Religious Issues In American Public Life

FAIRFIELD — Peggy Noonan, a best-selling author, political speechwriter and columnist for The Wall Street Journal, will speak on Wednesday, March 22, at 8 pm, at Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Her lecture will be part of Open Visions Forum, a program of University College at Fairfield University.

Ms Noonan’s speech, “Religious Issues in American Public Life,” is being coordinated in collaboration with Fairfield University’s celebration of the international Jesuit Jubilee Year.

Ms Noonan is the author of several books on American politics, history and culture, including her latest, John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father (Viking Adult, 2005). In addition, she is a contributing editor for The Wall Street Journal and writes a weekly column for the newspaper’s editorial page website. Her articles and essays have appeared in Forbes, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, O Magazine, The New York Times, and many other publications.

In addition to her own works, Ms Noonan was one of ten historians and writers to contribute essays on the American presidency to Character Above All (Simon & Schuster, 1999), and, in 1995, she wrote and hosted a PBS series on the debate over American values.

Ms Noonan holds honorary doctorates from Adelphi University, St John Fisher College and her alma mater, Fairleigh Dickinson University. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., with her son.

Jesuit institutions around the world are marking the 450th anniversary of the death of St Ignatius Loyola, who founded the Society of Jesus in 1540; and the 500th anniversary of the births of St Francis Xavier, one of the Catholic Church’s great missionaries, and Blessed Peter Faber, who promoted Spiritual Exercises throughout Western Europe. Fairfield University has a full slate of activities planned, including several lectures by distinguished scholars, a conference on feminism and Jesuit pedagogy, and a Jesuit Baroque Opera.

Tickets are $35, $30 for senior citizens. For tickets, call the Quick Center box office at 203-254-4010 or toll free at 877-ARTS-396 (877-278-7396). For more information visit www.QuickCenter.com.