Rev. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J., a renowned author and dean of the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, served as one of the delegates and voting members of the most recent Synod on Synodality in Rome in October 2024. He will discuss his participation and share insights during a public conversation on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025, with Carol Costello, former CNN anchor, journalism lecturer, External Relations special advisor and ambassador.
“Reshaping the Church for Today’s World through Synodality,” is part of the “Jesuit Conversations On…” series and will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the Life Sciences Auditorium. It will also be livestreamed on Zoom.
“Father Orobator is a respected scholar and an inspiring spiritual leader who has held important leadership positions within the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits,” said Father Marc Reeves, S.J. “We are thrilled to welcome him to LMU to discuss the Church’s global reach, its challenges, and its future.”
An influential theologian and priest with expertise in the African experience of Catholicism, Father Orobator is likely to convey the intercultural complexity of the Catholic Church and how a cooperative embrace of synodality as an ongoing practice can lead to a more just world for all. Synodality refers to a way of proceeding that stresses the building of mutual relationships and leads to greater participation and collective responsibility. Pope Francis seeks to moderate the excessive emphasis on hierarchy in order to foster stronger relationships among people. The word “synod” comes from the Greek and means “walking along together.”
Father Orobator is the author of “Theology Brewed in an African Pot”; “Religion and Faith in Africa: Confessions of an Animist,” based on Duffy Lectures he delivered at Boston College; and “The Pope and the Pandemic: Lessons in Leadership in a Time of Crisis,” a Catholic Media Association award winner. He is editor of “The Church We Want: African Catholics Look to Vatican III,” co-editor of “Feminist Catholic Theological Ethics: Conversations in the World Church,” and a member of the editorial board of the journal Marriage, Families & Spirituality.
He is a stirring and sought-after speaker and has lectured at many Catholic colleges and universities across the U.S. Father Orobator last visited LMU in spring 2022 to present the annual Casassa Lecture titled “The Oracle of Alan and Rayan: A Critique of the Globalization of Indifference and an Apologia for Ubuntu.”
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