Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández
Catholic Theological Union
Chicago, Illinois

Conference Co-Organizer

Carmen M. Nanko-Fernández is assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Director of the Certificate in Pastoral Studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Her scholarship reflects an appreciation for contextual and postcolonial theologies and has focused on areas of US Hispanic/Latin@́ 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 is currently the President of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians 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] and co-chair of the Latino/a Religion, Culture and Society section of the American Academy of Religion [AAR].

Her publications include the chapters “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 more recent journal articles are "From Pájaro to Paraclete: Retrieving the Spirit of God in the Company of Mary," in the Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology (2007); “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).  Her ACHTUS presidential address, “Theologizing en Espanglish: The Imago Dei in the Vernacular,” appears in Journal of Hispanic / Latino Theology (2008).