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Guest Lecture Series 2008-2009
Our inaugural Guest Lecture Series during the academic year 2007–2008 has been a wonderful success, not only for the enrichment of the students, faculty, and staff but also for the further education of an appreciative audience of locals from Lander and nearby Riverton. We are now looking forward to an equally promising Guest Lecture Series for the coming academic year.
Saturday, November 1, 2008: ALL SAINTS LECTURE
 DR. JEFFREY BOND of Greeley, Pennsylvania, will deliver the All Saints Lecture, “Political Authority in Homer’s Odyssey: The Symbolism of the Loom and the Mast.” Those who love both Homer and Plato are pained when they discover that Homer and poetry are banished from the perfect city founded by Socrates and his friends in Plato’s Republic. Nevertheless, Socrates leaves a way open for Homer’s return if the argument can be made—either by poets or lovers of poetry—that the Homeric epics are beneficial to orderly government and the life of man. Read symbolically, particularly with an eye to Homer’s use of the loom and the mast as symbols of the cosmic order, the Odyssey does contain a teaching on political authority that rests upon a cosmology and metaphysics consistent with a Platonic—and even a Catholic—world view. Dr. Bond received degrees from Kenyon College and the University of Chicago, where he earned his doctorate in Political Philosophy. A recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, Dr. Bond has taught history, English, Latin, religion, and philosophy and is, in addition, a lecturer for the Dietrich von Hildebrand Institute in New York City. His lecture will bring a lifetime’s reflection on political philosophy and religious symbolism to bear on one of Western civilization’s greatest epics, one that all WCC students study in the first semester of their freshman year.
Monday, December 8, 2008: IMMACULATE CONCEPTION LECTURE
 MR. GIL BAILIE, President of The Cornerstone Forum and founding member of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion, will join us to deliver the Immaculate Conception Lecture: “‘If Another Comes in His Own Name, You Will Accept Him’: The Scandal of Christian Discipleship.” For 25 years, Mr. Bailie has been teaching the cultural, spiritual, historical, and anthropological significance of the Christian tradition. He travels widely, lecturing and leading workshops, retreats, and parish missions around the country and abroad, while working with Forum colleagues and collaborators to encourage a deeper appreciation for the historical uniqueness of Christianity and the challenges confronting the Christian calling in our time. Mr. Bailie’s most well-known publication is his book Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009: SEAT OF WISDOM LECTURE
 As part of the festivities in honor of our patroness, Mary, Seat of Wisdom, the College is pleased to welcome DR. DENIS MCNAMARA, who will give the Patronal Lecture: “The Lord of Heaven and History: The Church as Sacramental Building.” The Second Vatican Council teaches that Catholic art and architecture are “signs and symbols of heavenly realities.” In every age, Christians have attempted to make heaven in stone and glass, and though styles have varied in time and locale, the theological program remained constant until the twentieth century, when it was challenged and even rejected by many. Fortunately, as McNamara will discuss, at the start of the twenty-first century we find hopeful indications of the recovery of traditional architectural wisdom. This lecture will be accompanied by an extensive slide-show presentation of images of European and American cathedrals and chapels of different periods. Dr. McNamara, who holds a B.A. in art history from Yale University and a doctorate in architectural history from the University of Virginia, is currently Assistant Director of The Liturgical Institute at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary, just outside of Chicago.
Thursday, March 25, 2009: ANNUNCIATION LECTURE
 To complete our lecture series for the year, we are delighted to host DR. JOHN FREEH, who will deliver the Annunciation Lecture: “‘On the Doorstep of the Absolute’: T. S. Eliot’s Search for the Sacred.” Dr. Freeh earned degrees in English at Georgetown University, Journalism at Northwestern University, and Renaissance and Modern Literature at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University. He is currently Assistant Professor of English Literature at Hillsdale College in Michigan.
On the Guest Lecture Series
The Guest Lecture Series brings to WCC men and women outstanding in their field, be it academia, public life, or pastoral governance, including some who have labored heroically in the front lines on behalf of good causes such as the pro-life movement. But whatever the speakers’ profiles, they are invited to speak at the College because of the rich experience they bring, the Christian witness they give, and the intellectual contribution they can make to the education of our students and our community.
In addition to the other feasts of the Church calendar that are reverently observed at the College, WCC celebrates with special solemnity four feastdays that symbolically mark the seasons of the year with filial entrustment to the Virgin Mary and the Saints, our models and intercessors in the Christian life. These feast days are: the Solemnity of All Saints (November 1); the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (December 8); the Solemnity of Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, Patroness of the College (February 4); and the Solemnity of the Annunciation (March 25).
On each of these special days, classes are suspended and the schedule is similar to that of Sunday, with a more solemn Mass, a leisurely dinner, and a public lecture by the guest speaker, followed by a Q&A period. Considered part of the College’s academic program, the lecture is mandatory for the student body, faculty, and staff. Visiting lecturers may also choose to offer extracurricular seminars for the students. The Guest Lecture Series thus provides additional opportunities for deepening and broadening the intellectual learning and conversation in matters of wisdom.
Everyone from Lander and its environs who wishes to attend is also welcome; advance publicity will announce the events.
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