The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies at Newman University will present Emmanuel Katongole, a Roman Catholic priest from Malube, Uganda, in the inaugural Bishop Gerber Distinguished Lecture. The lecture will take place at 7 p.m., April 17, 2012 in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center on the Newman campus, located at 3100 McCormick in Wichita. The lecture is the first in what is to be an annual lecture named in honor of the Most Rev. Eugene J. Gerber, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Wichita. The event is free and open to the public.
The title of Katongole’s lecture is “Reconciliation: A Fresh Gift and Vision of Hope in a Broken World.”
Katongole is co-director and senior strategist of the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. The center was founded in 2005 with a mission to inspire, form, and support leaders, communities, and congregations to think, feel, and live as ambassadors of reconciliation.
Katongole was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1987 by the Kampala Archidocese. During the past 25 years he has served in parishes in Africa, Belgium, and the United States. His teaching and research interests cover a wide range of issues related to global Christianity and to the interconnections between Christianity, politics and violence in Africa. He examines the role of stories in the formation of political identity, the dynamics of social memory, and the nature and role of Christian imagination.
“Dr. Katongole has said that in his view the most pressing challenge facing Christianity today is tribalism, the separation of people into groups defined in exclusive us/them terms,” said Associate Professor of Philosophy and Gerber Institute Director Jamey Findling, Ph.D. “This is why he co-founded the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School. Reconciliation is the work of building bridges, of healing what is broken, of overcoming us/them thinking. I find this to be an enormously compelling view of the central task facing Christianity today and, indeed, the contemporary world. We must find ways to reconcile our differences. I can’t wait for Dr. Katongole’s talk!”
Katongole’s published works include Beyond Universal Reason; The Relation Between Religion and Ethics in the Work of Stanley Hauerwas, African Theology Today, A Future for Africa, and more recently, The Sacrifice of Africa: A Political Theory for Africa.
The Gerber Institute is named for the Most Rev. Eugene J. Gerber, Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Wichita, and was founded to help strengthen Catholic studies and Catholic identity at Newman University. The Gerber Institute’s theme for the past several years has been “Reconciling Differences.”
For more information about The Gerber Institute for Catholic Studies at Newman University, visit www.gerberinstitute.org or call 316-942-4291, ext. 2798.
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