August Newsletter 2026
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From the Executive Director
Greetings Everyone.
I want to thank everyone who was involved in organizing and carrying out the 88th Annual General Meeting at Loyola University Maryland. Jaime Waters (Chair) and the Program Committee put together a schedule of events that brought together the excellent scholarship of our members and created a wonderful community around social times . We owe special thanks to Lisa Tarker, who after thirteen years of selfless service to CBA will be retiring in December. We had a great opportunity on Sunday evening to say goodbye to Lisa via Zoom and also write personal note cards to her that were delivered following the AGM. Lisa, you will be sorely missed.
Joshua Scott and his tech team of Jon Hatter and Megan Wines are to be commended for expertly managing a program that appeared flawless, especially with the new efforts we implemented in the business meeting. Congratulations on a job very well done! For those of you who were at the AGM you had the opportunity to meet Neil Lucas, who will be taking over for Lisa as the Administrative Office Manager and Peter Cyntanovic, who is our CUA Graduate Student Assistant working with Dr. Joseph E. Jensen on OTA.
I want to welcome all 119 of our new CBA members. It is great to have as a part of CBA and we look forward to meeting you all at the many events we host including our Regional Meetings, the Unbound Book Reviews, the Women and Gender Conference, the Annual General Meeting, and the many other that we will be conducting in the coming months and years. WELCOME!!
After two plus years of a thorough examination of all that is CBA, the Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by Anathea Portier-Young, released its report which is now available for your reading enjoyment at catholicbiblical.org/news/strategic-plan. The report offers a look at some of the exciting initiatives that CBA has in the works for our membership that will help grow and sustain the Association and reach out to the international communities.
It was reported at the AGM that the financial status of the CBA is stable and growing with the help of Ron Chesney and UBS Investments. Our investment portfolio was up 10.15% for the fiscal year and as of July 31 its value was approximately $19.4M.
As you all know membership growth and sustainability have been and will remain a concern for CBA in the coming years. This is due in part to the economy in general and the future of the humanities in the university setting. In addition, we are facing an aging membership who in the next five to ten years will reduce their participation in the activities of the CBA. This year we had an uptick in applications for membership particularly in the category of Graduate Students which is a very good sign; this will be an area of focus for member recruit for the coming years along with seasoned faculty and clergy whom you work alongside.
| Member -Status | New Applications | Upgrades |
| Associate | 13 | 0 |
| Full | 49 | 13 |
| Graduate Student | 57 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 119 | 13 |
It is extremely important that faculty members encourage their graduate students to explore joining CBA and that CBA offer a growing package of incentives, such as grants and opportunities to present their research in a friendly and receptive environment. Our Associate and Full Members should illustrate how membership in the CBA is the most attractive option amongst academic associations. A benefits brochure is available to download from the website that includes a list of the Professorships, Fellowships, Research Grants, Travel Grants and Stipends available to our members (https://assets.noviams.com/novi-file-uploads/cba/PDFs/CBA_flyer_2024.pdf).
This year we are making a significant change in the submission dates in our Research Grant process. Please see the Grant Section on the Website for details. The date for Travel Grants and Emerging Scholar Fellowships submission deadline is now January 15 with notification of awardees on March 1; all other Grants, Professorships, Stipends and Fellowships submission deadline is now November 15 with notification of awardees on January 15.
As CBA continues to grow, we look to expand the spaces for our meetings. July 3-10, Amy-Jill Levine, Chris Seeman, Joshua Scott, and I traveled to Adelaide Australia to hold several meetings in collaboration with the Australian Catholic Biblical Association, the Australian Catholic Theological Association, and SBL. Our two main meetings were on the issue of Antisemitism and how to address the issue in teaching, preaching, and the public forum. These meetings were panel discussions with several leading figures involved in the issue of Jewish Christian dialogue in Australia and these events along with the others we were involved in were a great success. I believe we made significant contacts in this part of the world that will open doors for many opportunities for our members and future collaborative meetings in this region of the world.
We are also beginning discussions on August 14 for a conference in Rome in which CBA will be collaborating with several organizations including Catholic Biblical Federation (CBF), Pontifical Biblical Institute (PBI), Pan-African Association of Catholic Exegetes (PACE), Pontifical Biblical Commission (PBC), and the Pontifical Gregorian University (PGU). The initial meeting will discuss themes for the meeting including AI and Scripture; Bible, Justice, and Peace, just to mention a couple. In addition to this initiative, I will be traveling to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast to attend the Association Panafricaine des Exégètes Catholiques/ Pan-African Association of Catholic Exegetes (APECA/PACE Conference) which is a gathering of clergy and academics from around the continent of Africa who are working together to help the Church in ways similar to what we hope to do with the USCCB. I will have the opportunity to address the leadership of the group to discuss a collaboration between CBA and APECA and PACE and how we might begin to work with them in Africa.
As you can see, we have a lot to look forward to around the world, but we continue to implement new initiatives here in the US with the Speakers’ Bureau, the LA and Dallas Initiatives, and several other collaborative efforts with the USCCB. In addition, we will be exploring ways to partnership with groups in Central and South America. There is a lot of work to do, which means we are going to need you, our members, to join in and help us grow, help us recruit new members, help us do God’s work. We are an Association of scholars, professed religious, and clergy for a reason. We can come together and help the Church to read and understand its Scriptures in their proper context.
I am excited about what lies ahead for CBA as we implement step-by-step the initiatives of the Strategic Planning Committee’s Report. There will be many opportunities to put your gifts to work for the Kingdom.
May God grant us Peace,
Archie, August, 2026
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In addition to the elections, the CBA Full Members voted on a number of initiatives during the July 20th Business Meeting.
Strategic Plan2026 Annual General Meeting
Thank You!
One hundred and sixty-five Members and Member Candidates gathered at Loyola University Maryland and another sixty-seven participated in the AGM virtually. We are grateful to all who made possible the 88th International Meeting of the CBA possible:
- The Committee on the Program for the AGM:
Jaime Waters (Chair), Maria Barga, Mark Enemali, C.S.Sp., Najeeb Haddad, Ahida Pilarski, Archie Wright (ex officio) and Terry Lafferty (Liturgy Coordinator) - CBA Office:
Archie T. Wright, Joshua Scott, Lisa Tarker, Neil Lucas, and Peter Cytanovich - Technical Support:
Megan Wines and Jonathan J. Hatter
An invitation to complete the meeting evaluation was emailed to all registrants on July 27th. If you participated in this year's annual general meeting and have not yet completed the form, please do so before August 14th by using the button below. The evaluations assist the Program Committee and CBA Office in planning meetings.
All submissions are anonymous. Only those who registered for the meeting may access the link below.
Convener ReportsConveners are reminded that the CBA Executive Board requests that conveners of Continuing Seminars and Task Forces submit to the CBA Office a report of the group's proceedings after the meeting. The report deadline is September 1st. The CBA Office will forward the reports to the Program Committee and the Executive Board.
I
n Memoriam
During each Annual General Meeting, CBA prays for those members who have passed from this life since the previous meeting. Please take a moment to remember and pray for those who died since CBA met last year.
Advance Nominations
The CBA depends on its members to serve on important standing committees and to serve as officers. Please take a moment to suggest names of Full members you believe to be qualified to serve on the Executive Board and/or Standing Committees. Your recommendations to the Nominations Committee will be considered for election at the 2027 Annual Meeting.
You can send names to the Nominations Committee by completing the form below. Be sure to click on the submit button at the end of the form. All nominees must be Full Members of the Association. If you are unsure of a member's status, you can check the membership directory.
The Nominations Committee also will be soliciting names early in the new year.
For the nominations form
Grants
At its July 18th meeting the Executive Board voted that all grants, stipends, fellowships, visiting professorships, except for Travel Grants and Emerging Scholars Fellowships, have an application deadline of November 15, with a notification deadline of January 15. The application deadline for Travel Grants and Emerging Scholarship Fellowship is January 15 with a notification deadline of March 1.
The CBA Office is in the process of updating the grant web pages, instructions and application forms.
Your patience is greatly appreciated.
Retired Member Dues Category
If you have recently retired or will be retiring before the end of 2026, congratulations!
CBA has a reduced dues category ($20) for retired Associate and Full Members. If you wish to take advantage of the retired member dues category, you must notify the CBA Office (cba-office@cua.edu) by October 1, 2026. Dues invoices for 2026 will be generated in October, so if you have not requested the new retired member dues fee by October 1, you will have to pay the full dues fee of $50 to remain active in the association until the next dues cycle for 2028.
For your convenience, you may use the button below (by OCTOBER 1) to create your email to request the Retired Member Dues Fee. Send the email once you have added your email address and name.
THE DUES CATEGORY CARRIES FROM YEAR TO YEAR,
so if you already requested Retired Member Dues earlier, no further action is required.
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Shipping or Email Address Changed?
If you have recently moved, changed your institution or email address, don't forget to either make the change in your online membership record or notify the CBA Office (cba-office@cua.edu).
