Ernest Morrell to participate in "Saturdays with the Saints" lecture series

Notre Dame, IN — The McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame will resume its “Saturdays with the Saints” gameday lecture series this fall. This season’s theme is “Saints of Healing: Physical, Cultural, and Spiritual” and features an opening lecture on Sts. Francis and Augustine by John Cavadini, McGrath-Cavadini director of the McGrath Institute, as part of this year’s Notre Dame Forum on Laudato Si'.

According to Cavadini, “The saints are instruments of healing because they make Christ’s love present, in their word and their witness, in their prayer and their action. We know only too well the illnesses that plague us––often it seems like that is all there is. But the saints always open us to more, because they bring us to Christ, the Healer.”

Additional lectures in the series include remarks on Sister Thea Bowman given by Kayla August; Saints of the Plague by Tim O’Malley, director of education at McGrath; six African American men and women up for canonization by Ernest Morrell, Coyle professor of literacy education at Notre Dame; St. Julian of Norwich by Cyril O’Regan of ND theology; St. Juan Diego by Timothy Matovina of ND theology; and St. Bernadette by Katie Cavadini of ND theology.

“Even this small communion of saints in our series stretches our imaginations toward the fullness of health that Christ offers,” said Cavadini. “These saints did not just believe in Christ’s healing: they acted on it and offered their lives in service of his mercy. During plagues in centuries past, saints went toward the sick rather than away from them. Amid social injustices, saints offered themselves as bonds of communion. For the sake of the downtrodden and the oppressed, saints remembered the forgotten and lifted up the lowly. They show us the promise of Christ, who makes all things new.”

Lectures from previous seasons can be accessed on our website.

The lectures are held on home game Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. EST in the Geddes Hall auditorium and are free and open to the public. More information can be found at mcgrath.nd.edu/saints.

Contact: Brett Robinson, director of communications, 574-631-6109, brobins6@nd.edu