Vulnerability: A Strength, Not A Weakness, Regarding Values and Ethical Choices

New Haven, Conn., January 13, 2021 Albertus Magnus College kicks off the 10^th Annual St. Thomas Aquinas Lecture Series with a livestream discussion on vulnerability.  By definition, the word vulnerable can mean endangered or susceptible; or perhaps a person in need.  But more often, vulnerability is being used to describe the human capacity to respond to others – how very 2021.  This lecture, Re-examining Vulnerability as Capacious, will be presented by Fr. James F. Keenan, S.J., who will explore how such an understanding of vulnerability might be foundational when talking about leadership, civil and church reform, and even sexual ethics.

Who: Father James F. Keenan, S.J. of Boston College, Albertus President Marc M. Camille, Sr. Anne Kilbride, OP, Assistant to the President for Dominican Mission

What: Re-examining Vulnerability as Capacious, Albertus Magnus College’s 10^th Annual St. Thomas Aquinas Lecture Series

Where: Livestreaming at www.albertus.edu/lectureseries; please RSVP at rsvp@albertus.edu

When: Wednesday, January 20, 2021 at 5:30PM

James F. Keenan, S.J., is the Canisius Chair and Director of the Jesuit Institute at Boston College and Vice-Provost for Global Engagement.  A Jesuit priest since 1982, he received a licentiate and a doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.  He has edited or written 25 books and published more than 400 essays, articles, and reviews.  As the founder of Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church (www.catholicethics.com), he chaired the international conferences in Padua (2006), Trento (2010), and Sarajevo (2018).  In addition to Boston College, he has taught at Fordham University, John Carroll University, the Ateneo de Manila, and Dharmaram College in Bangalore.  Recently he wrote University Ethics:  How Colleges Can Build and Benefit from a Culture of Ethics and has edited two books, Building Bridges in Sarajevo: The Plenary Papers of Sarajevo 2018 and Street Homelessness and Catholic Theological Ethics.  His newest manuscript, A Brief History of Catholic Ethics, is due out this summer.

The St. Thomas Aquinas Lecture Series is named after the scholar and member of the Dominican order, who challenged individuals to seek truth and knowledge.  For 95 years, Albertus Magnus College has cherished its Dominican tradition and Catholic heritage through the pursuit of truth in all its dimensions.  The College continues to use this lecture series as a lens to which it responds to the academic needs and ethical challenges of its students and society.  The annual series is made possible through the generosity of the Marie Louise Bianchi ’31 Fund.