the Inquisition." About thirty persons attended the three papers. Brendan Dooley of the International University of Bremen examined "Narrative and Truth: Don Giovanni de Medici and Galileo," on the 1611 dispute on floating bodies. Stefania Tutino of University of California at Santa Barbara analyzed Robert Bellarmine's role in attempting to find a compromise in "Robert Bellarmine between Theology and Natural Science." Thomas Mayer, Augustana College, argued that Galileo did harm to his own cause in a paper entitled, "Galileo's Precept." Dr. Hudon provided a comment.
On Friday morning, January 5, Jeffrey M. Burns, Academy of American Franciscan History, chaired an interdisciplinary session on "Art and Evangelization in the Franciscan Missions," which explored the role of art and imagery in the evangelization of the indigenous peoples in New Spain. Andrea LePage, Brown University, spoke on the arts of the Franciscan Colegio de San Andrés in Quito. Cristina Cruz Gonzalez, University of Chicago, gave a paper [End Page 344] on "The Propagation of Faith and Image: Art, Mission, and the Holy Body in Spanish America," and Nuno Senos, New York University, presented a paper on "The cult of a Black Saint in Franciscan Brazil." Jaime Lara, Yale University, provided a valuable comment, along with enticing references to the image of the "Flying St. Francis."
Duane Osheim, University of Virginia, chaired the second morning session on "Religion in the Communes: Augustine Thompson's Cities of God: The Religion of the Italian Communes, 1125-1325," which was jointly sponsored by the Society for Italian Historical Studies. Brenda Bolton, MBE, University of London, discussed early evaluations of the book and emphasized the description of the lived religion of the laity in the book. After a response by Father Thompson, O.P., University of Virginia, George Dameron, St. Michael's College, raised a number of points, noting the role of religion in the rise of the popolo and Christianity in the countryside. A lively discussion followed.
In the afternoon, Margery Ganz, Spelman College, chaired a popular session "The Papacy and the Jews: From Pius XII through John Paul II." Peter Kent, University of New Brunswick, dealt with "Pius XII and Israel in the 1950s." Richard Wolff of the Global Consulting Group spoke on Vatican II as the beginning of a new relationship between the Church and the Jews. Dr. Ganz read the paper by Roy Domenico, University of Scranton, on John Paul II and the Jews. Frank Coppa, St...
