Speakers dedicate Malloy Hall
By SCOTT BRODFUEHRER
Assistant News Editor
This week an academic symposium featuring four nationally known speakers will celebrate not only the new office building for the Philosophy and Theology departments, Malloy Hall, but also the excellence of the departments.
"It is important to see [Malloy Hall] not just as a building, but as a celebration of the philosophy and theology departments. The building is a symbol of the departments' academic presence," said associate provost and vice president Father John Jenkins.
The symposium will begin at 4:15 p.m. today with a talk titled "The Prophetic Role of Theology in the Catholic University" by Father Gustavo Gutierrez, the University's John Cardinal O'Hara professor of theology. At 7 p.m. Father Ernan McMullin, who has been a Notre Dame professor since 1954, will speak about "Searching for Consonance."
On Thursday at 10 a.m., Bas van Fraassen, Princeton University's McCosh professor of philosophy will give a talk titled "Questions I Would Like to Ask." Philosophy department chair Paul Weithman said van Fraassen is "one of the most distinguished English speaking philosophers" and a practicing Roman Catholic.
The Symposium will conclude on Thursday at 2 p.m. with a talk, "University Theology in the Catholic Context" given by Cardinal Avery Dulles, the Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society at Fordham University. All events will be held in the auditorium of McKenna Hall.
Speakers will receive an honorary Notre Dame degree at 4 p.m. Thursday. According to Jenkins, the practice of giving symposium speakers honorary diplomas is not unusual; it was done at symposiums celebrating the dedication of Notre Dame's academic buildings in the study-abroad programs for London and Dublin.
Weithman hopes many students, faculty and community members will take advantage of the opportunity to hear the distinguished speakers.
"The talks will, I expect, be scholarly talks, but there should be something in the talks for everyone," said Weithman.
University President Father Edward Malloy will celebrate a dedication mass for the building at 4 p.m. Friday in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and will dedicate the building at 5:45 p.m. The building was named Malloy Hall at the request of Donald Keough, whose $13.9-million dollar donation funded the construction of the building.
All News Stories for Wednesday, October 17, 2001
