Holy Cross Presidential Colloquia Lecture Series Begins with Talk by Rev. John O’Malley, S.J.

WORCESTER, Mass. – Rev. John O’Malley, S.J., Distinguished Professor of Church History at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, will give a lecture on Thursday, Sept. 30 at 4:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library at the College of the Holy Cross. His talk, “Ignatius of Loyola: The Man and His Time,” which is free and open to the public, will address the education of St. Ignatius and the influences that shaped his thinking on education as ministry.

Fr. O’Malley’s talk is part of the “Presidential Colloquia: Jesuit Liberal Arts Education and the Engaging of Cultures,” a year-long series of presentations and discussions. Each event will focus on a particular moment in Jesuit history and its connection to Jesuit educational aims today. In addition to facilitating an exchange of views, the colloquia also aims to further explore the principles of today's Holy Cross education within its Catholic and Jesuit traditions. Holy Cross faculty members Francisco Gago-Jover, associate professor of Spanish, and Susan Amatangelo, associate professor of Italian, will serve as respondents. Mary Lee Ledbetter, professor of biology, will serve as the moderator.

Fr. O’Malley, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has published several works on topics including Jesuit history, Renaissance humanism, and the Second Vatican Council. His book The First Jesuits (1993), which has been translated into several languages, was awarded many prizes including the American Philosophical Society’s Jacques Barzun Prize for Cultural History and the American Society of Church History’s Philip Schaff Prize for Religious History.

Past president of the American Catholic Historical Association and of the Renaissance Society of America, he has taught at Boston College, the University of Michigan, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University and Oxford University. Fr. O’Malley was the featured speaker when Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J., was inaugurated as Holy Cross President in 2000.