Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories

NU to host expert on Catholicism and interfaith relations as part of McNulty Lecture Series

by jmaloni
Mon, Feb 28th 2011 03:30 pm

John Borelli, Ph.D., special assistant for interreligious initiatives to Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia, will deliver an address on "New Challenges for Catholics and Interreligious Dialogue" at Niagara University's Castellani Art Museum on Tuesday, March 8, at 5:15 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Borelli's speech is part of the Henry and Grace McNulty Lecture Series on Religion in the Modern World, presented annually at NU to address issues related to social justice and interreligious dialogue. The series was established by the late Rev. Thomas P. McGourty, C.M., a professor of religious studies at NU, in memory of his late aunt and uncle.

Prior to joining Georgetown University, Borelli served as associate director of the secretariat for ecumenical and interreligious affairs at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for 16 years and as interim director from 2001-02. He staffed the subcommittee on interreligious dialogue, managing three ongoing dialogues with Muslims, one with Buddhists, one with Hindus, and other interreligious projects, and also staffed ecumenical dialogues with Orthodox Christians and with Anglicans. Additionally, he was a consultant to the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue for 17 years.

Borelli earned a bachelor's degree from St. Louis University, a master's degree from the College of Mount St. Vincent and a doctorate in the history of religions and theology from Fordham University. He has published more than 180 articles in the past 35 years, including 2010 compositions that appeared in America and U.S. Catholic Historian.

Among his other projects are the annual summer Institute on Christian-Muslim Relations, an ongoing ecumenical dialogue - Catholics and Evangelicals for the Common Good (founded in 2008) - and an ongoing Jewish-Catholic Scholarly Dialogue that met for the first time in 2010. As an associate fellow at Woodstock Theological Center, located on Georgetown University's campus, he manages an ongoing interreligious dialogue on education. He also assists the U.S. Jesuit Conference as its coordinator for interreligious dialogue and relations.

For more information on Borelli's lecture, contact Niagara University's department of religious studies at 286-8460 or [email protected].

Hometown News

View All News