is being held this weekend at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. It's the major professional society for Christian ethicists, and meets concurrently with the Society of Jewish Ethics. While it was originally founded by Protestant seminary professors, it has become far more ecumenical over the years, beginning after the Second Vatican Council.My undergraduate teacher, Paul Ramsey, used to talk about seeking out the Catholic moralists in the early 1970's (Dick McCormick and Charlie Curran) because he could get a good scotch --and vigorous, good-natured, moral argument -- in their company. And around that time, if you look through the literature, you can see intellectual engagement across different traditions in Christianity. McCormick started citing Ramsey in the Notes on Moral Theology in Theological Studies, and Ramsey found the Catholic casuistical tradition a helpful way to broaden his conversation with Protestants like Joseph Fletcher about the role of moral norms in Christian ethics.This year, Jeremiah Wright is the opening plenary speaker.