2021 Gallagher Talk: “The Life and Message of Sister Thea Bowman” feat. Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS

Thursday, October 28, 7-8:30 p.m.

Franciscan Sister Thea Bowman (1937-1990) integrated her Catholic faith and African American pride and serves as a beacon for the Church to celebrate diversity, inclusiveness, and love for all God’s children. Through her ministry of public speaking, she touched countless people, bearing a message of faith and hope rooted in the Gospels and the wisdom of the spirituals. In her final ordeal with cancer, she offers an inspiring example of what it means to be “fully alive” and to “live until one dies”. In May 2018, Sister Thea Bowman was declared a servant of God, a first step toward sainthood. Brother Mickey McGrath is among those whose life was changed by her witness and story. Inspired by her message that God wants each of one of us to “let our little light shine” he found his own vocation as a religious artist. Here, through a collection of paintings and his reflections on her life and teaching, McGrath celebrates the spirit of one the great prophets and spiritual guides of our time. It is a message that makes one rejoice in life and say Amen!

The annual Gallagher Talk honors the life and work of Father Joseph V. Gallagher, CSP (Catholic Information Center Director, 1978-1982). Father Gallagher believed that creating a “future brighter than any past” would demand ministries that reached beyond local churches into the marketplace at the nexus of culture and faith. The annual talk helps the Catholic Information Center meet our mission of connecting with those who are seeking to understand the teachings of the Catholic Church and continue making the “future brighter than any past”.

Brother Mickey McGrath paints, writes, and tells stories, then travels telling the many stories behind what he paints and writes. Brother Mickey majored in Art at Moravian College and later received an MFA in Painting at the American University. For eleven years, he was an associate professor of Studio Art and Art History at De Sales University. Since 2009, he has lived and worked in Camden, NJ where he furthered his art education in the context of social justice and finding beauty in the margin. He will be celebrating 43 years as a Religious Brother in the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales this year.

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