Martin Rodriguez sits down with Roger Schroeder, professor of intercultural studies and ministry at Catholic Theological Union. Schroeder reflects on his experiences in mission, identifies his contributions to missiology, and shares his hopes for its future.

Our Guest

Roger Schroeder, professor of intercultural studies and ministry at Catholic Theological Union, has been committed to research, teaching, writing, mentoring, and practice in the area of mission and intercultural ministry from the perspectives of post-Vatican II developments, most recently under the inspiration of Pope Francis. He published a revised and expanded edition of his book What is the Mission of the Church? A Guide for Catholics in 2018. Secondly, since 2012 he has been collaborating with others in developing resources and long-term programs to foster true intercultural relationships, which are mutually enriching and challenging, primarily for women’s and men’s religious congregations for both the international and North American contexts. In 2020, he co-edited (with CTU colleague Maria Cimperman) Engaging Our Diversity: Interculturality and Consecrated Life Today, and it was published in Spanish in 2022 (Comprometernos con la Diversidad). Thirdly, coming out of his years of research and teaching in the field of the polycentric history of the world Christian Movement, Schroeder’s ten-year work of Christian Tradition from a Global Perspective was published in the Fall of 2021. This book received Third Place for Excellence in Publishing Award in Theology by the Association of Catholic Publishers, and it was selected as one of the “Ten Outstanding Books in Mission Studies, Intercultural Theology, and World Christianity for 2021” by the ecumenical Overseas Ministry Study Center of Princeton Theological Seminary. Finally, his experience with and learning from indigenous peoples includes six years of life and work in remote village areas of Papua New Guinea in the 70s and 80s as a missionary and practical anthropologist, and annual visits to the Lakota reservations in southwest South Dakota since 1991.

Roger is an Associate Editor of the International Bulletin of Mission Research and on the editorial committee for the Scholarly Monograph Series of the American Society of Missiology. He has served as president of the American Society of Missiology, the Association of Professors of Mission, and the Midwest Fellowship of Professors of Mission (twice). He is currently serving his sixth three-year term as the Coordinator of Anthropos Institute (international network of about forty SVD/SSpS specialists in the social and religious sciences) for his religious congregation of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD). In relation to the latter, he co-edited (with SVDs Stanisław Grodź and Sebastian Michael) in late 2021 Giants’ Footprints: 90th Anniversary of Anthropos Institute (1931-2021).

Publications Mentioned

• Stephen B. Bevans and Roger P. Schroeder, Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004).
•  Stephen B. Bevans and Roger P. Schroeder, Prophetic Dialogue: Reflections on Christian Mission Today (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011).

Credits

Hosted by Martin Rodriguez

Produced by Greg McKinzie