Photo Credit: L’Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP

Sr Gill Goulding CJ is on sabbatical for this academic year with a Henry Luce III fellowship. She has been in Rome during the month of September undertaking the research on her project Configured to Christ: The Dynamic Impact of Mercy on the Mission of the Church. She was able to attend the canonization of now Saint Mother Theresa on September 4^th and then later in the month had the inestimable privilege of meeting Pope Francis. She writes: “The mass took place on September 20th and later that day Pope Francis went to Assisi to pray with ecumenical leaders for peace. Peace was the theme of his homily at mass also. After the mass he met all the people invited. I presented him with an Italian translation I had made of the abstract of my project.  He seemed very interested and he thanked me for being a woman theologian and working at Regis College and he particularly thanked me for working on the topic of mercy! He asked me not to forget to pray for him and then said he wanted to bless me and my work. As you can imagine I was absolutely thrilled.”

The Henry Luce III Fellows in Theology Program

Established in 1993, the program of the Henry Luce III Fellows in Theology supports the research of junior and senior scholars whose projects offer significant and innovative contributions to theological studies. The program seeks to foster excellence in theological scholarship, and to strengthen the links among theological research, churches, and wider publics.6 fellows are chosen each year from the applications from faculty members.

Henry Luce III Fellowships

The Henry Luce III Fellows in Theology program is designed to encourage high-quality research that promises both to contribute to theological inquiry and to provide leadership in theological scholarship. Since its inception in 1994, the program has funded intellectually rigorous research projects that emphasize the interdisciplinary character of theological scholarship and education, and address the needs of the academy, communities of faith, and the wider society. The fellowship enables each Fellow to conduct yearlong research in one of several areas of theological inquiry. In addition, Fellows present their findings at a yearly conference, and in both scholarly and popular journals.

For more information on Henry Luce III fellowships, please click here.