Inside the Core: Scholars' Forum With Mary Grace Mangano

Inside the Core, we are excited to welcome Core adjunct faculty member Mary Grace Mangano as she will present for us at our next Scholars’ Forum in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Tuesday, December 5 at 4 p.m. via TEAMS. Originally, Ines Murzaku was going to present on this date, but she needed to switch her presentation to the spring, and Mary Grace graciously agreed to do it. We are excited to host this exciting presentation, linking poetry with religion. Mary Grace will be presenting on her recent book, Homage to Søren Kierkegaard: Poems in Memory of Reverend Ronald Marshall (Wiseblood Books, October, 2023), co-edited with the poet Dana Gioia. Here is a link for the book from the publisher’s website: Homage to Søren Kierkegaard: Poems in Memory of Reverend Ronald Marshall: PRE-ORDER.

Homage to Søren Kierkegaard (Wiseblood Books) is an anthology of original poems from fifty writers of faith. The anthology was developed in honor of Rev. Ronald F. Marshall (1948-2021). Known for his labors on behalf of Seattle’s hungry and homeless, Marshall was also a prolific reader and brilliant teacher whose devotion to Kierkegaard produced two major books on his muse. In 2022, Dappled Things magazine launched a competition for poets to submit their work, inspired by Kierkegaard's writings. From hundreds of submissions, co-editors Dana Gioia and Mary Grace Mangano selected the winners and the poems to be included in the anthology.

Mary Grace will be joined by her co-editor, Dana Gioia, one of the most well-known and accomplished poets in the US. Gioia, who received the Presidential Citizens Medal (2008) and the Laetare Medal (2010), is the author of numerous books of poetry, the most recent being Meet Me at the Lighthouse (2023), as well as translations, operas, literary criticism, and other anthologies.

Mary Grace has taught courses on religion and literature in several major cities, and now teaches in the Core at Seton Hall. She earned her BA from Villanova University, and went on to attend the University of Notre Dame, earning a master’s of science in management and a master’s in education through the Alliance for Catholic Education. Most recently, she received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Saint Thomas in Houston as an inaugural Gioia Family Fellowship recipient. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Windhover, Modern Age, Reformed Journal, Ekstasis, and Orchards Poetry Journal. Her reviews and essays have appeared in America, Dappled Things, Fare Forward, Church Life Journal, and Front Porch Republic, among others.

As for her work as a faculty member in the University Core, she says, "Teaching in the Core marries my own interests in close reading and thoughtful writing about texts with deep engagement of philosophical and theological questions. A student's first year at a university is such a special time, and it excites me to get to guide students through discussion of and reflection on important thinkers that prompt students to consider their own answers to some of life's biggest, most persistent questions, perhaps for the first time. I am humbled and honored to be part of the community in the Core and to take up the commitment to accompanying students on a journey of discovery -- both of the Catholic intellectual tradition and of themselves."

This presentation, important to both the Core and to English literary studies, promises to be a wonderful and inspiring event. Join us!

Here is the TEAMS link to the Scholars’ Forum.

Categories: Faith and Service