Father Joseph Carola S.J., theology professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, spoke to the Diocese of St. Petersburg Synod Planning Team on October 28, 2021. This presentation is a recording of his talk.
Father Carola presents a meditation based on Luke 1:26-38. He invites us to meditate upon the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and revealed God’s plan for her life. She was troubled by God’s plan and she questions the angel in faith. Mary is a model for us and how we can question in faith. This meditation is a resource for all preparing to participate in the Synod on Synodality.
Father Carola was born in Houston, Texas, in 1962. Having entered the New Orleans Province of the Society of Jesus in 1980, he was ordained priest in 1993. He studied philosophy and modern foreign languages at Saint Louis University as well as theology at the Weston School of Theology and the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 2001 he obtained his doctorate in theology and patristic sciences from the Patristic Institute Augustinianum in Rome. He is the author of Augustine of Hippo: The Role of the Laity in Ecclesial Reconciliation (2005). He has contributed to the Augustinus-Lexikon (2008) and published in Augustinian Studies, Gregorianum, and Faith. Since 2002 he has been professor of patristic theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome