- Academic Dean and Vice President
- Professor of Homiletics
heille@ai.edu
Degrees
- D.Min, Preaching (Western Theological Seminary, Reformed Church in America, Holland MI, 1991)
- M.Div.; M.A., Liturgy (Aquinas Institute of Theology, 1975)
- B.A., Mathematics (St. John’s University, Collegeville MN, 1969)
”The Christian life is a person-to-person transforming encounter—betwixt believers and Christ, among believers, and with all the peoples of the world. The Christian gospel is not only an ancient and growing body of doctrine. It is also a transforming set of practices and a call to virtue, always in context, always personal and formational, and all for the common good in the Reign of God.”
The road that brought me to ministry at Aquinas Institute of Theology involved almost twenty years of pastoral ministry at the Catholic Campus Parish of South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota; Associate Pastor at Blessed Sacrament Parish, Madison, Wisconsin; Vocation Coordinator for the Dominican Central Province, Chicago, Illinois; priest for the St. Giles Family Mass Community, Oak Park, Illinois; and chaplain for Dominican Chapel/Marywood and founder and program director for Dominican Center at Marywood in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After completing my Doctor of Ministry in Preaching in 1991, I came to Aquinas Institute in 1994 to live in the formation community of Saint Dominic Priory and to serve as Director of Field Education and Assistant Professor of Homiletics. Now, a surprising nineteen years later, I continue to serve as Professor of Homiletics, while serving also since 2007 as Academic Dean and Vice President. I now reside at Saint Louis Bertrand House near Forest Park.
My academic interests have to do with the theology of preaching, Christian healing, and the evangelization of culture—with a particular and longstanding interest in repairing the fractured relationship of men and women in our culture (Galatians 3:28).
I continue to take any opportunity I can to hike in the American West. Favorite places include Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, Zion National Park in Utah, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, and the Big Sur Coast in California. I look forward this summer to returning to Yellowstone and Mount Rainier.
Professional Affiliations
Certifications
- Honorary Certification in Online Teaching and Learning, Catholic Distance Learning Network, Seminary Department of the National Catholic Education Association (2013)
- Online Teaching Certification, Quality Matters “Applying the QM Rubric” (2013)
Presentations this Semester
“Parish Practice for Hearing the Word of God”
In March 2012, I was delighted to be invited to give the annual founder’s day Dehon Lecture at Sacred Heart School of Theology, Hales Corners Wisconsin.
“Evangelization in a Gospel-Actualized Community”
In June 2012, I joined on a Catholic Association of Teachers of Homiletics panel at the “We Preach Christ Crucified” conference on Catholic preaching, hosted by the John S. Marten Program for Homiletics and Liturgics at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.
“Preaching, Dance, and the Performance of Discipleship”
In December 2012 in Chicago, I along with Jeannine Potter, M.F.A., of the Valerie Alpert Dance Company in Chicago, presented a paper to the Performance Studies Workgroup at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Academy of Homiletics. Jeannine and I also preached at the closing worship of this Academy meeting, at which time I undertook the office of President for the coming year.
“Glaubenslehre und Kontextualität in Katechese und Evangelisierung:
Die Zukunft katholischer Verkűndigung/Predigt”
As a guest of the German Dominican Province of St. Albert the Great (Teutonia), I presented a keynote paper on the future of Catholic preaching at the “Spaces, Borders, Possibilities” annual meeting of the Working Group on Theology and Preaching of the Institut fűr Pastoralhomiletick in Augsburg, Germany, in February 2013.
“Lenten Seminar”
In March 2013, as in each Lent, Aquinas alumni Tom Cummins and Andy Daus and I preached a Lenten Day of Prayer to the Catholic Community of Potosi Correctional Center in Missouri.
“Dominican Schools and Centers of Preaching”
“Escuelas y Centros de Predicadión Dominicos”
At the request of the Curia of the Order of Preachers, I submitted a working paper to the General Chapter to be held at at Trogir, Croatia, in July 2013.
Selected Publications
- Website: “The Word on the Web: An Internet Hotlist for Preachers.”
- Theology of Preaching: Essays on Vision and Mission in the Pulpit. Gregory Heille, O.P., editor. London: Melisende, 2001.
- Preaching in the Sunday Assembly: A Pastoral Commentary on Fulfilled in Your Hearing. Catholic Association of Teachers of Homiletics, James Wallace, C.Ss.R., editor, Gregory Heille, O.P., project leader. Collegeville MN: Liturgical Press, 2010.
Article
“Practice What You Preach.” The Southern Cross, Archdiocese of Adelaide, Australia. October 2010.