Being a practical theologian means connecting with people first, said Montano, who became a visiting associate professor in practical theology and religious education at the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education this fall. 

“It begins with what people are doing to understand God, talk about God, and pray—at home, in churches, in their communities—rather than with the institution,” said Montano. “[Then] what might the institution have to catch up on in order to meet people at those practices and those beliefs that are on the ground?”

Faustino “Tito” Cruz, S.M., dean of GRE, said Montano’s work speaks to an integral part of Fordham’s mission. 

“Professor Montano’s work as a practical theologian and religious educator—particularly in anti-racist pedagogy and leadership—is critical in carrying out the university’s strategic commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging,” Cruz said.

Montano is a first-generation Cuban American from Miami. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Florida International University and a master’s degree in practical theology from Barry University. This fall, he will earn his Ph.D. in theology and education from Boston College. 

Over the past decade, his research has explored how theological educators can become better prepared to discuss race and ethnicity in the classroom. 

“We often talk about intercultural and multicultural ministries and the way ministers can speak to the different cultures in their congregations,” said Montano, who also just started a two-year Louisville Institute postdoctoral fellowship at Fordham, a program for scholars in theological education. “But we haven’t really addressed the hurdle of racism and how racism taints the way that we look at each other.” 

At Boston College, he studied how anti-racist pedagogies and assessments like the intercultural development inventory can help. He interviewed five educators from different institutions who had attempted to discuss race and ethnicity with their students. Most of them felt like they didn’t have the skills to have those conversations. In addition, the emotional pressure in the room seemed too high, Montano said. 

“We need to teach theological educators—people like myself and others at Fordham, for instance—not only how to have these conversations, but how to model their curricula and pedagogies in a way that has students understand different racial, ethnic, and cultural perspectives,” Montano said. 

His other goal is to cultivate young Hispanic Catholic leaders. In a chapter of Our Catholic Children, Ministry with Hispanic Youth and Young Adults (Our Sunday Visitor, 2018), he wrote about how Hispanic youth need more opportunities to lead and get involved—not just “in their own little corner of Hispanic ministry,” but in the church at large. It’s even more critical, given the large Hispanic Catholic community in the U.S., he said. 

This semester, Montano is teaching an online course called Youth and Adult Ministry. He’s aiming to give his students—mostly middle-career adults who are ministers and educators—a good understanding of the psychological and spiritual development of youth and young adults, with a focus on helping them see the needs of youth and young adult populations that often go unnoticed. 

Next spring, he will teach a special topics course he developed himself: Foundations for Intercultural Ministry and Religious Education. Using different tools and assessments, his students will confront their hidden biases. Then, after participating in group activities that foster intercultural dialogue and perspective, they will design “anti-racist plans” for their own ministries. 

“I’ll have our students look at themselves, look at their own cultural and racial histories, tell their own stories, and then understand each other’s stories,” Montano said. 

In the two years that Montano teaches at Fordham, he said he hopes to “move the needle forward.” 

“The students in our school [GRE] are already leaders. They’re already making an impact in the communities they belong to,” Montano said. “I’d like to bring some of this pedagogy into their own practice—not just to help them change their communities, but to help create those sparks that can begin to change the way we do things in this country.” 

Currently, Green is preparing to defend her dissertation this summer toward completion of her doctorate in religious education and practical theology in the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. Her work brings together theological ethics and critical pedagogy in interdisciplinary research on liberative education for marginalized populations.

In particular, Green focuses on theological education in contexts of confinement, an area she was drawn to as the result of her work in women’s prisons. For the past two years, she has directed the Certificate in Theological Studies Program at Arrendale Prison for Women, a collaborative project among Emory’s Candler School of Theology and three other Atlanta seminaries.

“What my students [at the prison]have shown me is that theology is—in their words—a matter of life and death,” said Green, who taught in the program for five years before being appointed director.

“Religious language often gets co-opted by our criminal justice speech. Words like ‘redemption’ and ‘transformation’ come to mean something very specific in a prison. And what I’ve seen is that theology is able to provide spaces and resources to critically engage these concepts—to discern and distinguish between God’s redemptive reality for the world and what the systems of the world make us think.”

Theological education offers a kind of liberation, Green contends. She argues in her dissertation that when we analyze, engage, and confront theological discourse, we grow in our ability to critically engage with other systems and structures—such as the criminal justice system.

“Liberation is different from freedom. Freedom is a state of being, but liberation is a process,” said Green. “In my students’ case, there is ‘freedom’ as in being released from prison, but there is also freedom as a state of mind, a sense of agency—and that can be actualized inside. In their study of theology, they have found ways to do that.”

“What my students [at the prison]have shown me is that theology is—in their words—a matter of life and death . . . Theology is able to provide spaces and resources to critically engage these concepts—to discern and distinguish between God’s redemptive reality for the world and what the systems of the world make us think.”Green has also served as associate director of Theological Education Between the Times, a project funded by the Lilly Endowment, and was assistant director of the Youth Theological Initiative at Emory’s Candler School of Theology. She is a licensed minister in the National Baptist Convention USA.
Before beginning her doctoral studies, Green worked in business management and strategic marketing, focusing on the needs of women and families of color.

She will complete her degree program in June and join the GRE faculty for the 2019-20 academic year.

“Jesuit pedagogy is deeply committed to social justice and to pushing the boundaries of what we mean by religious education, which is why I was drawn to Fordham,” she said.

“I’m thrilled about getting to continue my work on criminal justice so that we can think differently about what theological education looks like both for the church and for the broader community—especially the spaces we forget to think about.”

— Joanna Mercuri, GRE ’19

“Migration has been part of the story of New York City for centuries, and it’s also a powerful image for what is both rich and conflictual about the city,” said Beaudoin, an associate professor of religion in the Graduate School of Religion and Religious Education.

“We’ll be looking at all kinds of migration—forced and chosen migrations across borders, migrations through the prison system, migration into and out of religions, migrations through the journey of faith and spirituality—and asking how we are contributing to life in places where migration is happening. There are many ways to relate to this topic, but what’s most important is that people’s lives and livelihoods are at the center of it.”

The lived experience of real people is the central concern of practical theology, said Beaudoin. Rather than focusing exclusively on ideas and concepts, practical theologians study how religions and theologies directly and indirectly influence people’s actions, experiences, and practices.

“We see theology as interventionist,” Beaudoin said. “We do theology because we want to facilitate life and facilitate deeper or renewed practices in different environments.”

Many of the conference sessions will explore the intersection of practical theology with critical contemporary issues, such the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. A plenary session on this topic will feature a panel of speakers that includes BLM activist Darnell Moore and Rev. John Vaughan, executive vice president of Auburn Theological Seminary and a leader in the BLM movement.

“The idea is to ask how the effects of your theology honor the lived witness of the BLM movement,” Beaudoin said. “Whether you’re doing religious education for second graders or systematic theology for the university, how is your theology helping to realize these goods?”

Conference participants will also have the opportunity to head across Fordham Road to Tuff City Styles, where alumna Tamara Henry, PhD, GRE ’14, will discuss urban art, religious education, and practical theology. In conjunction with Henry’s talk, graphic artists at Tuff City will be revamping the APT logo in the style of graffiti art.

“This is a way to connect the study of religion at Fordham and the neighborhood we’re in,” Beaudoin said. “That’s very important to me.”

Registration for the biennial conference is open now through March 10. Visit the conference website to learn more and to register.