Leading immigration expert Rev. Richard Ryscavage, S.J., director of 天美传媒视频无限制观看's Center for Faith and Public Life, to deliver St. Thomas More Lecture | Press Releases

Image: Rick Ryscavage Immigration expert Rev. Richard Ryscavage, S.J., director of 天美传媒视频无限制观看's and professor of sociology, will deliver Fairfield's 2012 St. Thomas More Lecture: "Migration, Globalization and the Catholic Church." Free and open to the public, the event will take place in the Kelley Center Presentation Room on Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m.

The St. Thomas More Lecture series features speakers addressing topical social and political issues from a traditional Catholic intellectual perspective. Fr. Ryscavage will consider migration in relationship to globalization, Catholic Social Teaching and the ongoing research projects of the Center for Faith and Public Life that explore vital problems.

The Center for Faith and Public Life is overseeing two grant-funded initiatives that relate to different aspects of the pressing immigration issue: the "Immigrant Student National Position Paper" focusing on undocumented students, and "Strangers as Neighbors: Religious Language and the Response to Immigrants in the U.S."

Fr. Ryscavage's latest project is called, "Impact India 2021: Elevating the Value of Women and Girls in Society," which he is leading with Dr. Gita Rajan, professor of English. The project has involved an innovative survey of families to better understand how gender dynamics and family pressures in India have led to the birth of a significantly greater number of boys than girls - resulting in a sex ratio imbalance crisis.

Fr. Ryscavage served as national director of the Jesuit Refugee Service. While executive director of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of Migration and Refugee Services, he ran one of the world's largest refugee resettlement agencies. In addition, he was president of CLINIC, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the 'Golden Stags,' a group of Fairfield alumni who graduated 50 or more years ago, and the Center for Faith and Public Life. The Center is where students, scholars, policy makers, and religious leaders converse and reflect on the many issues where religion intersects with civic life. To learn more about Fr. Ryscavage and the Center, visit http://www.fairfield.edu/cfpl/index.html.

For more information about the lecture, contact Elyse Raby at (203) 254-4000, ext. 3415 and visit .