The Next Madeleva Lecture 

Thursday April 11, 2024

“Bearers of an 'Idle Tale': Women's Authority in a Credibility Economy”

Natalia Imperatori-Lee, PhD 

7:00 PM ET, Carroll Auditorium, Madeleva Hall
Free and open to the public — In Person and Online
[Click Here for livestream Registration]

Professor Natalia Imeratori-Lee, PhD, is Professor and Department Chair of the Religious Studies Department at Manhattan College in New York. Dr. Imperatori-Lee’s research interests focus on Catholic ecclesiology, in particular the intersection of ecclesial identity with feminist and Latinx Catholic thought. Her book, Cuéntame, explores how narratives shape ecclesiology, which is the study of the church. She is also interested in the relationship between Catholic theology, sexuality, and education; the intersection of Mariology and ecclesiology; intercultural theology; gender studies; and the relationship of women, the poor and other marginalized groups to church structure and governance.

 

About the Madeleva Lecture Series

Download the Madeleva ManifestoThe Madeleva Lecture is named for Sister Madeleva Wolff, CSC, who served as president of the College from 1934-1961. Her many accomplishments include the establishment in 1943 of the School of Sacred Theology, the first institution in the United States to provide graduate education in theology to women. Although the school closed in 1969, the lecture series named in her honor has for over three decades given voice to women scholars in the discipline of theology. In 2000, the sixteen past Madeleva lecturers created the Madeleva Manifesto, a document of hope and courage to women in the church. The document is just as timely today as when it was originally written.

Past Madeleva Lecturers 

Monika K. Hellwig, 1985 
Christian Women in a Troubled World

Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, 1986
Women and the Word: The Gender of God in the New Testament and the Spirituality of Women 

Mary Collins, OSB, 1987
Women at Prayer

Maria Harris, 1988
Women and Teaching: Themes for a Spirituality of Pedagogy

Elizabeth Dreyer, 1989
Passionate Women: Two Medieval Mystics

Joan Chittister, OSB, 1990
Job's Daughters: Women and Power

Dolores Leckey, 1991
Women and Creativity

Lisa Sowle Cahill, 1992
Women and Sexuality

Elizabeth A. Johnson, CSJ, 1993
Women, Earth, and Creator Spirit

Gail Porter Mandell, 1994
Madeleva: One Woman's Life

Diana L. Hayes, 1995
Hagar's Daughters: Womanist Ways of Being in the World

Jeanette Rodriguez, 1996
Stores We Live (Cuentos Que Vivimos): Hispanic Women's Spirituality

Mary C. Boys, SNJM, 1997
Jewish-Christian Dialogue: One Woman's Experience

Kathleen Norris, 1998
The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and 'Women's Work'

Denise Lardner Carmody, 1999
An Ideal Church: A Meditation

Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, 2000
With Oil in their Lamps: Faith, Feminism, and the Future

Mary Catherine Hilkert, OP, 2001
Speaking with Authority: Catherine of Siena and the Voices of Women Today

Margaret Farley, RSM, 2002
Compassionate Respect: A Feminist Approach to Medical Ethics and other Questions

Sidney Callahan, 2003
Women Who Hear Voices: The Challenges of Religious Experience

Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM, 2004
Women Shaping Theology

Past Madeleva Lecturers on the 40th Anniversary of Vatican II, 2005
[No Publication]

Susan A. Ross, 2006
For the Beauty of the Earth: Women, Sacramentality, and Justice

M. Shawn Copeland, 2007
The Subversive Power of Love: The Vision of Henriette Delille

Barbara Fiand, SNDdeN, 2008
Awe-Filled Wonder: The Interface of Science and Spirituality

Anne E. Patrick, SNJM, 2009
Women, Conscience, and the Creative Process

Wendy M. Wright, 2010
Mary and the Catholic Imagination: Le Point Vierge

Kwok Pui-Lan, 2011
Globalization, Gender, and Peacebuilding: The Future of Interfaith Dialogue

Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ, 2012
Becoming the Sign: Sacramental Living in a Post-Conciliar Church

Catherine E. Clifford, 2013
Decoding Vatican II: Interpretation and Ongoing Reception

Christine Firer Hinze, 2014
Glass Ceilings and Dirt Floors: Women, Work, and the Global Economy

Voices of Young Catholic Women, A Panel Discussion, 2015
[No Publication]

Marianne Farina, CSC, 2016
Sacred Conversations and the Evolution of Dialogue

Ilia Delio, OSF, 2017
A Hunger for Wholeness: Soul, Space, and Transcendence

Mercy Amba Oduyoye, 2018
African Women's Theologies, Spirituality, and Healing: Theological Perspectives from the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians

Nancy Pineda-Madrid, 2019
Theologizing in an Insurgent Key: Violence, Women, Salvation

Lecture Canceled due to Covid-19 Pandemic, 2020

Barbara Reid, OP, 2021 (Virtual Event)
At the Table of Holy Wisdom: Global Hungers and Feminist Biblical Interpretation

Lecture Canceled due to health concerns, 2022.

Cristina L. H. Traina, 2023
Feminism, Finitude, and Flourishing: On 'Being Mortal, Like Everyone Else' (Wis 7:1)

Natalia Imperatori-Lee, 2024
Bearers of an 'Idle Tale': Women's Authority in a Credibility Economy

Campus map and parking