The Aquinas Institute at Princeton University will present a lecture by Harvard law professor and former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, titled “Cicero and Burke on Politics as a Vocation,” on Monday, Feb. 7, at 4:30 p.m.
The event, scheduled to be the first in the Aquinas Institute at Princeton lecture series, will be held in Whig Hall, the Senate Chamber, on the Princeton University Campus. The lecture is open to the public and there is no charge for admission.
Professor Glendon, who holds the title of Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, is an expert on American and European constitutional law and international human rights. She was named U.S. ambassador to the Vatican in 2007 and served in the position until January 2009.
A native of Massachusetts, Professor Glendon has taught at Harvard since 1974. In 2004, she was chosen by Pope John Paul II to serve as president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, making her the first female head of a major pontifical academy. In 1995, she led the Vatican delegation to the U.N. Conference on Women in Beijing. Glendon was also appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001 to serve on the President’s Council on Bioethics and has served as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Policy. She has also taught at Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University and the Pontifical Gregorian University, both in Rome, and at the University of Chicago and Boston College Law School.
In 2009, Professor Glendon was invited by the University of Notre Dame to receive the Laetare Medal, an award that recognizes an American Catholic for outstanding service to the Church and society, during their commencement ceremony. She made national headlines when she later declined the invitation because the university had invited President Barack Obama to give the commencement address. Professor Glendon, a strong pro- life advocate, said that inviting the pro-choice president would violate the U.S. bishop’s statement that Catholic universities should not honor those who openly oppose Church teaching.
Father Thomas J. Mullelly, director of the Aquinas Institute, said that having Glendon speak at Princeton presents an excellent opportunity for both students and the wider Catholic community. “This lecture affords the people of the Diocese of Trenton a great opportunity to hear and experience the wisdom of an outstanding member of the Catholic faith community,” Father Mullelly said.
The Aquinas Institute is the Catholic chaplaincy for the Princeton University community. The institute coordinates regular liturgies, prayer and adoration, social gatherings and service opportunities for Catholic students. The Aquinas Institute also offers on campus theology study as well as faith formation study groups for men, women and freshmen.
For more information on the Aquinas Institute, visit theaquinasinstitute.blog spot.com.
