Professor of History and Director of the Irish Studies Program at Manhattanville College in New York, Irene Whelan, is heading to Perth.
Prof Whelan will provide a lecture on her latest research, titled Ireland’s Destiny Unleashed: Catholic Culture and Identity in Ireland, 1916-37 thanks to the Archdiocesan Archives Office.
The lecture will take place on Tuesday 25 June at the University of Notre Dame Fremantle Campus.
A native of Clifden in County Galway, Ireland, Prof Whelan received her undergraduate degree from University College Galway.
Her graduate work was completed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the US and she has written extensively on religious history, with a particular focus on the cultural and political ramifications of sectarian rivalry in Ireland and the diaspora.
Her doctoral dissertation on the Irish evangelical movement was published as The Bible War in Ireland. The Second Reformation and the Polarization of Protestant-Catholic Relations in Ireland, 1800-1840.
She is currently working on the ideological origins of the concept of an Irish Catholic “spiritual empire”.
Odhran O’Brien, Director of the Archdiocesan Archives Office, said Prof Whelan’s lecture will be a chance for Perth Catholics to get a greater understanding of the positive influence the Irish Church and culture had on the Church in WA.
Mr O’Brien went on to talk about President John F Kennedy’s state visit of Ireland in June 1963.
“Kennedy was America’s first Irish-Catholic President and the family was enormously proud of their Irish heritage.
“When Kennedy addressed the Oireachtas, the Irish Parliament, he said: ‘This has never been a rich or powerful country, and yet, since earliest times, its influence on the world has been rich and powerful. No larger nation did more to keep Christianity and Western culture alive in their darkest centuries’.”
“Irene Whelan is a scholar of international note and like many others, she continues to reveal the rich tapestry of the contribution made by the Irish diaspora to the Church and Western society.
“I am sure her lecture will be thought provoking,” Mr O’Brien added.
The Free Public Lecture will be held at The University of Notre Dame, Santa Maria Lecture Theatre (ND1) Mouat Street Fremantle, on Tuesday 25 June at 6pm.
To RSVP, go to www.notredame.edu.au/events