Lecture Series to Offer Insight into Catholicism in Asia

WORCESTER, Mass. – Two lectures at the College of the Holy Cross this fall, will address the state of Catholicism in Asia. First, Smita Lahiri, associate professor of anthropology at Harvard University, will talk on “Mystical Transfers, Local and Global: The Modernity of 'Folk' Catholicism in the Philippines,” on Monday, Sept. 28 at 4:30 p.m. The following Monday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m., Peter C. Phan, the Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University, will present “The Mission of the Church in the Asian Context.” Both lectures will be held in the Rehm Library at the College and are free and open to the public. The events are part of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity, sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at Holy Cross.

Lahiri, whose research focuses on the relationship between colonialism, Christianity, historical memory, and nation-building in the Philippines, will talk about a number of individuals she met while conducting research at Mt. Banahaw, a major center of folk-Catholic pilgrimage in the Philippines. She is working on a book titled, Surviving Superstition: Christianity in a Philippine Landscape.

Phan will provide an overview of the history and current situation of Catholicism in South and East Asia and then discuss how Christian mission is to be understood in that context. In addition to his teaching at Georgetown, Phan is also on the faculty of the East Asian Pastoral Institute, Manila and Liverpool Hope University, England. In 2000, he was the first non-Anglo to be elected President of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He is the author of numerous books including Christianity with an Asian Face (Orbis Books, 2003), In Our Own Tongues: Perspectives from Asia on Mission and Inculturation (Orbis Books, 2003), and Being Religious Interreligiously: Asian Perspectives on Interfaith Dialogue (Orbis Books, 2004).

To learn more about these programs and other Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture events, visit holycross.edu/crec. About The Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture provides resources for faculty and course development, sponsors conferences and college-wide teaching events, hosts visiting fellows, and coordinates a number of campus lecture series. Rooted in the College's commitment to invite conversation about basic human questions, the Center welcomes persons of all faiths and seeks to foster dialogue that acknowledges and respects differences, providing a forum for intellectual exchange that is interreligious, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international in scope.  The Center also brings members of the Holy Cross community into conversation with the Greater Worcester community, the academic community, and the wider world to examine the role of faith and inquiry in higher education and in the larger culture.