Dolores Leckey, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center and a respected advisor to the American Catholic bishops, will present "Catholic Women at the Threshold: New Ministers, New Leaders" on Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 8 p.m. at Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Leckey's talk is the third annual Anne Drummey O'Callaghan lecture on Women in the Church.

Leckey, author of several books on spirituality and the church, will consider how the contours of Catholic Church ministry and leadership have changed and how women fit into the process. She will address the increase in women serving spiritual and administrative roles in individual parishes and dioceses and what the future may offer the next generation.

In her role as senior fellow, Leckey coordinates the Church Leadership Program for the Woodstock Theological Center. She is the former executive director of the Secretariat for Family Life, Laity, Women and Youth at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, where she served for 20 years. She has been an official advisor to the American Catholic bishops at two Roman Synods and lectures throughout the United States, Europe and Australia.

Leckey's books include: "Blessings All Around Us" (Resurrection Press); "Seven Essentials for the Spiritual Journey" (Crossroad); "Women and Creativity" (Paulist Press); and "The Ordinary Way: A Family Spirituality" (Crossroad/Continuum). The Louisville Institute recently awarded her a two-year grant for a new book, "While Shepherds Kept Watch: Stories, Memoirs and Meditations - American Catholic Leaders 1975-2000."

Leckey holds a bachelor's degree from St. John's University in New York and a master's degree from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. She has been awarded 12 honorary doctorates. She is married and has four adult children.

The annual lecture honors the memory of Anne Drummey O'Callaghan, an advocate for people with mental disabilities and a youth minister and catechist at St. Jerome and St. Joseph churches in Norwalk, Conn.

Admission is free. For more information, call the Quick Center box office at (203) 254-4010 or toll free at 1-877-ARTS-396.

Posted On: 08-29-2003 09:08 AM

Volume: 36 Number: 41