Abigail Favale / X
CV NEWS FEED // Abigail Favale of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame will recount Feb. 19 her compelling journey of conversion to Catholicism as part of the St. John Henry Newman Lecture Series hosted by Loyola University Chicago.
After joining the Church, Favale “began to pry open its mysteries,” Loyola University Chicago’s Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage (CCIH) reported. There, she discovered “the startling beauty of a sacramental cosmos, a vision of reality that upended her notions of gender, sexuality, identity, and authority.”
“There are events in life that leave you changed forever, right down to the very roots and heart of your being, because they go ‘into the deep,’” Favale wrote, according to CCIH.
Favale is a writer and professor specializing in the intersections of Catholic theology, literature, and women’s studies. Her work focuses on the meaning and dignity of women, exploring themes of sexual difference and embodiment within the Catholic tradition.
Favale holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from George Fox University and a master’s degree in women, writing and gender, and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. She has authored multiple books, including Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion (Cascade 2018), which details her conversion story.
The St. John Henry Newman Lecture Series features a different speaker each spring who discusses their experiences with the Catholic intellectual tradition and its relevance to modern issues.
All are invited to Favale’s free talk at 7 p.m. CST on the fourth floor of Information Commons on Loyola’s Lake Shore Campus.
