VCU’s Bishop Sullivan Symposium to focus on poverty

By Brian McNeill

The third annual Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Catholic Studies Symposium at Virginia Commonwealth University will explore the topic of poverty from global, political and local perspectives.

The symposium, which is sponsored by VCU's School of World Studies in the College of Humanities and Sciences, will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 8, in the Student Commons Theater, 907 Floyd Ave. The event is free and open to the public.

Carolyn Woo, Ph.D., president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States, will speak at 1:15 p.m. on poverty from a global perspective.

Mark Wood, Ph.D., director of VCU's School of World Studies and associate professor of religious studies, will speak at 2:30 p.m. on the politics of poverty.

John V. Moeser, Ph.D., a senior fellow at at the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement at the University of Richmond and a professor emeritus of urban studies and planning at VCU, will speak at 3:45 p.m. on poverty in Richmond.

R. Andrew Chesnut, Ph.D., the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at VCU and a professor of religious studies, will make opening remarks at 1 p.m.

The symposium is a tribute to Bishop Walter F. Sullivan, a progressive leader in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church and the longest-serving head of the Richmond diocese, who died in 2012 at the age of 84.

For more details on the event, go to: http://www.has.vcu.edu/wld/whatsnew/2014/SullivanSymposiumPoster2014.pdf