October 13, 2009

BCU to Host Peace Activist Father Louis Vitali

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Briar Cliff University will host Father Louis Vitali, OFM, who will present “Love Your Enemies: Transforming Us vs. Them Thinking,” at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 in the Stark Student Center on campus.  This free event, which is sponsored by the Sister Muriel Ford Lectureship at BCU, is open to the public.

Father “Louie,” as he is affectionately called, is a tireless Franciscan friar with a long history of peacemaking, Catholic social activism and service to the poor. Most recently, he journeyed to Iran as part of an Iran Civilian Diplomacy Delegation to dialogue with the government and people of Iran. A co-founder of Pace e Bene Nonviolence Service in Las Vegas, he now serves as the non-violent action advocate there.

Father Louie was ordained in the Franciscan Order in 1963. In 1970, he earned a doctorate in sociology from UCLA. 

The Sister Muriel Ford Lectureship is partially funded by the Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Lectureship is an endowment created by the alumni of Briar Cliff University to honor Sister Muriel Ford, who served for 20 years as director of alumni relations. Sister Muriel, who died in 1979, had been chairperson of the Sociology Department from 1937 to 1972. 

Throughout her years at Briar Cliff, she was recognized as a champion of social justice and a teacher who stirred in her students a desire to serve their community. It is in light of these characteristic strengths of Sister Muriel that the Departments of Sociology and Social Work choose lecturers who are concerned about contemporary social issues and are personally dedicated to their resolution.

Briar Cliff University is a Catholic institution with an enrollment of more than 1,100 students from 28 states.  Students are educated in the Franciscan tradition of excellence in the liberal arts and career preparation in an environment of care and compassion. For more information, please visit briarcliff.edu.

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