Throughout its two-thousand-year history, the Catholic Church has confessed one faith, but has expressed that faith in and through a diversity of languages, cultures, and customs. This simultaneous unity and diversity is not accidental, but essential, to the Church, it being both one and universal: Wherever and in whatever mode the Church is present, there the whole Church is virtually found. Reflecting on this reality raises many questions. Some of these are practical: How ought the prayer of the Church be modified to account for the needs of different cultures? How does the confession of the Creed remain constant in its content, despite the multiplicity of its expressions? And some of these questions are speculative: How does the unity and universality Church reflect its foundation in a God in whom a distinction of persons is united in a simplicity of substance? Likewise, how does having God as the primary author of Sacred Scripture affect the interrelation of its various texts in spite of the plurality of human authors?

There is perhaps no better place to contemplate these two marks of the Church than in Norway, where the Church has a long and storied history with deep, medieval roots, and has arrived at the present age as a 

Church largely comprising immigrant communities who bring with them a diversity of languages, cultures, and histories, though the faith confessed then is the same as that confessed now. Consequently, the Sacra Doctrina Project will be hosting a conference on the theme “The Church: One and Universal” in Oslo, Norway, which will take place on July 1, 2, and 3 of 2027. Interested parties are invited to submit papers on both practical and speculative questions related to the theme of the conference from any subdiscipline of theology. Submissions should be made using this form and should include the author’s name and affiliation as well as the title of the proposed paper and an abstract of no more than 300 words. The presentations of the papers will be 20 minutes long, with 10 minutes for Q&A. Submissions must be made December 1, 2026. Notification of Acceptance will be made by December 15, 2026.