The LMU Latinx Theology and Ministry Initiative invites you to the 2023 Hispanic Ministry and Theology Lecture with journalist and scholar Austen Ivereigh, Strangers into Siblings:  Why Pope Francis sees our response to people on the move as the test of our future.

The centrality of migrants and refugees to the teaching and witness of Pope Francis is well known through a veritable torrent of addresses, messages and headline-grabbing gestures since 2013. Less understood is how central is migration to his understanding of the choices humanity faces at this time in its politics, economy and culture, and the task of forging fraternity out of the ashes of liberal individualism and its ugly sister of populism and nativism. Above all, it is a test for the Church: the stranger at the gate is not simply an issue to care about, but the locus of God’s call in Jesus to create a “new people” through a culture that enables encounter rather than one that discards.  

This event is cosponsored by the Office of the President, LMU Campus Ministry, Center for Ignatian Spirituality, Center for Religion and Spirituality, CSJ Center for Reconciliation and Justice, Division of Student Affairs, Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, College of Communication and Fine Arts, Loyola Law School, Department of Theological Studies, Office of Mission and Ministry, Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the T. Marie Chilton Chair in Catholic Theology, Academy of Catholic Thought and Imagination, the Jesuit Community at LMU, and the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Western American Province.

To Attend
This event is free and open to the public, both in person and virtual; RSVP required (click Register button). Times listed are set to Pacific Time.

Simultaneous Bilingual Translation
In person: bring your cell phone and headphones; at the event you will be provided instructions on how to connect by cell phone to simultaneous interpretation in either language. Please also bring your phone's charger, as it will be important that your phone is sufficiently charged.
Livestream: You may choose Interpretation in either Spanish or English on the Zoom Webinar program.

About the Lecturer
Dr. Austen Ivereigh is a British writer and journalist known for his two biographies of Pope Francis, The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope (2014) and Wounded Shepherd: Pope Francis and his Struggle to Convert the Catholic Church (2019). In 2020 he published a book with Pope Francis on his vision for the post-Covid world, Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future. In Conversation with Austen Ivereigh (Simon & Schuster). His 1993 doctoral study at St Antony’s College, Oxford, was of the Church in Argentina. He is currently Fellow in Contemporary Church History at the Jesuit-run Campion Hall, University of Oxford, where he runs a project to help deepen synodality in the Church. He has been involved in the synod synthesis processes at both national and global levels. He writes regularly about Pope Francis for Commonweal, America magazine and the National Catholic Reporter as well as for The Tablet in the UK. His website is austeni.org and he tweets as @austeni.  

About the LMU Latinx Theology and Ministry Initiative
This initiative emerged from a need to assess and then respond to the large population of Hispanic Catholics in the United States, and is a joint project of Loyola Marymount University's Department of Theological Studies and Center for Religion and Spirituality. As a Catholic university in the largest Catholic archdiocese in the country, LMU is uniquely situated to gather data and marshal resources that will aid in preparing Latinx Catholics for leadership and service in the Church. As the Hispanic Catholic population continues to grow, LMU seeks to grow in the capacity to truly serve this important community in the Body of Christ.