SPEAKERS

Sister Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD

ilia-delio1 (002)Sister Ilia Delio is a Franciscan sister and American theologian who works at the intersection of religion and science.  Integrating the core truths of Christian thought with contemporary scientific insights—from evolution and complexity to artificial intelligence—her work sees the unfolding of the cosmos as an ever-intensifying “falling in love,” a love that is cosmically creative and increasingly conscious.  Her vision of God and creation in mutual and deepening relationship is oriented toward life abundant and making all things new. 

Sr. Ilia currently holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University, and is the author of twenty books including Care for Creation(coauthored with Keith Warner and Pamela Woods) which won two Catholic Press Book Awards in 2009, first place for social concerns and second place in spirituality. Her book The Emergent Christ won a third place Catholic Press Book Award in 2011 for the area of Science and Religion. Her recent books include The Unbearable Wholeness of Being: God, Evolution and the Power of Love (Orbis, 2013), which received the 2014 Silver Nautilus Book Award and a third place Catholic Press Association Award for Faith and Science. Most recently, her book Making All Things New:  Catholicity, Cosmology and Consciousness has been shortlisted for the 2019 Michael Ramsey Prize given by the Archbishop of Canterbury.  She is the general editor of the Orbis Book Series, “Catholicity in an Evolving Universe,” of which several books have won Catholic Press Book Awards. Sr. Ilia is the recipient of two honorary doctorates, one from St. Francis University in 2015 and one from Sacred Heart University in 2020.


Gerard Straub

Gerard Thomas Straub is an award-winning author and filmmaker. His book, The Sun & Moon Over Assisi, was named the Best Spirituality Hardcover Book of the Year by the Catholic Press Association in 2001. The Catholic Press Association awarded it third place in the Prayer and Spirituality category in the 2015 Excellence in Publishing Awards. His book, Hidden in the Rubble, published by Orbis Books in 2010, is based on his experience in Haiti during the aftermath of the horrific earthquake that killed over 300,000 people. Tom Roberts of the National Catholic Reporter said the book “…is simultaneously brutally frank and filled with the hope of religious imagination.” Straub

Gerry’s photo/essay book on global poverty, When Did I See You Hungry?,published in 2002, features photographs taken in some of the worst slums on earth. Gerry’s striking black & white photography from the book was exhibited in the art gallery attached to the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville, Kentucky, and also published in The New York Times, The National Catholic Reporter, andSojourners magazine. A film based on the book was narrated by Martin Sheen. Gerry has written essays, poems, and reflections which were included in five published books, including Messengers of Hope: Reflections in Honor of Thomas Merton. His new book, The Sunrise of the Soul, will be published by Paraclete Press in 2020; it is a meditation on Franciscan silence and service.

Gerard Thomas Straub is a documentary filmmaker and the Founder and President of Pax et Bonum Communications, which produces films focused on the plight of the poor. The goal of his ministry is to put the power of film at the service of the poor. He has written and directed 25 documentary films in such poverty-stricken nations as India, Kenya, Uganda, Jamaica, Haiti, Brazil, Peru, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, and The Philippines. Three of those films aired on PBS. Gerry was featured in a story about his poverty films on the PBS program Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.

Mr. Straub had a long and distinguished career as a network television producer and executive in New York and Hollywood; he produced dramatic television series that have aired on CBS, NBC, and ABC, including the widely popular General Hospital.

Gerry, who is a Secular Franciscan, also taught a course on film writing and directing at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. In addition, he has spoken at more than 250 Catholic churches, high schools, and universities across the United States, as well as in Canada, France, Italy, and Hungary. He has been awarded three honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of his work on behalf of the poor, two of which came from Franciscan universities.

Gerry currently lives in a slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where in 2015 he established the Santa Chiara Children’s Center, a home of hope and healing for 68 abandoned kids, 24 of whom are still in diapers. He has a small apartment in Fort Pierce, Florida which he uses for occasional short breaks from the pressures of working with impoverished children.


Panel: Why Does Being "Distinctively Franciscan, Vibrantly Catholic" REALLY Matter?: Perspectives from across the Educational Community

Eric Bowman 

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Eric Bowman (Neumann University '15) is a student at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Eric will speak from the alumni perspective of Franciscan education. 

Beth DeAngelis 

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Beth DeAngelis is the Senior Director of the Sr. Thea Bowman Center for Women at Siena College in Loudonville, NY. Beth will speak from the Student Affairs perspective of Franciscan education. 

Alexandria M. Egler 

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Alexandria M. Egler is the Executive Director of the Office of Mission, Ministry and Interfaith Dialogue at St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, NY. Alexandria will speak from the Mission perspective of Franciscan education. 

 

Thomas Thibodeau 

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Thomas Thibodeau is the Distinguished Professor of Servant Leadership at Viterbo University in LaCrosse, WI. Thomas will speak from the Academic perspective of Franciscan education. 

Sister Pat Smith, OSF 

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Sr. Pat Smith, OSF is a member of the leadership team for the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia in Aston, PA. Sr. Pat (Neumann ’72) will facilitate the panel.