Suffering is the topic of the Newman Center's annual Aquinas lecture

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Peter Kreeft

SALT LAKE CITY - Author, speaker and professor Peter Kreeft, PhD., will be the keynote speaker at the annual Aquinas lecture on Jan. 31 at the Newman Center. His topic will be "Suffering in Today's Society."

The topic should have wide appeal, said Dominican Father Peter Rogers, pastor of Saint Catherine of Siena/Newman Center in Salt Lake City. "I think everyone experiences suffering in their life, sometimes even on a daily basis," he said, adding that the suffering could come from a variety of sources such as addiction, illness or the loss of a loved one.

"And so in that sense we wonder, ‘Why do we have to suffer?' And we all might ask, ‘Why me, God?'" Fr. Rogers said. "We often see suffering connected with the question of evil in the world, and Peter Kreeft has written about that."

Kreeft is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and at the King's College. A regular contributor to several Christian publications, he has written more than 55 books, including "Fundamentals of the Faith" and "Handbook of Christian Apologetics."

In addition, "He's in great demand as a speaker and he travels across the United States on a regular basis to give talks," Fr. Rogers said.

The committee at the Newman Center chose Kreeft not only because "he might be able to help us truly to understand our suffering and unite our suffering with the suffering of Christ," Fr. Rogers said, but also because he's written extensively on Thomas Aquinas.

Aquinas is viewed as one of the most brilliant theological scholars of the Dominican order, and the annual lecture series carries on his teaching the Catholic faith, Fr. Rogers said.

Past lectures have attracted varied audiences, Fr. Rogers said. "Depending on the topic, we'll have Catholics from other parishes, often we'll have non-Catholics who hear about our lecture and will attend, and faculty, students from the university."

All are invited to the Aquinas lecture at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 31 at Saint Catherine's Newman Center, 170 S. University St. in Salt Lake City. Parking is available in the garage at the Newman Center or the outdoor lot, as well as on President's Circle on the University of Utah, across from the Newman Center.