Dr. Kimberly Baker, a member of the faculty of Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, St. Meinrad, Indiana, will give the Eighteenth Pope Benedict XVI Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 22 at Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica. Associate professor of patristics at Saint Meinrad, Dr. Baker will speak on “The Council of Nicaea and the Quest for Unity.”
A patristics scholar with a special interest in Augustine’s preaching on the life of the Church as the Body of Chris, she seeks to draw from the riches of the Christian spiritual tradition to contribute to the ongoing renewal of the life of the Church today. Her publications include articles in Horizons, Worship, and Studia Patristica, and Q & A features in America, The Criterion, and Church Life. She teaches survey courses on the patristic and medieval church eras and elective courses on topics such as patristic preaching, care for the poor, and Christian martyrdom.
Dr. Baker is a co-founder of the Women of the Church Catholic Leadership Forum. The inaugural Women of the Church national conference received a letter of blessing from Pope Francis in 2016. More recently, she interviewed Dr. Carolyn Woo about women’s leadership in the Catholic Church for a Women of the Church virtual event.
She not only studies preaching but loves the opportunity to preach herself. As a ministry student, she received the Clyde T. Francisco preaching award. She also has received the 2011 Catherine Mowry LaCugna award from the Catholic Theological Society of America and the 2013 Imbesi Fellowship from the Augustinian Institute at Villanova University.
Her interest in theology first developed during her two-year post-college campus ministry experience in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa. She continues to be involved in international projects, including community development work for a village in Togo.
Before moving to Saint Meinrad in 2012, Dr. Baker taught for four years as assistant professor of theology at Saint Vincent College, was a visiting assistant professor and instructor at the University of Notre Dame, religion teacher at Assumption High School, Louisville, Kentucky, and Dean of Student Life and instructor at Saint Catharine College, St. Catharine, Kentucky.
For reservations for this free lecture, contact Kelly Shrum at 724-805-2820 or email kelly.shrum@stvincent.edu.
