Gonzaga Lectures at St Aloysius' College, Glasgow

St Aloysius' College in Glasgow has announced its programme for the 2010 Gonzaga Lectures.  The theme of the four weekly lectures will be Change, Challenge and the Church, with speakers drawn from the worlds of academia, the media and faith.

The series of lectures begins on Tuesday, 23 February, when Professor Thomas Devine will speak on 'Different Lives: Irish Catholics and their descendants in Scotland and the USA since 1850'.  Professor Devine is the Sir William Fraser Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography, Director of the Scottish Centre of Diaspora Studies and Head of School.

The following week, the topic will be 'Decline and Fall? The Church and Social Change since the 1950s', as former Aloysian and present principal of Heythrop College, University of London, Dr John McDade SJ delivers the second Gonzaga Lecture.  Dr McDade was Editor of The Month for nine years, and has written extensively on a range of issues affecting Christian faith, culture and the modern world.

Dominican, Fr Fergus Kerr OP, will be the speaker on 9 March.  Fr Kerr is Honorary Fellow of the School of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh, and is widely recognized as a philosopher and theologian of high distinction.  He is particularly well known for his work on Wittgenstein and Aquinas.  His lecture will be entitled 'Change and Challenge in Roman Catholic Theology since 1950'.

Lastly, writer, broadcaster and award-winning radio producer, Anna Magnusson will deliver the fourth Gonzaga Lecture 2010.  Anna is renowned for her documentaries, her religious output and programmes on the environment.  She will be talking on 'Religion and the Media' on Tuesday, 16 March.

As Headmaster, John Stoer, explains, the Gonzaga Lectures were first established in 1995, as part of St Aloysius' College's outreach to the wider community. 'They take their inspiration from the centuries old Jesuit patronage of intellectual enquiry and spiritual development,' he says. 'The titles of the lectures witness to the width of their scope and their relevance to the life of the Church and Society in present day Glasgow.' The themes of previous series have included the Church in Europe, Ministries of the Church in the 21st Century, Catholicism in Scotland since the Reformation, and the impact of the Second Vatican Council on the life of the Church today.

'The Lectures are more than academic; they are social gatherings,' Mr Stoer stresses. 'The successful format consists of a lecture which begins in the College Hall at 7.30pm followed immediately in the Refectory by refreshments, at which the audience can discuss what they have heard.  All then return to the Hall for questions.'

For more information, contact the college (link below).


 St Aloysius' College