Nazareth College Welcomes Jamie Manson as Next William H. Shannon Chair Lecturer

ROCHESTER, NY (09/25/2014)(readMedia)-- Nationally sought-after speaker, retreat leader, and media commentator, Jamie L. Manson, will be presenting Grace on the Margins: Envisioning an Inclusive Church on Thursday, October 16 at 7 p.m. in the Forum of the Otto A. Shults Community Center. Manson will also be presenting Holy in Body, Holy in Spirit: LGBT Catholics in the Church on Friday, October 17 at 1:30 p.m. in the Linehan Chapel of the Golisano Academic Center. Both lectures are free and open to the public. Nazareth College is located at 4245 East Avenue, Rochester, N.Y., 14618. For further information, contact Christine M. Bochen at (585) 389-2728 or at cbochen4@naz.edu.

Manson received her master's in divinity from Yale Divinity School, where she studied Catholic theology and sexual ethics. Her weekly column, Grace on the Margins, appears in the National Catholic Reporter (NCR); Manson is also the book review editor at NCR. She has won numerous awards for her writing, including Commentary of the Year in 2012 and 2013 from the Religion Newswriters Association (RNA).

In addition to NCR, Manson's work has also been featured in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and Religion Dispatches, and her media appearances include NPR, MSNBC, CBS News This Morning and Huffington Post Live. Manson is the former editor-in-chief of the Yale magazine Reflections. As a lay minister, she has worked extensively with New York city's homeless and poor populations.

The Shannon Lecture Series honors William H. Shannon, former professor of religious at Nazareth College. Father Shannon advanced the educational mission of Nazareth College and contributed significantly to Catholic intellectual life, both nationally and internationally. This school year, the Lecture Series aim to answer the question posed by Father Shannon in his last book, "How can we get the voice of God's people heard in the Church?" Manson's interests in issues related to women and LGBT Catholics, young adult Catholics, and the future of the Church public allows her to help the Nazareth Community explore how the Church of the Third Millennium will be the Church of the people of God.