His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles, will be addressing issues of immigration and higher education at a Fairfield University event, on Tuesday September 25, at 5 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the Cardinal's lecture, "For I was a Stranger, and You Welcomed Me," will be held in the Kelley Center Presentation Room, on the Fairfield campus. Anyone with interest in or questions on the issues involved or the DREAM Act are particularly encouraged to attend.

Richard Ryscavage, S.J., director of Fairfield University's Center for Faith and Public Life, will host a short discussion immediately following the lecture. Among the many projects of the Center for Faith and Public Life are two grant-funded initiatives that relate to different aspects of the immigration issue: the "Immigrant Student National Position Paper," focusing on undocumented students, and "Strangers as Neighbors: Religious Language and the Response to Immigrants in the United States." In addition, with the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., the Center was involved in presenting the book, "And You Welcomed Me: Migration and Catholic Social Teaching," (Lexington Books, 2009), which aims to reframe the highly controversial migration debate by focusing on the human beings at the heart of this pressing issue.

This event relates to Fairfield University's "Cities" area of focus for the 2012-14 academic years. Over half of the world's population now lives in cities, and trends suggest that close to 75 percent of the global population will live in urban and metropolitan areas by the middle of the 21st century. This important situation is one the University is exploring in detailed discussion through classes, events and lectures such as this one.

For more information about the Center for Faith and Public Life, visit http://www.fairfield.edu/cfpl/ .

Posted On: 09-21-2012 11:09 AM

Volume: 45 Number: 55