Author: Bridget Anderson

Charles “Charlie” Curran jokes that there’s “much more past than there is future” in the story of his career. Now in 80s, he’s been at SMU for 30 years. But he continues to teach and to write, with one book just published and another forthcoming.

Curran’s career began as a Catholic priest teaching theology at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.  His dissenting position on church teachings eventually led to his ousting.

“In 1968, when Pope Paul VI reiterated the church’s condemnation of contraception, I came out with a statement the next day saying that one could disagree with the encyclical and still be a loyal Roman Catholic,” he said. “I think there are things that are core and things that are further removed. On the latter there can be diversity and dissent from official church teaching.”

The Vatican didn’t agree. An investigation ultimately determined he was not suited to teach as a Catholic theologian. His job at Catholic University ended in 1986. Around the same time, SMU had made a decision to give greater importance to ethics.

“No Catholic institution was willing to hire me,” he said. “But SMU made me a marvelous offer. That’s why I’m at SMU. And probably why I’m staying longer than I should’ve stayed.”

Curran remains a priest in good standing. While he’s not technically part of the Perkins faculty – as a university professor, his office is at Dallas Hall – he has taught Perkins courses every year since coming to SMU.

Over the past five years, he’s taught on a reduced schedule, one class each fall at Perkins and one for SMU. This year he’s having to teach in a new way, due to the pandemic. He’s leading a seminar for master’s and doctoral students on Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, and John Calvin, following the hybrid format, with some students in the classroom and others joining remotely.

“Frankly, the Zoom is not my favorite way of teaching,” he said. “I didn’t expect it to work very well, but I was happily surprised.”

Eight students attend the seminar, with one joining from Mumbai, India and another from Puerto Rico, thanks to the remote component of the class.

“That’s made possible by the Zoom stuff,” he said.

Curran continues to write as well. In July, he published what he thought would be his last book (“my caboose”): Sixty Years of Moral Theology (Paulist Press, July 1, 2020.) But after preparing an address at the Catholic Theological Society of America – he served as the organization’s president 50 years ago – he decided to write one more.

“They had never had a history of the society, so, since I had the time, I thought, ‘I might as well write it,’” he said. He just finished a book chronicling the Society’s story, with publication by Paulist Press set for 2021. However, he’s careful not to call the book a “history.”

“I’m not a historian,” he said. “I don’t do archives.  I insisted we call it The Catholic Theological Society of America: A Story of 75 Years. I don’t want to be flying under false colors.”

Looking toward the future, Curran still believes that Catholic Church must change its stance on sexuality, including homosexuality and contraception. He believes change has already arrived, only church teachings have failed to catch up. He followed, with interest, Pope Francis’s recent statement expressing support for same-sex civil unions.

“He’s not changing the teaching, but he is showing a care and concern for gay people and I think that’s an important step forward,” he said. “But it’s only a step.” 

Research Interests

Fundamental moral theology, social ethics, role of the Church as a moral and political actor in society, Catholic moral theology

Book on His Nightstand

The Browns of California, a memoir of Pat Brown and his son Jerry Brown. “Pat Brown was an old-fashioned, backslapping politician, a hale hearty fellow well met,” he said. “His son Jerry was governor of California for four terms and ran for president three times.  Columnist Mike Royko nicknamed him Governor Moonbeam. It’s a well written book and shows Jerry Brown’s strengths and weaknesses.”  Curran describes himself as a “a political junkie” who has followed the 2020 election and related news closely.  “One of the benefits of our system is that democracy is based on the fact you can’t trust people,” he said. “That’s why three branches to check on one another. To quote Winston Churchill, it’s the worst form of government, except for all the others.”

Who He’d Invite to His Fantasy Dinner Party

“I’ve been asked that question a dozen times, and I always refuse to answer,” he said.

Something Most People Don’t Know About Him

He’s an avid golfer, and always has been.  “I caddied as a little kid,” he said. “I never played well, and these days I play worse. But I developed an interest in the history of the game and playing the courses in England.” While doing graduate work in Italy and Rome in the 1950s, he played golf in St. Andrews in Scotland in 1957. (The greens fee at the time: 75 cents.) Before COVID, he traveled often to England and Ireland, and golfed whenever he had the chance, playing 10 of the 13 courses of the British Open.

 Daily Spiritual Practice

Curran follows the monastic ritual of morning prayer and evening prayer and prays a daily centering prayer – “Into your hands I commend my spirit” to clear his mind. “As you go along in life, it changes,” he said. “I’ve been to enough funerals of people my age. The older you get, there is a quiet and a peace that comes from that.  We have so much to do that we lose that sense of peace at times. Peace is a great gift that Jesus gives to us.”

An updated listing of publications by Perkins faculty – including 15 new books and articles published in 2020 – is now available. Click here or the image below to view and download.

Some 250 attendees from around the U.S. gathered virtually November 15-16 for the annual Perkins Fall Convocation, “Leading Into Change,” with author Tod Bolsinger of Fuller Seminary and Grammy-award winning gospel music icon Kirk Franklin. Normally held on the campus of SMU in Dallas, this year’s event took place online, with attendees joining from 19 different states, including Alaska and Pennsylvania.

Kirk Franklin kicked off the event on Sunday evening, November 15, with a presentation entitled “Kirk Franklin Speaks from the Heart about Leading Into Change,” followed by an informal conversation with Priscilla Pope-Levison. Monday’s events opened with online worship with global music led by IziBongo. Tod Bolsinger presented three plenary programs: “Leading in Uncharted Territory,” “Trust, Conflict, and Transformation in Uncharted Territory” and “Tempered Resilience: How Leaders are Formed in the Crucible of Change.” Participants also had the opportunity to interact with Bolsinger and in breakout groups, and to attend a selected afternoon workshop.

Kirk Franklin

In the kickoff event, Franklin shared his personal story: how he was raised by 64-year old Gertrude, a distant relative who adopted him and took him to church regularly. Despite limited financial means, Gertrude managed to get piano lessons for him.

“I was able to see Gertrude model and mirror what Jesus looked like,” he said. Later, when his career took off, he stumbled into drugs and promiscuity, but Gertrude’s example led him back to faith.

He also talked about his decision to boycott the Dove Awards, after his prerecorded comments decrying police violence against people of color were edited out before broadcast.

“People loved his authenticity,” said Pope-Levison. “He’s an incredibly strong Christian, and that has led him to take some difficult stances.”

Franklin shared the story of his son racing in a relay. One team member dropped the ball, but the team was able to recover and win.

“It’s so easy to look at all the negativity in the world and get discouraged, to lay down the baton,” he said. “But God always saves the fastest runner for the end. You have been called for such a time as this. I’m here to let you know that this can be the most beautiful moment in history, because this difficult time can be the divine reset button.”

“It was just him,” said Edgar Bazan, a United Methodist pastor and breakout group leader. “Not a lecture, not a TED Talk, just himself. It was real stuff.”

Tod Bolsinger

Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark) explored the wilderness with the expectation of finding a waterway passage to the western territories of the United States. Instead, he discovered the Rocky Mountains. His planned mode of travel – via canoe – wouldn’t work.

That story inspired Tod Bolsinger’s book, Canoeing the Mountains.

“How do you canoe over mountains?” he said. “The answer is, you don’t. Trying harder is like paddling a canoe when there isn’t any water. We need to learn a new way of leading.”

He noted that Lewis turned to Sacagawea, a Native American woman, who helped the expedition navigate unfamiliar territory.

“When we go off the map, those who have neither power nor privilege in Christendom are the trustworthy guides and necessary leaders,” Bolsinger said.

Bolsinger talked about how the pandemic has led leaders into uncharted territory – and how it has exposed the “underlying conditions” of the church: a lack of deep discipleship; a lack of deep community that keeps people connected in times of division; a lack of wisdom and courage to speak prophetically, collaborate for justice and serve the common good. But he also sees the pandemic as providing “opportunities to hit the organizational reset button.”

Attendee Shanterra McBride was inspired by Bolsinger’s insights into leadership.

“As leaders, we should remember to say, ‘I don’t know,’” said McBride, who also presented a workshop, entitled Communicating the Why Behind the Change. “Not just for our own benefit of taking off the facade but also for the benefit of the people we are leading. I’ve heard this before but, for some reason, on this day, it was like a huge exhale.”

Rosedanny Ortiz, a Perkins student, wanted to experience the Fall Convocation before she graduates in May. She was also moved by Bolsinger’s plenaries.

“He talked about how combining technical competence, adaptive capacity and relational congruence can bring transformational leadership,” she said. “As leaders, we can expect to experience sabotage, which is ‘human thing that anxious people do.’ But we need to ‘stay calm, stay connected, and stay the course.’”

Kelly Graeber, a staff member at Custer Road United Methodist in Plano, complimented Bolsinger’s presence throughout the event and his willingness to answer questions from participants.

“The main takeaway for me is, it always comes down to relationships with other people,” she said. “The human race thrives on relationships. If we do not have them, we will perish.”

Bolsinger’s words also hit home for Bazan.

“I’ll remember what he said: ‘The moment of crisis, you will not rise to the occasion, you will default to your training,’” Bazan said. “We look for safety. There is nothing wrong with that. There’s use for that. But there’s the risk of not using the opportunity.”

Pope-Levison noted that the Office of External Programs, which organized the event, used the Mighty Networks platform to host the event, in the hopes of offering more opportunities for attendees to converse informally. She acknowledged that it involved downloading an app and it was initially tricky for some attendees.

“This is a learning time for us,” she said. “But this platform enables a lot of interaction before, during and after the event. It’s like a closed Facebook group, and it will never close down.”

Graeber noted that she liked the ability to see other attendees. She was pleasantly surprised by the “heavy hitters” who were present, including a few bishops and other church leaders, from all over the country.

“These are people who are in a position to make a change,” she said.

Remember. Breathe. Dream.

A guided meditation that Habito had recorded earlier for YouTube found a second life as part of multimedia exhibit called Remember. Breathe. Dream. now underway at Cara Mia Theatre in Dallas. The exhibit includes installations created by Cara Mía’s Playwright in Residence Virginia Grise, Dallas sculptor Andrew Scott in collaboration with Ruben Habito, and storyteller and healer Stefanie Tovar.

“At this moment of national instability, ‘Remember. Breathe. Dream.’ invites us to ground in our shared humanity as a possibility for creating another future. This exhibition is curated to provoke us to remember where we have come from, breathe in the present moment and dream out our future,” said David Lozano, Cara Mia’s Executive Artistic Director. Tickets are available; reservations for timed entry required. The show continues through December 13.  Read more about the exhibit in this Dallas Morning News story.

 

Essay Published

Alyce M. McKenzie, Director of the Center for Preaching Excellence, has contributed an academic essay on teaching preaching to the web resource library of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.  View the article here:  Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? Thoughts on Preaching and the Teaching of Preaching. McKenzie, who is also Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship, wrote the essay at the request of Lilly Endowment, Inc.

 

Book Featured

Priscilla Pope-Levison’s new book, Models of Evangelism, was recently featured in a Christianity Today blog, “20 Truths from ‘Models of Evangelism’ by Priscilla Pope-Levison.” Read the post on The Exchange, a blog by Ed Stetzer, here.

Pope-Levison, Associate Dean for External Programs & Professor of Ministerial Studies, was also interviewed about her book for the program Equipped with Chris Brooks on Moody Radio.  Listen to the interview here.  Other media coverage included a review of the book in Influence Magazine, an excerpt in Baptist News Global, and an interview for Influence Podcast.

Deacons Recognized

Two Perkins staff members were recently mentioned in an update on deacons in the North Texas Annual Conference. Deacon Heather Gottas Moore serves under appointment as Program Coordinator for Perkins’s Office of External Programs. Deacon Andy Keck serves at Perkins as Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives and Special Assistant to the Dean. In a recent meeting of North Texas deacons, Keck reported that overall enrollment is rising at Perkins, and that 42 current Perkins students are exploring the path to deacon in multiple conferences.

Heather Gottas Moore	Andrew Keck

 

Anderson Departure

Bridget Anderson, Associate Director of the Office of Public Affairs and Alumni/ae Relations, will conclude her Perkins career on Friday, December 4. She and her husband, Michael, have accepted new positions and will relocate to Charlotte, N.C., to be closer to family.  Anderson has worked closely with almost all Perkins faculty, staff, programs and centers during her tenure and has contributed to rebranding, marketing, social media and public affairs efforts.

 

 

Robert Hasley’s New Book

As a young man, the Rev. Robert Hasley (Master of Sacred Theology ’77, M.Div. ‘78) wondered how his grandmother could always say, “Everything is gonna be all right,” when pain, harm and suffering persist. Yet her faith sustained and comforted her in times full of fear, anxiety and stress. Hasley shares homespun stories and anecdotes of a life lived in faith through good times and bad in his new book, Everything Is Gonna Be All Right (Invite Press, 2020). Hasley, who is senior pastor of St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Plano, was honored in a book-signing event on November 8. To learn more or to purchase the book, click here.

 

H-G Alumni Featured

Together, Pastors Frank and Elizabeth Acosta have navigated moving to a new country, learning a new language and attending two different seminaries. They banded together in marriage and parenting while sharing pastoral duties at First Methodist Conroe’s Celebración ministry.  Married 16 years with a two-year-old son, the couple is originally from Cuba. Read a feature about the Acostas on the Texas Conference website here. The Acostas both completed M.Div. degrees in 2020 at Perkins’s Houston-Galveston program.

 

Sutton-Adams Attends Boston College

Hannah Sutton-Adams (M.Div. ’18) was accepted into Boston College and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Theology and Education. Sutton-Adams expressed appreciation for the support of the Perkins community. “This acceptance is a testament to the nurturing power of academic and religious communities,” she said.

 

Christian Watkins at NCC

Rev. Christian Watkins recently moderated a Zoom panel hosted by the National Council of Churches, “Where are we? Spiritually diagnosing America’s Illnesses.” Watkins (M.Div. ’19) recently joined the staff of the NCC in a newly created position to serve as Justice Advocacy and Outreach Manager. In this role, he is helping elevate NCC’s work on ending mass incarceration and racism as well as developing a mini-grants program to support ministries involved in this work. Most recently, Christian served as the 2019-20 Wendland Fellow for Faith and Justice of the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church.

 

Fighting Racism  

Lowry Minton Manders (MSM ’04) is working in the Lake Highlands neighborhood of Dallas to fight racism.   Along with Denita Jones, she has established a Facebook group of more than 1,000 “Lake Highlands Area Moms Against Racism.”  The Facebook group has created a forum for conversations on anti-racism, the Black Lives Matter movement and personal experiences of neighbors.  “We are trying to create a safe place for everyone,” Manders said.  Read stories in Lake Highlands Advocate magazine here and here.