This hybrid research symposium event provides an opportunity for those interested in religion, education, and schooling to discuss the contours of queer thriving in the specific context of Catholic education.
Event programme
Introduction to the concept of queer thriving by Dr Seán Henry:
- Extended response: Professor Graham McDonough
- Discussants: Dr Maggie Webster and Dr Heather Marshall
The symposium begins with a brief presentation by Dr Seán Henry on the concept of queer thriving itself, drawing from his and Dr Sean Whittle’s recently published collection Queer Thriving in Catholic Education: Going Beyond the Pastoral Paradigm for LGBTQ+ Inclusion (Springer). Henry will emphasise the value of queer thriving for theorising LGBTQ+ inclusion in Catholic education in how it moves the discussion beyond logics of (Catholic) identity, assimilation, and pastoral care.
This will be followed by an extended response by Professor Graham McDonough, who will contend that beginning such discussions from within the Catholic tradition, and within a framing of Catholic identity, nonetheless remains helpful for understanding queer thriving in two important ways. First, it gives hope to those who may feel they are being pushed away from or out of their community of origin; and second, it enables those in positions of power, who may (it is hoped) sympathise with LGBTQ+ students, to provide a justification in Catholic terms within the context of an institutional, magisterial Church that remains reluctant and resistant to accept rationales that it perceives as secular, liberal, and even relativistic.
The symposium will conclude with some brief points of reflection from discussants, Dr Maggie Webster and Dr Heather Marshall.
Please note: This event will be hybrid, taking place on the Edge Hill University campus in our Faculty of Education Piazza building and online.