PATCHOGUE, NY – SEPTEMBER 1, 2006 – St. Joseph’s College will host its second colloquium on Women in the Church on Friday, October 6, 2006 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the D’Ecclesiis Auditorium located on the College’s Suffolk campus in Patchogue, New York. “In a Different Voice: Second Colloquium on the Work of Women Theologians” will be feature celebrated speakers Dr. María Pilar Aquino and Dr. Maria Pascuzzi, both professors in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Diego, California. Both presenters will speak on the anti-empirical message of the New Testament and viable approaches for subverting the empire.

An expert on Pauline Scripture, Dr. Maria Pascuzzi, CSJ is an alumna of St. Joseph’s College; she obtained her M.A. in Biblical Studies from Providence College, and subsequently traveled to Rome, where she acquired a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Bible Institute; a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas; and a Doctorate of Sacred Theology from Pontifical Gregorian University. Dr. Pascuzzi is a consultant to the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops and a board member of the Ecumenical Council of San Diego. She has served as a Bible translation consultant and was twice recognized by Who’s Who Among American Teachers. Dr. Pascuzzi is the author of The New Collegeville Bible Commentary: First and Second Corinthians and Ethics, Ecclesiology and Church Discipline: A Rhetorical Analysis of 1 Corinthians 5. Her research specialties include the Letters of Paul, the Application of Rhetorical Criticism to the New Testament, the New Perspective on Paul and the Law and the Emergence of Christianity in Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts.

Dr. María Pilar Aquino is an acclaimed feminist Catholic theologian who obtained her Licentiate in Theology at the Instituto Teológico de Estudios Superiores ITES (Mexico City) granted by the Pontificia Universidad Católica Do Río Grande du Sul (Brasil); a Sacred Theology Bachelor at ITES (Mexico City); and her doctoral degree at the Pontifical University of Salamanca (Spain). In 2000, she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Theology Honoris Causae from The University of Helsinki, Finland. She actively serves on several boards, including the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Concilium, Revue Internationale de Théologie and the Journal of Hispanic/Latino Theology, and is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, the Board of Contributors of the Theological Journal Reflexión y Liberación and the Advisory Board of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual. Dr. Aquino is a faculty advisor for the University of San Diego’s Association of Chicana Activists. She is also past President of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic/Latino Theologians of the United States and former Director of the Hispanic Ministry Program at Mount St. Mary’s College in Los Angeles. Dr. Aquino is a published author, editor and co-editor of numerous books, articles and essays, including Our Cry for Life: Feminist Theology from Latin America and Theology: Expanding Borders.

St. Joseph’s first colloquium on “Women in the Church” was held in 2003 and drew more than 200 attendees. A $20 registration fee for the October 6th event includes a continental breakfast and lunch. For more information, please call 631-447-2739 or visit www.sjcny.edu.

About St. Joseph's College

St. Joseph’s College has been dedicated to providing a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the College provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual and spiritual values, social responsibility, and service. With campuses located in the Clinton Hill area of Brooklyn and in Patchogue, Long Island, the College offers degrees in numerous majors, special course offerings and certificates, affiliated and pre-professional programs through its School of Arts and Sciences and its School of Professional and Graduate Studies.