Commonweal speaker: ‘Is a Catholic College Possible?’

As a part of the Commonweal Lecture series, Dennis O’Brien, Ph.D., will be speaking on “Is a Catholic College Possible?” Thursday, April 10, at Saint Mary's. The lecture — free and open to the public — is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Salvi Lecture Hall.

Additionally, at 3:30 p.m. April 10, he will lead a student-oriented discussion of an article he wrote called “Good Faith: What the new atheists get wrong.” (By “new atheists,” he refers to popular titles such as Christopher Hitchens' God is Not Great, etc.) All viewpoints are welcome at this discussion, but reading the article beforehand is requested. The article is available to be picked up in Saint Mary’s Hall, Room 223 (the Theology suite), or may be accessed on the Ebsco Academic Premier database. The discussion will be held in the Common Room.

O’Brien is president emeritus of University of Rochester and an editor for the biweekly Commonweal Magazine, a review of politics, religion, and culture, run by lay Catholics. A philosopher by training, he is the author of many critically acclaimed books, including The Idea of a Catholic University and most recently, Finding the Voice of the Church.

Through the Commonweal Speakers series, universities across the United States are chosen to host free public lectures from the nationally respected editors at Commonweal. The Commonweal Speakers Program is made possible thanks to a generous gift from James H. Duffy.

For more information,visit www.commonwealmagazine.org. The library also has current and archived copies. For more information, contact Dr. Susan Windley-Daoust, Ext. 1995.