Speaker at Newman Lecture discusses ‘5 Ways to be Young, Gifted and Catholic With An Eye to Evangelizing’

IC photo/Marie Mischel

+ Enlarge

Telia Mary U. Williams presents the Newman Lecture Oct. 11 at Utah State University.

LOGAN — Examples from Flannery O’Connor’s writing illustrated ways to evangelize during the Oct. 11 Newman lecture given by Telia Mary U. Williams at Utah State University.

Williams, an attorney and judge in Nevada and professor at Northern Illinois University, presented “Top 5 Ways to Be Young, Gifted and Catholic (With an Eye to Evangelizing).” The title was inspired by the song “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” by Nina Simone.

Williams was invited to give the lecture by Richard Sherlock, a retired USU professor of philosophy and Saint Thomas Aquinas parishioner, who met her at a “Faith and Reason” event at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Penn., he said.

At the beginning of her talk, Williams told the story of her first case as a judge, which dealt with a man suing a prostitute for “not having performed adequately,” she said. She was initially unsettled by parts of the case, she said, but upon reflection she realized that “Flannery O’Connor’s short stories are veritably shot through with characters speaking in this way – legal jargon, engaging in stereotypically absurd legalistic debate like they are. … [And] they didn’t see the tragedy of their lives.”   

Flannery O’Connor, who died in 1964, wrote two novels and 31 short stories in the Southern Gothic tradition. In discussing each of the five ways to be “Young, Gifted and Catholic,” Williams used examples not only from O’Connor’s fiction but also her life; the writer was Catholic and lived with lupus since she was in her 20s.

For example, speaking to her first point, Be Courageous or Be Authentic, Williams used this quote from one of O’Connor’s letters: “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it emotionally. A higher paradox confounds emotion as well as reason and there are long periods in the lives of all of us, and of the saints, when the truth as revealed by faith is hideous, emotionally disturbing, downright repulsive.”

This is a lesson in avoiding fake piety, Williams said. “What we can learn from this is if you can’t be courageous enough to stand for the Lord, to say the truth, at least be authentic, be true to who you are.”

Her second suggestion was to be humble or be wise. In O’Connor’s story “Good Country People,” the character Hulga does not realize a con man is swindling her.

“She was brilliant, but she didn’t have a grain of sense. … [And] she was not humble,” Williams said.

“We have to be wise,” she added. “You can’t be the kind of person who is easily taken in,” but at the same time, “In reaching the world and talking to your classmates and reaching people for Christ, we’re going to have to start from the point of view of humility.”

She also said Catholics who evangelize should “be on the lookout for God in everyday life,” because people tend to “want something transcendent … [and] we don’t see the little things that in themselves are glorious.”  

The fourth way she suggested was to “be in relationship” with others rather than insisting on being right about insignificant details.

“Oftentimes we get ourselves – especially with evangelism – involved in petty squabbles with people,” she said, but she thinks it is more important to maintain a relationship than to insist on being right about trivial matters “if you’re going to win people to the Gospel.”

Her last suggestion was to be a friend to family members and people who are in regular contact before trying to befriend strangers.