Father Anthony Ciorra, Ph.D., will deliver the Dorothy A.P. Leunissen Presidential Lecture as part of the University’s 51st Charter Day celebration on March 16, 2016. Father Ciorra, associate vice president for mission and Catholic identity at Sacred Heart University, will speak on “Neumann: Yesterday and Tomorrow, a Catholic University in the Franciscan Tradition” at 2 p.m. in the Thomas A. Bruder Jr. Life Center.
The Leunissen Lecture is delivered every year on the anniversary of Neumann’s founding. The Dorothy A.P. Leunissen Presidential Lecture Series was established in 2004 to bring speakers to the University’s campus to address current topics of interest in Catholic Franciscan higher education.
The Charter Day celebration will also include liturgy at 11:30 a.m. in Our Lady of Angels Chapel and a 1 p.m. reception in the Bruder Life Center.
Fr. Ciorra was ordained a priest in 1973. His experience has included parish life, teaching, administration, retreat work, preaching, and formation ministries. He has graduate degrees in psychology, history, and pastoral theology, and a certificate in Spiritual Direction. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology from Fordham University.
His publications include Everyday Mysticism, a book about spirituality in the marketplace, and Beauty: A Way to God. He also co-authored Moral Formation in the Parish, a work about living Christian and moral values in the world. He has produced audio and video presentations on Thomas Merton, the history of Christian spirituality, the seven great schools of Christian spirituality, a retreat with Pope Francis, and many other topics.
He is actively involved in creating programs for inter-religious dialogue among Jews, Christians, and Muslims. In addition to his administrative duties, he is also a professor of Theology at Sacred Heart in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Neumann’s annual Leunissen Lecture is named after Dorothy A. Piatnek-Leunissen, Ph.D., M.D. A longtime area physician, she launched private practice in 1976 with her husband, R.L. Abraham Leunissen, M.D., at Riddle Memorial Hospital in Media. She was a lifelong friend of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and supporter of Neumann University.