WORCESTER, Mass. – Rev. Charles E. Curran, Elizabeth Scurlock University professor of Human Values in the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University will give a talk titled "The Catholic Church Today and the New Pope" on Feb. 16 at 4 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. The lecture is free and open to the public.
The talk, which will briefly review the papacy of John Paul II, will be approached from a theological perspective and will partly draw on Curran’s book The Moral Theology of John Paul II (Georgetown University Press, 2005). He will also evaluate the nine-month-old papacy of Benedict XVI.
Fr. Curran taught at Catholic University of America for 25 years. In 1986 he was pronounced not to be fit to teach Catholic theology by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) because of disagreement over church teaching in sexual ethics. Fr. Curran, a priest in good standing of the diocese of Rochester, N.Y., has taught at Perkins Divinity School for the past 15 years and continues his research, writing and teaching as a Catholic.
Fr. Curran, who has served as president of three national scholarly societies of theology and ethics, has written extensively in the field of moral theology, including The Catholic Moral Tradition Today: A Synthesis (Georgetown University Press, 1999) and Catholic Social Teaching, 1891-Present: A Historical, Theological, and Ethical Analysis (Georgetown University Press, 2002). He is an expert in fundamental moral theology, social ethics, the role of the Church as a moral and political actor in society, and Catholic moral theology.
The lecture is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
Catholic Expert in Ethics to Give Talk on ‘Catholic Church Today and the New Pope’
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