September 21, 2004
Contact Earl Madary at 796-3707 or ejmadary@viterbo.edu
“THE VOCATION OF THE ARTIST” AT VITERBO OCT. 5
LA CROSSE, Wis. -- Viterbo University professor Earl Madary will explore “The Vocation of the Artist” through an interactive presentation that includes song on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Viterbo University’s San Damiano Chapel.
The presentation is sponsored by the Paula Ripple Comin Memorial Endowed Lectureship and is free and open to the public.
“Human beings have from our origins crafted and created far beyond our utilitarian need to use tools,” Madary said. “We sang before we plowed and we danced our language before we wrote words. We made the mysteries of universe incarnate in the stories we told. Creativity is ultimately one of the hallmarks of the human race.”
Earl Madary is the chair of the Religious Studies and Philosophy Department at Viterbo University. He is also a Catholic Worker and a founding member of the Place of Grace Catholic Worker House in La Crosse. In addition to his career as a teacher, Madary has worked as a full-time church musician youth minister, bus boy, a grade school music teacher, and a taxi cab driver. He has degrees in music and theology and is a songwriter and a leader of prayer. He and fellow professor William J. Reese have written an introduction to the New Testament titled “These Things are Written” and he has composed and produced two original recordings, “Prodigals” and “Gilead.”
The event is part of Viterbo University’s St. Rose Lecture Series, which is designed to create dialogue on contemporary Catholic issues.