On Tuesday, February 2, on Candlemas, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Saint Peter’s University launched the Delp Lecture. The Delp Lecture was established by the Office of the Provost at Saint Peter’s to commemorate Rev. Alfred Delp S.J., who was executed by the Nazis for his resistance to the German Reich and the Nazi Party in 1945. The lecture was developed in order to recognize successful intellectual work intended to resist oppression and carried out in the spirit of the Ignatian tradition.
Anne Cubilie, Ph.D., associate provost at The University of Central Washington and former dean of their William O. Douglass Honors College, served as the speaker at the Delp Lecture and her background made her the ideal choice for this inaugural event. Dr. Cubilie’s work is a model of engaged scholarship. Her 2005 book, Women Witnessing Terror: Testimony and the Cultural Politics of Human Rights, grew out of her own experiences in Badakhshan, Afghanistan as a United Nations field worker and investigator. Cubilie then went on to serve as a UN program officer for 15 years.
Cubile commended the University for the timeliness of the lecture series given the ongoing issues caused by the social inequities in the world today. She focused her discussion on social justice and human rights programming in situations of mass displacement or emergency relief in countries such as Syria, Libya and Pakistan. She explained to the engaged audience that in situations of humanitarian need, “we must see those in need as partners and equals and not as victims.”
The commemoration of Fr. Delp continued into the evening with a special “Arts on Bergen Performance” of Bach’s Ich habe genug BWV 82 and John Carter’s Cantata. The Saint Peter’s University Chamber Orchestra and special guests, under the direction of University Director of Music Dr. Joseph Legaspi, performed Bach’s Ich habe genug BWV 82 and John Carter’s Cantata. The orchestra was joined by Joy Tamayo, soprano; Katrina Saporsantos, soprano; Patty Lazzara, flute; Alejandro Consolacion, II, organ continuo, piano; and Frederick Golz, harpsichord.