Brian Flanagan
John Cardinal Cody Chair of Catholic Theology
Brian Flanagan is a Catholic theologian whose research and public theology focus upon ecclesiology, the theological study of the church. His work asks what the church is, what the church ought to be, and where the church can more fully grow into its mission as the People of God. In his current research on synodality within the Catholic Church and in his continuing work on the nature of ecclesial holiness and sinfulness, Flanagan explores in his writing and classroom why the church's preferred pronouns are not "they" or "it," but "we." He attempts to make his classroom, like the church, a place of dialogue, unity in diversity, and mutual accompaniment. Through his work with New Ways Ministry and other forms of public theology, he is active in supporting and mentoring fellow LGBTQ+ Catholic theologians and facilitating conversations with and for LGBTQ+ Catholics and their families and allies.
Education
PhD, Boston College, Systematic Theology
MA, Boston College, Systematic Theology
BA, Politics, Philosophy, The Catholic University of America
Research Interests
Ecclesiology; synodality; communion ecclesiology; ecumenism; LGBTQ+ Catholicism; Jewish-Christian dialogue; Vatican II
Professional/Community Affiliations
College Theology Society (President, 2021-2023; Treasurer, 2010-2016)
Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network (Board Member, 2019-present)
Ecclesiological Investigations Unit, American Academy of Religion (Co-Chair, 2017-2023)
New Ways Ministry (Senior Fellow, 2023-present)
Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Washington, DC (Coordinator of Adult Faith Formation, 2024-2025)
Publications/Research Listings
_Stumbling in Holiness: Sin and Sanctity in the Church_. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2018.
_Liturgy + Power. The Annual Volume of the College Theology Society._ Edited by Brian P. Flanagan and Johann Vento. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2017.
_Communion, Diversity, and Salvation: The Contribution of Jean-Marie Tillard to Systematic Ecclesiology._ London: T & T Clark, 2011.
“Clericalism in a Holy and Sinful Church,” in _Catholic Priests and the Matter of Sex: New Approaches to Clericalism,_ ed. Philip McCosker, Luigi Gioia, and Travis LaCouter (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2025).
“Synodality at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Georgetown: One Parish’s Experience,” in _Witnesses of Synodality,_ ed. Jos Moons (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2024).
"Theologians Minor: Embracing Our Vocation with Humility,” 2023 College Theology Society Presidential Address, _Horizons_ 50:2 (2023): 465-473.
“Reception in North America,” in _The Oxford Handbook on Vatican II, ed. Catherine E. Clifford and Massimo Faggioli (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), 695-712.
“LGBTQ+ Lay Catholics Co-Creating the Church,” _Horizons_ 49:1 (2022): 216-27.
“The Word and Spirit Co-Instituting the Church,” in _The Cambridge Companion to Vatican II,_
ed. Richard Gaillardetz (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020), 196-210.
Awards
Griset Visiting Lecturer in Christian Ethics, Chapman University, Orange, CA, 2025
Robert A. Draghi Outstanding Faculty Award, Marymount University, 2014
Marymount University Honors Program Faculty Fellow, 2014-15