2011 Annual Meeting Highlights

President Douglas Ottati presided for the 52st annual meeting, held jointly with the Society of Jewish Ethics and the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics, which 554 people attended.

Plenary sessions included “How Are Theological Ethics Theological?" on Friday by Charles Curran with Diane Yeager responding, and on Saturday by Susan Frank Parsons with Samuel K. Roberts responding. Enrique Dussel of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico addressed several sessions as the Global Scholars Program speaker.

Officers elected at the business meeting included Stanley Hauerwas (President), Miguel De La Torre (Vice President), Jennifer Beste, Melanie Harris, and Grace Kao (Board, Class of 2015).

Stacey Floyd-Thomas was confirmed as Executive Director, effective July 1, 2011.

Nominations Committee appointments include Therese Lysaught (chair), Ted Smith, Jennifer Herdt, Gerald McKenny, and Charles Pinches.

The first Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to James Gustafson.

Eighty four SCE colleagues participated in a January 6 Eco-justice tour of post-Katrina New Orleans. Dawn M. Nothwehr, co-convener of the Environmental Ethics and Theology Interest Group, organized the tour of efforts to rebuild New Orleans.  Engaging and informative experts from Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and the staff of the sites we visited provided narration. Colleagues, (including some who were unable to participate in the tour) generously made donations to the four major agencies we visited which are “rebuilding New Orleans” - Providence Community Housing Center: $344.25; Rebuild Center: $394.25; Catholic Charities: $419.25 for Café Hope, and $344.25 for PACE Center for the Elderly. The four-hour tour culminated with a panel entitled: “Disrupting Environmental Degradation” addressing the question of whether an ignorance-based-world view (IBWV) for restoration of the coastal Louisiana wetlands more adequately serves the central norms of Christian environmental ethics.