The Rev. Gerald O'Collins, a Jesuit from Australia, will make his third visit to Marquette for his lecture, "Birth or Death: The Shadow of Calvary Over Bethlehem," Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Straz Hall.
O'Collins said the topic was requested originally by a cardinal while he was in Rome. In light of the rave reviews he received for the lecture there, as well as an endorsement from Marquette faculty to repeat it, he has decided to speak on the topic again. He said with the holiday season approaching, there was no better time.
"Christmas is looked at in a very sentimental way with plays and thought of as a very sweet and lovely time, but Christmas wasn't like that," O'Collins said. The lecture will show those who attend that it was a "beautiful birth, but there is a shadow over it."
The Rev. John Laurance, chair of the theology department, said O'Collins "is a wonderful storyteller. He finds a way to relate (the) Christian faith to our times in an accessible way."
In conjunction with the lecture, O'Collins will occupy Marquette's Wade Chair, named for the late Rev. Francis Wade, who taught at Marquette for 40 years, beginning in 1945.
O'Collins' own journey with faith officially began in the 1960s when he was ordained as a priest and received a doctorate from Cambridge University.
O'Collins was a member from 1973 to 2006 and dean from 1985 to 1991 of the theology department at The Gregorian University in Rome, one of the oldest universities in the world. He has authored hundreds of articles and more than 40 books, his most recent being "Living Vatican II: The 21st Council for the 21st Century."
O'Collins not only wrote, but also appeared on television while in Rome, most notably on networks such as CNN during Pope John Paul II's death, according to his biographical statement.
In January, the Australian government gave O'Collins its highest civic award, the Companion of the Order of Australia. He said the recognition was unique because though Australian-born, he has spent most of life as a theologian outside the country.
O'Collins will also visit Washington, D.C., later this month to receive the Johannes Quasten Award for Excellence and Leadership in Religious Education and Research from the Catholic University of America.