Clough School of Theology and Ministry to recognize Nathaniel Blanton Hibner
Nathaniel Blanton Hibner, senior director of ethics at Catholic Health Association of the United States, will be presented with the Clough School of Theology and Ministry's Young Alumni Leadership in Ministry Award on March 29.
Established in 2024, the Young Alumni Leadership in Ministry Award honors a recent CSTM graduate demonstrating outstanding leadership in their field, and celebrates the ways they live out the school’s Jesuit mission to be persons for and with others. Honorees exemplify what the CSTM stands for—creativity, commitment, pastoral outreach, and theological acumen—and their commitment to the field of ministry and ability to meet the changing needs of their community are a model for their peers and current CSTM students.
Hibner earned a master’s degree in theological studies from CSTM in 2013 and a doctorate from the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University in 2019. In his role at Catholic Health Association, Hibner provides consultative services to leaders across the Catholic health ministry, convenes gatherings of senior ethicists at annual events, and produces an array of educational resources tailored to the ministry’s needs. He has made vast contributions to the field, frequently collaborating with Catholic universities to shape their programs and assist in the formation of future ministers, theologians, and health care professionals.
According to the award selection committee, Hibner has “embodied the mission of the Clough School of Theology and Ministry in his commitment to Catholic health care ministry by advancing the field of health care ethics through his work and research and providing quality care and treatment for those in need. The good work that he is doing will have lasting positive effects in the Church and the world.”
Hibner will be presented with the award at the annual Evelyn Underhill Lecture in Christian Spirituality, which takes place at 10 a.m. in Gasson 100. This year’s lecturer is Anathea Portier-Young, an associate professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School, who will present “Encountering God Through Sacred Art, Prophetic Text, and Bodily Experience.”
In addition to the Underhill Lecture, there are several other events remaining on the Clough School spring schedule.
CSTM Professor of Old Testament and Professor Ordinarius Andrew Davis will present “What Emily Dickinson Teaches Us about the Psalms,” on March 20. He will discuss insights from scholars of Dickinson’s poetry that offer new ways of thinking about the biblical Psalms, both as a collection and pluriform text.
On April 3, Fr. Neil Xavier O’Donoghue, director of liturgical programs at St. Patrick’s Pontifical University in Maynooth, Ireland, and executive secretary for liturgy for the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, will present “Did Early Christian Ireland Have a Unique (Celtic) Liturgical Rite?” His talk will explore the roots of the theory of a “Celtic Rite,” the influence of first Anglican and later Roman Catholic self-interests in maintaining this rite’s existence, and the conclusions that can be drawn on the subject today. This event is cosponsored by the BC Irish Studies program.
The annual lecture honoring former CSTM Dean and Professor Emeritus Richard J. Clifford, S.J., will be held on April 24, with Ellen F. Davis, Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School, presenting “The Poetry of Care and Loss.” This lecture is sponsored and supported by the Kitz Family.
CSTM’s final spring event will feature award-winning theologian and author Professor Emerita of Theology M. Shawn Copeland, who will deliver the Annual Women in Theology and Ministry Lecture on May 1. In her talk, “The Synod, The Spirit, and Women in Ministry,” she will reflect on the invitation of the Holy Spirit and the expanded possibilities for participation for women in the Catholic Church following the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, known informally as the Synod on Synodality.
All these events are organized by CSTM’s Continuing Education program. For details on times, locations, and Zoom and in-person registration options, visit the Continuing Education webpage.