Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  A woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and couldn’t stand up straight. When he saw her, Jesus called her to him and said, “Woman, you are set free from your sickness.”  He placed his hands on her and she straightened up at once and praised God. CEB Luke 13:10-13

McCormick Day 2023 Schedule*

Speaker bios

8:30 am – 9:00 am                 Registration and Breakfast

9:00 am Welcome
Rev. Nannette Dixon

Opening Ritual Litha Booi 

9:15 am - 9:50 am.           Opening Worship
Rev. Dr. Lis Valle Ruiz

9:50 am Break

10:00 am - 11:15 am Plenary 1: Reframing Healing and Activism

“Indignant Because Jesus Had Healed On The Sabbath”
Dr. Itihari Y. Toure, Stephen Lewis, Dr. Dominica McBride, and Rev. Dr. Leslie Diaz-Perez

In the age post-COVID, we are facing a public square that has challenges further exacerbated by the consequences of multiple pandemics.  Our design challenge in theological education is to carefully and critically ensure that we do not “re-invest” in systems that operated to the isolation and exclusion of others. What Jesus did was to remind the bent-over woman that her current view was not all that she possessed.  Even in the bent over-crippled state she already possessed what she needed to be well.  So, he simply called it forth---You Are---You Are healed!!  Another dimension of impact in the curriculum redesign is a focus on innovative solutions to the crippled state we find.  How have we called out “ingenuity, persistence-connections-imagination and our faith” to create and sustain meaningful solutions to both personal and communal challenges

11:15 am Break

11:30 am – 12:00pm                State of McCormick
Mr. David Crawford, President

12:00 pm – 12:45 pm              Lunch Break  

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm                  Plenary 2: Connecting Theological Education and Professional Life

Culturally Responsive Practice
Dr. Dominica McBride

Given our historic and current state as a society – oppressive systems, stark disparities, and a lack of public healing discourse, we must consider how we transcend both spiritually and practically. Considering the potential of culturally inspired social innovation and divesting from oppressive systems, this workshop will deepen into Culturally Responsive Practice. It will explore how we, professionals, leaders, and residents of neighborhoods and cities, can lead and participate in social innovation with communities and create new programs, structures, and ecologies based on cultural strengths and being contextually responsive and responsible. It will walk participants through a theoretical and practical approach and process to co-creating fitting solutions that help us evolve past current conditions and into a liberated and thriving society.

2:00 pm                                    Break

2:15 pm – 3:15 pm                   Plenary 3: Modeling Solutions

We Already Have All That We Need  

Participants will engage in activities of imagination and problem-solving around key curiosities/questions.

3:15 pm                                    Break

3:30 pm – 4:35 pm                Alumni Celebration
Opening with Musical Selection

  Celebration of Distinguished Alumna 2023
Rev. Carmen M. Rosario Riviere, MDIV 1984

                                               Celebration of Rising Star Award 2023
Chaplain Maria Sullivan-Marrero, MAM 2020

Celebration - Class of 1973 (50th Anniversary)
Celebration - Class of 1998 (25th Anniversary)

4:35 pm – 4:45 pm           Annual Council Meeting

Alumni Association (All Alum)
Voting on incoming slate for 2024

4:45 pm – 5:00 pm       Charge and Closing Prayer
Rev. Dr. Randall Tate