J. J. Quinn Lecture Held

The second annual lecture honoring the Catholic Intellectual tradition and the late Rev. J.J. Quinn, S.J., faculty member in the English Department at the University, was held on April 27 in the Heritage Room of the Weinberg Library. A bust, commemorating Father Quinn, was unveiled and dedicated outside of the Library and the Center for Performing and Literary Arts prior to the lecture the same evening.

 

This year's speaker was Rev. Michael Zampelli, S.J., professor of the history of theater at Santa Clara University in California. A graduate of Georgetown, Fordham and Tufts Universities, Father's talk was entitled "Make Believe: Performance and Catholic Culture." Challenging his audience to reflect on the relationship between the institutional Church and the great religious spectacles of the medieval period, Father enlightened his listeners on the various historical instances that demonstrated the unique connection between make believe and the belief system of the period. Zampelli used a brief clip from the recent film Finding Neverland to illustrate several of the key points of his talk.

 

Father also lectured in two theater classes on Thursday and Friday of his visit to Scranton. Professor Zev Ben Dov and Dr. John McInereny welcomed Father Zampelli to speak with their students about his recent trip to Rome, where he directed a production of San Ignacio de Loyola with music by Domenico Zipoli, Martin Schmid, and indigenous composers of the Paraguayan reductions.