John L. Allen Jr., associate editor at The Boston Globe, will be the featured speaker at the inaugural TCU Faith Acts Footsteps Lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 22 in the BLUU ballroom. Sponsors are the TCU Catholic community and Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, corresponds with a semester-long effort to engage TCU students in service at several community-serving agencies including Catholic Charities, the Tarrant Area Food Bank, Presbyterian Night Shelter, Habitat for Humanity and the Boys and Girls Club.

John Allen has built his reputation on his coverage of the Vatican and the Catholic Church. As senior correspondent for The National Catholic Reporter, he lived in Rome for 16 years. Allen will discuss the life of Pope Francis and his call to see the poor as central to the identity of the Church.

Author of nine books on the Vatican and Catholic affairs, Allen currently serves as senior Vatican analyst for CNN. Veteran religion writer Kenneth Woodward of Newsweek has described Allen as “the journalist other reporters – and not a few cardinals – look to for the inside story on how all the pope’s men direct the world’s largest church.”

Representatives from TCU’s partner agencies will be on hand to provide information and sign up students who want to volunteer their time. “The interest in service for TCU students is there,” says Father Charlie Calabrese, campus minister to the TCU Catholic community, “Hopefully, John Allen will provide the catalyst that moves students from interest to action.”

 

For more information, contact ext. 7830 or http://www.faith.tcu.edu/change-serve.asp.