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Past Events: 2021-2022

Fall 2021

First-Year Book Discussion: 'Walking to Listen' with Author Andrew Forsthoefel
September 7, 2021
Andrew Forsthoefel, author of Walking to Listen: 4000 Miles Across America, One Story at a Time, teaches trustworthy listening as a practice in reconciliation, personal transformation, and peace-making.

Never Forget: Congressman Jim McGovern on 9/11 and Twenty Years of War in Afghanistan
September 14, 2021
Worcester’s Congressman James McGovern joins Holy Cross Political Science Professor Ward Thomas to reflect on the legacy of war in Afghanistan, the consequences of withdrawal, and our responsibilities to U.S. service members and the Afghan people.

African, Christian, Feminist and More
September 16, 2021
Teresia Mbari Hinga, associate professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University, is a founding member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, a pan-African association of women who study the role and impact of religion and culture on African women's lives. One of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity and part of the initiative on Catholics & Cultures.

You Think You Know Catholicism? Peering into the Diversity of the Global Church
September 20, 2021
In this lunchtime talk for Holy Cross students, Thomas M. Landy, director of the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture,introduce the incredible diversity of worship styles and devotions—including Masses, feasts, processions, and pilgrimages—practiced by contemporary Catholics in countries and cultures around the world. Part of International Education Week.

Before Gentrification: Race and Dis/Investment in the Nation’s Capital
September 27, 2021
Tanya Golash-Boza, professor of sociology and founder of the Racism, Capitalism, and the Law Lab at the University of California-Merced, talks about the structural forces that have created barriers to stable home ownership for Black families in Washington, DC.

Polarizing Disagreements: Philosophical and Psychological Reflections on a Political Conundrum
October 1, 2021
Karsten Stueber, professor of philosophy at Holy Cross, suggests that polarization is best approached from the perspective of moral philosophy and moral psychology, rather than as an epistemic problem. Part of the Colloquia on Philosophy Series.

From Justice to Reconciliation: A Jesuit Response to the Refugee Crisis in the Middle East
October 19, 2021
Former Holy Cross Chaplain Rev. Dan Corrou, S.J., regional director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in the Middle East (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria), describes humanitarian approaches to the crises and the JRS mission of accompaniment—a model for the work of reconciliation based in the 500-year Ignatian tradition of cura personalis.  Co-sponsored with the Office of Mission.

Refugees, Prisoners of War, and Foster Kids: A Long History of Child Taking
October 27, 2021
Laura Briggs, professor of women, gender, and sexuality studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an expert on U.S. and international child welfare policy, explains how from the Indian Wars to the Cold War to the War on Drugs, the U.S. federal government under both Democratic and Republican administrations has taken children for political ends.

Muslims and the Holocaust
November 2, 2021
Mehnaz M. Afridi, associate professor of religious studies and director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College, discusses her journey with Judaism as a Muslim, her interviews with Holocaust survivors, antisemitism and Islamophobia, and Islam and memory. Part of the Kraft-Hiatt Program in Jewish-Christian Understanding.

Politics in the Name of Lord Rama in Narendra Modi's India 
November 8, 2021
Kalpana Jain, an award-winning journalist and the religion and ethics editor at The Conversation US, discusses how politics is being reshaped in India and religious sentiments are being mobilized under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. One of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity.

Be Fearless for Me: Courage and the Gospel of the Marginalized
November 9, 2021
Rev. Gregory Boyle, S.J., founder of Homeboy Industries, returns to Holy Cross to talk about joy, hope and the courage of tenderness. Accompanied by “homies,” former gang members now part of his organization, he shares stories from his new book, “The Whole Language: The Power of Extravagant Tenderness,” (Simon & Schuster, 2021).

What Has American Politics Done to the Catholic Church?
November 16, 2021
Holy Cross President Vincent Rougeau leads a discussion with Ross Douthat, a conservative columnist for the New York Times and author of To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism, and Matthew Sitman, associate editor of Commonweal, on the entanglements of politics and religion. One of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity.

Priorities for Post-COVID-19 Public Health Research, Education, and Practice
November 17, 2021
Sandro Galea is a physician, epidemiologist, Dean and Robert A Knox Professor of the School of Public Health at Boston University, discusses what we learned during COVID-19 and what implications that has for our scholarship in population health science.

Spring 2022

Revealing the Truth About the World’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Chris Mooney, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with the Washington Post and a lecturer at Yale School of the Environment, describes his months-long investigation into the world’s climate-warming emissions, which found that countries are dramatically under-reporting their climate impact—by as much as 13 billion tons of greenhouse gases annually. Co-sponsored with Environmental Studies.

Untidy, Eclectic, and Diverse: Lived Religion in Latin America Today
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Gustavo Morello, S.J., associate professor of sociology at Boston College, reports on an extensive three-year study of religion as practiced by Latin Americans in their daily lives. His talk is one of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity and part of the initiative on Catholics & Cultures.

How Should We Elect Presidents?
Thursday, February 17, 2022
Nobel Prize Laureate Eric S. Maskin, Adams University Professor and professor of economics and mathematics at Harvard University, considers the ethics of voting systems to replace our flawed plurality rule. Co-sponsored with the Economics Department.

On the Trail of an Antisemitic Myth: Or How Lies Are Turned into "Facts"
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Magda Teter, professor of history and the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies at Fordham University, unpacks the enduring power of blood libel, and explains how and why it came to be rooted in Christian imagination, reaching beyond medieval Europe to contemporary America and the Middle East. Supported by the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding.

Russia at War: What does it mean?
Friday, February 25, 2022
A panel of Holy Cross professors and Russia experts discuss Russia's attack on Ukraine, why it happened, and where it leaves us now.

Tell Me How I Conquered You: Clues from the Second Century BCE Mediterranean
Monday, February 28, 2022
Dan-el Padilla Peralta, associate professor of classics at Princeton University, examines theories of cultural survival developed through narratives of resistance in the Book of Daniel and other literatures from the eastern and central Mediterranean in the second century BCE. The Thomas More Lecture on the Humanities.

Fragments of Friendship: Spiritual Undercurrents of the Global Catholic Resistance to Fascism
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Brenna Moore, professor of theology at Fordham University and author of Kindred Spirits (University of Chicago Press, 2021), explores a remarkable network of Catholic historians, theologians, poets, and activists who formed "Spiritual Friendships" as a form of resistance to the rise of fascism in the early to mid-20th century. 

 

Curing Injustice: The Living Legacy of Dr. Paul Farmer
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
An interdisciplinary discussion with Holy Cross professors Judith Chubb, Tsitsi B Masvawure, Mary Doyle Roche, Susan Rodgers, and Ann Sheehy reflects on the legacy of Dr. Paul Farmer and consider the impact that he's had on students of anthropology, theology, ethics and global health.

Fraternity, Martyrdom and Peace in Burundi: The Forty Servants of God of Buta
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Jodi Mikalachki, associate professor of English at the University of Burundi and a visiting fellow at DePaul University’s Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology,
examines how Burundian Catholics understand the significance of 40 Buta seminary students martyred in Burundi's civil war. Part of the McFarland Center's initiative on Catholics & Cultures.

Empathy and Historical Understanding
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
German historian Thomas Kohut, the Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Professor of History at Williams College, draws on examples from 20th-century German and Holocaust history to argue that the deliberate, self-reflective use of empathy is a legitimate and important mode of historical inquiry. Part of the Colloquia of the Department of Philosophy with support from the Rehm Family Fund.

Justice and Care: Reflections around Past and Current Abuse and Safeguarding in the Church
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Rev. Hans Zollner, S.J., founder and president of the The Centre for Child Protection, now the Institute of Anthropology, at the Pontifical Gregorian University
, describes responses to the global crisis of abuse by Catholic clergy reported over the last 20 years and what still needs to be done to administer justice, care and mercy. One of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity, with additional support from the Rehm Family Fund.

How To Read a Biblical Rape Story
Monday, April 4, 2022
Rhiannon Graybill, associate professor of religious studies at Rhodes College, analyzes three biblical rape stories and challenges the idea of consent as a centerpiece in the discussion of sexual violence. Part of the Hebrew Bible Lecture Series, supported by the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding.

Fishbowl Discussion: Greening Cities from Plan to Practice
April 6, 2022
Using Green Worcester as a springboard for conversation, this discussion looks at the environmental planning process with John Fernández, professor of architecture and director of the Environmental Solutions Initiative at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Karin Valentine Goins, program director at University of Massachusetts Medical School, a public health activist and co-founder of WalkBike Worcester, and John Odell '88, chief sustainability and resilience officer for the City of Worcester. Co-sponsored with the Office of Sustainability.

The Pope’s Rabbi on Meaningful Interfaith Dialogue
April 11, 2022
Argentinian-born Rabbi Abraham Skorka, a longtime friend of Pope Francis, focuses on deepening Catholic-Jewish relationships. Skorka, a biophysicist, was rabbi of the Benei Tikva synagogue for 42 years. Supported by the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding.

The Ukraine War and Prospects for Democracy
April 21, 2022
Part of a presidential series on Defending Democracy, this fishbowl discussion features Holy Cross student Viktor Lutsyshen '23, a native of Kherson; Nina S. Barzachka, assistant professor of political science; Roman Zaviyskyy, dean of philosophy and theology at Ukrainian Catholic University, who will be zooming from Lviv; and Markian Dobczansky, a historian of the Soviet Union, Russian-Ukrainian relations and urbanization and associate of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.

Vocation of the Writer Lecture: Rigoberto González
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Rigoberto González is author of 18 books of poetry and prose including the bestsellers "Antonio's Card" and "Butterfly Boy." Chicano, gay, immigrant, artist, he brings them all to his role of professor in the creative writing program at Rutgers University. Co-sponsored with the Creative Writing Program's Working Writers Series.