Parishes and Councils in Europe and Beyond

Twenty-Fifth Warwick Symposium on Parish Research

Anniversary Meeting, FBK-ISIG Trento, 13-14/15 May 2027

 
Co-hosted by FBK-ISIG Trento, MISGLOB Roma Tre & My-Parish Warwick

 

To celebrate its silver anniversary, the Warwick Symposium is moving abroad! My-Parish has teamed up with partners FBK-ISIG and MISGLOB to hold the next gathering at the Italian-German Historical Institute in Trento / north-eastern Italy. This location has inspired the 2027 theme.

From Lateran IV in 1215 via Trent in the sixteenth century to Vatican II in the 1960s, councils and their decrees have played key roles in the doctrinal and organizational evolution of the Catholic Church and its constituent parts. Similar gatherings like the Marburg Colloquy or the Synod of Dort shaped Protestantism and the same holds true for other denominational groups. We plan to invite proposals for 15-minute papers which address the relationship between local ecclesiastical communities and the participants / proceedings / outcomes of such meetings held to clarify beliefs, practices and power structures. We hope to feature examples of ‘councils’ (very broadly conceived) at any hierarchical level of Church and secular government from the Middle Ages to the present, both in and beyond Europe. Speakers might wish to address topics like the sending of delegations / petitions, hosting of events, communication structures, the implementation of decrees, evidence of resistance, unintended consequences, written / visual / material legacies or the generation of debates, to name but a few possible lines of investigation. Preferred attendance mode will be in-person, but virtual presentations can also be accommodated.

WE EXPECT THE CALL FOR PAPERS TO LAUNCH IN DECEMBER 2026 - in the meantime, feel free to contact one of the co-organisers:
Claudio Ferlan (FBK-ISIG), Beat Kümin (My-Parish) and Felicita Tramontana (MISGLOB).