The year 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of The Lay Centre.
Many events are planned, and today we ask your help in one of them: a collection of scholarly reflections on lay theology and spirituality, which will be published in 2026/27 and be the basis of an academic conference day in Rome in June 2027.
We invite all who have been associated with The Lay Centre at any point in its rich history to submit an article for consideration in the edited volume as well as for the academic conference day in June 2027.
The book will be arranged around the four core values that have guided The Lay Centre in the past and accompany it into the future. We seek paper proposals on one of the following topics:
- Faith
- Dialogue
- Hospitality
- Care for Our Common Home
| FAITH |
| The Lay Centre built on the mission of the Ladies of Bethany in Rome, carrying on some of their charism while living it in a new way. Living faith and reflecting on faith have been at the center of this, growing out of the conviction that the best theology springs from an active faith. We invite papers that reflect on the role of faith in academic theology and spirituality. We are especially interested inAnalyses or proposals of how lay people continue and transform the charisms and missions of religious communities either in the past or present.Constructive reflections on lay theology in relation to the charisms of religious life.Applications of magisterial teachings, like Evangelii Gaudium, the synods on synodality, and others, to lay work in the church.Reflections that link to the author’s experience at The Lay Centre, reflecting on how their work today has been in some way influenced by the faith community found there. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Carrying on the commitment of the Ladies of Bethany to dialogue with other Christians, The Lay Centre has nourished a context of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, welcoming students from other Christian traditions as well as other religions.We invite papers on the role that dialogue and encounter with the religious other furthers the work of Roman Catholic academic theology and spiritualty. |
| HOSPITALITY |
| The central work of the Ladies of Bethany in Rome was ecumenical hospitality. The Lay Centre has continued this by creating a welcoming space for students and international groups in Rome where they can have convivial and productive conversations with church leaders, theologians, and others.We invite papers on how theology and hospitality go hand in hand. This can also be reflections on how the art and architecture of Rome, central to the Ladies of Bethany ecumenical walks, contribute a deeper knowledge of and thought about the Christian faith. |
| CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME |
| Integral ecology, as articulated in Laudato Si’, can be seen in all the Lay Centre’s activities over the years, even though the concept has only been articulated in this fuller way more recently. Care for one another, care for cultures, care for the least among us, care for natural resources, and care for natural spaces are central to the Christian mission.We invite papers on different aspects of how lay theology and spirituality can foster this care. |
| DEADLINES |
| Interested scholars should submit abstracts of 500 words or less to David Dawson Vasquez ([email protected]) by October 31, 2025. Acceptance of the proposals will be issued by November 30, 2025. Authors of all approved abstracts are welcome to present their work at The Lay Centre, in Rome, in late June 2027. For those wishing to be part of the published volume, once the abstract is approved, complete academic articles of approximately 8,000 words are expected by February 28, 2026. These will be subject to peer review. While publication in the projected book is necessarily limited to about 10 articles, everyone whose abstract is approved is encouraged to submit a full paper by this deadline since we may be able to publish other peer-review approved papers either online or through other means. |
