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The dean of the School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Andrea Bartoli, will speak at the First Presbyterian and Trinity Church’s annual Yamba/Manley Lecture Series on April 24.
“Dean Bartoli would be a perfect guest speaker to invite since the committee focuses on matters that promote peace, tolerance, and justice,” lecture host Maria Ricardo said in an email interview. The lecture will be held at the church from 3-5 p.m.
Bartoli shared why it is important to have conversations of peace, tolerance and justice in the South Orange church and elsewhere.
“The Church is a very important actor in contemporary world, and actually has been for two thousand years,” Bartoli said. “I think it is impossible to speak about a troubled time, it is impossible to speak about the hurt as we know it, without mentioning the Church and the responsibility of it.”
Since “Efforts in Advancing Peace in a Very Troubled World” is the First Presbyterian and Trinity Church’s theme of 2016, it suits to be the perfect place for Bartoli’s lecture.
“The main focus of the lecture will be the responsibility of learning from the past and projecting the future based on solid understanding,” Bartoli said. “I think that there is a strong responsibility for all of us to understand what happened to us, what are the experiences that we have on hand, and make sure that these experiences are evaluated carefully and used to prepare a better future.”
Many regard their Church as a community, a place where people feel the need to belong. Not only is the Church a community itself, the people who make up the Church are often able to help the communities and societies around them.
“We look to address topics that reflect on larger societal issues and concerns,” Ricardo said. “Last year our guest lecturer was Dr. Fredline M’Cormack, also from SHU, who spoke on the subject of Ebola in Sierra Leone,” Ricardo added.
The Yamba/Manley Lecture series held at the First Presbyterian and Trinity Church is an annual program the Church offers to the South Orange community.
In regards to who will be attending this lecture, Ricardo said it was mainly “people from the surrounding community—residents of the towns of South Orange and Maplewood, for the most part—even students from SHU.”
Alan Petukh can be reached at alan.petukh@student.shu.edu.
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