Sister Joan Chittister To Deliver

 4th Annual O’Callaghan Lecture

FAIRFIELD — Joan Chittister, OSB, a leading voice in contemporary spirituality and church and world issues, will present the fourth annual Anne Drummey O’Callaghan lecture on Women in the Church on Tuesday, October 5, at 8 pm. The lecture, entitled “God, Women and the World: Telling the Story Another Way,” will take place in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

The lecture is part of a weeklong celebration of the inauguration of Fairfield University’s eighth president, the Rev Jeffrey von Arx, SJ. A dessert and coffee reception will follow the lecture.

Ms Chittister will consider how the concepts of God, women, and the world inform one another and what underlies the conflicts between them. The presentation will deal with the premise that what people do or fail to do about the world depends on what they think about themselves and their relationships to things around them.

A widely published author, columnist, and noted international lecturer, Ms Chittister is the author of more than 30 books, including Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir (Sheed & Ward, 2004), The Friendship of Women: A Spiritual Tradition (Sheed & Ward, 2000), and Listen with the Heart: Sacred Moments in Everyday Life (Sheed & Ward, 2003).

A social psychologist and communications therapist, Ms Chittister is currently the executive director of Benetvision, a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality. She is also a regular columnist for The National Catholic Reporter and has published numerous articles on issues of women in the church, human rights, peace and justice, and contemporary religious life.

The annual O’Callaghan Lecture honors the memory of Anne Drummey O’Callaghan, an advocate for persons with mental disabilities and a youth minister and catechist at St Jerome and St Joseph churches in Norwalk.

Admissions is free and open to the public. For more information, call the Quick Center box office at 203-254-4010.