September 15, 2010

CU lectures to address JPII, assisted suicide, morality

By Anna Maria Basquez

The St. Thomas Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought at the University of Colorado at Boulder is bringing in experts in topics ranging from theology of the body to gender discussions in priest ordination this year among others, kicking off its yearly lecture series starting Sept. 22. 

This year, the institute is offering three lectures per semester including the annual debate in January. The change was made to have less going on for students during weeks of finals at the end of the semester, officials said.

“We’re here simply to add another voice to the pluralism of academic dialogue, to really show what the Church believes has a strong intellectual foundation and it’s something to be reckoned with,” Matt Boettger, director of Intellectual Formation at the Aquinas Institute. “These academic lectures are one avenue for that. We’re so blessed to be able to bring in some of the Catholic minds and non-Catholic minds to campus and speak to issues that are not only at the heart of Catholicism, but at the world at large.”

The first speaker in the series on Sept. 22 will be Michael Waldstein of Ave Maria University in Florida.

“He’s the one who translated John Paul II’s great work, ‘theology of the body,’ from Italian into English; he will speaking on John Paul II’s reflections on the Song of Songs,” he said. “He’s a well-known, brilliant man.”

Another highlight of the series will feature Robert George of Princeton University.

“He’s the major conservative thinker at Princeton,” Boettger said. George works at “giving a voice to those who feel they’re not being heard in the political scene and really advocating a pro-life stance in many different directions.”

George will address morality and virtues in natural law.

The annual Aquinas Institute sponsored debate typically draws large crowds.

“We had as many as 2,300 two years ago for our annual debate on atheism,” Boettger said. This year’s topic will likely be a Catholic-Protestant debate, he added, and is set for Jan. 28, the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas.

St. John Vianney Theological Seminary’s E. Christian Brugger will address physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia in November and Regis Martin of Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, will take up the topic of demonstrating God’s existence in the context of the human experience in October.

Sister Sara Butler, M.S.B.T., of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary in Chicago, will present “The Reservation of Priestly Ordination to Men: An Analysis of the Catholic Debate,” on Feb. 28, 2011.
All lectures are set from 7 p.m.-8:30 p.m. and are held at different locations on the CU-Boulder campus. For more information, call 303-443-8383 or visit http://www.thomascenter.org/.

LECTURE SERIES
• Michael Waldstein, “Redeeming the Erotic: John Paul II’s Reading of the Song of Songs,” Sept. 22 at CU-Boulder, Hellems 252.
• Regis Martin, “Desperate Desire: Demonstrating God’s Existence from the Data of Human Experience,” Oct. 18, CU-Boulder, Humanities 1B50.
• The Annual Debate is tentatively set for Jan. 28, 2011. Details are TBA.
• E. Christian Brugger, “‘Pardon me ma’am, but would you like to die?’ Autonomy and Self-killing: You Decide,” Nov. 10, CU-Boulder, Humanities 135.
• Sister Sara Butler will present “The Reservation of Priestly Ordination to Men: An Analysis of the Catholic Debate,” Feb. 28, 2011, CU-Boulder. Location TBA.
• Robert George, “Natural Law, God, and Human Dignity” March 31, 2011, CU-Boulder. Location TBA.
• More information: 303-443-8383 or http://www.thomascenter.org/