Annual Faith and Knowledge Lecture examines the direction of Pope Francis
The Saint Dunstan’s University Institute for Christianity and Culture’s fifth annual Faith And Knowledge Lecture presents Jesuit Fr. Thomas J. Reese with an examination of the direction of Pope Francis. The event is Thursday, November 29 at 7:00 pm in the Alex H. MacKinnon Auditorium, room 242 of UPEI’s Don and Marion McDougall Hall. All are welcome.
Fr. Thomas J. Reese’s column for Religion News Service, Signs of the Times, appears regularly in the National Catholic Reporter. Father Reese entered the Jesuits in 1962 and was ordained in 1974. He was educated at St. Louis University, the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and at the University of California Berkeley, where he received a PhD in political science. He was an associate editor of America magazine, where he wrote on politics, economics and the Catholic Church, from 1978 to 1985, and editor-in-chief from 1998 to 2005. He was a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center from 1985 to 1998 and 2006 to 2013.
While at Woodstock, he wrote the trilogy on the organization and politics of the church: Archbishop: Inside the Power Structure of the American Catholic Church (1989), A Flock of Shepherds: The National Conference of Catholic Bishops (1992), and Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church (1996). He also edited The Universal Catechism Reader (1990), an analysis of the first draft of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Episcopal Conferences: Historical, Canonical and Theological Studies (1989). He is also author of a NCR e-book, Caring for Our Common Home: A Readers’ Guide and Commentary on Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment (2015).
In 2014, Father Reese was appointed by President Obama to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission that reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. He was reappointed to another two-year term in May 2016.
The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.
