Flannery O’Connor to be subject of USU Newman Lecture

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LOGAN — Telia Mary U. Williams, an assistant professor of law at Northern Illinois University, will be the featured speaker at an Oct. 11 Newman Lecture at Utah State University.

In “Everything that Rises Must Converge: To Be Young, Gifted and Catholic,” Williams will discuss how the renowned Catholic author Flannery O’Connor can instruct and inspire today’s Catholic “(of any age, even those only ‘young at heart’) how to embrace a hostile and disaffected (and at times, lost) world, while keeping our sense of joy and critical faculties alive – and to leverage our universality as Catholic believers in trying to reach those with the Gospel, starting with our friends and neighbors,” she said.

The first part of the lecture’s title is drawn from a story by O’Connor that fictionalizes a moment in the Montgomery Bus Boycott when it becomes clear that blacks will engage their opposition, Williams said. The second part is a take on “To Be Young, Gifted and Black,” a song by Nina Simone.

‘This talk appropriates the ethos and purpose of that song and applies it to the larger end of our mission as Catholic believers, of whatever race, tribe or nationality,” Williams said.

Williams is working on a book about O’Connor titled Everything that Rises Must Converge: What Flannery O’Connor Can Teach Lawyers. She has published articles in numerous law journals and business magazines.

Prior to joining the faculty at NIU, Williams was a litigation attorney in New York City and Washington, D.C. and led her own firm. She has also practiced extensively in consumer rights, employment law, trusts and estates litigation, family law, appellate litigation and white-collar criminal defense. In 2012, she was appointed a judge pro tempore in Justice Court, Clark County, Nev.

The lecture is being sponsored by the Newman Club at Utah State University. The Newman Club is a Catholic student group which seeks to help Catholic students live and grow in their faith. Club members participate in weekly activities and attend daily Mass at the St. Jerome Newman Center.

WHAT: Newman Lecture by Telia Mary U. Williams

WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 11, 7 p.m.

WHERE: USU Old Main 119 Utah State University

Free and open to the public