MEDIA RELEASES

Dominican University’s Siena Center will present a Lenten lecture titled “Missionaries to Our Children” by Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, president of Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, TX. The lecture will be held on Thursday, February 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Priory Campus auditorium, 7200 W. Division Street, River Forest.

In his lecture, Rolheiser will focus on the spiritual and personal dimensions of the greatest challenge many of us face: being missionaries at home in a secular society. What does it mean to be available to family members and loved ones who are spiritually searching but without the commitment to the church that we might have? How do we reach out to the next generation of secular young adults who grew up in religious homes?

Rolheiser is the best-selling author of eight books and countless articles on topics related to spirituality, theology, and the intersection of religion and culture. For many years he taught at Newman Theological College in his native Canada. From 1998 to 2004 he was based in Rome and helped lead his religious order, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. His works include Against an Infinite Horizon (1996), The Holy Longing (1999) and most recently, Secularity and the Gospel (2006). He is also a columnist in more than 65 Catholic newspapers worldwide.

Admission to the lecture is $10. Refreshments will be served following the lecture and books by the speaker will be available for purchase. For more information or to make reservations, please contact the Siena Center at (708) 714-9105 or www.siena.dom.edu.

Dominican University established the Siena Center to engage the critical issues of church and society in light of faith and scholarship. The center was named for St. Catherine of Siena, a 14th-century laywoman who worked for the reform of the church and justice in the world. Her passionate devotion to the central issues of church and society inspires the work of the center in its schedule of lectures, symposia, workshops, retreats, research and seminars.