February 28, 2023

Williamstown parish to host Lenten lecture series in March

REGIONAL
Staff report

Sts. Patrick and Raphael Parish in Williamstown will host “Faith, Hope, and Love: Reflections on the Theological Virtues,” a Lenten lecture series Wednesday nights at 7:30 p.m. on March 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29.

The series is sponsored by the St. Kateri Institute and the lectures will be held in the parish center, 53 Southworth St.; parking is available at the rear of the center.

The topics and presenters will be:

• March 1, “The Joy of Christian Hope in an Age of Distress and Despair”; Emily Sullivan, student support coordinator, Thomas Aquinas College
• March 8, “The Light Shines in the Darkness: Clarity and Obscurity in the Act of Faith”; Dominican Father Simon Teller, associate chaplain, Providence College
• March 15, “Knowing the Love of Christ that Surpasses Knowledge”; Jesuit Father Robert Van Alstyne, doctoral candidate in philosophy, Boston College
• March 22, “Lessons From the Cross: What Christ Crucified Can Teach Us about the Virtue of Charity”; Daria Spezzano, associate professor of theology, Providence College
• March 29, “True Hope”; Ester Munt-Brooks, founder of Fe, Valor, y Alegria

Biographies of Presenters:

Sullivan is the student support coordinator at Thomas Aquinas College, the New England campus. She and her husband live on a farm not far from the campus and are the parents of three young girls. She graduated from the Thomas Aquinas College in California in 2011. Since then, she has served in a number of capacities, including as a teacher at Montfort Academy in New York; as a writer and retreat director for the Catholic Apostolate, Endow; as a seminar leader for the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton University; and as a coordinator of special projects for the Thomistic Institute in Washington, D.C.

Father Teller is the associate chaplain at Providence College. He was ordained a priest in 2021 and earned his sacred theology degree from the Dominican House of Studies in 2022. Before entering the Dominican Order, he studied English at the University of Dallas and performed and recorded music in Asheville, North Carolina, where he was the member of a band called the Stillwater Hobos. He is a talented musician and is now one of the members of the bluegrass band, the Hillbilly Thomists.

Father Van Alstyne is originally from San Carlos, California. He met the Jesuits while studying philosophy as an undergraduate at Boston College. Since completing his bachelor’s degree, he has earned two master’s degrees, one in philosophy from Saint Louis and another in theology and from Regis College in Toronto. He is presently completing a doctoral degree in philosophy at Boston College. He entered the Jesuit order in 2008 and was ordained a priest in 2019. During his time in the society, he has served in a variety of ministries, including working as a hospice aide for the Missionaries of Charity, teaching theology to high school students, serving as a student chaplain for undergraduates at Saint Louis University, and leading retreats on the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.

Spezzano is associate professor of theology at Providence College. A popular teacher, she specializes in Thomistic theology, general patristic and medieval theology, the history of Christian spirituality, monasticism, theology of martyrdom, and the theology of beauty and art. She received her doctoral degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame and is the author of The Glory of God’s Grace: Deification According to St. Thomas Aquinas. 

Munt-Brooks is the founder of “Fe, Valor, y Alegria,” a program for lay Catholics designed to help people deepen their faith. The program is being adapted to air on the CatholicTV Network. Originally from Barcelona, Spain, she is the mother of three adult children and the wife of author and Harvard professor Arthur Brooks. Arthur Brooks refers to Ester as his guru. Cardinal Sean O’Malley recently asked Ester to give a keynote lecture on hope in the Boston area.