Father Kurt Pritzl to Speak at Ohio Dominican's St. Thomas Aquinas Convocation

January 8, 2007

COLUMBUS, OH – Father Kurt Pritzl, O.P., Ph.D., will deliver the keynote address at Ohio Dominican University’s annual Convocation in honor of St. Thomas Aquinas on Thursday, January 25, 2007. Pritzl’s lecture is entitled Contemplative Wisdom: The Goal of a Dominican Education.”

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. To register, please call Ann Dysart at 251-4575.

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.

Father Pritzl, is Associate Professor and Dean of the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America. He specializes in ancient Greek philosophy, particularly the philosophy of the early Greek thinkers and Aristotle regarding the theory of knowledge, theories of soul and philosophical anthropology. He has also lectured and published on the role of philosophy in the formation of seminarians.

A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Father Pritzl earned a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University and both master’s and doctorate degrees in Philosophy from the University of Toronto. In addition, Father Pritzl was graduated with the master of divinity degree in theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D. C. He joined the Dominicans in 1986, made solemn profession in 1990, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1991.

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 Sunday, January 28, 2007.

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.