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Faith & Life Series

Each fall, St. Paul congregation hosts a community-wide Faith & Life Series, bringing persons of national stature to the Quad Cities for learning in the faith. This event reflects St. Paul’s mission to serve as a learning center for our people and the community.

Sister Joan Chittister speaks at St. Paul
Sunday, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m. | The community is welcome

2011 speaker Joan Chittister

Joan Chittister

“Monastic spirituality says that we are to honor one another. We are to listen to one another. We are to reach across boundaries and differences in this fragmented world…” — Joan Chittister

On Sunday, Oct. 23, Sister Joan Chittister will speak at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa, at 4 p.m.

Sister Joan is one of the church’s key visionary voices and spiritual leaders for more than 30 years. A Benedictine Sister of Erie, Penn., she is an international lecturer and award-winning author of more than 40 books — nine of which have won Catholic Press Association Awards..

Sister Joan writes a regular web column, “From Where I Stand,” for the National Catholic Reporter and has received numerous awards and recognition for her work for justice, peace, and equality, especially for women in the Church and in society.

She is the founder and executive director of Benetvision, a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality located in Erie.

Many books authored by Sister Joan are available in the Book Corner.

An impressive line-up

Over the years, Quad-Citians have met renowned authors through St. Paul’s Faith & Life Series:

1999: Martin E. Marty
2000: Lewis B. Smedes
2001: Dorothy Bass
2002: Tony Campolo
2003: Gerald Sittser
2004: Ann Weems
2005: Craig Barnes
2006: L. Gregory Jones
2007: Tom Long
2008: Brad Hirschfield
2009: Mark Allan Powell
2010: Bill McKibben

Listen to a lecture

In 2008, Rabbi Brad Hirschfield spoke on the theme of his important book: You Don’t Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith without Fanaticism.

Listen to the lecture:

"Christmas tells us that here is one who cares about us and comes to be with us...And it means that God cares about how life is lived in the world." ~John Buchanan