BUFFALO, NY – Canisius University’s Joseph J. Naples Conversations in Christ and Culture Lecture Series will welcome two nationally recognized scholars and authors to campus during the spring 2026 semester. The annual series fosters thoughtful dialogue on pressing questions at the intersection of Christianity, culture, and public life, promoting understanding across religious, ethnic, and social lines.
The spring 2026 series opens on Wednesday, March 18, with Karen González, who will present a lecture titled “The People of Corn and the Wounded Earth: A Decolonial Theology of Land, Migration and Reparations.”
The event begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Grupp Fireside Lounge of the Richard E. Winter ’42 Student Center and is free and open to the public.
Born in Guatemala, González immigrated to the United States as a child and brings both personal experience and theological scholarship to her work as a speaker, writer and immigrant advocate. Her scholarship centers on migration, land and biblical interpretation, elevating the voices and experiences of immigrants within Christian theology.
González is the author of The God Who Sees: Immigrants, the Bible and the Journey to Belong (2019) and Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in Our Christian Response to Immigration (2022). She studied theology and missiology at Fuller Theological Seminary and has worked extensively in nonprofit organizations serving immigrant communities.
The series continues on Tuesday, April 7, with Ross Douthat, New York Times opinion columnist and bestselling author, who will deliver a lecture titled “Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious.”
The event begins at 7:00 p.m. in the Grupp Fireside Lounge of the Richard E. Winter ’42 Student Center and is free and open to the public.
Douthat has been an opinion columnist at The New York Times since 2009, where his column appears every Tuesday and Sunday. He is also the host of the Times Opinion podcast Interesting Times. Previously, he served as a senior editor at The Atlantic and has been the film critic for National Review since 2007.
Douthat is the author of several acclaimed books, including The Decadent Society (2020), The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery (2021), To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism (2018), and his most recent book, Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious (2025), which serves as the foundation for his lecture.
The Joseph J. Naples Conversations in Christ and Culture Lecture Series is sponsored by the Canisius University Institute for the Global Study of Religion and the generosity of the ecumenical community of Western New York.
For more information about the lecture series or upcoming events, contact Philip Reed, PhD, professor of philosophy, at 716-888-2609 or @email.
Canisius was founded in 1870 in Buffalo, NY, and is one of 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. Consistently ranked among the top institutions in the Northeast, Canisius offers undergraduate, graduate and pre-professional programs distinguished by close student-faculty collaboration, mentoring and an emphasis on ethical, purpose-driven leadership.
