Susanne DeCrane, Ph.D., to Speak at Ohio Dominican's St. Thomas Aquinas Convocation

January 4, 2006

Read Dr. DeCrane's Remarks.

COLUMBUS, OH – Dr. Susanne DeCrane will deliver the keynote address at Ohio Dominican University’s annual Convocation in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas on Thursday, January 26, 2006. Dr. DeCrane’s lecture is entitled Aquinas, Feminism and the Common Good.

The convocation begins at 10:30 a.m. in the Matesich Theatre on the second floor of Erskine Hall on Ohio Dominican’s main campus, 1216 Sunbury Road. The event is open to the public, however registration is required.

At noon, immediately following the lecture, there will be a Eucharistic celebration in Christ the King Chapel, located in Sansbury Hall. The Most Reverend Frederick F. Campbell, Bishop of Columbus, will celebrate Mass.

Dr. DeCrane is an adjunct faculty member at the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary’s University and at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland – both located in Baltimore.

In her book Aquinas, Feminisim, and the Common Good, “Dr. DeCrane offers an impressive feminist ethic of the common good, especially in a time when justice and rights must be debated cross-culturally, and human suffering hangs in the balance,” said Lisa Sowle Cahill, a professor of theology at Boston College.

The convocation is sponsored by The Center for Dominican Studies and the Division of Theology, Arts and Ideas in honor of the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, observed on Monday, January 31, 2006.

In 1911, the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs established the college in the tradition of Dominic de Guzman, who established their Order, the “Order of Preachers.” One of the most well-known Dominicans was Tommaso de Aquino. Aquinas, who died at the age of 49, taught, preached, and wrote over 90 works. In these, he discusses the mystery of God, creation, and our own meaning. In celebrating Thomas Aquinas, ODU celebrates its own origins as a Dominican community of higher learning.