Associate Professor of Systematic Theology
walter@ai.edu
Degrees
Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa (Barry University, 2003)
- Ph.D., Philosophical and Systematic Theology (Graduate Theological Union, 1991)
- S.T.L., Systematic Theology (Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, 1985)
- M.A., Scripture and Systematic Theology (Aquinas Institute of Theology, 1973)
"To speak truly, although always inadequately, about Holy Mystery requires deep faith, full use of reason, and the transformative fire of love. Among the loveliest ideas within the Thomistic tradition are connaturality and secondary causality. We hold and teach that participation in the life of God is at one and the same time divinizing and fully humanizing. We also hold and teach that God shares life and creative power with us, inviting us to ever fuller participation in divine life and in the world. “Connaturality” and “secondary causality” are shorthand for a profound, ennobling vision of our dignity and vocation as human beings."
The eldest of 11 children, I was born in Chicago and graced by being part of a large extended family for whom faith, family and service were paramount. After a year of college, I entered the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan, drawn by the motto Veritas and by the joy and scholarship I saw in these sisters. After teaching junior high, I was sent to Aquinas Institute to obtain a graduate degree in theology. Vatican Council II had finished. The shifts in understanding the church and the world incorporated into the work of the Second Vatican Council challenged many of the ways I had previously understood God, myself, church and world. These changes raised such significant questions for me that I felt I needed formal study of theology to address them. As a Dominican, I understood the relationship between study and the life of contemplation, a relationship particularly profound in theological studies. So the study of theology was necessary to deepen my faith and to anchor my prayer.
At Aquinas, my teachers were both scholarly and pastoral; they responded to my questions both about theology and faith. In this journey of questioning and discovery, it meant a great deal to me to worship with the same people who were in my classes—students and professors alike. This experience has shaped my own teaching. It is a privilege to be engaged in the communal pursuit of truth or, as St. Catherine of Siena would say, Gentle Truth, and to do this with students who have diverse backgrounds, reasons for studying theology, cultures and viewpoints. In the engagement of tradition and contemporary questions, of faith and practice, I am constantly challenged to come to a deeper understanding and more adequate expression of my faith.
Following my studies I taught at the high school and then the college level, finally returning to work on my licentiate and doctorate in philosophical and systematic theology in Berkeley. Like Aquinas in Dubuque, the Graduate Theological Union was an ecumenical consortium keenly committed to theological scholarship in service of church and world. My primary focus was in ecclesiology, specifically the nature and exercise of authority in the church.
St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Cleveland, Ohio, was my next assignment. After 6 years there, I was elected Prioress of my Congregation. These ministries gave me rich experiences of a wonderful diocesan church in Cleveland and of the Dominican Order nationally and internationally. I was privileged to represent the Congregation and to visit our sisters ministering to people in schools, literacy centers, hospitals, parishes and dioceses, even on garbage dumps in Juarez, Santo Domingo and Pampanga. I was also privileged to serve as one of the councilors from North America to the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) and to assist in the formation of Dominican Sisters International and Dominican Sisters Africa. Following my term as Prioress, I taught for a semester at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome and worked with Dominican Sisters in Eastern Europe.
All of these experiences have enriched my theology, shaping the questions I ask about suffering, salvation, the meaning of Incarnation, the role of religious life. The relationships between the new physics, metaphysics, and theology intrigue me. How do we talk about God and world, about revelation and salvation, in a way that acknowledges what we know about the vastness of space/time, that orients us in an age of globalization, and that supports our commitment to justice, peace and the integrity of creation? I am also interested in questions of authority, tradition and hermeneutics. I’ve written and given presentations both nationally and internationally on the theology of religious life and on Dominican life and charism; I am now writing a book on the theology of religious life. I am also doing research on the dynamics of heresy, and the praxis of truth, dialogue and reconciliation.
Professional Affiliations
- Chair of the Christology Section of Catholic Theological Society of America
- American Academy of Religion
- Member of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Michigan
Course Descriptions
Proseminar/Introduction to Theology (MAHCM)
This course, in tandem with the formation component of the program, introduces incoming students in the Master of Arts in Health Care Mission to a set of practices that are essential for theological study and ministerial formation at Aquinas Institute of Theology: excellence in written and oral communication, close reading of texts, collaboration, analysis of social context, and theological reflection. Students then engage these practices, primarily excellence in written and oral communication and close reading of texts, in a study of fundamental theology, some specific topics in theology, and a selection of theological approaches evident in contemporary thought. The course provides a basic theoretical framework needed for further course work in theology. It aims at enabling students to formulate theological questions clearly and to think theologically in the context of health care ministry.
Christian Anthropology
This course is a systematic theological reflection on the mystery of humanity in light of the mystery of Christ, with focus on the Christian symbols of creation in the image of God, original sin, grace, and heaven.
Vowed Life
This course traces the historical development of vowed religious life in the Catholic Church and explores the meaning of the vowed life in the contemporary world. It is particularly intended for those in initial formation for religious life.
Selected Publications/Presentations
“Wisdom about Wealth and Poverty.” The Bible Today 49:2 (May, 2011): 157-162.
“Consent and Dissent: Education for Citizenship in the Dominican Tradition.” Founder’s Week Distinguished Lecture, Barry University. November 16, 2010.
“How Great Thou Art: Connecting Science and Theology.” Signatures (Spring/Summer 2008): 6-9.
“At Home in Wisdom’s Tent: Study, Contemplation and the Pursuit of Truth.” In At Home in Wisdom’s Tent: Celebrating 800 Years of Dominican Life, ed. Nadine Foley, OP, 59-70. Proceedings of the Dominican symposium at Siena Heights University, Adrian, MI, 15 May 2007. Adrian, MI: Adrian Dominican Sisters, 2008.
Co-editor, Parable: Dominican Theological Reflections for the 21st Century. 2006- 2008.
“Where Is God? Suffering and the Sacred.” 2007 Mary Ward lecture at the Margaret Beaufort Institute, Cambridge, England. Monograph, Cambridge University Printing, 2007.
“Complete Joy: Theological Reflection in a Dominican School,” with Ann Garrido. In Towards an Intelligent Use of Liberty, ed. Gabrielle Kelly, OP and Kevin Saunders, OP. Adelaide, Australia: ATF Press, 2006.
“In Conversation: The Gospel and the New Cosmology.” Workshop, Weber Center, Adrian, MI, 1-2 December 2006.
“Religious Life in its Ecclesial Context.” In Journey in Faith and Fidelity, ed. Nadine Foley, OP, 80-94. New York: Continuum, 2000.
Article/Homily
“How Great Thou Art: Connecting Science and Theology.” Signatures (Spring/Summer 2008): 6-9.