The Mariological Society of America invites proposals for its May 17-20, 2011 conference in Scottsdale, Arizona on the Marian dimensions of the evangelization, settlement and development of the territories that are now the USA and Canada. Proposals can cover any period of history from the 16th through the 19th centuries. Issues and questions may be approached from the viewpoint of systematic theology, art, literature, Scripture, popular religiosity, ecclesiastical and/or cultural history. Some possible topics might include:

• Marian doctrine and devotion among the early missionaries who evangelized and contributed to the establishment and growth of the Catholic Church in the United States and Canada.

• The Marian charisms of particular religious congregations (e.g. The Society of Mary, Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate) and their contributions to Catholic life in the USA and Canada.

• The Marian dimensions of the faith and culture of various ethnic groups in what is now the USA and Canada (e.g. Native Americans, Hispanics, French Canadians, Germans, Irish, Poles, and Italians).

• The Mariology and/or Marian devotion in the life and preaching of notable Catholic figures--especially canonized Saints, those recognized as "Blessed" and those whose causes for beatification have been introduced.

• Marian shrines and basilicas in the USA and Canada (e.g. the Spanish Missions, Cap de la Madeleine, Sainte Anne de Beaupre, the Basilica of the Assumption in Baltimore, MD, etc.).

• The Mariology and/or Marian devotion of the early Catholic Church in the USA or Canada (e.g. the 1846 petition of the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore to the Holy See to place the Catholic Church in the USA under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception).

• Mariology and Marian devotion in Catholic education in the USA and Canada from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries.

*Deadline of this "call for papers": October 31, 2010

Please send title and precis of your contribution by email to: Father John Phalen, CSC, or to Dr. Robert Fastiggi.