Mary McLeese (fomer President of Ireland) - public lecture April 14, 7 p.m. - Religion and Gender in Ireland's Present and Future

Saint Mary’s College (Notre Dame, Indiana) is proud to host Mary McAleese, former president of Ireland, for a conversation titled “Ireland: Religion and Gender in Its Present and Future” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 14, 2015 in Carroll Auditorium, Madeleva Hall, Saint Mary's Campus. The event, sponsored by the College’s Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership (CWIL) and the Ireland Study Abroad Program, is free and open to the public.
This spring, McAleese is part of the University of Notre Dame faculty as Distinguished Martin and Carmel Visiting Scholar in the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies.
“I am delighted to host Mary McAleese on campus,” said Elaine Meyer-Lee, director of CWIL. “As the first women president in the world to succeed another woman president, and a trailblazer in many other ways, Professor McAleese is a great model of leadership for our students. She will share stories of using the moral authority of her position, awareness of the importance of symbols, and commitment to relationships to create positive influence, inclusion, and healing.  These are lessons that are easily transferable to what it takes to make a difference effectively anywhere in today’s complex and interdependent world.”
McAleese served two terms as the eighth president of Ireland from 1997 to 2011. As a Catholic woman living in Northern Ireland, and the first Irish president born in Northern Ireland, she said she was a “double outsider.” In a country where religion, education, government, and politics often intersect, the theme of her 14-year presidency was building bridges across difficult cultural divides. Her moral compass was the Gospel message from Jesus to simply love one another.
“We must not always be captivated by the voices of the past, but listen to the voices of the future, our grandchildren asking, ‘what did you do to make things better?’ I try to listen to the voices of the future,” said McAleese, a prominent advocate of reconciliation and peace building in Northern Ireland.
https://www.saintmarys.edu/news-events/news-releases/mary-mcaleese-2015