Father Ian Ker in Wichita!

Newman scholar and Chesterton biographer Father Ian Ker will present the keynote address during the annual Cardinal Newman Week celebrations at Newman University on February 19! His topic will be "The Genius of John Henry Newman".

I am looking forward to seeing Father Ker again, as he has visited Wichita before (in the last century). He was the keynote speaker at a Newman School of Catholic Thought at St. Paul's Parish-Newman Center at Wichita State University  in February, 1992 based on his book Newman and the Fullness of Christianity and he led a day of recollection at the Spiritual Life Center on Newman's spirituality based on his book Healing the Wound of Humanity in October, 1993.

Of course, Father Ker is best known as the definitive biographer of Blessed John Henry Newman, and he has also written a massive biography of G.K. Chesterton. When he spoke at the Newman School of Catholic Thought (NSCT) in 1992, a conference sponsored by the Newman Center at Wichita State when now Bishop James T. Conley was pastor and chaplain, there were two other speakers--Professors Ralph McInerny and Janet Smith. (The 1993 NSCT featured Donald De Marco, Katherine Tillman of Notre Dame and John Crosby, the founder and director of the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project, but also a Newman scholar.) I looked at my notes from both the 1992 and 1993 NSCT conferences and the 1992 spirituality meeting, and they were all great presentations. I look forward to seeing and hearing Father Ker in two weeks!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, this event has been cancelled due to Father Ian Ker's illness.