December 1, 2023

Elms College to hold Distinguished Lecture in Culture on Dec. 7

REGIONAL
Staff report

Carolyn Jacobs, MSW, guest lecturer and member of the Elms College Board of Trustees (iObserve photo/courtesy of Elms College)

CHICOPEE – On Thursday, Dec. 7, Our Lady of the Elms College and the St. Augustine Center for Ethics, Religion, and Culture (CERC) at Elms will hold its Distinguished Lecture in Culture on the topic of spirituality and secularism at 4:30 p.m. in the college’s Alumnae Library Theater. 

The guest speaker, Dean Emerita Carolyn Jacobs, will examine the role spirituality plays in an increasingly secular society. Jacobs has written extensively on spirituality and spent 35 years on the faculty at the Smith College School for Social Work, including several as dean. 

The lecture will explore how society can tap into the richness of the Catholic intellectual tradition and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth in order to re-ignite our shared purpose and sense of community and rebuff the secularism in today’s culture.

“I am deeply grateful to Dr. Jacobs for her willingness to leverage her expertise to foster a robust conversation that promises to engage people of all spiritualties and faith traditions,” said professor Peter A. DePergola II ’07, executive director of the CERC, Shaughness Family Chair for the Study of the Humanities, and associate professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Elms.

During her tenure at Smith, Jacobs also directed Smith’s certificate program in contemplative clinical practice. In her retirement, she has served as a past and current member of the Elms College Board of Trustees.

The CERC was launched three years ago thanks to an anonymous naming gift and several significant contributions, and is one of the most visible manifestations of the college’s Catholic mission. The center aims to increase engagement and discourse on the most pressing and complex questions related to ethics, religion, and culture in today’s society, and to lead the regional community in thoughtful, engaging dialogue.

In June, the CERC launched its own international, open-access, peer-reviewed journal, Charity in Truth: A Journal of Ethics, Religion, and Culture, which publishes original research and scholarship at the intersection of ethics, religion, and culture. DePergola serves as the journal’s founding editor-in-chief.

The lecture is free and open to the public. To register for the lecture, visit: https://www.elms.edu/events/catholic-spirituality-in-dialogue-with-secular-culture/. 

CAPTION: Carolyn Jacobs, MSW, guest lecturer and member of the Elms College Board of Trustees