Tuesday, February 26
Religion in Cuba: Past, Present, and Future
Blair Woodard
7:00 p.m., 163 Buckley Center

Blair Woodard is a professor of history with research interests in Latin American history and U.S.-Latin American relations. His presentation will discuss Cuba's many religious influences. From Catholicism, Santeria, and official state atheism, religion has played a defining role in the formation of Cuba's cultural heritage and will continue to do so as the nation faces many changes in the future. Woodard’s research in both Cuban and U.S. archives has been supported by grants from Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, and the University of New Mexico’s Latin American and Iberian Institute.

Wednesday, February 20
Diving into Mink River
Brian Doyle and Rev. Charlie Gordon, C.S.C.
7:00 p.m., Bookstore (Pilot House)

Brian Doyle and Fr. Charlie Gordon, CSC join forces to explore the braided spiritual journeys of defiant hope and faith in Doyle’s novel Mink River, and in the works of other spiritual writers including Annie Dillard, David James Duncan, Marilynne Robinson and Ron Hansen.

Wednesday, February 6
Bringing Eyes of Faith to Film: Brave
Rev. Charlie Gordon, C.S.C. and Karen Eifler
7:15 p.m., Buckley Center 314

Hosts Karen Eifler (education) and Rev. Charlie Gordon, C.S.C. (theology) invite audience members to explore a sacramental worldview in popular contemporary films.

Thursday, January 24
Broken and Shared: Tales from a Hippie Kitchen
Jeff Dietrich
7:30 p.m., Executive Boardroom (Bauccio Commons)

For over 40 years, Jeff Dietrich has lived in community at the Los Angeles Catholic Worker House in solidarity with the poor. He is an activist, an author and a cook, whose efforts have helped provide 3 million meals to the homeless on L.A.’s Skid Row. Thought-provoking essays, predicated on radical readings of Bible text, were published as Broken and Shared: Food, Dignity, and the Poor on LA’s Skid Row (2011).

Fr. William Harmless, SJ, professor of theology at Creighton University, specializes in the history and theology of early Christianity. His scholarly work ranges from early monasticism to mysticism to women in the Early Church. His recent work includes an anthology on St. Augustine titled Augustine in His Own Words (2010).
 
This lecture is part of the "Theology Thursday" series hosted by the UP Theology department and will highlight the mystic, St. Bernard of Clairvaux.  The Garaventa Center is a co-sponsor of this speaker.

Amy-Jill Levine is the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies, a University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University and a professor in the Vanderbilt Divinity School. Levine is an Orthodox Jew, teaching in a Christian divinity school, committed to eliminating anti-Semitic theologies. Her upcoming work includes Parables: Hearing the Stories of Jesus Again for the First Time (December 2012).

Thursday, October 11
Catholics in the Public Square: Prophecy, Civility and Truth
M. Cathleen Kaveny
7:30 p.m., Buckley Center 163

M. Cathleen Kaveny, the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law and a professor of Theology at Notre Dame, will discuss how Catholics in a pluralistic society such as ours should frame their public discussion of controversial issues. She argues that this tension is grounded in two demands of truth in service of the common good. She will suggest various ways in which that tension can be identified and managed in the context of our national elections.

Kaveny has completed four graduate degrees, including her J.D and Ph.D., at Yale. She focuses her scholarly work on the relationship of law and morality.

The Commonweal Speakers Program is made possible thanks to a generous gift from James H. Duffy.

Monday, October 22
Red Mass and Lecture
4:00 p.m. Lecture with Sr. Helen Prejean in the Chiles Center; free and open to all

5:30 p.m. Red Mass celebrated with Archbishop Vlazny in The Chapel of Christ the Teacher; open

6:30 p.m. Reception with Sr. Prejean; tickets required

Sr. Helen Prejean is a nationally recognized human rights activist and author of Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States (1993). The New York Times bestseller was made into a major movie starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn in 1996.

The annual Red Mass celebrates the tradition of prayer for those entrusted with the law and justice in our nation. Sr. Prejean’s lecture and the Red Mass are free and open to the public.

*The 2012 Red Mass lecture with Sr. Helen Prejean was made possible due to the generous support of the Savage Foundation and the University of Oregon Law School.  The Garaventa Center would like to acknowledge this collaboration between the two Universities.

John Morrill, professor of English and Irish History at Cambridge, focuses his research on English Catholicism; particularly the early modern historical period of dungeon, fire and sword. A leading historian, Morrill examines the legacies and religious psychology of leaders of the period, most notably Oliver Cromwell as can be seen in his published biography Oliver Cromwell (2007).

Carolyn Y. Woo became the president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services on January 1, 2012.  Prior to this position, Woo served as the dean of the Mendoza School of Business at the University of Notre Dame. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Woo was educated by the Maryknoll Sisters of Ossining, and immigrated to the United States where she attended Purdue University through the completion of her doctoral degree.  Woo is a member of numerous boards including the UP Board of Regents.

The annual Zahm Lecture was established in 1999 with an endowed gift from Ray and Milann Siegfried of Oklahoma.  The Zahm Lecture serves as the keynote address for the University's academic year and honors Fr. John Zahm, C.S.C., an eminent Holy Cross priest and scientist of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Wednesday, April 18
Faithful Citizenship in an Election Year
10:30 a.m., Executive Board Room in the Bauccio Commons

A panel discussion of the current political climate and the issues pertinent to Catholics will be followed by an open discussion with the audience. Panel members include:

Fr. Gary Chamberland, C.S.C., cannon law expert and director of campus ministry
Fr. Jim Lies, C.S.C., psychology professor and executive director, Garaventa Center
Dr. Gary Malecha, political science professor and author of the recently published The Public Congress: Congressional Deliberation in a New Media Age.

Political discussion is free and open to all; lunch following the program may be reserved for $10.

Wednesday, April 4
The Japanese Jesus of Shusaku Endo
Rebecca Gaudino & Rev. Charlie Gordon, C.S.C.
4:00 p.m., Mago Hunt Recital Hall

Theology professors Rebecca Gaudino and Fr. Charlie Gordon, C.S.C., share their particular interest in the theology of literature with a presentation of two works by Japanese author Shusaku Endo, Deep River and Silence. Shusaku Endo had the unusual perspective of being both Japanese and Catholic living in Japan following World War II. Endo’s Catholic faith was often a central feature in his work, which introduced characters struggling with complex moral issues in stories that dealt with doubt, abandonment, human freedom, and the power of Christian redemption.

Brad Gregory, the Dorothy G. Griffin Associate Professor of Early Modern European History at the University of Notre Dame, is author of The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society (2011). Dr. Gregory has received teaching awards at both Notre Dame and Stanford, and earned six book prizes for his first book, Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe (1999).

February 1 - March 2, 2012
The Four Holy Gospels: An Art Exhibit
Franz Hall Lobby 

Makoto Fujimura is an artist, writer, and speaker recognized worldwide for his cultural influence in the contemporary art world. A passionate advocate for the merging of Christian faith within the secular art community, Fujimura is an abstract artist with paintings exhibited in galleries throughout the world and was a Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts (2003-2009). His work includes collaborative art created during concerts with percussionist Susie Ibarra. The decision to commission an abstract artist to illuminate the four gospels in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible was virtually unprecedented. His painting for this exhibit entitled Tears of Christ serves as the centerpiece for the project and was directly inspired by the proximity of his home to Ground Zero during the traumatic event of September 11, 2001.

This exhibit is made possible through the generous support of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust which seeks to strengthen the region's educational, spiritual, and cultural base in creative and sustainable ways.

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers the director of Public Safety at the University and founder of Aurem Cordis, an apostolate dedicated to promoting the truth and beauty of the Gospel, is a committee member for the cause for canonization of Fr. Augustine Tolton, a man born to slavery who became the first American black priest.

Thursday, February 16
Faith and Health: What’s the Connection?
Thomas Plante

Thomas G. Plante, Ph.D., ABPP is professor of psychology at Santa Clara University and adjunct clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. He currently serves as Vice-Chair of the National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth for the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops and is past-President of the psychology and religion division of the APA. Dr. Plante has been featured in numerous media outlets including Time Magazine, CNN, NBC News, New York Times, and National Public Radio, and is the author or editor of 16 books including Contemplative Practices in Action: Spirituality, Meditation, and Health (2010).