Availability As A Speaker
Celia Wolf-Devine is at ease speaking in a variety of venues, having done many lectures, workshops, panel discussions and debates. She has been frequently interviewed on the radio and appeared several times on television.
Lectures Celia is Prepared to Give
Her most popular lecture is based on her widely reprinted essay “Abortion and the ‘Feminine Voice.’” She has delivered it at Smith, Connecticut College Boston College and Brown University. It is especially effective with college students. In it she argues that those feminists who, following Carol Gilligan, wish to affirm women’s distinctive virtues while defending abortion on demand are inconsistent. Looking at the ethics of care, Ecofeminism, and the pacifist strand of feminism, she shows that these naturally lead in a pro-life direction. A video clip of this will be posted here in the Fall.
Emerging out of her more recent work, she has put together a lecture called “Why progressives and pro-lifers need each other.” The pro-life movement has its natural home in a progressive framework. For historically progressivism has developed out of the prophetic tradition in Jewish and Christian scriptures, calling people to respect and care for the widow, the orphan, the poor, the powerless. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a shining example of this progressive impulse. Abortion on demand simply does not fit. Who more vulnerable than the unborn individual in the womb? Pro-lifers, having been pushed into alliance with those conservatives who defend wars of choice, turn a blind eye to torture, and who are indifferent to the desperate plight of the poor, would benefit from working shoulder to shoulder with some good old fashioned progressives.
“Encountering God in Private Prayer.” She has given talks on prayer in all sorts of venues: an academic lecture at to Religious Studies students at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.; lecture to a group of students, faculty and staff at the Center for Catholic and Dominican Studies at Providence College, and to RCIA students at Brown University. She has given several workshops on prayer at the Annual Diocesan Religious Education Workshop Day in the Diocese of Providence, most recently one on forgiveness. She also gave a talk in the Portland (Maine) Diocese on getting a regular morning prayer routine in place. She regularly teaches the prayer segment of the catechetical program at The Institute for the Theological Institute for the New Evangelization connected with St. John’s seminary in Brighton, (Massachusetts).
Other Are)as of Expertise for Talks, Debates or Interviews Having written a book on it, she is prepared to talk about Affirmative Action in Faculty Appointments, carefully examining arguments on both sides.. Contemporary Critiques of the Traditional Family and Some Responses to Them. A talk I gave at Clark University. The Ethics of Surrogacy (talk given at American Philosophical Association). Should we call God “Father” – reasons pro and con - and related issues about inclusive language.. Having co-edited the book Sex and Gender: A Spectrum of Views with Phil Devine, she is prepared to give interviews, or participate in debates or panel discussions on the topics covered in the book. See link to table of contents.
You can contact Celia via email at cwolfdevine at gmail dot com