Elms College to Present Fifth Annual Rev. Hugh Crean Lecture on May 1

CHICOPEE — Elms College and the St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture will present the fifth annual Rev. Hugh Crean Distinguished Lecture in Catholic Thought on Wednesday, May 1 at 4:30 p.m.

The lecture, which will take place in person in the college’s Alumnae Library Theater, was rescheduled from its initial April 4 date. Click here to register.

The distinguished speaker for this lecture is Dominic Doyle, associate professor of Systematic Theology at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry (STM). The theme for Doyle’s remarks will be “Christian Humanism and the Theology of Hope.”

Most recently, Doyle led STM’s Neuroscience Education for Theological Training grant from the Science for Seminaries program sponsored by the American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science/Dialogue on Science, Religion, and Ethics. He is currently working on a book exploring the history of theological virtues, tentatively titled Thematic Variations in Theological Virtue.

The St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture (CERC) at Elms College was launched in October 2020 with support from an anonymous naming gift and several significant contributions. The center aims to increase engagement and discourse on the most pressing and complex questions related to ethics, religion, and culture in today’s society, and to lead the regional community in thoughtful, engaging dialogue.

The founding executive director of the CERC is noted bioethicist Peter DePergola II, Shaughness Family chair for the Study of the Humanities and associate professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Elms.

The annual Rev. Hugh Crean Distinguished Lecture was established through an endowment made by Jack and Colette Dill to honor Crean’s legacy and recognize his academic work at Elms College and his pastoral ministry throughout the Diocese of Springfield and the entire region.