Carmen Marie Nanko-Fernández
Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry
Director of the Ecumenical Doctor of Ministry Program
Director of the Certificate in Pastoral Studies
M.A., D.Min., Catholic University of America
Carmen Nanko-Fernández is a Catholic pastoral theologian with extensive experience in ministry, teaching, and administration. Her scholarship reflects an appreciation for contextual and postcolonial theologies and has focused on areas of US Hispanic/Latino/a theologies, Catholic social teaching, interreligious and intercultural relations, youth, and on the intersections between faith and popular culture with particular attention to béisbol.
Nanko-Fernández was the 2008-09 President of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologicans of the United States (ACHTUS), co-editor of the New Theology Review, convener of the Latino/a section of the Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA), co-chair of the Committee on Underrepresented Ethnic and Racial Groups (CUERG) of the CTSA, and co-chair of the Latino/a Religion, Culture, and Society section of the American Academy of Religion (AAR).
Her publications include the chapters "From Pájaro to Paraclete: Retrieving the Spirit of God in the Company of Mary, in Building Bridges, Doing Justice: Constructing a Latino/a Ecumenical Theology (Orlando O. Espín, ed. 2009), “Language, Community and Identity,” in Handbook of Latina/o Theologies, "(Edwin Aponte and Miguel de la Torre, eds. 2006), and "Justice Crosses the Border: The Preferential Option for the Poor in the United States," in A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice (María Pilar Aquino et al, eds. 2002). Among her journal articles are “Locating the Daily: Lo cotidiano as a Locus for Exploring Christian--Jewish Relations latinamente,” Apuntes (2009); “We Are Not Your Diversity, We Are the Church! Ecclesiological Reflections from the Marginalized Many,” Perspectivas: Occasional Papers [Fall 2006]; “¡Cuidado! The Church Who Cares and Pastoral Hostility” in New Theology Review (2006); “The World Series in Ordinary Time,” in Preach (2005).
She has published a number of articles in the Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology [http://www.latinotheology.org/] including “Theologizing en Espanglish: The Imago Dei in the Vernacular” (2008), and “Elbows on the Table: Ethics of Doing Theology/ A U.S. Hispanic Perspective” (2003). Nanko-Fernández has also authored several theological perspective pieces on Sunday readings for Lectionary Homiletics in print and online as well as for year A of the Feasting on the Word series.
Affiliations: National Advisory Committee, Center of the Study of Latino/a Catholicism, University of San Diego.
Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, Member of the leadership team for the Latina/o Faculty Colloquy [2008-2009]
Books featuring Carmen Nanko-Fernandez
Email: cnanko@ctu.edu