Past Events
Spring 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Faces of Jesus in Film Screening 1: Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964)—First in a series of four film screenings coordinated by Rev. Lloyd Baugh, SJ, International Visiting Jesuit Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies. The much-acclaimed religious masterpiece by a self-proclaimed Marxist-atheist, it represents, both in its content, uncompromisingly faithful to the Gospel, and in its original style, the most authentic and the most challenging of the many film images of Jesus. It is the only modern Jesus film that appears on the Vatican’s list of top religious films.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The Faces of Jesus in Film Screening 2: Denys Arcand’s Jesus of Montreal (1989)—This provocative Canadian film is of critical importance in the 110-year history of Jesus in film, because it proposes in one and the same person, both a complex and controversial portrait of Jesus of Nazareth and a fascinating and convincing example of a Christ-figure. The elaborate intertextual dynamic between the two "protagonists" is electrifying.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Deitchman Family Lectures in Religion and Modernity: Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, will speak on the church's understanding of Christian responsibility for migrants, refugees and itinerant people.
Monday, February 2, 2009
The Faces of Jesus in Film Screening 3: Valerio Zurlini’s Black Jesus (1968)—A little-known actualization of the Jesus story told in the context of the struggle of the Congo for independence from Belgium. The protagonist, a gentle and charismatic of peace, is modeled on Patrice Lumumba, who served briefly as Prime Minister before being arrested, tortured and executed in 1961 by the Congolese military forces loyal to Belgium.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Lecture: Moral Responsibility for the Legacies of War: Vietnam to Iraq—Part one of the spring series will focus on "Moral Frameworks for Thinking About the Legacies of War" Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Religion and Public Life at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and former Dean of the Harvard Divinity School.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Faces of Jesus in Film Screening 4: Mark Dornford-May’s Son of Man (2006)—Nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, is set in post-apartheid South Africa. A charismatic and popular leader, preaching morality and justice for the poor and marginalized, is opposed and persecuted by the authorities, who eventually put him to death.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The Faces of Jesus in Film Lecture: The African Face of Jesus in Film—As a culmination of the four film screenings of the last two weeks, Rev. Lloyd Baugh, SJ, International Visiting Jesuit Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies, will focus on two Jesus films that are set in Africa and use African cultural and political realities as their setting. Followed by a public welcome reception for Fr. Baugh.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Lecture: Catholicism and Liberalism: Why they need each other - Paul Baumann, editor of Commonweal, the oldest independent lay Catholic journal of opinion in the United States. Co-sponsored with the College Honors Program.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Aging, Ethics and Spirituality Lecture: Religion and Aging in Communities of Memory, by Ellen Idler, professor and acting dean for Social and Behavioral Sciences at the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers. Co-sponsored by Gerontology Studies and the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Lecture: Moral Responsibility for the Legacies of War: Vietnam to Iraq—In Part II of the series, Diane Fox, Visiting Professor of History and Anthropology speaks on "Agent Orange: Consciousness and Conscience."
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Luncheon Series: How Can I Find God? Co-sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Zen Meditation and Interreligious Forum—Rev. Robert Kennedy, S.J., a Jesuit priest and Zen roshi (master), leads a morning meditation. From 1-2:30 p.m., Professor Anna J. Brown, who practices peace activism and Zen meditation, facilitates a forum on contemplation and social justice activism. Fr. Kennedy and Prof. Brown both teach at Saint Peter’s College in New Jersey.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Panel Discussion: Moral Responsibility for the Legacies of War: Vietnam to Iraq—Part III of the spring series features US Veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Panel Discussion: Moral Responsibility for the Legacies of War: Vietnam to Iraq—Where do we go from here? In the final part of this series, students and faculty reflect on the moral responsibility for the long-term consequences of war.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Lecture: The Gospels of Judas, Mary, and Thomas: The Good News About Marginalized Disciples in Early Christian Literature, by Marvin Meyer, one of the foremost scholars on early Christianity and texts about Jesus outside the New Testament. He is Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, where he is also director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity: The Religious Enlightenment. David Sorkin, Professor of History and Frances and Laurence Weinstein Professor of Jewish Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison, presents a comparative Jewish, Protestant and Catholic intellectual history, and suggests that the Enlightenment, which gave birth to Modernity, should best be understood as a religious, not an anti-religious project.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Lecture: Lessons from the Shoah: Why we teach the Holocaust at Holy Cross, by Daniel Bitran, associate professor of psychology. Part of the Kraft-Hiatt Program for Jewish-Christian Understanding.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Luncheon Series: How Can I Find God? Co-sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Lecture: Hurricane Season: Life in Twentieth Century New Orleans - Emory University Professor Leslie Harris will talk about the history of New Orleans, as well as family history, in a period bookended by two devastating storms, Betsy and Katrina. Screenings of the documentaries When the Levees Broke and Trouble the Water will precede the lecture. This inaugural Alexander F. Carson lecture is sponsored by the Montserrat Global Society Cluster, and co-sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Contemporary Physics and Christian Faith: Conflict or Consonance? A Catholic/Atheist Disputation — Rev. Paul A. Schweitzer. S.J., '58, a professor of mathematics at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and Matthew Koss, associate professor of physics at Holy Cross, debate the compatibility of God and science.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Thomas More Lecture - John T. Broderick, Jr., class of 1969, is chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Last Lecture: An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles: Darwin and Discovery - Karen Ober, assistant professor of entomology and evolutionary biology, imparts ideas and wisdom as if it were the last lecture of her career and explains how tiny beetles kindled her passion for science.
Thursday, March 26
Presidential Colloquia on Jesuits and the Liberal Arts: How Jesuitical were the Jesuits? A brief encounter with the morality of the Jesuits. James Keenan, SJ, who holds the founder's chair in theology at Boston College, speaks on Jesuit casuistry. Helen Whall, professor of English, responds.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Lecture: What Does Ethics Have to Do with Medicine? Dr. Edmund Pellegrino, Chair of the President's Council on Bioethics, and Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Medical Ethics and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Panel on Exile, War, and NGOs — Members of the Holy Cross and Worcester community will be invited to share their experiences. Sponsored by the Montserrat Global Society Cluster, and co-sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Combat, Justice and the Lady In Between: Mapping Romanesque Ecclesiastical Militarism. James F. Powers, professor emeritus of history at Holy Cross, discusses the meaning of military iconography in the churches of Western Europe during the 12th century.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Reading: Award-winning Irish writer Colm Toibin reads from his forthcoming novel Brooklyn. Co-sponsored with the Creative Writing Program and The Professor Edward Callahan Irish Studies Support Fund.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Lecture: Altruism and Morality: No Necessary Connection. C. Daniel Batson, professor emeritus in psychology at the University of Kansas, explores the degree to which moral behavior can be said to derive from empathy-induced, altruistic motivation. Co-sponsored with the Departments of Philosophy and Psychology.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Luncheon Series: How Can I Find God? Co-sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Lecture: Holocaust and the Jewish Resistance — by Yehuda Bauer, known worldwide as a compelling speaker and one of the world's most important scholars on Holocaust studies. Supported by the Kraft-Hiatt Program for Jewish-Christian Understanding.
Fall 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Faculty Author Discussion: Modernism, Drama, and the Audience for Irish Spectacle (Cambridge, 2007) by Paige Reynolds. Boston College Professor Philip O'Leary, HC'70, is the respondent. Cosponsored by the Professor Edward Callahan Irish Studies Support Fund.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Learning from 'God's own Country,' Kerala, India: a Development Model and a Paradox. Rev. M.K. George, SJ, International Visiting Jesuit Fellow in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Higher Education Reading Group discusses Jay Parini's The Art of Teaching and Jim Lang's Life on the Tenure Track: Lessons from the First Year.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Christology at the Crossroad: in Dialogue with Judaism and Islam, Rev. Paolo Gamberini, SJ, International Visiting Jesuit Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Gustavo Gutierrez Meets Giuseppe Verdi: the Beauty of Liberation and the Liberation of Beauty. Prof. Jim Nickoloff. Prof. Joanna Ziegler, Visual Arts, responds.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Ying Ruocheng: Revolution, Reform and Faith On Stage in Modern China. Tufts University Associate Professor Claire Conceisson
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sacred musical traditions of South Asia, featuring vocalist Shubha Mudgal, and her ensemble of five musicians, including the virtuoso tabla player Aneesh Pradhan. Pre-concert presentation by Prof. Shirish Korde, Dept. of Music. Co-sponsored with Dept. of Music.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Faculty Author Discussion: David Schaefer's Illiberal Justice: John Rawls vs. the American Political Tradition. (Univ. of Missouri, 2007) Lawrence Cahoone (philosophy) is the respondent.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Thomas More Lecture: Paul LaCamera, '64 , General Manager of WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Deitchman Family Lectures in Religion and Modernity: Who's Afraid of American Religion? Alan Wolfe, Boston College Professor & Director of The Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life
Monday, November 3, 2008
Deitchman Family Lectures in Religion and Modernity: Modern Cosmology and Life's Meaning. Rev. George Coyne, S.J., Past Director of the Vatican Observatory and current President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Faculty Author Discussion: Teaching the Daode Jing ed. by Gary DeAngelis and Warren G. Frisina. Joanna Ziegler, respondent.
Friday, November 14, 2008
The Catholic Philosopher: Dancing at Arms’ Length with One’s Theological Mistress. Robert Wood, University of Dallas. Co-sponsored by Department of Philosophy.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Emperor Akbar and the Jesuits: Artistic Encounters Between Europe and Asia at the Mughal Courts of India. Mika Natif, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in Visual Arts. Cosponsored with the President's Office as part of the Presidential Colloquia on Jesuits and the Liberal Arts.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Olivier Messiaen Festival: Organ concert by Prof. James David Christie. St. Joseph Memorial Chapel. Sponsored by Department of Music.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Olivier Messiaen Festival: Performance featuring Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time. Brooks Concert Hall. Co-sponsored with the Department of Music.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Olivier Messiaen Festival: Conference on the life and work of Olivier Messiaen. Prof. Rebecca Rischin, University of Ohio, author of For the End of Time: The Story of the Messiaen Quartet (Cornell University Press, 2003), and Rev. Stephen Schloesser, SJ, of Boston College. Co-sponsored with the Department of Music.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Olivier Messiaen Festival: Performance featuring Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time and Trois Mélodies. Worcester Art Museum.