Robert Orsi from Northwestern University will present “Secrets of the Confessional: Children, the Sacrament of Penance and the Making of 20th-century U.S. Catholicism” at 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 25, in the Cone University Center, McKnight Hall. This talk is for the 30th annual Loy H. Witherspoon Lecture in Religious Studies.
Orsi is the first holder of the Grace Craddock Nagle Chair in Catholic Studies and a recipient of the Charles Deering McCormick Professorship of Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Ill. His research explores the relationships that form between humans and saints among American Catholics, especially in times of crisis. Most recently, he has been examining the religious formation and experience of Catholic children in the United States in the 20th century, with a special interest in the historical and religious context that contributed to the abuse of children by priests and the enduring impact on survivors' religious lives.
He is the author of a number of award-winning works, including “The Madonna of 115th Street: Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880-1950” and “Between Heaven and Earth: The Religious Worlds People Make and the Scholars Who Study Them.”
In his March 25 talk, Orsi will explore the experience of children and adolescents in the confessional in the middle years of the last century. The confession of sins has been an important part of the Catholic tradition, especially in the 20th century when Catholics began receiving communion more often than in the past. From the perspective of inside the confessional, Orsi will examine questions about sources of violence and harm within religious traditions, as well as the grounds of religious resilience and the nature of religious ritual itself.
Established in 1984 by the Religious Studies Department in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the Witherspoon Lecture in Religious Studies is the oldest and most distinguished lectureship series at UNC Charlotte. Its namesake served as the first chair of the University’s Department of Philosophy and Religion, created in 1964. When the department was divided, Witherspoon also was the first chair of the Department of Religious Studies. An ordained United Methodist minister, Witherspoon was instrumental in establishing the Office of Religious Affairs at UNC Charlotte as an ecumenical approach to campus ministry. He has received the University’s highest awards for both teaching and service: the Bank of America Award for Excellence in Teaching and the University Distinguished Service Award. Currently, he is professor emeritus of philosophy and religion in the Department of Religious Studies.
Image: Robert Orsi (by Rich Remsberg)