Author and Philosopher Sister Prudence Allen Will Speak at Siena Symposium April 23

The Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture will host a lecture on “Integral Complementarity of Woman and Man: the Catholic Inspiration” on Monday, April 23. Noted Catholic philosopher and scholar Sister Prudence Allen, R.S.M., Ph.D., will speak at 7:30 p.m. in 3M Auditorium, Owens Science Hall.

Allen is a professor in the Philosophy Department, and a former chair of the department, at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colo., where she has taught since 1998. She has a B.A. in philosophy, 1962, from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in philosophy, 1967, from Claremont Graduate University.

Sister Prudence Allen

She is the author of the monumental, two-volume text The Concept of Woman and is recognized as one of the foremost experts on the complementarity of men and women, and on the place that women occupy in history and culture.

Allen is co-founder and spiritual director of Endow (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) and serves on its advisory board. Articles written by Allen can be found here.

Following her lecture, Allen will receive the Siena Symposium Award for Humanitarian Leadership.

Allen's lecture is co-sponsored by the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity and the Center for Catholic Studies.

An interdisciplinary faculty group, the Siena Symposium for Women, Family and Culture was founded at the University of St. Thomas in 2003 and has been hosted at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity since fall 2010. Its mission is to cultivate a deeper understanding of the role of women in the church and society.

The symposium, according to its website, strives "to enable both men and women to grasp and live out their God-given nature and dignity as they work together to build up the Body of Christ and establish a culture of life."

For more information contact Dr. Deborah Savage, (651) 962-5061, or Dr.  Mary Lemmons, (651) 962-5357.