Submitted by Caroline McDonald
For The Catholic Week
MOBILE — All are invited to attend the fall faith formation lecture given by Dr. John F. Crosby at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 in the "old church" at St. Ignatius Parish, Mobile. Dr. Crosby will speak on “A Great Christian Witness: How Dietrich von Hildebrand Raised his Voice Against Hitler.”
Dr. Crosby is a McGill-Toolen Catholic High School graduate and a professor of philosophy at Franciscan University in Ohio. He and his son founded the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project. Dr. Crosby is known for his work on John Henry Newman, Max Scheler, Karol Wojtyła and von Hildebrand. He has made significant contributions to the philosophy of the human person and has played a major role in the contemporary interest and discussion of that field through his lectures and many books, including "The Selfhood of the Human Person" (1996); "Personalist Papers" (2004); and "The Personalism of John Henry Newman" (2014).
Von Hildebrand has been described as one of the most influential Catholic thinkers of the 20th century, yet many have not heard of him. Born in Florence, Italy, and the son of a renowned German sculptor, he was a leading student of philosophers Edmund Husserl and Max Scheler. He engaged the “great questions” — about truth, freedom, conscience, love, beauty — with a freshness that allowed him to break new ground, especially in ethics, but also in epistemology, social philosophy and aesthetics.
His conversion to Catholicism in 1914 was the decisive turning point of his life and the impetus for important religious works. His opposition to Hitler and Nazism was so forceful and outspoken that he was forced to flee Germany in 1933, and later escape across Europe, finally settling in New York in 1940, where he taught at Fordham University until 1960. He had a profound influence on the thought of young Karol Wojytla and Joseph Ratzinger — Popes John Paul II and Benedict. Pope Benedict later said of him:
— For more information, contact St. Ignatius Parish at 251-342-9221.