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Dr. Diana Hayes knows that the Catholic Church has come a long way in welcoming converts, lay ecclesial ministers, women and minorities.

When Dr. Hayes decided to convert from the Methodist Church in the late 1970s, she called the Albany Diocese's Pastoral Center, but was transferred to several different departments before anyone knew what to tell her. When she later went back to school to study theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., people suspected she was a radical feminist.

Today, she's taught theology at Georgetown University in Washington for 25 years, penned eight books on theology and will address participants of the Diocese's Autumn Diocesan Gathering, to be held next weekend at LaSalle Institute in Troy.

Her keynote is titled, "Open Wide the Doors to Christ: A Renewed Vision of Ministry."

"When I first started out, many people questioned me," said Dr. Hayes, a professor emerita with interests in liberation theology; black and womanist theologies; and the intersection of race, class and gender with religion.

She said she stood out as a woman and an African American at CUA in the 1980s: "[I'm] someone who has been through the wars. I want [people] to see that the challenge still exists, but the doors have been opened."

Dr. Hayes views her talk as "an open invitation to live out faith" despite secularization, materialism, consumerism and globalization. She will make a case that "we are all called to serve as ministers in the Church. [It's] all part of our calling as the people of God.

"We are given different gifts, but the same charism through the Holy Spirit," she continued. "Sometimes we turn our back on it; sometimes we run away; but God continues to call. We have a responsibility to serve the Church in whatever capacity we can."

In her keynote, she'll review the history of the 1960s' Second Vatican Council and explain how it enabled lay ecclesial ministers to join pastoral teams; she'll also discuss the new evangelization.

"We've been evangelizing for the 2,000-year history of the Church," she said, but now, there's "a renewed emphasis" on ministering to outsiders, fallen-away Catholics and even active Catholics struggling with apathy.

Dr. Hayes said there is a struggle against "an unwillingness in some places to accept lay ecclesial ministers," but such laypeople can complement the work of a shrinking base of priests.

A native of Buffalo, Dr. Hayes worked as an attorney in Albany from 1978-80. She felt a pull to convert to Catholicism and was confirmed at the age of 33. Bishop Howard J. Hubbard became a mentor when she realized she was called to study theology. After she earned degrees from CUA, the Bishop advised her to go to the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium to pursue her doctorate.

After that, Dr. Hayes said, "I finally found my calling."[[In-content Ad]]

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