The eighth annual Doris H. Murphy Memorial Lecture will be Monday, Oct. 4, at St. Bridget Catholic Church, River Falls.

The 6-7:30 p.m. lecture, titled “Pilgrim People of Peace: Looking for a Map,” will be presented by Dr. Gerald Schlabach.

Catholics and Mennonites need each other. This is the conviction that animates the ecumenical group Bridgefolk, in which Doris Murphy was an enthusiastic participant. Schlabach, emeritus professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, is one of the co-founders and longtime leaders of Bridgefolk.

In this year’s Doris Murphy lecture, Schlabach will explain what Catholics and Mennonites can learn from one another and share his vision for how Catholics can heed their call to be peacemakers by being the “pilgrim people” that the Second Vatican Council envisioned. Schlabach’s most recent book is “A Pilgrim People: Becoming a Catholic Peace Church.”

Schlabach is professor of theology and former chair of justice and peace studies at the University of St. Thomas. He earned a doctorate in theology and ethics from the University of Notre Dame. During much of the 1980s, he worked in Central America on church-related peace and justice assignments. He is active in the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, which is engaged in a sustained conversation with the Vatican in favor of a “just peace” framework for Catholic teaching and practice. His books include “Just Policing, Not War: An Alternative Response to World Violence,” and “Sharing Peace: Mennonites and Catholics in Conversation,” both from Liturgical Press.

The lecture will be held in person and livestreamed at www.youtube.com/saintbridget. The lecture series was established in 2014 in memory of Murphy (1937-2011), a former faith formation director at St. Bridget and a teacher, writer, lecturer, and mentor who had a passion for catechesis, social justice, Scripture study, liturgy, the Eucharist, Vatican II and environmental spirituality. In her own words, most of her work was “trying to put together theology and the people of God.” This year marks the 10th anniversary of Murphy’s death. For more information, call 715-425-1870.

Gerald Schlabach