Visiting Scholar to speak at Seton Hill

On Wednesday, October 22, 2008, the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) will host visiting scholar, Rev. John T. Pawlikowski, OSM, Ph.D., for a lecture on the ministry and the writing of the Apostle Paul in a presentation titled, “Which Paul Are We Celebrating during the Jubilee?”

The lecture is in recognition of the dedication of the special Jubilee Year of the Apostle Paul, which is from June 28, 2008 until June 29, 2009, on the occasion of the bi-millennium of his birth, which historians have placed between the years 7 and 10 A.D.

The dedication of the Jubilee Year of the Apostle Paul is in honor of his life, because, though he was a violent persecutor of Christians, he later converted and followed the ways of Christ, and lived and worked, and eventually suffered and died for him. Pope Benedict XVI holds up Apostle Paul’s life as an example in which to live; therefore, a year of celebration is in order.

Rev. Pawlikowski is professor of social ethics at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, the country’s largest graduate school of theology and ministry. He is also the director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program in the school’s Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Center. In addition, he served as a former president of the International Council of Christians and Jews.

Rev. Pawlikowski was instrumental in writing the documents “A Scared Obligation,” and “Reflections on Covenant and Mission.” The latter was produced as a study document by the Catholic Bishops’ Commission in Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the National Council of Synagogues.

Furthermore, Rev. Pawlikowski is Chair of the Advisory Board of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, and in April of 2005, Seton Hill’s NCCHE honored him with the Nostra Aetate Award for distinguished and scholarly work in Catholic-Jewish relations.

Seton Hill’s NCCHE will hold the lecture at 7p.m. in the Greensburg Room, located on the first floor of Maura Hall, on main campus. This program is sponsored cooperatively by the Mission Effectiveness Committee, the Humanities Department and NCCHE. For more information about the event, please contact NCCHE via email, ncche@setonhill.edu or by phone 724-830-1855.