Lecture to Address Racial Bias in Context of Catholic Social Teaching

WORCESTER, Mass. — Rev. Bryan Massingale, author of “Racial Justice and the Catholic Church” (Orbis, 2010), will give a lecture titled “Unconscious Racial Bias and the Challenge of Solidarity: Catholic Social Teaching Post Trayvon Martin (and Michael Brown and…)” at the College of the Holy Cross on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2014 at 4:30 p.m. in the Rehm Library.

Fr. Massingale will be speaking on Catholic social thought in light of the recent shootings of unarmed black men, notably the 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla., and the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., earlier this year.

Both scholar and activist, Fr. Massingale is a noted authority on issues of social and racial justice. He is a professor of theological ethics at Marquette University. Lauded as a compelling speaker, both critical and uplifting, he has addressed numerous national Catholic conferences and lectured at colleges and universities across the nation. He has served as a consultant to the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops. And he has authored more than 70 articles, book chapters, and book reviews, appearing in scholarly and pastoral journals.

The lecture, presented by the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J. Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture, is free and open to the public. To learn more about this event and to find lectures online, visit www.holycross.edu/mcfarlandcenter.

About the Rev. Michael C. McFarland, S.J.Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture:

Established in 2001 and housed in Smith Hall, the McFarland 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 McFarland 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 McFarland 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.