Dr. Diana L. Hayes is the first African American to earn an S.T.D. (Doctor of Sacred Theology) from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. She is the recent distinguished recipient of the US Catholic 2001 Award for Furthering the Role of Women in the Church. A noted researcher, speaker and scholar with an extensive background in Black/Womanist/Contextual Theology and Multicultural Catechesis, she has written numerous theological critiques in scholarly journals, chapters in books and dictionary/encyclopedia articles.

As an acclaimed academic and professional lecturer she has traveled to Europe and across the United States to make scholarly presentations inside and outside the Catholic Church community. One of those presentations included a dialogue between South African and African American Catholic Women at the University of Notre Dame Pastoral Liturgy Conference. Her provocative work also addressed issues at the Sisterhood is Global Women’s Rights Conference in Washington, DC; Staff Conference on Racism and Sexism in Orlando, Florida.  Multicultural Catechesis, Racism, Sisterhood is Global and the Transdenominational Assembly in New York City.

At the present Dr. Hayes is Associate Professor of Theology at Georgetown University. She has worked as an Adjunct Professor at Howard University, a member of the Women’s Studies Faculty at Georgetown University and Chaplain in Residence also at Georgetown.

She is also a lawyer admitted to practice in Nebraska and the District of Columbia.

Dr. Diana L. Hayes earned a Doctor of Sacred Theology and Ph. D. from Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, Juris Doctor of Law from George Washington University National Law Center in Washington, DC, Sacrae Theologiae Baccalaureus (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) from Catholic University of Washington. DC and Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York At Buffalo.

Publications (selected)

ARTICLES IN SCHOLARLY JOURNALS

“The Relationship Between Scripture and Theology: A Response” in Horizons (forthcoming).

“We’ve Come This Far By Faith: Black Catholics and Their Church” in U.S. Catholic Historian (v. #2, Fall, 2001) (revision of article in Diana L. Hayes and Cyprian Davis, ed., Taking Down Our Harps: Black Catholics in the United States (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1998).

“James H. Cone’s Hermeneutic of Language and the Development of Black Theology” in Theological Studies (61/4, December 2000)

“Women’s Rights Are Human Rights: A Womanist Perspective” in Black Theology in Britain (v. 4, Fall 2000).

“Can We Talk?: New Affective Communities and the Problem of Mutual Understanding” in M. Junker-Kenny and M. Tomka, eds., Faith in a Society of Instant Gratification, Concilium 99/4.

“Through the Eyes of Faith: The Nguzo Saba and the Beatitudes of St. Matthew” in The Journal of Religious Thought, v. 53/2& 53/1 (1996, act. Pub. 1998)

CHAPTERS IN BOOKS

“Speaking the Future Into Life: The Challenge of Black Women in the Catholic Church” in E. Johnson, ed. Catholic Women in Dialogue (working title)  (Crossroads Press, 2002).

“To be the Bridge: Voices From the Margin” in Fernando Segovia and E. Fernandez, An Unfinished Dream: Theological Reflections on America from the Margins (Orbis Books, April 2000).

“Women Doing Theology: African American” In V. Fabella and R. S.  Sugirthrajah, eds. Dictionary of Third World Theologies (Maryknoll, NY;  Orbis Books, 1999).

“Who Do You (God) Say That We Are” in Spiritual Questions for the 21^st Century: Essays in Honor of Joan Chittister (Orbis Books, April 2001).

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