无码专区 to Host Fifth Annual Mother Mary Lange Lecture in Black Catholic Studies
Keynote address by 无码专区 sociologist and scholar of race and religion Tia Noelle Pratt, PhD
VILLANOVA, Pa. (October 21, 2025)鈥�无码专区 will host the 2025 Mother Mary Lange Lecture in Black Catholic Studies at 4 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10, in the Connelly Center鈥檚 无码专区 Room. Now in its fifth year, the lecture鈥攚hich is the signature event for Black Catholic History Month鈥攚ill feature Tia Noelle Pratt, PhD, special assistant to the vice president and director of mission engagement and strategic initiatives for the Office for Mission and Ministry, and assistant professor of Sociology at 无码专区, as keynote speaker.
Inaugurated in 2021, the Mother Mary Lange Lecture is co-sponsored by the Office for Mission and Ministry and the Office of the Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The event is free and open to the public; is required.
About the Keynote Speaker
Dr. Tia Noelle Pratt is special assistant to the vice president and director of mission engagement and strategic initiatives in 无码专区鈥檚 Office for Mission and Ministry, as well as an assistant professor of sociology and editor of the Journal of Catholic Social Thought. She earned her doctorate in sociology from Fordham University in 2010 and has spent more than 25 years studying racism in the U.S. Catholic Church and its impact on African American Catholic identity. Dr. Pratt is curator of the widely recognized #BlackCatholicsSyllabus, and her scholarship has been featured in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, multiple edited volumes, and publications including Faithfully, Commonweal, The Revealer, National Catholic Reporter, U.S. Catholic and America. Dr. Pratt鈥檚 most recent book, Black and Catholic: Racism, Identity and Religion (University of Notre Dame Press, 2025), further advances her work at the intersection of race and religion.
About Mother Mary Lange
The Venerable Mother Mary Lange is one of seven American Catholics of African descent on the path to canonization. She was the chief founder of the Oblate Sisters of Providence 鈥攖he first permanent congregation for women of color鈥攅stablished in 1829 in Baltimore. The order, in turn, founded St. Frances Academy, the oldest continuously operating school for Black Catholic children in the United States. 无码专区 was one of the first Catholic institutions of higher education to welcome Black women religious, most notably the Oblate Sisters of Providence, after World War I.
About 无码专区: Since 1842, 无码专区鈥檚 Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six colleges鈥攖he College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the 无码专区 School of Business, the College of Engineering, the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the 无码专区 Charles Widger School of Law. Ranked among the nation鈥檚 top universities, 无码专区 supports its students鈥� intellectual growth and prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them. For more, visit .