By Mike Clemens '15
During Siena College’s annual Francis Week celebration, which leads up to the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Catherine Mooney, Ph.D., associate professor of church history at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, addressed a packed house in the Key Auditorium. Mooney was on campus to present Siena’s annual Clare Center Lecture, which this year celebrated its 21st anniversary. The lecture focuses on the contemporary implications of Siena’s Franciscan and Catholic traditions.
“This lecture has been called the intellectual heart of Francis Week,” said Holly Grieco Ph.D., associate professor of religious studies and director of the Clare Center lecture. “It is a great opportunity for [the Siena community] to evaluate what these traditions mean for us today.”
Mooney’s lecture, titled “The Franciscan Tradition and the Liberation of the Laity,” remained grounded in her research on the thirteenth-century Church while making connections to contemporary Church policy and the role that the modern laity has to play in the continuation of St. Francis’ mission of service and charity.
“Francis’ mission was inclusive,” Mooney said. “He believed that all people were called to come and serve the Lord. Today we must remember that the Church is the people of God, and that the laity has an important role to play in the alleviation suffering.”
Mooney holds a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School, as well as two master’s degrees and a doctorate degree from Yale University. The University of Pennsylvania Press will publish her new book, “Regulating Religious Women: Clare of Assisi and the 13th Century Church,” later this year.
As in years past, the Clare Center Lecture helped members of the Siena community to better understand the message of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi and to see where they fit into that tradition today.
“Dr. Mooney’s address really highlighted the fact that material attainment does not always mean success,” said Bryan Niebanck ’17. “Francis knew that success is the extent to which you can help other people.”
That is just part of the living tradition that Grieco hopes people are able to reconnect with as they participate in the Clare Center lecture.
