- Registration deadline: December 18 (late fee applies thereafter) (register now)
- AHA Registration Requirement: All presenters must register for both the AHA and ACHA meetings. (AHA registration is here.) The AHA takes this requirement very seriously!
- Registration fee: $25. Students/contingent faculty attend at no charge.
- Hotels: Participants are able to book discounted accommodations at any of the official conference hotels on the AHA hotels page. The ACHA’s headquarters hotel will be the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.
- Program: We’ll be posting the conference program later this fall.
- On-site: Our registration table will be located in the East Lounge of the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. We’ll also have an information table outside the Golden Gate Rooms at the Hilton.
- Updates: Announcements and new information will be posted on this page as they become available. Registrants can expect an e-mail with on-the-ground information in late December or early January.
Last updated January 3, 2024: Added addendum containing canceled and modified sessions. Download the entire program or just the addendum.
In addition to the panels and presentations, there will be ample time for socializing, reconnecting, and seeing the city of San Francisco. The ACHA is sponsoring four special events:
Tour of North Beach
Thursday, January 4, 2024
9:30 AM – 12:00 PM.
$5 fee; capacity is limited to 20 participants.
Join us for a walking tour of San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood and it’s rich, multi-layered religious and social history. Beginning at “The Italian Cathedral” (Ss. Peter and Paul) and continuing to the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi, our tour will go on to explore the distinctive, and sometimes contested, Catholic presence in this neighborhood popularly associated with bohemians and the Beat Generation. The tour will be led by Bill Issel (San Francisco State University) and Jeff Burns (Franciscan School of Theology.)
Tour of Mission Dolores
Thursday, January 4, 2024
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
$5 fee; capacity is limited to 50 participants.
Join us for a site tour of Mission Dolores, one of the jewels of California’s historic mission system. The old mission chapel—the oldest intact building in the city—contains some of the most sophisticated art in the mission chain. It is now part of the Basilica parish, located in the heart of San Francisco’s “Mission District.” The tour will be led by a mission docent, with commentary by Lisbeth Haas (UC-Santa Cruz).
Presidential Luncheon
Friday, January 5, 2024
12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Hilton Union Square, Continental Ballroom 5
$50 fee; students attend at no charge
An ACHA tradition! With our friends and colleagues, we’ll honor the 2023 ACHA award recipients and hear remarks from outgoing president Michael Pasquier.
ACHA Social
Saturday, January 6
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM
Toy Soldier
52 Belden Place, San Francisco
$20 fee; students attend/drink at no charge
Open bar for the first hour. Appetizers served.
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at the University of Southern California.
We are looking forward to a wonderful west coast conference this January. The program is packed with a rich variety of papers, panels, and presentations that are sure to draw great interest from our members and other attendees.
In keeping with the Call for Papers, we were pleased to receive many submissions on the American West (both urban and rural), the environment, and global Catholicism. Other topics run the gamut, from early modern mysticism to contemporary Catholic populism, so there is something for everyone! We are also pleased to feature a greater number of roundtables and book panels, which have proven to be an increasingly popular—and engaging—format.
Several sessions deserve special mention. On Thursday, there will be a panel on “Confronting the History and Legacy of Catholic Indigenous Boarding Schools in the United States,” that features some of the research that has resulted from the ACHA’s NEH grant. Those interested in pedagogy and praxis can look forward to a Friday session on Catholic Studies and Community-Engaged Learning. That afternoon, our presidential plenary will feature a roundtable on Catholicism and Environmental History. Finally, we have a three-part series of panels on the history of the papacy that stretches across the three days of the conference.
The program once again includes a number of social and special events. Thanks to the work of our local arrangements committee – Jeffrey Burns, Kate Moran, and Bill Issel – we are pleased to offer two off-site, pre-conference events on Thursday morning for those getting to town early: a walking tour of San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood and a tour of Mission Dolores. Then, on Friday, be sure to join us for the Presidential Luncheon, which will feature the presentation of the ACHA’s prizes and awards.
That evening, in what has become a popular new tradition, we are once again sponsoring an off-site and informal evening panel in cooperation with the American Society for Church History. This year’s theme will be The Neon Hours, featuring a series of short presentations on “Catholic delights after dark.” Finally, the conference will close on Saturday evening with an ACHS liturgy at nearby Notre Dame des Victoires church and a lively social at a nearby establishment.
Along with my fellow program committee members, Monica Mercado and Tim Dulle, I look forward to seeing you in San Francisco on January 4-6, 2024, for the ACHA’s 104th Annual Meeting.
Thomas Rzeznik
Chair, Program Committee