Center for Spirituality hosts 32nd Annual Madeleva Lecture

April 5, 2017 (Notre Dame, Ind.)  The Saint Mary’s College Center for Spirituality is proud to announce that Sister Ilia Delio, OSF, will offer the College’s 32nd Annual Madeleva Lecture. She currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University. Her lecture, “A Hunger for Wholeness: Soul, Space, and Transcendence,” will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 20 in Carroll Auditorium, Madeleva Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

Delio is the author of 17 books, including Making All Things New: Catholicity in the 21st Century and The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution, and the Power of Love. Her work received the 2014 Silver Nautilus Book Award and a third place Catholic Press Association Award for Faith and Science. Delio lectures nationally and internationally in the area of science and religion, with particular interests in evolution, ecology, and artificial intelligence.

The Center for Spirituality is honored to have Delio on campus to deliver this year’s Madeleva Lecture said Arlene Montevecchio, director of the Center for Spirituality.

“Ilia Delio is one of the foremost scholars on science, religion, and spiritual transformation,” Montevecchio said. “Her work as a Franciscan sister, spiritual retreat leader, and distinguished theologian situate her well in the tradition of the Madeleva lecture series and with the mission of Saint Mary's College. We are delighted to welcome her to campus.”

For more information about the Madeleva Lecture, visit www.saintmarys.edu/Spirituality or call the Center for Spirituality at (574) 284-4636.

About the Madeleva Lecture Series: The Madeleva Lecture is named for Sister Madeleva Wolff, CSC, who served as President of the College from 1934-1961. Her many accomplishments include the establishment in 1943 of the School of Sacred Theology, the first institution in the United States to provide graduate education in theology to women. Although the school closed in 1971, the lecture series named in her honor has for over three decades given voice to women scholars in the discipline of theology. In 2000, the sixteen past Madeleva lecturers created the Madeleva Manifesto, a document of hope and courage to women in the church. The document is just as timely today as when it was originally written.

About Saint Mary's College: Celebrating over 175 years of empowering women to make a difference in the world, Saint Mary’s College is recognized as a pioneer and continued force in the education of women. A Catholic, liberal arts institution in Notre Dame, Indiana, the College offers more than 50 undergraduate academic programs and also offers co-educational master’s degrees.